Grasp Of The Entombed

Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

A desiccated arm bound in ceremonial wrappings, twitching all the while. To attune to this item, you must hold it to your body for 1 hour, after which it replaces one of your arms. Your unarmed strikes with this arm deal necrotic damage instead of the normal bludgeoning. 

Touch of Decay. As an action you can cause the wrapping around this arm to unravel and attempt to grapple a creature within 15 feet of you. The wrapping makes its attack roll with a +7 bonus. On a hit, the target takes 1d4 bludgeoning and 1d4 necrotic damage; if the target is Huge or smaller, it becomes grappled (escape DC 14). While grappling a creature in this way, this arm cannot be used to make unarmed strikes. The wrapping can only grapple one creature at a time, and you can cause the wrapping to release a grappled creature (no action required). 

While a creature is grappled by this arm or its wrappings, it can't regain hit points and takes 1d6 necrotic damage at the start of each of its turns and its hit point maximum is reduced by the same amount. If this effect reduces the target's hit point maximum to 0, the target dies, and its body turns to dust. This effect lasts until removed by the Remove Curse spell or the creature finishes a long rest. 

You can use this property a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus before finishing a long rest. 

Curse. This item is cursed and attuning to it extends the curse to you. You remain cursed this way until you die or until it is removed by magic of 7th level or higher. You gain the following traits: 

• Your creature type becomes Undead.

• If you die while attuned to this arm, it remains attached to your body. After 24 hours, unless restored to life or your body is destroyed, you rise as a Mummy Lord. 

Honestly, for all the fuss people make over these creatures, I can’t quite see the appeal. Certainly, I sympathize with the short-lived and their obsession with prolonging their inevitable demise, but there are so many other appealing avenues to pursue! So great was my perplexion that I could stand it no longer, and I sought to procure a specimen to study. The desert and pyramid did nothing for my knees, but it was well worth the trouble. Oh look, it just twitched!