Knife Fifer Encounter

Playing a flute fashion from a hollow thigh bone, this dark fey sways along to the dirge produced. So too does a floating dagger fashioned from the once attached fibula. The knife fifer's ears come to sharp points amid a crown of wild, auburn locks barely stuffed under a woolen cap. Their torso is bare and cadaverous, inked with notes and runes. While its feet are also bare, the knife fifer does wear a kilt fashioned from funeral shrouds and scalps.

Knife Fifer

Medium Fey, lawful evil

Armor Class 14

Hit Points 39 (6d8+12)

Speed 30ft

Str 12 Dex 18 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 8 Cha 16

Saving Throws Char +5

Skills Performance +5

Damage Immunities thunder

Damage Resistances lightning

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion

Senses darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 9

Languages common, sylvan

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Cutting Chords.

Whenever a creature fails a save against a spell the knife fifer cast it takes an additional 1 Thunder damage. This damage does not break Charm. This damage also occurs whenever a creature saves at the end of its turn against a spell effect originating from the knife fifer.

Innate Spellcasting.

The fey's innate Spellcasting Ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following Spells, requiring no material components:

At Will: Dancing Lights, Message, Thunderclap

1/day each: Bane, Charm Person, Dissonant Whispers, Healing Word, Tasha's Hideous Laughter

3/day each: Cloud of Daggers

Stalwart Song.

The knife fifer has advantage on saves against silence effects

Actions

Multiattack

The knife fifer makes 3 dancing dagger attacks as one action.

Dancing Dagger.

Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 15ft, one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) piercing damage. Reaction

Reactions

Thunderous Rebuke.

When the knife fifer has one of its spells countered or dispelled by a creature it can see within 60ft it may use its reaction to assail the creature with a cloud of sonic stilettos. The creature must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity save or take 11 (2d10) thunder damage.


The Red Pear Tree.

The encounter below is written as the third floor of a dungeon within a towering, direfly infested tree bearing vile, red fruit the size of boulders. This is written as a Waning Princes scenario. This is written as a hard to dangerous encounter for level 10-11 player characters.

Encounter
On the east and west edges of the room are polished-bone staircases that lead down. In the middle of the room is a spiral staircase of blood-honeycombs that leads up. A constant beat reverberates from the floor above and harmonizes with the tune the ten knife fifers are playing on their grisly pipes. Chair-sized chunks of blood honey amber are arranged haphazardly about the room and the fey musicians perch atop them. Many partial humanoid corpses are trapped within the amber while fresher cadaver scraps and tattered sheet music litter the floor.

Lair Actions.
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the assembled knife fifers take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the action taken depends on the number of knife fifers remaining.

7 to 10 Knife Fifers Remain - Sharp Note. A knife fifer may move the location of a cloud of daggers it cast to any point it can see within 30ft..

4 to 7 Knife Fifers Remain - Flat Note. A knife fifer may force a creature it can see within 10ft to make a DC 13 Dexterity save or takes 11 (2d10) thunder damage.

1 to 3 Knife Fifers Remain - Dance Macabre. A knife fifer may case the animate dead spell that does not require a material component and may effect small or medium fey and humanoids. Otherwise the spell functions as normal.

Treasure:

Each knife fifer's pipe can be used as a necromatic focus. With a successful Performance (pipe) check DC 12 the pipe adds +1 DC to a necromantic spell the user casts that round. The pipe them crumbles to dust.