Hereticwerks: Six Things

Showing posts with label Six Things. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2015

Six Minor Boneless Nuisances from Wermspittle

Not every shuddering mound of loathsomeness and filth is necessarily a chthonic spawn or a the oily remains of some one's Vile Transformation. There are a host of minor amorphous creatures and feral blobs at loose in the environs of Wermspittle and as any Jelly Hunter or Blob-Wrangler can tell you, while some are fierce, dangerous things best left to the professionals, the more common types of Jellies tend to be little more than nuisances...if you know how to handle them...

Blobulent. Festering, boneless blobs of flesh that bulge from between floorboards and sag down from holes in ceilings in search of easy prey, these flabby things extrude many mouths filled with soft, fleshy teeth that might fool a green beginner or someone unprepared for them, but the distinctive sucking noise they make gives them away to a seasoned wrangler...

Blobulent [Minor Blob; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 48 [11], HD 1+, #AT 1, DG 1d4, SV F1, ML 6, Special: Immune to Sleep spells, but have no Save against Charm. The inner-flesh is dark bruise-purple and highly flammable, but can be used to distill a peculiar, noxious-smelling liquor rumored to make the imbiber able to operate for more than 72 hours without sleep. Blobulent hides can be worked into some very flexible, pliable armor and is worth a fair bit, if it is completely intact--once it has been punctured the stuff is no good to anyone.]
Jiggler / Aspicarian. Translucent, wet blobs of jelly that slowly dribble down walls, windows and stairs. If you listen, you might hear them gibber softly to themselves ...

Jiggler [Common Lesser Jelly; AL N, MV 30' (10'), AC 8[11], HD 1+, #AT 1, DG 1d6 (acid), SV F1, ML 8 (automatically flees from open flame), Special: Hide in Shadows 67%, but cannot move without making sloshing noises. All organic matter touched by this thing turns sickly yellow-green, but otherwise seems no worse for wear.]
Gellid / Meat-Heap. Crude amalgamations of random chunks of rancid flesh held together by a thick, viscous mucillage-like substance. Cast off and rejected, these things slither about looking for dead things to incorporate into themselves...

Gellid / Meat Heap [Common Composite Abdead Blob; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 9[10], HD 2+, #AT 1, DG 1d4+2, SV F2, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Can be Turned as a 4HD Undead. Each pound of dead flesh they absorb gives them an additional hit point, but the process takes 2d6 Turns (They are slow eaters and cannot assimilate bones, teeth or chitin). These things often wander mindlessly into a cellar and freeze solid over the winter only to thaw out again next spring. Street Urchins and others will often try to keep track of these things in order to harvest them right before they fully thaw out...but no one will say what they actually do with them, but it might have something to do with White Powder and necromantic alchemy... ]
Offalinger. Piles of offal, blobs of fat, bits of tallow, marrow, and fractured bone-shards, all mingled and immersed within a thick, milky fluid that reeks of spoiled perfume and tainted vinegar...

Offalinger [Common Composite Blob; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 9[10], HD 2+, #AT 2, DG 1d4, 1d4, SV F1, ML 12 (fearless), Special: These unsightly, unfriendly things lob gobs of curdled lard and rancid offal at anyone who disturbs them. They have a range of 10' (plus 1d4' per HD), and they are altogether too clever about using their fatty-residue to spread fires and to make surfaces slippery.]
Ceiling Skimmer. Foragers know to look up every now and then. Those that survive. There are things that skitter and skim along the ceilings of old houses and other places. Nasty things that are just spoiling for a chance to lash out at the unwary...

Ceiling Skimmer [Minor Amorphic Horror; AL N, MV 90' (30'), AC 7[12], HD 2, #AT 1, DG 1d4+1, SV F1, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Lurk overhead and wait for opportunity to attack with surprise (+4 to hit, plus double damage, as per a Thief's Backstab (see LL p. 12). If their big surprise attack fails to render the victim unconscious or dead, the Skimmer will flee and attempt to find another vantage point from which to hide and await another opportunity to ambush some unsuspecting forager or whatever.]
Fleshpot. Sometimes that suspicious bulge behind a tapestry, or beneath an old rug is not something you want to disturb...

Fleshpot [Common Lesser Jelly; AL N, MV 45' (15'), AC 9[10], HD 3+, #AT 1, DG 2d4, SV F2, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Touch temporarily liquifies flesh on a successful hit. If the creature is killed, anyone suffering the effects of its touch will find their flesh returning to normal consistency within 3d6 minutes...however, it will retain whatever shape it took on while liquified. A healer or surgeon can mold the flesh back into place with a skill check, otherwise repairing the damage might require surgery or spells. If captured live, these things can fetch a pretty price at the Medical School and from the more reputable healers...as well as among the less scrupulous Grafters or the Comprachicos, if one is foolish enough to attempt to deal with them...]

Six Things...An Index to the Series

Red Bestiary Index

Friday, October 31, 2014

Six Altogether Ooksome Things

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...]

Six Things...An Index to the Series

Red Bestiary Index

This month's RPG blog Carnival is being hosted by the Of Dice and Dragons, so go click over to their blog and check out what other horrid things people have been posting as part of this festival of frightfulness.

Everything you might want to know about the RPG Blog Carnival is available all in one place, including How to Participate, How to Sign-Up to Host a Carnival, as well as some handy advice for How to Host a Carnival if your topic gets accepted. You can also browse through the Archives of Past Carnivals and check to see what's coming next.

The RPG Blog Carnival is sponsored and supported by the RPG Blog Alliance. You can find out more about the RPGBA by clicking these links:

The RPGBA site
The RPGBA FAQ

Monday, October 27, 2014

Six Headless and Heedless Things

Whatever you do, don't lose your head...especially not here...

Graffiti in Irving's Alley

The Guillotine never caught-on in Wermspittle, even after hanging was banned in response to the proliferation of Alraunes and Mandrakes and worse things spawned from the spilled seed of executed criminals. But even so, there are plenty of people and other things who have lost their heads, or more...

Bruno. Nine feet tall at the shoulders, perhaps slightly less on the left with the slight curvature of the spine he gained through lingering overlong in the Low-Lands as a child. Bruno was always an unlucky child. Not finding much in the way of prospects and failing his Entrance Exams, he ran with some Gutter Urchins and Feral Children for a time before he ran afoul of Lucius Pennyroyal. The serum did wonders for the boy's physique, but the brain damage had been extreme, so Lucius removed his head and replaced it with a globe of reinforced Plattnerized greenglass that was originally intended to only hold the boy's soul in place in order to keep his body alive and useful...but the glass globe has turned out to be a much more powerful Geist-Trap than Lucius expected and now poor Bruno shares the globe--and control over the hulking monstrosity of a body--with other spirits and poor Bruno is having a hard time coping...

Host-Body (unique) [Huge, Possessed Headless Hulk; AL C, MV 180' (60'), AC 5/14, HD 12, #AT 2, DG 2d6/2d6 (fists), SV F12, ML (2d6: randomly determined every time he takes damage), Special: The Greenglass Globe containing Bruno's geist, as well as 1d4 random minor spirits, tends to shift out of phase until the host-body sustains over 50% damage. The host-body is immune to all mind-influencing, Charm, hypnosis and related effects while under control by the spirits in the Globe.]

Geist-Globe (unique) [Modified Magic Jar receptacle; AC 3/16, HD 6, SV MU 8. Special: If destroyed, the geists trapped inside this globe will be set loose for good or ill, but Bruno's spirit will remain bound to his drastically altered body unless suitably exorcized. Shards of the globe can be used as +1 weapons against geists and spirits, or to form a geist-trap, if one knows how to craft such things.

Bruno's Geist (unique) [Bound spirit; AC 0/19 (requires special weapon to hit), HD 4, #AT 1, DG 2d4 (Vitality-drain), SV T4, ML (2d6: randomly determined each time host-body takes damage, upon failing Morale check, another spirit takes over for 1d6 Turns. Special: Since Pennyroyal's incarceration in the Gormenstille, only Bruno knows where the bad doktor's last remaining samples of his serum can be found... ]
Lirg. They took his skull and left his geist trapped in an old lantern that they clamped into place within his rib cage. Try as he might, he cannot recall who did this to him or why. The Chapel Guard discharged him as unfit for duty, otherwise he's pretty much a typical reanimated skeleton...one with a lantern holding a blue flame where his heart used to be...

Lirg (unique) [Skeleton; AL N, MV 60' (20'), AC 4/15, HD 6, #AT 1, DG 1d6 (short sword), SV F6, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Lirg can perceive everything within a 20' radius as though using a True Seeing spell. He can only communicate with Mediums, Geist-talkers or spirit-touched. He desperately wants to know who did this to him and why... ]
Tazger Yalg. Accursed and bereft of all flesh, Tazger must endure the humiliation of only being able to occupy hollow squash, gourds or pumpkins as part of his punishment at the hands of a vengeful Midwife. Always a conniver and a barracks lawyer during his brief stint in the Sewer Militia, he was able to convince, cajole and con some of his former comrades to turn over a Pruztian Sturmgraben Construct damaged during the brief period in-between Occupations. So now Tazger has a body, of sorts, but no matter what he tries, he can't seem to keep his pumpkin-head attached to it...

Tazger's Body (unique) [Sturmgraben War-Construct; AL N, MV 180' (60'), AC 6/13, HD 3, #AT 1, DG 1d4+2 (Militia-Issue dagger), SV F6, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Until he discovers a reliable way to attach his head to this body, it must carry the pumpkin-head in one of its arms. Sturmgraben are manufactured from wood, canvas, discarded ammunition cannisters, and similar battle-field debris and as such they are very flammable, taking double damage from all fire attacks. As an Unliving Construct, the body takes only half damage from normal melee attacks or bullets. Tazger can attempt to repair damage to the body when out of combat with a 40% chance of regaining 1d4 hit points if there is suitable debris at hand.]

Tazger's Head (unique) [bound spirit; AL C, MV 0 (must be carried), AC 9/10, HD 6, #AT 1, DG 1d4 + Confusion, SV F6, ML 6. Special: The pumpkin used as Tazger's head is very susceptible to rotting, decay, or corruption effects taking double damage from all such effects or attacks. Once the head is reduced to zero hit points, Tazger must devote all his attention and efforts to acquiring another organic vessel for his spirit. If he fails to do so within 3 hours, he collapses into a foul-smelling blue flame that completely consumes whatever host-body he was using and once the flame goes out he is lost forever. Unless the Midwife who cursed him chooses to relent...which she might do if he has anything interesting to barter...]
Subject 3. The victim of Headtaker Beetles, this decapitated corpse was discovered by a team of Foragers who notified the Red Watch. Since the body was never adequately identified, they eventually surrendered the corpse to the municipal morgue, as per standard procedure. An enterprising intern on the night shift sold the unidentified cadaver to an unlicensed reanimator who quickly lost control over the thing. It wanders the alleys now, randomly, mindlessly attacking anyone or anything it runs into...

Subject 3 (unique) [Huge Headless Reanimant; AL C, MV 90' (30'), AC 9/10, HD 8, #AT 2 (fists), DG 2d8/2d8, SV F8, ML 12 (fearless), Special: Electrical effects Slow this creature. All normal healing spells instead inflict damage. It recovers 1 hit point for every 10 it inflicts.Upon being reduced to zero hit points, this thing goes dormant for 1d4 Turns after which it rises again at half its normal hit points. If again reduced to zero hp, it goes dormant for 1d4 weeks. It can only be completely destroyed by acid, according to Pennyroyal's confiscated notes. SPECIAL: The Street Patrol offers a substantial reward for the capture of this thing, while the Red Watch has posted a reward for its verified destruction.]
Old Wobbly Kraz. A heavy metal statue of some former champion of the oppressed and hero of several important yet forgotten battles lost its head during the aerial bombardments. Now it lurches along the old parade route waving a tattered flag, its hollow interior sloshing with a bizarre mixture of liquor and other substances dumped through the gaping hole in its neck by revelers, drunkards, petitioners and others. Some say it brings good luck, others claim it might shorten the next winter; no one knows if it does anything more than add to the noxious fluids gurgling away inside this mindless automaton. Street Urchins, Feral Children and others often dare one another to sample the strange brew that slops and spills from Old Wobbly Kraz...the effects can be extreme but more often they are merely loathsome...

Old Wobbly Kraz (unique) [Huge, Hollow Bronze Memorial-Golem; AL N, MV 30' (10'), AC 3/16, HD 18, #AT 1, DG 2d4 (trample), SV F18, ML 12 (mindless), Special: Kraz rarely deviates from its route and stops for 1d100 minutes every 30 feet. The only people who've ever been harmed by Kraz were those who stole liquor from his hollow interior, or those that were immobilized and stranded in the path of his clomping feet. The fluids sloshing about inside old Kraz might be something found in the Weird Drafts pdf found at Gorgonmilk's blog, or perhaps we'll put together a special random table for this down the road... ]
Meowlik. Large black cats who've lost their heads...but they'll gladly take yours...

Meowliks (1d4) [Large, Abdead Alley-Cats; AL C, MV 210' (70'), AC 46/13, HD 4, #AT 2, DG 1d4/1d4 (claws), SV F2, ML 5, Special: Can be Turned as 6 HD monsters. Immune to all visual-stimuli-style effects. Anyone killed by these feline terrors has their head taken and used by the Meowlik as their own, making it impossible to resurrect the victim. The Meowlik that gains a head in this fashion progresses as a Magic User from that point onward, gaining the ability to cast spells, learn languages, and use whatever magical implements they can manipulate with their paws.]