The theme for this month's RPG Blog Carnival is Things That Go Bump in the Night, so here are six unsubtle prowlers from Wermspittle...
- Relish Tray Jambertan. A defrocked monk from a burned-out monastery (he denies any culpability in the arson), Jambertan wears a smooth ivory death mask that was carved in the likeness of his defunct order's Master. His heavy fur-trimmed habit drips blood from around the collar, just below the mask and he leaves a faint trail of quickly evaporating ectoplasmic slime behind him everywhere he goes. His also wears a pair of mis-matched children's mittens all the time, both of them filthy and crusted with blood and disgusting bits of rotting flesh. He carries an ornate silver relish tray and continually asks everyone he meets if they've seen the sign for a traveling galvanic extravaganza that visited Wermspittle over three hundred years ago...
Relish Tray Jambertan (unique) [Abdead Servant of the Cerulean Sign; AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 5/14, HD 4*, #AT 1, DG 1d4 (relish tray) or 1d4+2 (flensing knife), SV F4, ML 6, Special: Any blue object presented forcefully causes Jambertan to re-roll his Initiative and Morale; Immune to Charm or Sleep, All non-galvanic weapons only do half damage, Regains 1 hit point for every 4 hit points of living flesh he can consume from still-living victims, can be Turned as an 8 HD monster (those who specifically oppose Phantoms treat him as 4HD); Jambertan can acquire 1d4 random spells if given enough time alone with a dead spell-caster so he can cut-out grisly little gobbets from their brain and by consuming them. This would be a bad idea. Please don't feed the weirdo.]
- Fingers Calhoun. A severed thieve's hand that didn't quite work out as a hand of glory. Reeking of foul rites and worse hygiene, this gangrenous thing flutters about like a far too soft spider in all the most disconcerting ways...
Abdead Hand (unique) [AL Evil, MV 60' (20'), AC 7/12, HD 4, #AT 1, DG 1d4, SV F2, ML 7, Special: Gets one chance to sucker punch one victim per encounter (+4 to hit, double damage: Anyone that has met the thing before is immune), Upon losing more than 50% of its hit points the hand will make an obscene necromantic gesture that will call forth the rest of the dead thief's mutilated cadaver to fight for it. If the hand is destroyed the shambling cadaver is rendered defunct.If the hand escapes, it will regain hit points at the rate of 1 point per full night spent in a defiled or unhallowed graveyard or crypt.]
Calhoun's Cadaver [AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7/12, HD 6, #AT 1, DG 1d4+2 (serrated short-sword), SV F2, Special: Can be Turned as an 8 HD monster during first 4 rounds, then decreases to 7 HD for next 4 rounds, then 6HD the next four, and so on until reaching 0HD at which point the cadaver collapses into a grotesque mess and slowly dribbles and drips back into the darksome interstitial realm the hand called it from originally. The HD value for Turning purposes is completely separate from the things actual HD/hit points. If the cadaver is reduced to 0-hp, it collapses back into oblivion as though successfully Turned. The serrated short-sword it carries is cursed so that all forms of normal healing inflict half damage on the wielder and all damage sustained is tallied until such time as it equals double their normal hit points, at which point they must make a Save or become Abdead for 1 hour each night. The damage tally continues, and each time they reach double their hit points in accumulated damage, they must Save to avoid adding another hour to their nocturnal Abdead state.]
- Hans Gretarm. Tall, morose and extremely calloused over three-quarters of his asymmetrically-distorted body, Hans was held-back from going into town by his parents who believed in the patent cures of a charlatan posing as a travelling side-show priest. He barely survived puberty, suffering terrible deformities as the result of the lingering things in the soil of the Low-Lands. Finally, after throttling the preening potion peddler, Hans was sent off to the city. He desperately wishes to have a friend. He'd do anything for a friend...
Hans Gretarrm (unique) [Huge, Unfortunate Adolescent; AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 4, HD 3, #AT 2, DG 2d4/2d4 (fists) or by weapon (+3 STR bonus), SV F3, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Hans ignores the first 2 points of all melee attacks due to the heavy callousing of his skin; He gets a second re-roll on all failed Saves; and he regenerates 1 hit point per hour unless wounded with salt, acid or spells. He requires twice the normal amount of time to recover from damage inflicted by spells. He also gains a +2 to hit and +4 to damage bonus against all priests, peddlers and all purveyors of patent medicines. A good surgeon might be able to help him with some of the worst of his deformities, but for the most part he was kept down on the farm too long and there's little that can be really done for him, other than to prescribe some laudanum or other pain-killer. If someone does manage to befriend this huge boy, he will be loyal unto death.]
- zZooglik. They only speak Zirsk, an obscure language few in this place know, but that is the least of their problems. She is completely covered in a glossy coat of luxurious golden hair that they can manipulate like a shimmering aura of prehensile tendrils that extends across a 12' radius and can lift up to 10 pounds. zZooglik was summoned from the bower-tower of her ancestors by some unwary apprentice who meant to call up a minor demon. zZooglik wants to go home before she delivers her babies in this bad-bad place...
zZooglik (unique) [Rapunzik; AL C, MV 180' (60'), AC 4, HD 2, #AT 1, DG 1d4 (braided hair-whip) or 1d6+1 (glass scimitar), SV F4, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Commands all vines/thorns in a 30' radius (including Red Weeds); Imbue with Fertility/Sterility on touch three times per day; all curative spells cast by her cause small tendrils and shoots to grow out of the repaired flesh (Save or slowly transform into a demi-plant hybrid); Has spell-casting abilities of a 4th level Cleric/Druid with focus on healing and living things (plants). ]
- Pask. Sharp-dressed and immaculately groomed, Pask's manners are impeccable, which is quite an accomplishment for a Strange-Pig wearing a man-suit...
Outer-Pask (unique) [Man-Suit Flesh-Construct; AL C, MV 180' (60'), AC 6/13, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d4 (Glove-slap) or 1d4+4 (+2 pig-bonded sword-cane), SV F2, ML 3 (squealing coward), Special: Monocle over left-eye gives Pask ability to Spot Hidden/Detect Secret Doors/Discern Ley-lines/Detect Magic; Pask's sword-cane will attack all non-porcine-types who attempt to wield it and will never willingly serve whomever kills Pask (they are most excellent friends); the Man-suit cannot function apart from Pask.]
Inner-Pask (unique) [Strange-Pig; AL C, MV 120' (60'), AC 9/10, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d4 (bite) or by weapon, SV F2, ML 3 (squealing coward), Special: Pask takes no damage until the man-suit is completely destroyed first; Once per week Pask must wallow and gorge on filth or suffer a loss of 1 HD; It requires two weeks and over a hundred pounds of fresh meat and leather to construct a new man-suit during which time Pask must not be disturbed. He has hired the same group of street-kids to watch over his basement shop the last couple of times this was necessary...they are getting suspicious...and greedy. Pask is a great fan of trains and the Unterrail especially, collecting every bit of ephemera related to such things as he can get his piggy hands on. Pask recently met and became infatuated with a torch-singer who has made him re-examine his motivations and his life; he is seriously considering dropping his one-pig vendetta against the Butchers...]
- Tidlin Mur. She's either a ratty-haired hag, a svelte songstress from one of the smoky dives along the High and Dry Wharf where the airships used to moor, or something else...something very hungry...
Tidlin Mur (unique) [Arachnoganger; AL C, MV 180' (60'), AC 8/11, HD 4, #AT 2, DG 1d4 (hair-pins) or 1d4+2 (needle-knife) or strangulation (silk garrotte: +4 to hit by surprise, Save or suffer 1d4 temporary CON loss; upon reaching zero-CON the victim is rendered paralyzed in a death-like coma for 1 hour and is incapable of physically defending themselves), SV F6, ML 9 (will attempt to parley before fleeing), Special: Immune to Charm or Illusion spells; uses ESP at will; Can shapechange into hag-form, temptress-form, or spiderish-form only when unobserved; if killed she will rise within 1d4 hours in one of the other remaining forms and no longer be able to assume the former shape. She can only digest blood, and prefers to arrange things so that the local authorities suspect nosferatu-types and vampire-cultists, which has attracted the notice and enmity of certain parties. She has fallen in love with Pask, but does not know the truth about him yet...when she does, things might get messy...]
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I fear the Pask/Tidlin Mur romance will end very badly, but, perhaps the player characters could help them to make it work . . . They would be useful allies and terrible enemies. Could Pask make a man-suit for someone else?
ReplyDeleteIt could well turn tragic. Or quite comic. Depends on the stars, I suppose. And the beer...
DeletePask could make a man-suit for someone else, but the process is gross, nauseating, and disgusting as it involves raw meat and a form of creative taxidermy that few others would ever willingly endure unless there was a great deal of incentive or motivation. One shudders at the cost the Strange-Pig might ask in return for such a favor...