Starica Babicka and more Warlockery

My crew of feybloods who are busy fighting a group of armband wearing racial supremacists (because I am far from apolitical) recently had made a side trip into a swamp to meet a hag. They did so because of a critical failure on Faerie Lore, but got a little information about the workings of the Winter Court.

Surprise, the Summer Court is deeply into the lives of mortals (Most Feybloods exist for a reason) but the Winter Court is only disinterested in them. Mortals scarcely matter to most of those fey. However, a faction that is offended by the “Dilution of pure fey bloodlines” is involved in glamouring small minded humans to act antagonistically against those different from themselves.  If it were true in our world, a circle of iron could put an end to racism, but here we are, in a world where we cannot blame otherworldly creatures for our own expressions of hatred.

Here is the local ruler of the swamps east of Northport, Starica (Strega) Babicka, assorted Folk tales of Baba Yaga, and a bit of Dolmenwood, as filtered through GURPS: Fairie, Lloyd Alexander and Charle De Lint.

 

Starica Babicka

Hag fairie, strong 

ST:16 [60] DX: 13 [60] IQ: 14 [80] HT:13 [30]

HP: 16 [0] Per: 14/16 [0] Will [14] FP:13*25

Bs: 7.5 MV: 7 Dodge:11 Oar Parry:12

DR: 2 SM +1 (0)

Oar (16) 2d+4 cutting or crushing.

Claw (15) 1d+2 crushing

Bite (15) 1d-1 cutting;can unhinge jaw and swallow SM-2 or smaller on a critical success.

 

Advantages:

Winter court rank 2 [10] Differential smell [15]

Acute sense of smell+2 [4],  Enhanced magic resistance +4 [20]

Magery 4 [45] Energy reserve +12 [36] Terror(switcheable) [33]

Injury Tolerance (except to meteoric iron, magical weapons and fire) [30]

Hard to kill +2 [4] Hard to Subdue +2 [4] DR 2 [6]

 

Disadvantages:

Code of honor, fae [-10] cannot harm innocents [-10] Jealous [-10]

Stubborn [-5] Odious Personal Habit: eats sentients (only bad children) [-15]

Vulnerable to meteoric iron (1d) [-10]

 Quirks:

easily offended, suspicious, Likes riddles,Avoids full sunlight,

fond of frogs as food (they test their bravery by seeing how long they can stay in reach of her), 

SKILLS:

Staff 16 [12]

Polearm 16 [12]

Brawling 15 [4]

Wrestling 15 [8]

Area knowledge, swamp 15 [4]

Current events, faerie court 14 [1]

Savoir faire, faerie court 14* [1]

Hidden Lore, Faeries 17 [12]

Naturalist 18 [20]

Survival, wetlands -15 [2]

Natural Philosophy 18 [20]

Thaumatology 18 [8]

Alchemy 16 [16]

Herb lore 16 [12]]

Occultism 16 [8]

Dungeon butcher 16 [8]

Fishing 14 [1]

Boating 15 [8]

Cooking 16 [8]

 

Spells:

All at 16:  Alarm, nightingale, mystic mist, the entire plant college; much of the Animal college (communication spells),seek, shape, create +3 more in all four elements, most food and illusion spells, 

All at 20:  Curse, perfect illusion, illusion disguise, dispell magic, missile shield, magelock, create object, mystic mark, recover energy, Sense life, sense foes, resist fire.

 

She travels in a leather corracle that she can sling over her shoulder(it changes size from a yard to three yards wide, is waterproof,  fireproof, has DR 10 and self repairs),

and uses a carved oar (dragonbone staff/poleaxe) With which she has 16 skill and gives her 10 fp as a power item.

 

Now the cluster of 125 point characters would have been no match for her if she had been angry, but they placated her with honeycomb found with a Survival roll and a meat pie purchased in the market, even with the handful of hazelnuts that granted beast speech…

Meanwhile, Ruby Fire Games has put out  a bunch of supplements for Warlock! that are all full of my artwork, and have some wicked good ideas on handling corruption from spellcasting (all magic in Warlock comes from pacts with demons) and has rules for elves, dwarves, and halflings and cool things like a Hand of Glory.

You can get a look at the main book for warlock here.

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Buy my stuff!

Do some good and donate to end racism in our world

 

 

Minicon Recap

• Last weekend at Manhattan Minicon, I ran and completed The Redoubt of Hades over two play sessions.

Players were Greg, who I met for a pickup game of GURPS Infinite World, and who has played through two of my other con games, Beneath the Fallen Tower, and Shame of the Deepguard. He played Jelani the halberdier, and made great use of called shots to the neck

Next was Andre, who has played several characters in my online game, Northport, including the goblin priest of the Erl King, Zeelzeel Shadowspear.  He was torn between Marlo, the thief of indeterminate gender, and Zeelzeel’s necromancer cousin, longtime NPC Razakeel Shadowcloak , who had some zombie allies. He ended up settling on Marlo, due to his love of knives.

Mark, enthusiastic and new to GURPS, was also attracted to Razakeel, became torn between Ofelia, the Sleep centric mage from Shame of the Deepguard, and Thornstripe, a movement and missile mage, equipped with both fireball, and the now off-book Winged Knife. He succumbed to the sweet lure of pyromania, which worked well against the undead being faced.

Nick briefly contemplated an adventurer, but decided to complete the classic quartet and wonderfully played the cleric Sister Clarissa

(Note: her will is 13, not 11)

Nick is French, and my campaign is set in a caricature of medieval France, so there were some awkward moments as I mangled the names of some of my NPCs. He took everything in stride and was hilarious in his depiction of the charitable but severe priestess.

“Good morning Heretic, we are here to enter the Undercity.”

The adventure started in the common room of the Adventurers Guild, which is my conceit for accommodating a West Marches style of play.  They were called upstairs by Bellarius (high elf Agent from DF15), the secretary of Camilla the Quest Coordinator (Agent+Adept) who brought them to her, where they also met with Plutocrat Remulos of the Hadereum (cleric+a couple of social lenses with rank and wealth), Margeaux le Manifique (the apparent sole survivor of that poorly managed expedition by a bad player), and Karlow the orc working for the Department of Acueducts and Sewers.

Due to increased cult activity in the Undercity, several members of the hadereum (12 cultists and 2 initiates) had entered to rededicate a long abandoned temple of Hades in order to strengthen the presence of law amid the chaos below. Two weeks ago (a week before Margeaux returned) they went dark, and a guarded caravan of food and supplies sent to them disappeared.

The route from the Hadereum has been blocked, as something large (the bhole {super dire Rotworm} that came through the Ymid’s Bone Gate) collapsed part of the tunnels. Margeaux’s story suggests another route, and Karlow will be their guide.

Margeaux is accompanied by the ghost  dof her dead husband Claude, who really wishes their wedding vows had included “to death do we part”, and she talks to him, suggesting he keeps himself hidden with the Plutocrat present. (The Hadereum likes everyone to stay dead where they belong)

Claude spells out something in water drops from a glass nearby “Anything to get away from you!” Which is spotted by Thornstripe on a critical perception roll, allowing the mage to see the shimmering form of the spirit.

Sister Clarissa, having higher purpose: slay undead starts chanting an exorcism, which is interrupted by Remulos, who asks her to refrain from her non-pagan ways in his presence (Sister Clarissa is a Triunist, and comes from the Bishop of Sonne, who is currently paying Adventurers to fight wights in the abandoned Monastery).

They proceed to Ashbury’s Abattoir , meet the crew their, and find their way to the ladder well left unsecured when Margeaux’s group had lowered their dwarf sized iron golem down it. This caused grumbling from Karlow, who closed the hatch. Now on the second level, they ran into the terribly hungry and frightened young speaking Otyugh (IQ6) in a catchment room, trying to keep out a handful of horde zombies who fell to fireballs, thrown knives, halberd work, and True Faith. (The zeds had been released from impromptu burial chambers by evil cultists with the Brotherhood of the Dead perk).

Karlow grumbled some more, fed and locked it in its pen and the catchment room., And they determined that the local Sewer employee had been killed by a member of  Margeaux’s group…

They dove into a room that recently held dead to avoid a horde of plague zombies, and Jelani rolled a critical strength failure trying to push the door closed, and instead pushed something out…

Just the TiP

After this encounter, they entered the pool room, where Margeaux’s party met their demise, (along with a crowd of undead whose corpses were  the scattered about)  along with the reanimated remains of her party. The guild was paying them to recover their guild badges, so they collected all but Timeon’s. When confronted with the puzzle of lighting fires atop the pylons, the mage fireballed one, and critically failed another, stunning himself.

Lighting both pylons (in a very Legend of Zelda way) caused the fountain to spill gold coins into the mildly caustic water (the golem had rusted through in a week). Unfortunately, not lighting them simultaneously (which two people with torches could have done) released The Thing in the Pool, or as my players called it, “just the TiP”. It was a multi-tentacled elder thing that had a fear aura, and laid heavily into the party. We even used a bit of Gaming Ballistic’s Fantastic Dungeon Grappling when dealing with the TiP wrapping tentacles around Jelani before it could eat her.

After it was defeated, with both haste and great haste being cast, and both the gold and the golem’s orichalcum maul, which Sister Clarissa took despite lacking the requisite strength.

They exited the pool room into a nearby storage room where Timeon was holding out, using one ancient barrel of rations for food, and another for used foods, and he shot Marlo with his crossbow, and the tribe accepted him as a member, finding out while resting and healing that he had been unwilling to re-enter the pool room for fear of the Void Brute that Frer Noe had summoned to kill the previous party, and  because he broke his lockpicks on the outer door. Once some fatigue was recovered (including some from Lend Energy) they exited the anteroom by means of Karlow’s key, and ran into a horde of plague zombies

True faith and great haste again ruled the day, as they cleaved,  mauled, stabbed, shot, and fireballed their way through the fleeing horde, and ended up Fantastically Grappling a cultist who had been herding the dead.

The second cultist ran ahead and opened a door, releasing three New and Improved Wights.

Unlike my previous versions, which were unkillable with an Achilles heel of Silver or Magical Weapons, these had Injury Resistance (50%) to attack forms other than fire and silver or enchanted weapons. Skeletal undead take 2x from crushing weapons, which cancel out the injury resistance, allowing Sister Clarissa to pound the wights, which is good, because two out of three resisted true faith.  Jelani was closed with after missing a neck shot with her halberd, and was the first to suffer energy drain (FP) from the wights. Marlow made a head shot count, and Karlow stepped in, and was eventually overrun, losing enough FP to end up in a HP lowering Death spiral.

Weakened and afraid of Karlow turning, they took out the wights.

Soon after, they rescued the worshipers trapped in the Redoubt, and headed home.

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Recovering from bad players

In my long running pbp Dungeon Fantasy game, Northport, I have had a number of troublesome players. Most of the time, this only amounts to people leaving unexpectedly after I have put in work to integrate them into a group, and wrote out stats for the projected likely course of adventure, incorporation of backstory into the setting, and even assistance with the character builds.

I have several players running multiple characters that were abandoned by their creators because they left in the middle. Life happens, and the speed of pbp is not for everyone.

When I was running a version of this game on playbyweb, I did have characters left hanging because their behavior on other forae got them booted by the admins.

I have had some players abrasive enough that other players quit in frustration after attempting pvp actions that were so disruptive I had to ban them.

This player was different, and had played for a while, rubbing other players the wrong way, and eventually being banned for a time; his characters were always complaining to guild authorities for maltreatment, when they had deliberately witheld information from the party, including party members who held guild rank.He also continuously demanded to be in charge, and was generally a real pain, and were so disruptive I had them removed.

After a year or more they came back, wanting to play a character with guild rank who had a loyal ally group. As had been previously discovered, characters built mostly on allies tended to be weaker than their base template; most of the juniors group I run had started as allies of a character, who while 250 points, was effectively only a 150 point character with a ton of allies. This one ended up being an agent with about 40 points extra.

I had another character, a wizard who had a golem servant, built as expensive property on the $500 to one point ratio, and with all of the prerequisite enchantment spells, a while before enchantment was officially written out of DF.

So this new player wanted a golem as well, and suggested that it colud be built as a dwarf sized iron golem, as suggested in a pyramid article. This was fairly pricy, and I explained that the character would be built from a much lower pool or resources.

Fine, it was not much worse than an ogre barbarian another player had, so it was permitted. I had plans for weak flooring and ladders that would not support its 600lb weight, and pentagrams embedded in the floor, and no-mana areas it couldn’t enter, so there were suitable checks and balances.

Eventually, his group, which had been dealing with other guild interests that resulted in points in secondary guild businesses, like my assorted underground tavern schemes, needed more party members for exploration. (A lot of the senior guild folk get their income from interest in caravan guard companies, gambling houses and taverns instead of doing adventuring; that kind of work is for player characters.)

Several of my standard hireling NPC’s joined for brief excursions; Ludlow and Razakeel,  Molag, and Dolpho, a cutpurse who originally worked for the same PC who had the rest of tne juniors as his ally group.

Because of another player’s intolerance of thugs, ruffians, and other lowlifes (i.e. half of the guild membership) that player and his friend had their characters join his group instead of one that included some of the above sorts of miscreants after seeing him recruiting retainers in the guild common area, and after a very short period dealing with his abrasiveness, they walked out and abandoned him. They later spoke down about him in the common areas, and when he next looked for hirelings, he got some very dubious characters. Most of these questionable types were built using the suggestions for unreliable hirelings in DF 15 . Unlike other recruiters in the guild, he made no attempt to vett them in any way, such as reading the character descriptions, or making use of Area Knowledge: guild, a skill the character actually had…

Here are four of them:

Frer Noe, who was presented with the same avatar portrait as all of the other cultists encountered in this game. To be fair, I have used that picture to represent pilgrims of good gods, but I hadn’t done so at the time Frer Noe joined the party, and this image had been used for years for the evil cultists.

Frer Noe is a cultist from DF 15, buffed up to 125 points, but no true initiate.
Att:90
Adv:47
D/q:-54
Sk:18
Sp:20
Total:125

ST:11 DX:11 IQ:12: HT:12
Hp:11 will:13 per:12 FP:16
Bs:5.50 MV: 5 D: 8
Adv:
5 clerical investment
20 power investiture 2,
1 natural elder cultist
(variant of natural demonologist,
allows planar summons without prerequisite)
3 knows the words (planar summons)
5 Will+1
12 energy reserve 4
1 Adventurer’s guild membership
Dis
-5 Voices
-15 Fanatic
-10 delusions
-5 disciplines of faith
-10 struggling
-5 reduced move
mumbles his prayers constantly,
not particularly hygenic,
Has scratches on his face
Fingernails stained black

Theology (elder) 1 10
religious ritual 2 11
occultism 2 12
Meditation 2 11
demon lore 2 12
Elder lore 2 12
undead lore 1 11
Knife 2 12
Ax/mace 4 12

and the following spells:
Lend Energy 2 13
Share Energy 2 13
Lend Vitality 2 13
Steal Health 4 14
Decay 2 13
Planar Summons 8 15

The next up was Gaspard the pseudo swashbuckler, built on only 72 points

Guard with a little extra
Att:70
Adv:21
D/q:-55
Sk:36
Total:72

St: 12 dx: 12 iq:10 ht:11
Hp: 12 will: 10 per: 10 fp: 11
BS: 6.75 MV: 6 dodge: 10 parry: 11
Adv:
15 Combat reflexes
5 Rapier wit
1 guild membership
-5 compulsive carousing,
-5 compulsive gambling,
-15 greed,
-5 Overconfidence
-10 Impulsive,
-10 Bully
Quirks:
Lecherous,
dishonest face,
vain,
sarcastic,
disloyal

Skills
Rapier 8 14
Main gauche 8 14
Throw knife 1 12
Crossbow 1 12
Brawling 2 13
Sex appeal 2 11
Gambling 2 10
Carousing 2 13
Climbing 1 11
Dancing 1 11
Fast talk 8 12

Equipment
Cheap Rapier
Main gauche
Cloth gambeson armor DR1 overall
Jack of plates torso armor DR 4

Then came Timeon, a killer posing as a thief:

Timeon is a killer (125pt)
At: 110
Adv:31
D/q:-55
Sk: 39
Total:125
St 11 dx 14 iq 10 ht 12
Hp 11 per 12 will 9 fp 12
T/s 1d-1/1d+1 (1d+1/2d+1)
Bs:7.5 mv:6 dodge:7 parry:12
Adv:
15 combat reflexes
5 Resistant to poison+3
2 night vision 2
8 surprise striking ST+4
1 guild membership
Dis:
-5Callous
-10 bloodlust
-15 greedy
-10 Struggling
-10 no sense of humor
Q always dresses dark,
smokes his blades black (immediately post combat)
Will only eat what he has seen prepared
Mildly paranoid
Aspires to the torturers guild, practices when he can

Skills:
Knife 4 16
Fast draw knife 1 14
Garrotte 1 14
Stealth 4 15
Crossbow 4 16
Brawling 1 14
Poisons 4 10
Streetwise 2 10
Urban survival 2 11
Wrestling 2 13
Broadsword 4 15
Traps 2 10
Lockpick 2 14
Intimidation 2 10
First aid 1 10
Climbing 1 13
Shadowing -12
Proffessional skill: torturer 1 9

Wears a gambeson (DR 1) with an anti garrote collar
He carries three vials of monster drool
A cheap thrusting broadsword, crossbow, quarrels,
About 5 assorted knives, a garrotte and a tallow candle for blacking.

The final member of the quartet was Margeaux le Manifique, a charlatan allied with her husband’s ghost, at 187 points:

Mageaux is a charlatan.

ST 10 DX 12 IQ 13 HT 11
hp 10 per 13 will 13 fp 11
Bs:5.75 mv: 5 dodge: 8

Advantages 41
Magery 0 5
charisma+1 5
Attractive 4
Ally 16, appears on a 12 (her former husband Claude)
Spirit empathy 10
Spirit Talker 2 10
guild membership 1

disadvantages-50
Voices -5
overconfidence -5
greed -15
selfish -5
struggling -10
Q
Acts mysterious,
argues with Claude,
acts as if she has real access to oracular abilities
Wears layers of scarves and many bangles,
Avoids real mages
She has most of the skills of an apprentice, and magery 0.

Skills: 42
Occultism 4 14
fortune telling 6 15
thaumatology 1 10
alchemy 1 10
fast talk 4 13+
Performance 2 12
Acting 2 12
Current affairs, Guild 2 14
magical ritual 2 11
sleight of hand 8 12
streetwise 1 12
knife 4 13
throw knife 4 13
Sex appeal 2 14
Theology 1 12
Hidden lore: spirits 1 13
Meditation 1 12
spells:24

Light 1 11
ignite fire 1 11
simple illusion 8 15
Sense foes 1 11
Sense emotion 1 11
Persuasion 8 15
Foolishness 4 13

She does have a variety of low rent spells,
Along with performance and fortune telling.
She also has a ghostly ally with aportation, for 8 pts.
Medium, spirit empathy,
delusional, voices, wierdness magnet

Her ghost is Claude, a bog standard ghost from DF9, he has magery 1 (affects substantial)For 30 points, and the spells apportation, poltergeist, complex illusion, all  at 15,
And has a habit of writing angry things on damp mirrors,
(Which she also fakes with sleight of hand.)

ATT 110
ad 51
dis 50
q5
sk 44
spells 24
187 pts

 

The bad behavior got worse from there. The player kept adding orichalcum items to his characters, (the enchantress had the requisite spell chain, but the process involves an immense amount of energy as per Dr.Krom’s rules, and needs to be played through) and started inflating the points and rewriting the characters until they were completely blown out of proportion.  I offered him the chance to fix them, and he couldn’t even do that, so out he went, booted and banned from returning.

The one advantage to this mess, is that I will be running a tabletop game using 187 point characters at the next Manhattan Minicon, and will use the same adventure,  with the addition of the undead forms of most of these characters.  In my timeline, only Margeaux and Timeon escaped, along with a young otyugh (they unlocked it from its cage in the sewers, to which it returned.) The others were slain by a void brute summoned by Frer Noe, and the golem was left to rust in a pool.

Underground Taverns

Spaces for shopping while dungeoneering have always been a feature of video games, my recent podcast discusses this as it applies to Northport. I thought I would share some NPC’s involved in this establishment, a re-purposed tavern near a slaughterhouse that was abandoned due to a rat infestation that is now a service entrance to an underground bar  (sort of like Peter Dell’Orto’s Tavern Level of Felltower) and adventuring supply station.  Ever since evil cultists have taken to the undercity, the clerics of the Hadereum have been issuing “Adventuring Licenses” to hunt them down without paying taxes on the proceeds.  In the main tavern there is a large winch set up over a 4’x4′ trapdoor that has been used to lower masonry supplies and also a small iron golem.

The owner of the establishment is Ashbury. the place is The Abattoir.

This is the crew that works there:

Above ground:

Benoit Dufresne is a bartender (125point inkeeper) 
who operates the surface level
of Ashbury's Abattoir.
 Mostly he serves simple fare to workers from the
slaughterhouse across the street, and receives
 deliveries for the lower level.
He lives on the upper floor along with some of the 
downstairs crew.

Benoit is based on both the
 Bartender and the Inkeeper templates from DF 10

Benoit Dufresne, junior innkeeper
Att:[70]
ST:11 DX:11 IQ:11 HT:12
HP:11 Per:13 Will:12 FP:!2
T/S 1d-2/1d+1
Basic speed 5.00 Basic MV 5 Dodge 8

keeps a loaded crossbow under the bar, 1d impaling

Adv:[33]
[10]Per+2
[5] Will +1
[10] Jack of all trades 1
[5] Charisma+1
[1] alchohol tolerance
[1] improvised weapons
[1] membership, Guild of Brewers and innkeepers
Dis:[-33]
[-5] Chummy
[-5]overconfident
[-10] bad temper
[-5] gluttony
[-5] no sense of smell
[-3] Obese

Quirks:[-5] Nosy,
gossipy, 
lazy,
dislikes clerics,
disheveled

Skills:[60]
Bartender [4] 13
Brewing [2] 12
Streetwise [4] 12
Brawling [2]12
Wrestling [8]13
Diplomacy [1] 10
Area Knowledge, Northport [1] 11
Current Affairs [2] 12
Gambling [1] 10
Carousing [2] 13
Crossbow [8] 14
F/d crossbow from under counter [4]13
Axe/mace[4] 12
Throwing [4] 12
Merchant [1] 10
Observation [2] 13
ATT: 70 ADV:31 DIS:-33 Q:-5 Skills: 60 Total: 125

Another relative of Ashbury, 
Clarice works as a cook at the Abattoir
Clarice is built using the servant template
 from Peter Dell'Orto's DF15

Clarice, tavern cook
ST: 10/11 DX:11 IQ:11 HT:10
HP:10 Per:11 Will:11 FP:10
T/:S:1d-2/1d BL 24lbs
Basis speed 5.00 Basic MV 5

Clarice wears simple homespun garments,
 and has a fine quality large knife
(she keeps several knives in the kitchen,
 but that one is her favorite.

Adv: [25]
[10] Goodwife+2
[15] unfazeable
[1] Recipe [Dire animal]
[3] Lifting ST +!

DIS: [-30]
[-5] basic speed-0.25
[-4] unattractive
[-5] incurious
[-10] no sense of humor
[-5] truthful
[-1] intolerant of lechery

Quirks:[-5] Cheap, pragmatic, dour, judgemental, blunt
Skills:
Cooking [8] 15
Housekeeping [1] 13
Bartending [2] 11
Scrounging [1] 11
Urban Survival [4] 12
Knife [2] 12
Axe/mace [2] 11
Throw knife [1]
Brawling [1]
Stealth [1]
Observation [1]
Search [1]
Sewing [1] 13
Gardening [1] 13

Clarice spent a bit of time fending for herself 
when the formerhousehold she worked at collapsed 
when the merchant heading it was killed
by bandits, and has a number of great preparations 
for giant rat.
She keeps to simple drab things, and saves her money.
A woman of few pleasures, she enjoys a good brandy
 and a pipe on occasion.

Below Ground:


Small Charles, brother to Yeoman Charra 
(captain of the guild halberdiers) 
is a dock laborer with one leg.(Lost to Jin the Yakuza)
 he has 63 points of modifications  toward being an innkeeper:
+1 st, +2 iq, carousing 2 brewing 2, bartending 2 
current events 2 crossbow 2, 2 points in guild memberships 
and 1 point in merchant.


Small Charles was a laboror working on the docks,
 when some guild action (blockading a ship from unloading 
while a third paying party robbed it)
resulted in an attack by adventurers trying to prevent the robbery, 
and his left leg was smasked by a Yakuza's tetsubo, shattering it beyond even
the restorative healing of a cleric of Sethyg, and had an amputation above the knee.
The United Dockworker and Longshoreman's Guild has a very strong retirement plan
for members who know how to keep their mouths shut, and a reciprocal arrangement
with their sister organization, the Guild of Brewers and Inkeepers. After his
injury, Charles, who is the brother of Yeoman Charra of the Adventurer's Guild,
was placed after some training, into a position as a bartender in Ashbury's
Abattoir.

Small charles is built on the Laborer template from Peter Dell'Orto's DF15, with
63 points of a custom lens for Inkeeper (from DF10) added on to bring him to 80pts


Small Charles, one-legged bartender
Att:[80]
ST:14/16 DX:10 IQ:11 HT:12
Hp:14 Per: 11 Will:11 FP:12
T/S: 1d/2d
Basic Speed:6.00 Basic Move:2

Adv:[28]
[5] fit
[6] Lifting ST+2
[6] hard to kill +3
[1] membership:Unighted Dockworker and Longshoreman's Guild
[1] membership:Guild of Brewers and Inkeepers
[1] membership: Adventurer's Guild
[1] alcohol tolerance
[7] independent income, pension
Dis:[-50]
[-20] lame:one leg
[-20] reduced move
[-5] code of honor: stays bought
[-5] callous
Quirks:[-5]
     Colorul tattoos on his arms, distrustful, loud
     Proud of his fish stew, twitchy left eye
Skills:[27]
Brawling [2] 11 lifting [2] 12 Wrestling [2] 10
Animal Handling (equines) [2] 11 Packing [1] 10
Teamster [1] 10 Axe/mace [2] 10 Streetwise [1] 10
Carousing [2] 12 Brewing [2] 12 Bartending [2] 11
Current events [2] 12 crossbow [4] 12 merchant [1] 9
Cooking [1] 10



Att:80 adv:28 dis:-50 q:-5 sk:27 total: 80 pts

Lourdad is a brute with bully, callousness, social status:criminal
2hd axe maxe, uses heavy spiked mace, has 4pts in strike knee manoeuvre
Streetwise, compulsive carousing, code of honor pirate
Unattractive, high ranks in intimidation

Lourdad was one of Connard Du Menteur's enforcers who collected debts,
and surrendered to the party that shut down the establishment.
He is now employed as a bouncer at Ashbury's Abbatoir.
Lourdad is built on the Brute Template from Peter Dell'Orto's DF15

Lourdad, Brute

Att:[120]
ST:14 DX:13 IQ:10 HT:12
Hp:14 Per:10 Will:10 FP:12
T/S: 1d/2d
Basic speed: 7.00 basic MV:6 Dodge 7
Parry: 12

Lourdad wears light scale torso armor DR3,
With heavy leather sleeves, leggings and boots DR2
And carries a spiked maul (2d+4)
Adv: [25]
[15] Combat Reflexes
[10] High Pain Threshold
Dis:[-50]
[-5] basic speed-0.25
[-5] callous
[-5] code of honor, pirate's
[-5] compulsive carousing
[-5] Social Stigma: criminal
[-10] Impulsiveness
[-5] stubbornness
[-10] bad temper
Quirks:[-5]
    Knuckle tattoos (amour/haine), facial tattoos around eyes,
    easily offended, compulsive tattooing, despises gambling
Skills:[35]
Brawling [2] 14 Wrestling [1] 12 Knife [1] 13
Two-handed Axe/mace [16] 17
Maneuver: leg strike [4] +2
Armory, body armor [1] 9
Crossbow [2] 14
Forced entry [1] 13
Carousing [2] 13
Intimidation [4] 11+
Streetwise [1] 9

Bartolemu is Strong Claire's cousin, and works at
 Ashbury's place,The Abbattoir

He is built on Peter Dell'Orto's Guard template from DF 15

Bartolemu, Orcish guard

ST 13 DX 11 IQ 9 HT 13
HP 14 Per 10/12 Will 10 FP 13
T/S 1d-1/2d-1 BL 34
BS: 6.0 MV 5 Dodge 8 Parry 8
DR: Head 4 (pot helm) Torso 3 (heavy leather), Limbs 2 (Leather)
He carries a cheap blunt ended broadsword (1d cr/2d cut)
and a crossbow (1d+2 impaling)

ADV: [15] Orc (hearing +2, will and per +1, res met hazards +3,
         rapid healing, infravision, ugly, bully, social stigma:Savage)
     [1]  Sacrificial parry
Dis:
[-5] Mv-1,
[-10] struggling,
[-5] Code of honor, Stays bought
[-5] wounded (right knee)
[-5] callous
Quirks: [-5] horrible hangovers, brooding,
            scar on his palm (was stabbed through it),
            walks with a noticeable limp,
 always has a toothpick in his mouth
Skills:
    Brawling [1] Knife [1] Wrestling [1]
    Broadsword [2] 11  crossbow [8] 14
Armory, Missle Weapons [1] 8
Forced entry [1] 11 Intimidation [1] 9+ Jugga (sport) [1] 10

Hragosh is an orcish merchant, working in Ashbury's Abbattoir
Orcs have been working in this and other guild concerns after
the Adventurer's Guild  guildmaster Rigo Bleak  struck a deal 
with the orcs to have them ease up street violence so as not 
to interfere with gambling operations that the guild has a piece of.

Hragosh is built on Peter Dell'Orto's Agent template from DF 15,
 with elements of the Cheerer background I presented on my blog

Hragosh, Agent
ST 11 DX 12 IQ 12 HT 13
HP 12 Per 13 Will 13 FP 13
T/S 1d-2/1d+1 BL 22
BS 6.25 Base MV 6 Dodge 9
DR 1 wears a gambeson and quilted leggings, and boots DR 2
She carries a decent thrusting broadsword (1d-1 imp/1d+2 cut)
and an ornate large knife (1d-2 imp/1d+1 cut) she has a silk fan

Adv:
[15] Orc(+2 hearing, +1 ST, +t HT +1HP,-1 IQ, +1 per, +1 will,
         res to met hazards+3, infravision, rapid healing,
         base appearance of ugly, bully, social stigma: savage)
[10] comfortable wealth
[4] Unattractive appearance (attractive to orcs and other goblekin)
[5] charisma+1
[1] penetrating voice
DIS:
[-5] chummy
[-5] Code of honor, pirates
[-15] greed
[-10] xenophilia
[-5] stubborn
[-5] overconfidence
[-5] sense of duty, adventuring companions
Quirks [-5]
     always feels too hot, loud, likes to party, forward,
      proud of a silk Sahudese fan she carries
Skills:
  Merchant [8] 14 Streetwise [2] 12 Carousing [2] 14*
  Fast talk [2] 12* Public speaking [2] 12*
  Sex appeal [1] 12* Intimidation [1] 12* 
  Area knowledge, Northport [1] 13
  Scounging [1] 13, Singing [1] 13 Dancing [1] 11
  Broadsword [4] 13 Brawling [2] 13 Knife [2] 13

Martin Haight is the nephew of Ashbury,
works with Lourdad, Small charles, Hragosh, and Bartolemu
He is built on the Apprentice template from Peter Dell'Orto's DF15

Martin Haight, Commercial apprentice
ATT:[90]
ST 10 DX 11 IQ 13 HT 11
HP 10 Will 13 Per 12 FP 14
T/s: 1d-2/1d
BS 5.0 Basic MV 5 Dodge 8

Carries a silvered dagger (1d-3 imp)
DR 1, torso and feet, DR 0 elsewhere

ADV:[44]
[25] Magery 2
[10] comfortable
[9] FP +3

DIS: [-50]
[-10] Lazy
[-5] Skinny
[-5] unfit
[-5] klutz
[-5] oblivious
[-5] Per-1
[-10] BS-0.5

Quirks:[-5]
       Supernatural feature:fingers and wand leave
       glowing streaks in the air when casting, cheap,
       Compulsive reader, horrible hangovers, unkempt

Skills:[26]
Alchemy [2] 11 Thaumatology [2] 13
Occultism [2] 13 Hidden Lore: magic items [2] 13
Hazardous materials (magical) [1] 12
Research [1] 12 Speed reading [1] 12
Philosophy [1] 11 Natural Philosophy [1] 11
Hidden lore: Magical Writings [1] 12
Shortsword [4] 12
Knife [2] 12
Throw knife [2] 12
Cartography [1] 12
Fast-talk [1] 12
Stealth [1] 10
Merchant  [1] 12

Spells: [20]
Light [1] 13
Continual light [4] 15
Lend energy [1]
Recover energy [4] 15
Detect magic [1] 13
Foolishness [1] 13
Daze [1] 13
Sleep [1] 13
Mass Sleep [4] 15
Apportation [1] 13
Magelock [1] 13

Att:90 Adv:44 Dis:-50 q:-5 SK:26 Sp:20 total:125

Martin's primary occupation is the manufacture of
continual light objects to sell to adventurers.
He wears an oversized black hooded cloak over 
dark blue robes, of which the torso portion is
equal to cloth armor.
He carries a silvered dagger and a wand wrapped
 with gold wire and set with a crystal, it has 
Wizard's Staff cast on it and is a power item for 5 FP

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Mentioned in the podcast and above:

Ruins of the Undercity

DF15 Henchmen

DF10 Taverns

Tim Shorts MicroAdventures

Other megadungeons with underground taverns:

Stonehell

Hit points

In my latest anchor podcast

I discuss hit points, energy drain, and the basics of GURPS combat. For more worked examples, see what The Mook  has to offer.

Seven with one blow, grab it here

Dungeon Synth: Kobold

Maximus, from Gladiator

ST 14 DX 14 IQ 12 HT 14

Hp 15 Per 12 Will 14 Fp 14

Basic Speed 6 MV 6 Dodge 10

Parry (sword) 14 (other) 13 Block 13

Adv:

combat reflexes, high pain tolerance, toughness, hard to kill +2, born warleader 3, charisma+2, attractive, luck, weapon master(all), armor mastery, rapid healing, Enhanced parry 1, indomitable

(formerly rank 8, social status 2, wealthy, huge ally group)

Disad:

Stubborn, code of honor: soldier’s, status-4, dead broke, Enemy:Emperor

Skills:

Shortsword 18 spear 16 bow 16 knife 16 shield 18 axe/mace 16 brawling 16 wrestling 15, Armory: melee weapons 12, connosieur: melee weapons:12, tactics 14, strategy 14, leadership 17, intimidate 14, teaching 12, riding 14, Animal handling (equine) 14, swiming 13, hiking 14, observation 12

 

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Recent Commissions

I have been tied up lately with a number of art commissions.

These are for the next issue of Gabor Lux’ Echoes from Fomalhaut  and Diogo Noguera’s Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, which just finished successful crowdfunding. I have also been working on a few peices of Egyptian themed art for Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor , and a little something for John Stater, that appeared in the latest issue of Nod

Naturally my gaming rate of posting has suffered, and I lost an entire group of players. They were an exceedingly efficient group of killers, and included a halfling Alchemist, another halfling assassin, an air infused elven Swashbuckler armed with long knives, a dwarven crossbowman built on the musketeer template, a leprechaun demonologist, and his polearm weilding soldier of hell, Khozapukt.

They were quite good, but could not tolerate my hideously slow posting, or the brevity of some comments that they had waited days for. It might have been easier for me to keep up if I hadn’t been running ten separate games, or had downtime at work.

Let’s see, the Juniors rescued the curiously friendly elder thing they had encounterd previously, from giant spiders, as original depicted in James Garrison’s free module Clatterdelve (currently under revision), and Clarence Montague, originally a 62pt lantern bearer hireling from DF15, became a 125pt PC spellcaster (light based magic and ignite fire) and adopted a smol spoder (giant spider as per DF5, buying pet status first, and working toward familiar status a few points at a time).

Another group, hunting bandits for bounty, have scattered some beggars.

A travelling demonology shop has opened up variously as needed, and is staffed by a demologist with some illusion skill and a few demonic allies of PC’s- if you are summonable and aren’t constantly present, you must be someplace else…

Another group, previously tasked with resolving the problem of a band of ogres that had moved into the formerly troll occupied winecellars, have been tasked by the Hadereum with escorting a demon hunting celestial being. She is a descendant of an avatar of Kali, and while her opinions on undead and demons (kill them all and send them back to the underworld) conform to those of the plutocracy, the rest of her religious views do not, and the party is escorting her on her demon hunt so as to keep her from proselytizing.

The crew at the abbey has been heaving wights into the sunlight, and they finally have started using a sack of silver plates to pulverize the undead.

The lich killing treasure hunters in Shevnia are almost home, but ran into patrols of Bouda hunting one of their enemies, the were lion Monorith, a holdover from my first Northport game from 2002, and a group of orcs now in the military. The bouda were only interested in the werelion, the group still has to conceal the several pounds of silver they have with them.

The wuxia crew has been joined by a ronin, and are preparing for a final assault by their Omo’s enemy, having robbed his casino and slain dragonmen, Ashigaru, and a Dodomeki, as previosly discussed.

Broderick has returned to play, and his team of fortune hunters are somewhere on the second level of the undercity.

The Hadereum sponsored team has uncovered cult murders and has discovered slorn breeding pens under temple hill.

Demons and survivors

About a year ago, my Wuxia DF group fought a bunch of conjured petty demons. As they had a celestial in the party, the demons attacked the BBEG’s troops in order to get through to her.  Di San Ge Er Zi, also known as Number three son, is one of the hardened guardsmen who survived the fight and quit working for his evil boss, becoming ronin. This is one of those cases of an NPC rolling exceptionally, and being found to have been underestimated, as per page 31 of DF15. I first discussed the Battle Hardened template for guards here,  and this is how he turned out, later making a bit of an alliance with the PC’s, and another group of PC’s who dealt with the effects of the unleashed toxifier reanimating all of the salt packed corpses…

Di San Ge Er Zi

125 pts
ST 13 [30]DX 12 [40] IQ 10 [0] HT 12[20]

T/S 1d/2-1 naginata 1d+2 imp or cr/ 2d+2 cut or 2d+1 cr
Hp 12 per 10 will 10 FP 12 DR 3 overall
Bs 7 mv 6 [5] dodge 10 parry 10
ADV:
15 Combat reflexes,
10 High pain Tolerance
4 Hard to kill +2
5 Higher purpose, slay Demons
1 Sacrificial Parry,
1 teamwork
1 Guild membership
Cultural Familiarity: Sahudese
0 Sahudese Native/Native
1 Aralaise Spoken only, broken.
DIS:
-15 One Eye
-1 Distinguishing feature (scars accross forehead/cheek)
-10 Social Stigma: Minority (Sahudese)
-10 Code of Honor: Soldier’s
-10 Enemy: Akira Aku No’s men

Brawling 1 12 wrestling 1 11 knife 1 12
Naginata (Polearm) 16 16
2 handed sword 8 14
staff 8 14
shortsword 2 12
Tactics 2 9
Armory: melee weapons 1 9
Carousing 1 12 gambling 1 9
Demon Lore 1 9
Climbing 1 12

Equipment:
Jingsah (DR 3)
Lamelar Armor DR 3 (Torso, arms, legs)
Cheap shortsword
basics in a pouch.
boots DR2

This is a survivor of a Demonic attack. Two demons faced in play included a Not-so-petty demon, who was gravely wounded by a couple of axe blows by one of the 125 point characters, who fled the fight by becoming intangible, and then was chased off with a turn spirit spell cast by Razakeel. (it later re appeared and was slain)

Not so petty demon
St 15 dx 12 iq 10 ht 12
Hp 18 per 12 will 10 fp 15

T/s 1d+1/2d+1

Claw 2d cut
Bite 2d cutting

Im to met hazards im to mind control high pain threshold
Very rapid healing
Night vision 5 sharp talons sharp teeth, striking st+2

Monstrous, bully, callous, sadist, bloodlust
Cannot harm innocents, selfish, social stigma monster
Intimidation 14 brawling 15

Can assume spirit form (intangible )for 10 min for 5fp

Affected by True Faith, Pentagram.
Speaks in backwards Armenian

(All of my demons can speak the language of whoever has ever summoned them, and can do so backwards.) At this point, he probably has the one eye disadvantage as well.

Dodomeki

In folklore, Dodomeki or Birds eye women, were a type of oni who had been thieves in life, and have hundreds of bird’s eyes on their arms as a punishment reflective of the small square holes in the center of coins, also called bird’s eyes.  In Northport, the Sahudese use large  quarter size copper coins with small holes, worth $4 each. The Aralaise locals use dime size coppers wort $1. A string of cash is consists of 20 of these coins looped on a copper wire, and are worth $80, the same as a gold coin.

For their second raid on Akira Aku No’s holdings, the Wuxia adventurers made a raid on his casino, which is in the basement of his restaurant, which I made very similar to the one in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. They caused a bar fight for diversion, and made the trip to the casino down a hidden stair accessible form the balcony level.  There, after a ninja led bit of surveillance, they discovered that there was a “box” area where customers exchanged cash and coin for paper betting slips and painted ceramic tiles, and could cash out. Periodically, a team of naginata wielding guards accompanied by a pair of dragon blooded brutes would wheel out a meteoric iron strongbox with a one way lid (like a mailbox), and collect the receipts from the box. From there the loot was taken back to a counting room.  The dragon men had keys to the box room, and to the shackles worn by the women in the counting room, and to their quarters. The magic proof strong box and a larger puzzle chest, also reinforced with magic proof locks could only be opened by the keys held by the supervisor of the counting room, a Dodomeki. Within the room, the money from the strongbox was counted and tied into small bag, and then transferred to the large chest. Eventually, Akira Aku No and his men would come through the undercity to collect the week’s receipts and haul them off with a large party of armed men.  The chest was a puzzle, the kind that needs either direct instruction or woodworking 20 to open, much like the puzzle box in Lost Inheritance.

My stats on the dodomeki are a little limited, as her HT was barely of consequence due to the highly specific means needed to kill her.

Dodomeki, Demon

ST 12 DX 14 IQ 12 HT 12

HP 12 WILL 12 PER 17 FP 12

DR 0/4 on hands MV 6

Claw 1d+1 impaling

Shriek: causes 1d6 sonic damage, affliction:Deafness, resisted by HT
Must have eyes put out and be be decapitated and wrapped in red silk
or have all of the eyes covered with pierced coins to be killed

Traits:

Immune to metabolic hazards, immune to mind control, high pain threshold,
Very rapid healing, Penetrating voice, 360 vision,
weakness to touching coins. (Takes 1d Fp/second when in contact with them)
Compulsive behavior, counting small things, Bully, Callous, Sadist, Cannot Harm Innocents. Affected by True Faith, Pentagram. Truly evil, will not negotiate.

Can only be killed by having her eyes put out and her bird eyes wrapped in red silk. This will kill it, but will cause the body to erupt into two hexes of starlings, doing damage as a swarm of strix.

 

The Manor 9, Nod 33, and AES, Brass Revolution

Tim Short was one of my first patrons, and is the author of The Manor, a great little gaming zine that has, among other things, launched something that became Dungeon Grappling

This issue has not only a cover that Tim commissioned from me, but three other illustrations from my stock art, two of which were prompted by Tim.

He wrote this issue to be compatable with Erik Tenkar’s Swords & Wizardry Continual Light  and includes some custom rules for clerics, a great wilderness encounter table, and a tavern to be found in a dungeon.  I really like the characterizations he has done there, and am making a go of it myself.

Argento Pitts is a Squire with the 125 pt Veteran lens, from DF15, along with the knight/inkeeper lens from DF10., and a variation on the Foul Limb power up, from DF11, except it is considered a construct and not undead, has ST+4 and DR 20 vs non-magical weapons, and is an unnatural feature. He is stubborn, skinny, suspicious, and curious (the last two are quirk level.)

Gunnhild is a guard with bad temper, and a 10 point OPH, gives dirty looks. Kind of reminds me of Masugatan, a crass brute in my game.

Valac is a goblin Wizard, with the 125pt learned lens, has self defense pacifism, curious, wierdness magnet, and an obsession to  learn more. He has DR 20 to nonmagical weapons, but is vulnerable to meteoric iron ones.

His door is a construct with ST 20, 100 hp, DR 10, plus DR 20 to non magical weapons, effectively has Magelock at 25 skill, and can strike for thrust/ crush with a skill of 12, and has regular regeneration.

John Stater, my most consistent, prolific, and generous patron, just released Nod33 which contains a commissioned quintet of African Deities.

He also recently released 

Esoterica Exhumed, after the Unearthed Arcana, contains new classes and spells for Blood&Treasure, or any OSR type game, and includes two more of my illustrations,  for the spell Control Hair, and the Saboteur class.

You can get it here.

Another fine use of my stock art was made in the steampunk game,

AES, Brass Revolution. I haven’t given it a really thoughrough read through, but they seem to have used work from at least four different stock packs of mine., and I think the first use of my Space Opera Art in a publication.

I am always a sucker for airships.

 

 

As always, my stock art can be bought here

And my Tshirts and other products at Teepublic

And prints and more at Society6

Despite billing issues at Patreon, you can always support me there, at a flat monthly rate for cheaper than buying my bundles.

Blueholme Journeymanne is released, and some stuff about wights

So two major kickstarters I backed (Blueholme Journeymanne and Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2e) have matured, and their combined weight has crashed One BookShelf, preventing me from getting my copy. I would seriously link to them, but like I said, DrivethruRPG and RPGnow have crashed, so I can’t.

FYI, blueholme Journeymanne can be acquired whenever OBS gets its shit together for $9.99 for the advance PDF (some artists aren’t done yet) and AS&SH is on sale for less than the kickstarter price due to a site wide sale on games that include their own setting, for $12.75, instead of $19)

The third big kickstarter I backed, Dungeon Fantasy RPG (now strangely no longer available for pre order at warehouse 23) has been mailed out, and my copy has suspiciously been sitting on a post office truck out for delivery for three days.

On this continued topic of Things That Suck,  I have been probably overusing the Wight Template from GURPS Fantasy.

The first time I used it, after hearing about them being used by Peter Dell’Orto, was to merge the template with that of the Gargoyle from DF 3 to make the Flying Deaths that circled over the Island that contained the Library of Flax.  Those were fairly easy to dispose of, as I hadn’t tried to make them unkillable with an Achilles Heel of silver or pussiant magic weapons. On the other hand, it was Gorgath wielding the Doomrazor who took most of them out.

The second adventure that included them is still running, a foray into a cursed abbey that was lost when the abbot fell in with a succubus, and is now overrun with doomchildren and Wights. Luckily for that group, they have as a member Haskell the Crafty, who owns an ugly, rusted, and pussiant shortsword. Mostly that group fireballs the wights, or has the barbarian ogress flatten them, leaving Haskell to finish them off. (I require at least HT damage be done with the silver or otherwise enhanced weapon, but at -5HT, the wights are in a state of torpor, which I calculate they would otherwise rebirth from in just under three months time, given that they need to recoup 6xHT at 1 hp /12 hours.  A modest restocking rate.

The use of wights that cost me players, between frustration with lack of posting by one of the players, was on an undercity expedition to establish a vending space (yes, verging on the fabled Tavern Level of Felltower) for Vilgar the Half-ogre’s fighting arena.  In this case, a long ago group of explorers abandoned one of their fellows to a slow death at the hands of Giant Maned Rats (From DF 10). These beasties are normally annoying fodder, but their quills, which get a free attack if you engage them, are also poisonous.

This caused our hapless explorer to rise as a wight, and exact his revenge on the rats. As wights, that quill attack becomes Straight damage + Poison damage+_FP drain. It got ugly quickly, and none of the characters on the mission had silver, so they retreated. Their boss offered them the use of some silvered weapons (mostly cheap, excepting one magical weapon) which they could choose to purchase after use, or owe him a debt.

Rapidly, they moved in and started to do some damage, but I lost most of that group before they could take down the quill covered human wight at the end of the run.

One option they could have taken, but refused, was The Butcher’s Blade, a blunt tipped and blackened Pussiant+1 Broadsword that gradually gives its owner the Bloodlust disadvantage, and increases the rate at which self controll rolls are made for that disadvantage.  The weapon, therefore is cursed, but the character who would have been the likely recipient of it was hated by the character collecting the weapons, so I am surprised she didn’t saddle him with it.

Now here is something that doesn’t suck: I had a piece of artwork exclusively commissioned by Venger Satanis for his most recent Alpha Blue supplement, Save Yourself From Hell (also unlinkable due to DrivethruRPG crashing), which you can get for only $4, and the adventure merges The Black Hole, Event Horizon, Hellraiser and the Gate. It is worth picking up, especially since it is the only place you can see that particular piece of my art.

 

The Mari Lwyd

Mari Lwyd

One of my personal Appendix N reads (mine, not Gary’s) is Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence.  The final book, Silver on the Tree, has the last of the Old Ones, Will Stanton, and Bran Pendragon off hunting a magic sword in the sunken lands on the coast of Wales. There, they are confronted by one of the sword’s guardians, an undead unicorn, Bran called the Mari Lwyd.  According to wikipedia, the name means Grey Mare, which could be taken to be Grimoire.  The custom of pantomiming a dead horse seems to have originated as part of a Yuletide Wassailing tradition, but what amounts to an undead faerie creature surely belongs around Samhain as well.  So naturally, I am using it as my costume for the Village Halloween Parade this year.

In the story, it was destroyed by “a flying may tree” moths that had been flocked on a hawthorne bush.  The moths may well have been the souls of its prior victims, much like those that fought the boggarts in Charles deLint’s Tapping the Dream Tree.

I would love to build some stats, but right now I don’t have the time…  although I would start by taking the wight template from Fantasy, the horse from Basic, and add in the descriptors Faerie and Undead, give it Terror and a vulnerability to spriitual attack, not sure how to parse that.

And I don’t have time to really flesh out this dead horse because I am working on delivering moire art to my patrons. You can be one too!