Arctic Fireballs

"An Arctic fire-ball had traversed the sky, showering abroad, a sulphurous glamour over the snow-landscape. Before the intenser blue of its momentary shine had passed away, I saw Wilson stagger forward, and drop. And him and his lantern I buried deep there under the rubble ice."

The Purple Cloud,

by M.P. Shiel

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Arctic Fireballs
(Polar Irrlicht)

No. Enc.: 1

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Movement: 360 (120)

Armor Class: 

Hit Dice: 6

Attacks: 1 (constant / area effect)

Damage: 1d6 (20' radius)

Save: MU6

Morale: 8

Special: Anyone looking directly at one of these creatures must make a Save or go blind for 1d6 Turns. Repeatedly gazing into the searing blue light incurs a cumulative penalty of -1 on all subsequent Saves. Failing a Save three times in a row results in the blindness becoming permanent.
Damage inflicted within its area of effect alternates randomly between extreme heat and extreme cold.

When reduced to zero hp the creature explodes as an Incendiary Cloud (75%) or Ice Storm (25%).

Shimmering immaterial horrors from beyond the Arctic Circle, these effulgent orbs of preternatural azure flame plunge headlong through the night leaving trails of sparks and sulphurous fumes in their wake. Unquiet beasts of uncertain provenance, they make a fearful and easily distinguishable roar in their travels. It is described as being something akin to a stuttering sort of thunder one feels in their bones more than it assaults the ears, according to the accounts of various survivors. Even before the uncanny sound might be heard, a searing blue light will sweep across the landscape evaporating shadows and blinding any foolish enough to look too closely into the source of this weird radiance.

Unnatural things, intrusive forces from some Parallel Realm or malign sphere of existence few know anything about, there are many unanswered questions regarding these mysterious, sinister creatures and too few definite answers...

There are those who would reward any intrepid investigator who successfully uncovers a clue as to the actual identity of these things or any facts regarding their ultimate nature. Divinations and prognostications do not work on these things necessitating the gathering of intelligence by the time-honored process of discrete pursuit and patient observation...

Recent Developments

1. An Ill-Advised Attempt at Binding one of these things has resulted in the death of four students, leaving three others horribly burned and their Student Advisor Miss Kalisham missing and presumed either Displaced or possibly disintegrated. The Board of Inquiry is seeking the advice of anyone with what might pass for a reasonable amount of credible knowledge in these sorts of matters i.e. direct, personal experience in dealing with malevolent Irrlichts and related things.

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2. Mandival Kosrigand, a nearly destitute disgraced scholar with a penchant for exotic forms of Black Liquor claimed to have captured a specimen of what he prefers to refer to as an Effulgent Azure Orb, if only to annoy his detractors and rivals. When a group of his peers broke down the door to his study all they found was his charred corpse and what remained of his papers scattered in total disarray. Perhaps his method worked and someone moved to snatch it away before he could share it with anyone else. Maybe he was the victim of spontaneous combustion and there's nothing more to the matter. All that is certain is that someone would do well to take a closer look at things, just in case some sort of sorcerous skullduggery might be afoot...who knows who might be the next victim...

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3. A lone Forager who was presumed lost for three weeks reappeared just recently telling a bizarre tale about a strange series of caverns where all the exposed surfaces were vitrified to the point of being nearly glass-like due to the efforts of a '...radiant blue sphere of corruscating flame wreathed in a halo of sulphorous fumes that resented all intrusions upon its secret domain.' Allegedly the Forager was able to escape, but became lost in the Middle Deeps and was forced to wander through numerous unmapped areas before finally stumbling across a Sewer Militia Antekeep on the banks of a deep, cold river. They've only just left the custody of the Sewer Militia and word of their misadventure has spread quickly.

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4. Nasigallir of Greft, renowned for her research into photovoltaic phenomena has put out a call for research assistants and support staff, including a contract with a notorious fully licensed band of Pruztian deserters mercenaries...rumor has it that she intends to hunt down and either capture or destroy a number of Arctic Fireballs as part of her ongoing efforts at weaponizing various forms of Irrlichts under her grant and Letter of Patent & Marque bestowed upon her by Baron Ludrivarca Bollingern, master of one of the 'violently independent freeholds' that have seceded from the Empire now that the War has descended into anarchy and chaos. The Baron is not a man who abides chaos. At all.

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Inspiration: The quote from M. P. Shiel's The Purple Cloud was the starting point for this nasty luminous horror that was somehow brought back from the Arctic by some ill-fated expedition or another. Perhaps it is somehow connected to the Inner City at the Two Magnetic Poles and the Dno-Hna Formula or is it one of the ancient and shining foulnesses that fester between the angles of Yr and Nhhgr? Possibly...