Subject 1: On the topic of Bogeymen!
In Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends or DT&DL. There are several Bogeymen not accounted for but are named. As such I have decided to write them out and post them and a small Legend and True Story for each one in order to flesh them out. Beyond thier names and the small details within I don't pretend to understand the author/creator of these creatures intent but I want to share them with you as I see them. I have also changed some of their names when the official versions were found upon the Kargatane Net Book's Sacrifices and Shadows and thus I have edited some of them.
Of Note:All Bogeymen have a +2 Deflection bonus to thier AC, and have the vulnerabilities of not harming any individual protected by a bless spell, or the relevent protection from magic circle spells. They all take 2d4 damage from holy water and can be turned by clerics of good deities as undead although not by clerics of neutral deities who can turn undead.
As an observation I have notice that Bogeymen seem to have a number of skills and skill points not determined by thier Type, Int, or Hit Die but as a reflection of thier character and necessaties of the individual creature. If the skills are wrong I will correct them if someone can prove it to me.
First is The Lame Man
The Lame Man
Medium Fey(Bogeyman)
Hit Dice: 6d6+12 (38 hp)
Inititive: +6
Speed: 30ft
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 Deflection) Touch 14, Flatfooted 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+6
Attack: Rusted Bastard Sword +7 (1d10+3)
Full Attack: Rusted Bastard Sword +7 (1d10+3)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Curse of Rust & Dust
Special Qualities: Empathically Disrupting Aura, DR:15/Guiltless, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +6,
Abillities: Str 16, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +12, Diplomacy +9, Bluff +9, Jump +12, Spot +10, Listen +10, MoveSilently +11, Intimidate +9, Profession (Panhandleing) +10, Sense Motive +10,
Feats: Improved Inititive, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: 1/8 Coins,
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Advancement: 7-8 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: On the busy street you start to come across a frazeled and dirty man. He is covered in rags and filth as is his sword while holding a small metal cup rattling some coins. Saying only "One mercy sir?" in near a pathetic whisper he tiredly watches through his dirty hair as you pass, and seems shut down as few give him more than a passing glance.
The Lame Man or to some The Forgotten Soldier, is a very poor looking middle aged man. He is very shabby and tired looking and he seems very pale. His face is smugged and dirty and his eyes are red. His leg appears injured while sometimes it is his arm in other stories but this does not truly hinder him in any fashion he still acts out a limp or some sort of condition. His stained clothes are rags and he always smells as if unbathed and of alcohol. A rusted pitiful looking bastard sword is used as a crutch in a tattered sheath. He sits on busy streets and beg's for coins from those children who either look well off or are simply carring noticable money about. He appears friendly even if a little crude and down in spirit. If asked he will tell stories for the coin and encourages slight lie's saying that the child can give him a coin and say he lost it if the child fear's his parents anger. The coin is not important other than that he want's it. He will beg once and depending upon the child's response (Liars and thieves or those loose with others coin) he may deem that child worthy of his attention that night. Once the child is choosen The Lame Man will not change his mind no matter what is brought before him. He will chase the child and scare them hoping for one of two results. The first is that the child will look back three times each time allowing him to get closer and on the third time he will be close enough to strike. The second is that they will touch thier door knob. After he see's this he will come to that house every night until he catches the child. If however the child touches another door knob he will visit that house and will find that he has been tricked. He will then leave and not visit that village for a year's time at which he will target that same child every time he visits after that, even if the child grows older. If the child leaves the village or dies he selects a new target until he can find the child that he missed else where. Every time he take's a child from the home he lives in, the door is conspicusly missing and a trail of dirt at the door leading in. The Lame Man travels from place to place by entering at any bar at sundown buying one drink he can not drink, then leaving after the sun has set, disappearing as the door swings shut behind him. When not active he simply dissapears.
The Story Told: Once there were two young boys working with thier father. The father was a wood cutter and he made deliveries to all the folk in town so he made his son's do half of the deliveries each. One boy Rolf worked hard and was honest while the other Fran'k was lazy and greedy. Soon the father noticed that the money that his son's delivered was short and was puzzling over what to do. He asked his son's "Which of you is taking our coin boy's?" but the answer from both was always. "Not I father! I swear!" He wished to believe them but he was torn as he suspected that one was lying.
Then one night his wife noticing his concern over the issue said, "Do not worry dear. I will fix the problem." The next night while the boy's sat by the fire she asked if they wanted to be told a story that she had heard her mother tell. Rolf loved his mothers tales and sat enraptured, but Fran'k was only paying half attention as he was tired and seemed distracted.
A boy of about ten years, who had worked with his family in the fields was given several coins by his father to go and buy food for the family, but noticed that there was more than enough to do so. His father was forgetful and tired at times so this had happend before. The boy smiled as he thought to himself, 'I will buy myself a treat again today. Father never remembers and mother never suspects me.' Infront of the market entrance he noticed a scraggally and dirty veteran soldier begging for coin. 'Oh I will try and avoid the man's notice so I won't be harassed.' But even in the crowded street as he tried to be quick as he walked past, distinctly the man asked him, "Dear lad. Yes you! Could but that coin buy this old soldier one mercy?" The lad politely smiled and said, "Tis not my coin sir but my family. Sorry."
"Ah not your's eh. Well don't want ya stealing then. Perhaps you might drop one on accident? Your kin would not be too sore with ya." The begger man smiled and let the boy think it out.
"I'm sorry but perhaps next time we pass and I have the coin?" The boy said trying to get out of the situation.
"Very well. Next time lad." The man settled back calmly but watched intently as the boy left.
The boy thinking back felt little for the lie as the promise of a delicious snack lay before him. The day getting quiet as the crowd's went home to dinner the boy finished his shopping with a few coins left even. Then the boy remebered the man and the lingering guilt hung on him as the sweet taste of his ill gotten snacks.
'I will go the long way home to avoid the man. Then I will be able to avoid his look.' And as he did such, at the different exit to the market he took, was the same man looking at him.
'He must have moved while I shopped! Curse my luck!' Trying to look innocent he walked past but the man just stared at him again nodding at him with a slight smile on his face. The boy just waved shrugged and walked faster feeling the darkness coming to the evening. The town had gone in and as he turned onto the road home he looked back. He saw a shadow running toward him and with an instinctive fright he ran. He looked back once more and it had gained. It was the begger clutching a blood rusted sword and limping toward him but unnaturally so. So he dropped his burden in full flight hoping to reach his house too frighted and breathing hard to scream. His door in sight he tried to yell as he grasped the door handel beating the door as he did, and he looked back once more.
He saw no shadow behind, no man there, and opened the door.
"Boy you are home at last your mother went to look for you and... Where is the food?" His father greeted him but was disappointed. He would hear none of the boy's excuses as he believed the boy to be lying. For the father had known the boy was stealing the extra coin for snacks and saw the few crumbs the boy had forgot to wipe off his vest. He sent the boy to bed with no supper and promising a punishment when he returned, as he went to gather the food dashed on the road and find his wife.
When the father and mother returned home they found the door was gone as well as thier son. They searched for weeks but no one ever found any sign of the boy.
The mother looked both boy's in the eye's as she said this final line. Ralf looked nervous but excited in the way that the story had affected her when she had first heard it. Fran'k however had a look of true fear about him and was looking as if the door should burst at any second. Just the way her older brother had looked the night he disappeared. Just the way...
The True Story: Jheric of no last name at the time, was the name of a very promising young Falkovian soldier. Raised as a squire, for a nobel soldier his lust for battle and calculated cruelty was an asset. Unlike most of the other squires he was only given the hardships his training made neccessary. He became convinced of some reason he was seen as superior and for a while he assumed it was his talent at his martial craft. He soon held the attitude of some one who is convinced of thier superiority as every victory raised his pride. He was not suprised only entitled to be called before his Lord, as well as proud to go by Jheric Drakov once told of his true heritage, and he basked that he was now the favored son of the Kingsfuhrer. For a while his carrier was promising and he would prove his right to his blood line with victory after victory. But then durring a raid on a small disedent town, the Freemen of Falkovnia ambushed, repulsed, and utterly defeated him while dealing an injury that brought him low. While his leg recovered his position was replaced by another sibling, and he was stripped in dishonor and dismissed of any claim of royal blood. He was thrown out with no money, title, or even connection to the people of his land. He tried to work, but found no way to dismiss the images, lust, and thrill of combat and his rightful place above the pesantry, but with drink, which to excess caused him to be unproductive and violent. When he couldn't hold a job he fell low and soon killed a soldier so that he could have the tools for a job he was familiar with. He began begging for coin and fighting on the streets, becoming a thug and petty murderer. He was known for killing the young pickpockets and waifs if they had coin with them and as they looked back in fear he would tirelessly push past his limp to chase them if he was lost in the moment, dragging them off never to be seen again. The people of the town began calling him Der Mittellos Kingsfuhrer or The Penniless Kingsfuhrer, as he never gave his name to any who asked only his lineage. As soon as he heard the mock name and saw the distain that he was looked upon with, he began snapping and tormenting any who even dared to slight him while proclaming his old name with pride. Some of these disrespectors he killed when ever he got a chance to do such without attracting too much attenton. But eventually he had to run on to the next town and the next, until his name spread once more on the peoples lips, but this time as Der Lahm Mann or The Lame Man! He over the course of three month's working out of a cave outside of Silbervas kidnapped all the soldiers families children and the few Freemen's children that he could, and through notes demanded they quietly contact him and give him 100 Falconheads per child or they would die. Few could pay the cost and he never kept his word claiming that he never recieved payment. When finally the patrols closed in, he managed to kidnap the Captain of the Guard's daughter removing the front door from its frame, and left a note saying that he would trade the girl for 10,000 gold Falconheads and passage out into Richemulot. Durring the exchange he found no deal waiting and while he threatened the child he was shot through the neck. He slaughtered her there and then ingnoring the many arrows that peirced him. He was dragged back into Falkovnian soil alive and and screaming of injustice. Burned while impaled by the villagers raging at the last with cries of rage and vengence. The Storys of his rages against the young were blown up to thier current state and he is remembered for his petty crimes and wanton acts of vengence as the nameless forgotten soldier but any mention of his connection to Vlad Drakov was viciously quelled and lost like the ashes of the pyre.
Combat: The Lame Man does not fight until he has a target for his ire at which he will still be as direct against that target as neccessary. He will stalk and harass his prey until he think's it is defenseless. He likes to take his victims away to be killed and disposed of otherwise he retreats till he can strike again.
Spell-like abilities: Suggestion 3/day, Expedius Retreat 2/day on self only duration 5minutes, Silence 1/day on self and 15ft radius around. Abillities are cast as a 6th lvl sorcerer and the DC's where appropriate for each is 10+spell lvl.
Curse of Rust & Dust: The Lame Man may once per day desolve a single door on a structure no matter the size or construction if his target has touched it and he has witnessed it. All that will remain is either rust or dust that will scatter somewhat as he passes. The actual desolving takes one round to take effect but it is a free action for The Lame Man to initiate as he only needs to think of the door.
Empathically Disrupting Aura: Anyone within 30ft of The Lame Man becomes unable to raise emotion very well against him other than polite or impolite indifference. Within that 30 feet Any bonus that effects emotions such as a paladins Divine Grace abillity or a barbarians Rage is either negated or not able to activate unless the character makes a DC 14 will save. Magical effects from an item are automatically suppressed and magic spells cast on a character are negated while within the field but thier durations still continue to expire if applicable. If a character moves outside of the 30ft radius then the effects are considered resumed if they have the durations available but a negated Rage is lost and the durration wasted and that does count toward the uses per day and penalties for combat. Any associated penalties are not negated in the 30ft. This effect does not affect animals, beasts, or any creature with an intelligence of 3 or less. Each effect need only save once and if successful is immune for 24hr's but effects that are suppressed or negated that exit and re-enter must make another save until one is successful.
Damage Reduction Guiltless: Anyone that is truly guilty of wronging The Lame Man meaning anyone he has ever targeted or that attacks him while he is not known to be persuing a target is subject to this damage reduction, while anyone who is not subject automaticly ignores this feature. Since usually he targets children this does not affect the PC's too much unless one has been targeted in the past or they attack him without provocation. Innocence cannot protect a target as they are seen as guilty by him and Innocence would be lost if the subject just goes attacking homeless people with no proof.
Eyes of Innocence: To most of the world The Lame Man appears to be a humble soldier or guard of thier relm that has fallen on hard time's defending them. No one ever remembers his name even if he shouts it out unless they can see him for what he is. To the Innocent and the Insane The Lame Man appears to be darkly shaded even when in direct sunlight as if he was under a cloudy sky and more so than normal if in the darkness. Also it is of note that they may notice that even if they have dropped several coins in just a moment before, there is always just enough in his cup to buy a cheap ale when they look back.
Vulnerabilities: The Lame Man is unable to harm anyone in a town until he has picked a target and then is only able to harm others to get to that target. If ever forced to drink any alcohol The Lame Man falls asleep as the spell sleep, (No Save). If his Sword is ever sundered he runs away as a coward but is not dispersed and will return the next night with his sword intact once more. If he is fooled when a child touches another knob he is not dispersed but is still subject to wait for one year. Finally should The Lame Man ever be the target of an attonement spell he is automatically dispersed for twenty years.
Next time I will post the The Fine Pair! Until then.
I have changed them from The Gentlemen to The Fine Pair because of finding out that there was a version on the Kargatane Net Book Sacrifices. I thus accept that as the official The Gentlemen and consider mine to be inspired by the name but original!
The Fine Pair: Sir. Tainman and Sir. Reginald
Medium Fey(Bogeymen)
Hit Dice: 4d6 (17 hp) for Sir. Tainman and 6d6 +18 +6 (50 hp) for Sir. Reginald
Inititive: +4 for Sir. Tainman and -1 for Sir. Reginald
Speed: 30ft for both Sir. Tainman and Sir. Reginald
Armor Class: 16 (+4 Dex, +2 Deflection) 16 Touch 12 Flatfooted for Sir. Tainman and 12 (+2 Deflection) 12 Touch 12 Flatfooted for Sir. Reginald
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+5 for Sir. Tainman and +3/+4 for Sir. Reginald
Attack: +2 MW Ornate Wounding Rapier +9 melee (1d6+6 plus wounding) for Sir. Tainman and Slam +2 melee (1d4+1) and or Bite +4 melee (1d6+1) for Sir. Reginald
Full Attack: +2 MW Ornate Wounding Rapier +9 melee (1d6+6 plus wounding) for Sir. Tainman and 2 Slams +2 melee (1d4+1) and or Bite +4 melee (1d6+1) for Sir. Reginald
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft. for both Sir. Tainman and Sir. Reginald
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities for Sir. Tainman and Rage, and Spell-like abilities for Sir. Reginald
Special Qualities: Eyes of innocence, vulnerabilities, for Sir. Tainman and Eyes of innocence, vulnerabilities, for Sir. Reginald
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +8, Will +6, for Sir. Tainman and Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +3, for Sir. Reginald
Abillities: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16, for Sir. Tainman and Str 12, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 16, for Sir. Reginald
Skills: Bluff +10, Diplomacy +10, Ride +11,Knowledge (Nobility) +9, Knowledge (Local) +9, Sense Motive +9, Spot +9, Listen +9, for Sir. Tainman and Bluff +12, Diplomacy +12, Ride +9, Knowledge (Nobility) +11, Knowledge (Local) +11, Sense Motive +10, Spot +10, Listen +10, for Sir. Reginald
Feats: Weapon Focus (Rapier), Weapon Finess (Rapier), Combat Expertise, and Weapon Specialization (Rapier),for Sir. Tainman and Dodge, Extended Rage, and Improved Toughness for Sir. Reginald
Environment: Any
Organization: Always Together
Challenge Rating: 4 for Sir. Tainman and 5 for Sir. Reginald
Treasure: His +2 MW Ornate Rapier of Wounding (Value equal to enhancement bonus in DMG +2,000 Gp for quality!) and Coin's for Sir. Tainman and Coin's for Sir. Reginald
Alignment: Lawful Evil for both Sir. Tainman and for Sir. Reginald
Advancement: 5-6 HD (Medium) for Sir. Tainman and 7-8 HD (Medium) for Sir. Reginald
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: Two men one incredably tall and the other stout and pleasently plump arrive at the gathering in the most fasionable outfits that seem to perfectly accent the evening. They begin commenting on everything and seem even to your eyes to be deservedly superior.
The Fine Pair are without a doubt the most proper villians that one could meet. Sir. Tainman Markimzy Talerman the 4th is the height of fashion and noble bearing and even though he is at 7ft. in height he is always graceful and never lopes about. He is quick of wit and somewhat of a snob as he judges all that he see's as dated or beneath him. Sir. Reginald Mortmire Esquire is however a jolly and cheerful man with a pleasent outlook and a man of lesiure's physique. He is always a peace maker and attempts to explain Sir. Tainman's words so as not to offend. As the life of the party they keep every step going higher as the night will be spectacular fun for all. They believe in utmost ettiquite and never behave other wise and expect others to at least have a modicum of the same. They are perfectly groomed and they refuse to appear otherwise in any situation. This perfectly crafted venear is so convincing that they are hard to notice as otherwise even for the innocent. To the eyes of those able to percieve Sir. Tainman never blinks or smiles and while he might laugh it is never with any true joy. Sir. Reginald is harder to gleen the truth from as under his well trimmed mustach is a hidden row of razor sharp teeth that are just barely visable to those innocents who look hard enough. The last sign that is odd is that they never touch children in anyway excusing themselves as it is considered rude as they were taught. They always arrive exactly when requested on the card and they are never late unless it is requested that they be fashionably so. They remain in the minds of those at the party as unfortunately un-nameable, but an ever so wonderful pair even years afterward. They soon bring up a rather profitable bussiness venture to a family of thier choosing that they determine is the right kind of people to handle it, if they would but invite them to dine over the details. Naturally they are invited and arrive on time. Of course they comment on every aspect of the house and begin to suggest things that would make it more fashionable. Invariably the conversation leads to how children are so unfashionable and that they should be gotten rid of. Once that is done The Fine Pair say that they are most pleased and they will have to do such once again. They depart in a ready coach or horses and the two parents wave as they go. In the morning they turn themselves in not fully able to remember the previous nights events except for killing thier own children as clear as day, and blaming themselves as the memories stay. No one in town ever remembers if they went to the party or not.
The Story Told: "...now Lord Jacob's sir. May I ask how the party faired last night?" The gruff man said, while sitting across from a rather well dressed man who looked relieved at the change of topic.
"Oh the party was divine and I remember most of it even if the wine has glossed it over." He smiled fanning himself with a very demure fan and (sipping) some tea from the highly ornate tray with tea set, in between the two.
"For a while I had believed that no one of class would show but yet after one hour on the hour, which at first I found odd." A puzzled look crossing his eyes.
"Yes, yes Lord Jacob's please do continue." The gruff man was seeming to be board but focused his attention to the fopish man who taking his cue began to compose himself back to the story.
"Well as I said on the hour, two charming men walked in making the most regal of entrences." (sip) "I have had the Royal's of most the lands come and make less of an impression." (sip) "They claimed to have recieved an invitation to arrive fashionably late of all things and while I never thought to check the register I will have to have the clerk note to invite them to all my future events." (sip)
"So what were the two men's names Lord Jacob's?" The Gruff man's interest was peeked for the detail.
"I can't seem to remeber at the moment. But I'm sure I shall remember with further telling!" (sip) "Well I found them soon to be charming everyone around and with some very deserved critique, I knew my house soon needed to be redecorated I mean the Borcan drapes have become practically antique." (sip) "But oh the band played ever so much grander and the room came alive with the sound as dancing and merryment was had by all. Of course to my suprise as the party wound down I found the two men were chatting with Marcel Carewright and his Wife... Felicia I think is her name sir?"
"Yes Sir. Jacob's."
"Yes Felicia. Well they despite there lower status had some how garnered these two men's attention. Something about a bussiness deal of such. Then the mention of dinner. Do you believe it?" (sip) Lord Jacob's looks rather closed off as if bitting his tounge.
"My Lord is something the matter?" The Gruff man once more got his hope's up in anticipation over the next utterence that the man said might be important.
Fanning himself as if he was over heating he held his other hand up to signal for a slight pause. "Sigh... I am fine Constable. I am just appaled that I invited those two in the first place. I mean after what they have done it doesnt seem that will be a concern again. I mean why have children and then kill them while they slept?" (sip) "Highly uncivilized if you ask me."
The Constable Finally frustrated at the idiocy of the fop Lord Jacob's. "But Sir. Jacob's did you remember the name's of this pair of bussinessmen?"
"Well now that you mention sir..." (sip) "No. But we shall check the guest registry and I am sure you will find them there."
True Story: The Fine Pair were based off of two men in the back history of Paridon and were called. Jerome Bandimore and Carson Wellburn. The two had met in a prestigious boarding school and with like mind's set out to set the higher class scene aflame while becoming rich in there own right. Sufice it to say that they soon found it hard to establish thriving bussiness in Paridon and keep there expensive tastes sated. When adult workers became too expensive they turned to child slavery in thier leather working hall. At first they adopted near 45 orphans and forced them to work terrible hours to meet quota's at prices just undercutting thier competition. As bussiness expanded they gathered children through any means neccessary and bribed the right people to hide thier slavery. With promises of an education they kept the younger one's hoping as those that grew too old or wise too contain vanished to those promised schools. Durring the night they were the toast of the town and were invited to the best parties. They set fashion's and ruined careers if it pleased them. And it seemed as if it would only be a matter of time before they would run for office. However a depression hit and while not bankrupt they soon found that they had too many mouths eating into thier life style and thus they effectively killed two bird's with one stone. When the poor unemployed began to riot the two burned several of thier own buildings with high insurance policies on them with the children inside them. However they were eventually found out when one of the children escaped and reported the fraud. The fare weather friends and corrupt connections in politics could not help them as the sudden turn provided them as a scapegoat. It is said that Jerome wept like a babe and the rounder Carson screamed himself into a heart attack when the nose slipped round thier necks.
Combat: The Fine Pair prefer never to get thier hand's dirty unless it is a matter of honor. In which case Sir. Tainman will accept either a duel with a Rapier or Pistol though he favor's the Rapier. Sir. Reginald will decline as he will try to convince the challenger to surrender without a fight.
Sir. Tainman
Spell-like abilities: Haste 1/day self only 5 round's, Suggestion 3/day, Charm Person 2/day, Dominate 1/day 12 hours, Sanctuary 1/day 5/rounds, Cast as a 4th lvl Sorcerer and save DC's are 13 +Spell lvl.
Eyes of Innocence: To the any who see past the glamour Sir. Tainman seems to be an unblinking and towering figure with eyes and a face that seem completely devoid of emotion. Also his skin tends to look like tarnished silver at the edges of his clothes. Sir. Tainman will never touch or speak to a child.
Vulnerabilities: Must accept direct and legitamate challenges to his honor and status. The rest are listed with Sir. Reginald's as they have the same vulnerabilities beyond that.
Sir. Reginald
Rage: If ever struck in combat by anyone Sir. Reginald flys foaming mad and begins to strike his opponent biting and punching with suprising ferocity. He gains the effect of a 1st lvl barbarian Rage and his Str becomes 16, Con 20, and it lasts 15 rounds due to his Extended Rage Feat. He usually combines this with his Bulls Strength abillity raising his strength to 20 for the first five rounds. He still suffers all associated penalties of the rage.
Spell-like abilities: Bulls Strength 1/day self only 5 round's, Mass Suggestion 3/day, Mass Charm Person 2/day, Dominate 1/day 12 hours, Sanctuary At will 5/rounds, Cast as a 4th lvl Sorcerer and save DC's 13 +Spell lvl.
Eyes of Innocence: To those who see past the jolly demenor Sir. Reginald has an odd effect of everything being blurry as if focus is pulled to him as he talks. There is also the row of what appear to be pointed teeth under his moustach that are usually only noticed by short children. Sir. Reginald will never touch or speak directly to a child.
Vulnerabilities: Both Sir. Tainman and Sir. Reginald are unable to touch children of any sort. If they are forced to they lose 1d6+1 points of constitution every round they remain in contact. If either of them is ever dismissed by the host of a party they must leave and may never enter that home while that person lives there. If ever embarassed socially or proven out of style or impolite both immediately suffer a heart attack and disapate for a generation.
Another one down... I will continue with The Voice in the Storm
Well I will still finish these and I am willing to edit so don't be discouraged from telling me if they suck or not cause I plan to keep writting.
The Voice in the Storm
The Voice in the Storm
Medium Fey(Bogeyman)
Hit Dice: 8d6 (34 hp)
Inititive: +2
Speed: 30ft
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 Deflection) 14 Touch , 12 Flatfooted
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+4
Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d4 +1d6 electric dam)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +4 melee (1d4 +1d6 electric dam)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Lightining Bolt Control, Drench,
Special Qualities: Voice of the Storm, Immunity to Electric & Cold, Lightining Travel, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +11,
Abillities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Diplomacy +13, Bluff +13, Spot +14, Listen +14, MoveSilently +13, Hide +13, Intimidate +15, Profession (Salesman) +14, Sense Motive +14, Disguise +15,
Feats: Mimicry, Skill Focus (Disguise), Lightining Reflexes, Iron Will, Willbreaker,
Environment: Any Outdoors
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: Coins and Equipment
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: 9-10 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: A very strong storm rolls in as your caravan is trying to push through the muddy road. You flinch to the side as a voice whispers into your ear. The lightining flashes overhead and next to you is a drenched traveling merchant. His round glasses reflect your face for just an instant and in the next flash he is gone.
Perhaps the second most deadly of the Bogeymen in the Relm of Dread. The Voice in the Storm is very unique in that he stalks where ever a storm is and follow's it's path and not a select victim. Any time a traveler or some one is found dead from a possible storm the Voice is usually brought up. He is the personification of peoples fear of exposure to the elements. He is dressed as a traveler and a salesman. He is always drenched to the bone but he appears to be unaffected by it. He is wearing round framed glasses that seem to reflect the image of what ever he is looking at. This is what is gathered by those who have said to have seen the Voice. Most times he only appears at a distance and is seen only in the brief gap between lightining strikes. His voice will carry over any distance as a clear whisper in the ear of whom ever he chooses. He usually offers waylayed travelers aid if they promise to abandon the one they love most to him. If they do not he makes the storm rise to coerce them promising that it will abate if they abandon thier loved one. If still no he will attempt to destroy them with all the power he can level while staying as far away as he can. If the deal is ever accepted then the loved one is surely doomed. The Voice also targets those in towns if the storm passes over head. Other tactics include mimicry of a loved ones voice out in the weather calling for help and attempting to destroy structures with his power over the weather. Some speculate that he can appear in blizzards or even sand storms but if any tales exist of this then they are not well know. The Voice is known by his methods but should you ever see a pale man who while drenched but for his reflective circular glasses have not a speck of water upon them then chances are good you have seen the voice. It is also rumored that the voice bleeds water from his viens though if that is rumor alone none truly know.
The Story Told: The wagon rolled through the mud, as the violent storm continued to rock it back and forth. The wind seemed to be pushing through the tree's and yet the Man sat stunned. The Vardo's ahead of the man and his family had accepted his trade, for help in thier travels to get to the next town and he was glad for it. He could hardly see through the down pour but the Vistani seemed to be having no trouble. As did his wife and son who were sleeping through this malestrom in the back.
Suddenly the Vardo's ahead stopped and a horse riding vistani came back with his hand sheltering his eyes. "We are stopping here for now. We suggest you stay in your wagon and close it to the Voice in the Storm. No matter what you hear, for no reason should you come out until the storm has passed!" His low yet firm voice made his message a warning. He turned without acknowledgement and rode back the way he came.
"But the wheels will sink in this mire!" He shouted at the man but accompanying thunder with a flash drown it out.
He covered his horses and with some regret glanced at the vardos with lights still shining. He had hoped that with them he could have made the trade season in Richemulot so that his glass works he carried would set them well with money to start thier new life away from Borca. He turned his gaze down the road and heard in his left ear a faint womans voice. "Help me!!!"
He turned only to find an empty space as far as he could see. "Who is there? Dearest? Is that you?" Looking around for some sign of someone and fearing it was his wife he walked toward the tree line. Glancing back he thought to check the wagon and be sure then once more.
"Help Me! Please help me!" The whisper of his wife's voice called from the wood's and he bolted forward. Running haphazardly through the tree's Shouting "Stay there! I'm coming!" Behind him he heard the sounds of shouts from others. But still the clearest voice was the whispering shout of his wife.
However soon he realised that the whisper had gotten no closer. Soon after that he heard a laugh on the wind. He glanced for the noise only to see two reflections on a black mass then lightining struck so near he could feel it in his chest before he was blasted to the ground. Dazed he picked himself up and ran hoping to have picked the correct direction and reach the wagon and shelter.
When he returned to camp the next day, the storm having just passed during his wandering last night, he discovered the Vistani quickly packing his thing's with his wife rapidly helping put them out into one of thier Vardo's from his wagon tipped on its side with his horses lying dead on thier sides charred and still smoking.
He shouted releavedly but was shocked as she jerked her gaze up and ran forward collapsing in tearless sob's. She kept desperately repeating. "It's on him! It's on him, and he's so scared! He..He stopped crying and its on him!"
The Man who had warned him the night before came to him. He spoke over the destraught woman. He told how when he had left, his son had leaned out to yell for him to stop. How the boy had only just stepped but a few feet and how they that could see him yelled for him to return. How the wagon flipped when a gust of wind tipped the thing over onto the boy. He accepted the mans yells of how the Vistani were only now helping to get it off his body as he was over come. Then that Man's yells were cut short. I looked him square in the eyes little ones. And I said that I had warned him of the Voice in the Storm. I had warned him and he had failed to heed it.
The True Story: The Voice in the Storm is originally based upon a man who inspired in Marais d'Tarascon cries of panic. A man at the edge of town in a rustic hut was considered a warlock and sorcerer for his practices in what the town's people considered alchemy.
He always wore glasses that were reflective, while his pale skin still showed some sort of skin color that had faded. He never spoke, but durring the stormy weather a chant in a reverberating voice could be heard from his door as he seemed to pray to the foul weather. He would set up a stall in front and would not speak but would trade for items. He would leave and return with new wares and trade those as well. Few of the town's people would even look to him but when the need was evident one could expect to pay a hefty price but find the thing they needed.
He was at times called as a medicine man and despite the unknown methods and concoctions he used those he treated did improve at the least.
As one night when the rain fell and his chant filled the dark a young child dissapeared. The towns people searched as far as they dared to tred in the swamps and found the boy. Burned and broken as if the lightining had struck him. The town accused the man of consorting with devils, and the darkest loa. They openly cursed at him and soon began threatening him. The man did not speak, and did not stop his normal way of things.
Of course when the next storm came and another child was missing the town did not wait. They dragged the man to the swamp, and not once did he say any word or show the slightest concern. Even when they chained him to an old building cornerstone and dropped him into the deepest part of the marsh as he sank into the black his mouth did not open. When the next stormy night came and a chant called once more another child had disappeared none could understand why. The killer was dead as they had seen to it themselves.
In actuallity the killer had been a Voodan servent of the Lord of the Dead who had been sent to stop the silent medicine man from disrupting the many diseases he had been using to try and add some interesting souls in the town to his purposes. The killings of these children happend in the basement of the towns general store. The real culpret was never caught and stopped once his lord was pleased but was soon found dead one stormy night crushed under a tree. His shops foundation is buried in the swamp it is thought as the building appeared to have sank with only fetted water covering the ground it once was on.
Combat: The Voice in the Storm never initiates physical combat except when left with no options. It has so many supernatural powers that it does not even blink to use them. It is fond of targeting those that need help or are going to give help and it is capriecious enough to change targets if it believes it will cause more pain. It enjoy's putting other's into situations in which they will suffer.
Spell-like abilities: Ghost Sound at will range 100ft, Ball Lightining 1/day, Chain Lightining 1/day, Cone of Cold 3/day, Wind Wall at will directly in front of the Voice only. All Spell-like abilities are cast as an 8th lvl Sorcerer and the DC's where applicable are 12 +Spell lvl.
Voice of the Storm: Any target that is out under the storm that the voice chooses may hear it no matter the distance as a faint and directionally specific wisper or drowned out but still clear shout. The voice may also hear any spoken word and hears it as directionaly specific from anyone out under the storm that speaks. Neither the target or the Voice may determine distance from each others voices but they know the direction the speaker is away from them. The Voice is also treated as if a normal human in daylight as long as he is under the storm.
Lightining Travel: As a bolt of lightining strikes The Voice in the Storm may as a free action travel up to 100ft to any point that the storm covers as long as he is under the storm.
Lightining Bolt Control: The voice in the storm may call a single bolt of lightining from the sky as if using call lightining at the lowest possible caster lvl. It must wait one round after each use before it may do such again. He may use both this and Lightining Travel in the same round.
Drench: Once per round any flame of campfire size is automatically extinguished on a ranged touch DC of 15. This may be brought into affect against any flame based light source that is out in the storm if the voice can see it as an Immediate Action.
Immunity to Electric & Cold: The Voice in the Storm is immune to all electric & cold based damage and affects and does not have to save vs them as long as he is under the storm.
Eyes of Innocence: The few Innocents who have seen the Voice in the Storms true form would discribe him as pale with his lips being a bluish purple. His teeth are not seen, as even when he speaks his mouth does not move. The reflection in his glasses is always ever so slightly delayed. And even in a light drizzle all of his clothes appear sogged. No matter how he moves he never disturbs snowdrifts, puddles, or leave a foot print nor does the wind move his clothes.
Vulnerabilities: Any lightining rod even a sword plunged in the ground that is under the storm and within 100ft of the Voice automatically forces him to come to that point if he attempts to use his lightining travel abillity but also deals the lightining damage to the lightining rod. The Voice in the Storm may never set foot within any structure that does not have the sky open over head. If a control weather spell beats a caster lvl check of 20 then the caster may force the storm to end and The Voice will travel in another storm elsewhere. If forced inside he becomes mute and cannot use any powers except physical movement. He will begin to spit up water and if after five rounds he is still inside he will disapate into water for a generation.
Previous Bogeyman Items of Note!
As an extra possibility for the PC's these Items are perhaps something the DM may use and also discribe the benifit's they provide both the bogeymen and the PC's who may use them.
The Lame Man's Cup: The Lame Man's little metal cup is capable of producing each time it is tipped over, the exact amount for one drink in the currency of the town it is in. This gold is real and it is from all the coins that The Lame Man has collected in all his years. Money may be placed within the cup and it will automatically disappear only to be transported to The Lame Man's Sinkhole some say. Should the cup ever run dry it will not produce until it has equivilent currency placed inside it as it transports the money and doesnt create it. The DM should decide the amounts of each currency from the places he thinks The Lame Man visits before giving it to the party. Radiates minor conjuration.
The Talerman Family Blade: Sir. Tainmans +2 Ornate Rapier of Wounding as he says was a family heirloom and mark of status. But other storys say the blade has a legend that it was given to The Fine Pair as a gift from a grateful King who was convinced to kill his only heir that very night with the sword. The King of this mist forgotten land only remembering the sword, in his madness soon cursed the blade so that no mortal who wieldes it will ever forget the pain that had wounded him so. This is said to have been discribed in a Journal shortly before he wasted into death dispairing the loss of his line. The tradgedy was so sweet that Sir Tainman has carried it with him so that he can feel the curse tied to the blade. Any time any creature that can be killed touches the blade it will feel and see the murder of the dead king's son. This inspires a DC 16 Fear save each time the blade is grasped. This does not affect Sir. Tainman other than to make him remember his enjoyed kill. In addition to What a +2 Wounding weapon would radiate the blade also radiates strong enchantment from the curse. Only by destroying the sword will the King ever find peace and to do so perminently The Fine Pair must be destroyed perminently as well.
The Voice's Eyes: These string tied round framed lens glasses, while mundane in appearence allow one of three powers once per round. The first is to detect innocence as a free action in a 60ft cone. This appears as if the person becomes a completely Red shape while non innocents are normal in appearence. The next power allows the user to detect any change in the weather and ignore any vision imparement from such continuously as long as the wearer uses a free action to do so. Lastly the wearer can recieve a continuous +1 to dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves as long as he takes a free action to do so. The Voice's Eyes radiate Enchantment moderate, Divination minor, and Transmutation minor
Next time the The Hill Family!
I really hope you guys like these because from before this post as far as I have noticed no one has commented at all.
Well I will still finish these and I am willing to edit so don't be discouraged from telling me if they suck or not cause I plan to keep writting.
It would greatly help me to read your posts if you did not select a font size of 2.
So what size would be better? I really don't know what would be best!
Thanks C-G, the board default size is much easier to read.
I have changed the name due to reasons listed on the second half of this post below this just as I have changed the above two entries.
This post I feel is appropriate but if offensive I will remove it. I would appreciate feed back on this one very much since I think that it is not too discriptive of the horrible things in the story. If you need a copy I will have it stored on my computer and will send it by email or other methods if I am forced to remove The Hill Family!
The Hill Family
Fey (Bogeymen)1Small (The Runt) 3 Medium (The Favored Son, The Dishonored Daughter, The Precious One) and 2 Large (The Dire Grandmarm, The Provider)
Hit Dice:
3d6 +6 for The Runt (19 hp)
4d6 +12 for The Favored Son (29 hp)
4d6 +12 +7 for The Dishonored Daughter (36 hp)
4d6 +12 +4 for The Precious One (33 hp)
5d6 for The Dire Grandmarm (35 hp)
6d6 +18 for The Provider (44 hp)
Inititive:
+3 for The Runt
+2 for The Favored Son
+3 for The Dishonored Daughter
-1 for The Precious One
+1 for The Dire Grandmarm
+2 for The Provider
Speed:
40ft for The Runt
30ft for The Favored Son
30ft for The Dishonored Daughter
20ft for The Precious One
15ft land and 40ft fly (Poor) for The Dire Grandmarm
30ft for The Provider
Armor Class:
16 (+3 Dex, +2 Deflection, +1 Size) 16 Touch , 13 Flatfooted for The Runt
16 (+2 Dex, +2 Leather, +2 Deflection) 14 Touch , 14 Flatfooted for The Favored Son
15 (+3 Dex, +2 Deflection) 15 Touch, 12 Flatfooted for The Dishonored Daughter
18 (-1 Dex, +3 Hide, +4 Natural, +2 Deflection) 11 Touch , 18 Flatfooted for The Precious One
15 (+1 Dex, +3 Natural, +2 Deflection, -1 Size) 13 Touch , 14 Flatfooted for The Dire Grandmarm
19 (+2 Dex, +2 Natural, +4 Chain Shirt, +2 Deflection, -1 Size) 13 Touch , 17 Flatfooted for The Provider
Base Attack/Grapple:
+2/+6 or +0 when resisting a grapple for The Runt
+2/+4 for The Favored Son
+2/+2 for The Dishonored Daughter
+2/+6 for The Precious One
+3/+8 for The Dire Grandmarm
+3/+12 for The Provider
Attack:
Claw +3 melee (1d3 +1), Bite +1 melee (1d3 +1), Rake +1 melee (1d3 +1), for The Runt
Dead Wolf (+1 Returning Throwing Hand Axe) +4 melee or ranged melee (1d6 +3), for The Favored Son
Slam +2 melee (1d4), for The Dishonored Daughter
Slam +6 melee (1d6 +4), for The Precious One
Hand of the Frost Hag (+1 Frost Claw Gauntlet) +5 melee (1d8 +2 +1d6 cold), for The Dire Grandmarm
Life Bane (+2 Vile Great Axe) +11 melee (2d6 +7 +2 vile), for The Provider
Full Attack:
2 Claw's +3 melee (1d3 +1), 1 Bite +1 melee (1d3 +1), and if pounce 2 Rake's +1 melee (1d3 +1), for The Runt
Dead Wolf (+1 Returning Throwing Hand Axe) +4 melee or ranged melee (1d6 +3), for The Favored Son
Slam +2 melee (1d4), for The Dishonored Daughter
Slam +6 melee (1d6 +4), for The Precious One
Hand of the Frost Hag (+1 Frost Claw Gauntlet) +6 melee (1d8 +2 +1d6 cold), for The Dire Grandmarm
Life Bane (+2 Vile Great Axe) +11 melee (2d6 +7 +2 vile), for The Provider
Space/Reach:
5ft./5ft. for The Runt
5ft./5ft for The Favored Son
5ft./5ft for The Dishonored Daughter
5ft./5ft for The Precious One
10ft./5ft for The Dire Grandmarm
10ft./5ft for The Provider
Special Attacks:
Frenzied Charge, Pounce, Rake, Dragging Chain, for The Runt,
Set the Table, Sneak Attack +2d6, for The Favored Son,
Beaten but not Broken, Broken Gaze, for The Dishonored Daughter,
Dire Hareld, Rage, for The Precious One,
Spell-like abilities, Tend to the Wicked, for The Dire Grandmarm,
Glory of the Kill, Taste of Blood, for The Provider
Special Qualities:
Sadist, Scent, for The Runt
Sadist, Insane Tennacity, for The Favored Son
Submissive, for The Dishonored Daughter
Ignorant of Death, for The Precious One
Crone of Bone, +4 vs cold and cold resistance 5, for The Dire Grandmarm
DR 5/Innocent, for The Provider
Eaters of Man, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities for all of them
Saves:
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +5, for The Runt
Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +3, for The Favored Son
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +3, for The Dishonored Daughter
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2, for The Precious One
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +7, for The Dire Grandmarm
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +7, for The Provider
Abillities:
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 14, Cha 6, for The Runt
Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 13, for The Favored Son
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14 for The Dishonored Daughter
Str 18, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 6, Cha 6, for The Precious One
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 16 for The Dire Grandmarm
Str 20, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16, for The Provider
Skills:
Climb +7, Jump +7, Spot +8, Listen +8, Search +8, MoveSilently +10, Hide +13, for The Runt
Climb +9, Jump +9, Spot +6, Listen +6, MoveSilently +9, Intimidate +8, for The Favored Son
Spot +6, Listen +6, Hide +10, MoveSilently +10, Bluff +9, for The Dishonored Daughter
Climb +11, Jump +11, Spot +5, Listen +5, Intimidate +11 Str, for The Precious One
Climb +9, Jump +9, Spot +11, Listen +11, Concentration +8, Spellcraft +13, Use Magic Device +13, MoveSilently +9, Intimidate +11, Bluff +11, for The Dire Grandmarm
Climb +14, Jump +14, Spot +11, Listen +11, Search +11, Hide +9, MoveSilently +9, Intimidate +12, for The Provider
Feats:
Track, Unwholesome Ichor, for The Runt
Weapon Focus (Hand Axe), Improved Critical (Hand Axe) for The Favored Son
Improved Toughness, Toughness, for The Dishonored Daughter
Destructive Rage, Improved Toughness, for The Precious One
Commanding Gaze, Blood Spell, Violate Spell-like Abillity, for The Dire Grandmarm
Track, Vile Martial Strike (Great Axe), Weapon Focus (Great Axe), for The Provider
Environment: Any
Organization: group of 2-6
Challenge Rating:
4 for The Runt
5 for The Favored Son
5 for The Dishonored Daughter
5 for The Precious One
6 for The Dire Grandmarm
7 for The Provider
Treasure:
Neck Chain only and See Discription Below, for The Runt
Dead Wolf (+1 Returning Throwing Hand Axe) and See Discription Below, for The Favored Son
None, for The Dishonored Daughter
None, for The Precious One
Hand of the Frost Hag (+1 Frost Claw Gauntlet) and See Discription Below, for The Dire Grandmarm
Life' Bane (+2 Vile Great Axe) and See Discription Below, for The Provider
Alignment:
Chaotic Evil for The Runt
Chaotic Evil for The Favored Son
Neutral Evil for The Dishonored Daughter
Chaotic Evil for The Precious One
Lawful Evil for The Dire Grandmarm
Lawful Evil for The Provider
Advancement:
4-5 (Small) for The Runt
5-6 (Medium) for The Favored Son
5-6 (Medium) for The Dishonored Daughter
5-6 (Medium) for The Precious One
6-7 (Large) for The Dire Grandmarm
7-8 (Large) for The Provider
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: You all hear the rattling of a chain that seems to be circling in the misty wood's around you. The dog's are barking and dragging to get away. A wolf howl is cut short as the man next to you dies a gurgling death. An axe in his throat that vanishes as if the night jerks it back into nothing-ness. The rattling gets faster trailing after one of the losed hounds, as the sound of giants comes through the trees. You feel a chill as you see a shadow pass over the moon just over head just missing what ever had went above, while off in the dark that unfortunate animal yelps in pain. Suddenly all sound stops, until after a painfully long moment, a maiden's mournful sob is the only thing that carries through the night in the last few seconds of calm. Then all these noises seem to rapidly approach at once...
The Hill Family is one of the most numerous of the known bogeymen group's to hunt together. The Clan of Blood and Bone are a very dread tale that few will ever forget and fewer still will ever wish to hear. They are blood thirsty and savage beyond even most Falkovian soldiers and they are very deserving of thier status. They are numbered in the stories told to be at six members.
The Runt is the youngest of the family and the small but malnurished naked boy lies chained at the foot of the table as if the dog of the family chewing bones with pointed teeth and begging for scraps.
The Favored Son savagely feasts at the table, his scar covered limbs cleaving his share of the kill with his dirty gore stained hatchet with a viciously wide smile with intense gleems in his eye that flash blood red.
The Dishonored Daughter sits to the side, dirty and bruised, but the most normal looking, shielding her slightly protruding belly, she eats tentatively and disgustedly, twitching fearfully at even the slightest movement of her kith and kin as if about to be struck.
The Precious One sits being fed into his rot toothed dullards smile as if a babe's mind sat behind the hulking mispreportioned, seven foot frame. He is dressed in patchwork hides that seem to be made of multiple leather peices and animal fur's.
The one feeding is The Dire Grandmarm and her face is a pale bluish white mass of wrinkels as she laughs with a croaking voice and it shakes her massive yet haunched frame. She feeds with her right while her left stays to her side, covered under her cloak which is a stained grey wolf fur. Her eyes are milky white as if cataracts have taken her sight but she still see's fine.
There at the head of the family table sit's The Provider who's nine foot vantage point lets him watch keenly with his cold gaze, as his family eat's the meal the hunt has brought before them.
The corpse before them had been canny and smart in life but now this man was not more that meat at the table. The Hill Family as said before hunt together and are used as tales to stay out of the wild land's on the boarders of civilization and to not trust those who live there from fear of inbred blood and dark works. They rarely enter civilization unless it is to inspire someone to be foolish enough to come to thier playground. This is done by killing the live stock of the boardering farms or causing some misfortune of magical or mundane kinds that forces a search party. Occasionally The Dishonored Daughter being the most normal looking of the group will invite a boy who she is fond of to take her away to marry away from her disapproving family. When they do leave though this journey is inevetably cut short as her family drags both her and the young suiter home for "dinner.".
The Hill Family travel's through thier home which appears one mile out of town in a wooded or otherwise hard to reach location. The home usually stays there until one of the hunts is concluded then as the family sleep's inside the house burns rapidly to the ground and they scream as they are burned alive. Only a blackened patch of earth remains as the sun rises and the house re-appears outside of another town. Some would be hunters have believed they have seen them destroyed because of this but as they find no remains at all, most are never sure.
The Story Told: "I tell you Grosken that the wolves are not the cause... I hear there howl's in the wood's all night and I have sat up and stood guard my self but the wound's on my sheep, they are from a blade."
Grosken Volkoul sat at the table in the lodge and shook his head. Roale had been known to be a bit indulgent in the drink at night, but the man seemed sober as he stood before him now. He was the third this winter to report of something a miss in the western boarder of town.
First had Elishka Doelcheck who had said that chain rattling had been heard on the night and had kept her awake but when she had gotten up to check she found that her Boar Hound Tolen, had been savaged and torn near to pieces. The bite's and claw's had seemed near human but incredably small. He had worried about the legendary wolves that walked but thought perhaps that he had seen flawed sign through superstition. He had seen larger hounds killed by wolves and some of the bites had been flawed by the other bites and claws and a pack could surely have taken dear Tolen down.
He and his men went out for wolves but over the week's found little to no sign and heard not a one out at the night as was very odd for the season. Normally the wolves needed hunting in the town as the snow drove more of the game away.
Then when the second came it was from his fellow huntsman and friend Deliosh Parickobe. His prize steed of his stable had died of the frost. This was not odd but that it had not killed the lesser horses stabled the same and that from all who could recall the night had not been that chill. Seeing this he set out to see if someone had came and wet the horse down in vengence. But that had not found a soul and he did not think he would.
After this event Grosken had listened to the many stories and legend's that ran about town as the small village of a hundered souls was quick to spread any news within. Many spoke of The Fryst Hag and her dread lover and son The Giant and how he held the horse down while her cold left hand frose the beast. Other's mentoned of the savage Dog Child and that it was clearing the field of it's rivals.
He reassured Roale that he and his hunting men would question the village and check for sign of the one who killed his herd. He escorted him to the door and called his companions to the table as he went into the main room. The many grissled and young face's of these strong men looked to him for guidence. "I will ask that you fine men go and talk to your wive's and children. Your neighbors and kin and ask them if any can speak of witnessing these men who did these crimes. Roale insisted it was a blade and thus I see that we might have a grudge hiding in town against him."
"I ain callen ya wrong on any point but what of the stories Grosken? The sign keeps pointin toward the mystic, and I can only stretch so far in ignoren the wives tale's!" Deliosh was looking to the others with a slight bit of eyeing for approval. The men seemed to agree as they listned to the tale. "Now with the story so matchen the Hatchet Boy of the story you want us to look for em in town?"
Grosken looked at the men and laughed. "The whole town know's the tale's. We keep them so that we can scare the young one's to stay in from the wood's til it is time to teach the hunters trade. I want to think that it is perhaps one who was not fit for hunting, as only relatives of the lodge have been made victim to the crime's. I don't see no one that's been eaten yet Deliosh? Unless you have some bites your covering?" He smiled and the men all seemed a little bristled at being made to seem the fool but had a merry laugh at themselves.
Deliosh said otherwise however. "Jus promise me my brother that you will keep the tale in mind. My horse had thick skin but it was near hard as three day's freeze when I found her."
"We will find the person Deliosh and they will be held to account and recompense. I swear it!" Grosken then went about the business as he had for he needed to handel his home after.
His son Lansce had been showing the sign of having a woman in mind. He kept disappearing in the day and would say little but blush about the maid in question. He had however become more firm and he thought he saw the eye of one who ment to leave the town. He would speak words and make the boy stay till spring.
That was not how it went though. The boy had been packed as he had arrived and had gathered all but the horses. He and his son had woke the town as they marched arguing some of the huntsmen stared in shock as the boy spoke of his love and thier need for leaving. "I will not be told who I will and will not love father. I will marry her away so neither her nor my kin can object."
"Boy listen to you! You speak of madness. None live out in the western wood. I have taken you there myself and we know it true." Grosken yelled as his son began to start trotting his horse away.
"Forgive me father I will send word once we are man and wife." He yelled back as he began riding harder out of town...
Deliosh spun him round... "Now Brother. Your boy rides not to the rescue, but into death! He is bewitched and we must go to save him!"
Grosken was only hesisitent at first but let his reason slip within seconds. He and his son were in the legend as it seemed and now he could not delay. He and his men quickly set out into the night after the boy.
They came upon him on the road after a few minutes hard ride, attempting to set the girl upon the horse before him. "Lansce! Wait and listen to me son!" Grosken yelled at him and the boy, trying to get past the baying of the hounds that had accompanied with them as they road. "She is part of the story boy... Look and see it!"
The sad looking girl hid behind as Lansce, drew his knife. "I'll hear none of..." then "Hooooowwwwooooooollllll...(Whump)" the boy jerked straight "You..r..." (Thump) then fell over dead a flash of metal on the other side.
The girl began to scream horribly and wail falling to her knee's looked into the wood's in terror.
The Grosken did not remember the next moments as he walked toward his son to kneel at his body. He did not see a small boy with a fang filled mouth slaughter trained hunting dog's dragging one behind as he chased the animal's into the night. He did not here Deliosh's plea of aid or the cracking of his skull as hail took many of the huntsmen to the ground. He did not feel as his son's now broken necked horse fell to his left leg and crushed it at the ankel down. He did see a massive hand jerk the supposed lover of his boy away as she begged for aid. He looked up and the last thing he remembered was that cold face that looked upon him. When the shock had cleared he had dragged himself back to the village on that broken leg. The winter was hard with few hunters but the village has endured.
"So children that is the tale I tell you. And like elder's before I leave you to decide on what you believe..."
The True Story: Posted in seperate post due to size!
Combat: Each member of The Hill Family has thier own insane reasons for the hunt. They always initiate in suprise and will only force the conflict if they believe they can win easily. The families methods are listed below.
The Runt: The Runt always begins the battle by circling the enemy in the trees focusing any dog's or small children in that order as his targets ignoring any target that does not hit him till the dog or child is dead. He will only spring once the other's have started the battle usually harelded by the sound of Dead Wolf taking it's first flight. The Runt act's out of instinct and ingraned command's as if a dog. If instructed to flee he will do so but if suffering half of his Hp in damage he will flee as well.
Frenzied Charge: At the end of any move The Runt make's on it's own turn in the inititive order, totaling less than double his speed but greater than 10ft The Runt is always considered to have been charging no matter the circumstances of the move and gains all the benifits of such. This means that The Runt may move and make several turns even going around to avoid attacks of oppertunity and get to the target and be considered charging.
Pounce: As long as The Runt Charges or even Jump's down on a target he may make a full attack with all his natural weapons. If he strikes with both claw attacks he may make 2 Rake attacks against his foe that round.
Rake: If The Runt manages to strike with both claw's on a full attack he may make 2 Rake attacks. These deal 1d3 +1 slashing damage and they are listed above in the statistics block.
Dragging Chain: The chain wrapped around The Runt's neck will aid in his grapple attempts. As long as the opponent is alive The Runt will continue to automatically grapple them after the first time. After a success The Runt may do other thing's such as run dragging any opponent of Medium size or smaller behind him. This slow's his speed by 10ft and he may only run at X3 his speed, but otherwise dose not hinder The Runt. Victims being dragged are considered to be prone and are considered to be directly behind The Runt. They may either attack as if grappled with a light weapon or make a DC 15 Str check to stop being pulled, each round on thier turn, or take 1 point of subdual for every ten feat pulled. If after stopping the pull the victim can immediately make an opposed grapple check to get free. Should The Runt be killed the chain comes lose as his corpse disapates.
Sadist: As long as The Runt deal's 3+ damage to a target in a single round he gains a +1 to all attack, damage, skill check, and saving throw rolls the next round. But if The Runt is threatend with physical pain the Intimidate roll gains a +1 bonus against The Runt.
The Favored Son: The Favored Son always targets the most distracted or weakest looking target to make use of his sneak attack and his Set the Table abillity. He will throw from hidding and then find another spot to suprise his victims and keep them guessing. He usually picks a target that is talking so that he interupts the words. The Favored Son will only fight hand to hand if he thinks his opponent too weak to resist or if forced and will run if his Hp is reduced to below half.
Set the Table: As long as the first attack of the combat is made by The Favored Son and is a sneak attack any who witness the attack if it is successful must make a DC 16 Fear Save. If the favored son misses with this attack he must wait until another combat to use it. Any who save successfully against it are immune to other uses of the abillity in other combats until 24 hours have passed since the first success.
Insane Tenacity: The Favored Son may make a will save when reduced to negative hp with a DC equal to 10 + the negative hp total, and if successful he automatically stablizes and may function normally. If damaged again then he must make another save at the new negative total or fall. This may keep The Favored Son standing with some lucky roll's all the way to -23 with an unenhanced will save. If he fails beyond -10 he falls to the dust and disapates into the mist.
Sadist: As long as The Favored Son deal's 4+ damage to a target in a single round he gains a +1 to all attack, damage, skill check, and saving throw rolls the next round. But if The Favored Son is threatend with physical pain the Intimidate roll gains a +1 bonus against The Favored Son.
The Dishonored Daughter: The Dishonored Daughter appears to be a non combatant. She will weep and will beg her family to stop but will by appearences be unintentionally there. She is so broken she will do what anyone who threatens her says. She will often time's try to charm the most handsome of the parties male characters to wisk her away. Since The Provider is usually close at hand this leads most often to a very painful death. She is evil in the way that a seemingly good person will do nothing to stop an attrocity.
Beaten not Broken: When ever The Provider see's any of The Hill Family get injured including himself but excluding The Dishonored Daughter, He may strike The Dishonored Daughter with his open hand dealing 1d4 +5 damage and healing a like amount to one of the members he chooses that he has seen injured within 100ft. This ability may be used once per round and it may never be used if it would drop The Dishonored Daughter to below 1 hp.
Broken Gaze: Once per day any one male that The Dishonored Daughter chooses that meets her pleading gaze must make a DC 15 will save or be forced to run the most direct route to her no matter the danger, and defend her until the both of them may escape. He will attack anyone who physically threatens her and him and will believe she is his true love. This effect end's after 24hr's of the character being out of The Dishonored Daughter's presence or if remove curse is cast. If The Dishonored Daughter is slain while he is defending her then the character must make an immediate DC 18 Madness save.
Submissive: Any command that The Hill Family tells The Dishonored Daughter to preform she does in a slow and unwilling submission. If protected by a male under her Broken Gaze she will follow his commands over any other. She is treated to have no will save for any effect that would force her to preform any action the caster commands with automatic failure.
The Precious One: The Precious One acts as if a spoiled child in combat. He goes in smilingly playing with these new toys. The moment he is hurt he activates his Rage to crush said toy using his Destructive Rage Feat on anything that gets between him and his toy. When reduced to half Hp he uses his Dire Hareld abillity to call for his mommy. If reduced to 1/4th Hp he retreats crying for his mother.
Dire Hareld: When reduced to half Hp The Precious One can howl for his mother in an inhuman tone. No matter the distance The Dire Grandmarm will appear next to him in the closest possible space available at the start of next round and may not ignore the call unless slain. She may act on this round This howl causes a DC 16 Horror save to all who hear it the first time. Every time after that those that heard the call must make a DC 16 Fear save. Those that fail the first save have the DC of the fear save increased by 2. If The Dire Grandmarm fails to arrive then at the end of his Rage The Precious One must retreat.
Ignorent of Death: The Precious One is considered to have the Diehard feat for free and does not Disipate from wounds until he reaches -20 Hp.
Rage: 2/day as a 4th lvl Barbarian.
The Dire Grandmarm: This horrible creature usually fly's into combat and begins using violated spell like abilities, on those that are below. When in hand to hand she will use her left hand in its claw gauntlet only if she has no spells and prefers to be next to The Precious One. She prefers to leave the target's alive long enough for one of her children to get to them but will kill if they threaten any of The Hill Family except The Dishonored Daughter. She will always help The Precious One over any other member first.
Spell-like abilities: Hailstones 2/per, Cold Orb Lesser 3/day, Love's Pain 1/day, Boneblade 1/day, Bone Blast 3/day, Shriveling 1/day. These spells are cast as if by a Wizard of 5th lvl and the DC's where appropriate equal 15 +spell lvl.. She may also use any spell out of any spell book she has access to that a wizard of 5th lvl could use by using her Blood Spell feat.
Crone of Bone & Blood: The Dire Grandmarm may for each medium victim, make one 1st lvl wand minimum caster lvl with 25 charges, 3 Cure light wounds potions all minimum caster lvl, from one medium corpse, or finally she may make 1 scroll of a 1st lvl spell out of the skin and blood of a medium body. Using the body in one of these ways prevents it from being used for any other purpose. Only potions can be made with smaller or larger creatures and for every size catagory up or down decrease or increase by one the number of potions. All of these things take 24hr's of uninterupted work, to prepare.
Tend to the Wicked: Every member of The Hill Family that The Dire Grandmarm touches recovers 1d8 +5 Hp once each per day. This ability does not work on The Dishonored Daughter nor may The Dire Grandmarm use it upon herself.
The Provider: The Provider charges and uses his reach to swipe his axe at any foe that continues to fight. He prefers his targets to fight or run and if they are still and unarmed, he shuns them. He will try to intimidate targets into fighting him and will only retreat from a truly superior foe. He enjoys the kill and reveles in the blood always preforming the killing blow to any foe he drops. He loves death over all of his family and lives as only the strongest, quickest, and most cunning deserve to survive. He will make attacks of oppertunity at fleeing foes but will not chase directly prefering to hunt them after they have a good lead.
Glory of the Kill: When ever The Provider strikes the blow that kills a living creature he gains a +1 to hit and damage until the end of combat. These bonuses are cumulative up to a +3 maximum on both attack and damage.
Taste of Blood: By tasting the blood of an opponent The Provider automatically learns thier name and recieves a +10 on all Survival checks to track that person perminently.
Damage Reduction / Innocent: Only those who are innocent may ignore this damage reduction when fighting The Provider.
All The Hill Family:
Eaters of Man: After a corpse is brought to thier cabin and prepared for 3hours plus or minus 30 minutes for each size catagory lower The Hill Family may as a group devour it taking 20 minutes of undisturbed eating and recieve the benifit of a Mass Cure Critical Wounds spell as cast as if Maximised at the lowest possible caster lvl. This 20 minutes must be consecutive or the meal is ruined. They may gain this benifit once per corpse but must prepare them one at a time as above. The size of the corpse does not affect this abillity from small to larger, but anything below small simply does not have enough to function. Any corpse eaten in such a way is not fit for any raise attempts or any other abillity and is considered destroyed. Only True Ressurection, Wish or Miracle may be used to attempt to bring back a person who's body has been devoured.
Eyes of Innocence: Unlike other's of the bogeymen type The Hill Family seem monsterous and repulsive all the time. They rarely enter town and are treated as if Calibans by all and are offensive enough to inspire violence if they stay to long, except for The Dishonored Daughter who looks like a sad dirty pregnant young woman. They hide in a mundane fashion as well when wishing to not be seen. The Innocent and the Insane see them as all having pointed teeth and covered in soot and burn marks on thier clothes but The Dishonored Daughter look's to be covered in one huge bruise and cuts beyond reason.
Vulnerabilities: Each of The Hill Family have vulnerabilities unique to them and some are tied to other's in the group. Smart PC's who read the legends carefuly may be able to cripple them as they defeat them.
The Runt: The Runt cannot tolerate strong smells and must stay 30ft from anyone bearing something that can disrupt a dog's sense of smell. He also cannot enter water of any kind. If he does he struggles on the surface for three rounds and then sinks disapating for a generation. No matter how it happens The Dishonored Daughter is stunned for 1d4 +1 round's with no save should she see him fall.
The Favored Son: The Favored Son will not attack those that keep thier eye's closed. He must see thier eyes to see them. Anyone who closes thier eye's to where they cannot see him he cannot percieve until they open thier eye's and ignores them. To him they do not exist. If slain within sight of The Provider all members of The Hill Family must retreat until 24hr's have passed.
The Dishonored Daughter: Genrally submissive she will retreat unless threatend to do other wise. If however The Dishonored Daughter is rescued and married by the one under her charming gaze she will become paranoid of the other family. The Hill Family will attempt to reclaim her as soon as possible and will never relent. If the other family members are slain then for twenty years she will become the same alignment as her rescuer and a loving wife and only six months later give birth to a baby boy. If however after that 20 years The Hill Family is not destroyed then both her and the child will be pulled back to the family that night and the now grown child is eaten. If they are destroyed within the time limit then she will become mortal perminently. Her death does not affect The Hill Family in any way.
The Precious One: The Precious One is prone to tantrums and while in a rage if sleep is cast on him he automatically fails. True babies toys and objects of comfort cause him pain and he stays 20ft from anyone who presents one threateningly. If slain The Dire Grandmarm may take no action except to sob and scream curses hysterically.
The Dire Grandmarm: The Dire Grandmarm is a creature of cold and thus she takes 1.5X any fire damage directed at her. Should a weapon be made of a humaniod bone be used she may be staked like a vampire and may not move until it is removed. If slain every member of The Hill Family except The Dishonored Daughter is stunned for 1 round and then retreats.
The Provider: The Provider will not fight those that are not moving. If his target stays still he must ignore it but is still aware of it. Any Innocent that attempts to turn him will gain +5 bonus but may not destroy him. Should The Provider ever be killed all those of The Hill Family that see except for The Dishonored Daughter are stunned for 2 rounds and have a -3 penalty to all rolls. They most likely retreat as well.
Next is the 2nd part then Der Kinderstod!
This post I feel is appropriate but if offensive I will remove it. I would appreciate feed back on this one very much since I think that it is not too discriptive of the horrible things in the story. If you need a copy I will have it stored on my computer and will send it by email or other methods if I am forced to remove The Hill Family!
Facts of note!
Originally inspired by the Locolico name meanings of which Loco is Spanish for Madman and Lico is Russian for Kinsman or ground, Lico is also tied to the surname Zemlicoff. I have found the original reference for a 2nd edition Gothic Earth version of the Locolico and adapted it to 3rd and more as to fit bogeyman type on the FoS board thus I have removed the name from my listing as I consider the first to be the true version with my adaptation to be just a fan version. Thus I have changed the title of the Locolico inspired Bogeymen into the Hill Family also keeping the Zemlicoff surname for my creation as I see no harm, and I must also credit now that I remember the Hills Have Eyes movies both new and old for inspiration.
The True Story:The Hill Family as stated above originated in Vorostokov. The original families Surname was Zemlicoff and they lived on the outskirts of a near by village. The Zemlicoff family was known for thier proud streak and were great hunters. They supplied the villagers with fur and meat through out most of the year, and out preformed any other village hunting clan.
Some say the line was cursed by it's pride and it seeped in to thier blood. They had suddenly had every child from one generation and on, produced in the blood line be a Caliban, and that caused much strife as they were all forced out. The village had refused to allow thier blood to mingle in and thus the family was cast out and moved to the western hills. While they were refused to live in the town they had once been a part of, the towns people still accepted limited trade with the Zemlicoff family as the married in relatives could not just abandon thier kin. As the years went by the once proud family that stayed within the wilderness, became more and more imbred with fewer and fewer of the young surviving the harsh cold. By the fourth generation of the imbreeding, the son's and daughters possibly had common blood with all the families in thier forsaken little community. Mental disorder's and deformity were prevailent and the pride of thier line became an unreasonable distain and anger at being forced to live so. The little contact with the village they had began to sour. Soon a grudge developed in the family against any outside of thier own kin.
They began to starve as thier diet was severly deficent and hard weather and fewer able hunters meant less food for all. It is said that if it was not for corrupt magic of the hags and thier want of human flesh, that the line would have perished much sooner. They were soon said to have begun eating thier dead and killing those who were weakest, to stay the chill of winter and to have consorted with all sort of dark beings and creatures. Though these rumors were as of then unconfirmed, none ventured into the woods that were wise, and very rarely those that did were foolish children that never returned. When ever asked of the disappearences the family all claimed to know nothing of the incident's every time.
By the seventh generation only one family of five members remained of the cursed Zemlicoff blood line were still living in the wild lands to the west.
The oldest was Olga Zemlicoff, who born on the fourth generation, had lived to the uncommon age of 85 years, and was a mother of three. Any who saw her claimed that she was a witch or a hag that had power over the cold in her left hand that she covered with some unknown shiny material. She was often guided as her eyes were whitening with cataracts by one of her children but she could see. Several bone's were used as decoration on her clothes and she was always considered to be darkly facinated by magic by all that spoke of her.
The father of two had been her son and lover, Jyorsk Zemlicoff, who stood close to 8ft in height and was 41. The giant of a man spoke only in anger and hefted a blackend Great Axe. It had been the same axe that he had used to slay his father so that he could be with his mother uncontested. Any who saw him fled from him with haste but few ever survived long after to speak of it since he never ventured from the woods and considered it to be his families by right of power and blood.
Thier two children together were Yuri Zemlicoff and Gregor Zemlicoff, at 21 and 19 respectively. Yuri was an active and lanky lean young man who standing at 6ft 3in was very disturbingly passionate about the hunt and remarkably good with his wood axe. His large brow belied a vicious cunning and his eyes were redish in hue as those of albino cast. He would leave dead wolves on the porch of those who angered him always with only the skull split. He entered town only to trade fur's and left when he felt there was no fun to be had in scaring the towns people.
Gregor had been born with the oft in the line slowness but a very healthy body. He was like a small child but his body would one day rival his fathers in build for height and power as he was now 7ft 6in. Once a young man had thought to mock him while he had wandered lost near the village. He broke him like he was a sapling and ran crying for his mother the whole time. The man lived unable to walk, but died only a year after from infection brought on by bed sore's.
At age 18 was the freshest blood found in Naylee Zemlicoff, who was found by Jyorsk when but a babe as he had slain the parents who had lost thier way in travels. When she was old enough she saw only work or beating's as her day in, day out routeen. To avoid the pain she began just agreeing with most of the painful commands and surrendering to anyone who threatend her. She knew she was not related to her supposed kin, as they looked nothing like her, but she knew she was stuck within thier reach as they kept careful watch of her.
When she came of age her adoptive father took her for himself. She had at age 12 birthed a boy that she wanted to name Jeriic but due to his weak frame he was ostricised and treated badly as she. He was treated like a dog and left on a chain. She stood up for him as often as possible but she found that courage was not enough as she was beaten to near death. Jyorsk believed that she was weak in blood and thus religated her to cleaning and insignifigant tasks, while Olga beat her and warned her to stay from her beloved's side.
This prevented her from trying to rescue her poor child as he was taught to behave as a hunting dog and any kindness or human behavior was quickly beaten out of him. This came close to completely destroying the poor girls psyche as she could not defend her son. The son however became more a member of the family then she did and reacted as taught, to be rewarded as such an animal should expect.
Her adoptive brother Yuri began taking her to the village when he was sent to trade so that he might use her to carry the burden. She was not allowed to talk and was treated as just another of the family by most anyway. Yuri was a show off and a bully, who would challenge the men of the village in contest's of axe throwing or even duel's but few were foolish enough to accept. He made violent threats and would play games with any opponent to heighten the fear of the poor victim. He marked his shoulder with each kill of the hunt and bragged with it openly. Every throw of his axe was accompanied by a mimic of a wolf howl from his lips, that was so close to genuine it chilled the bones of those that heard it. The few who had ever accepted his challenges found themselves actually bested by his suprising skill, and fearful of the threat of his hatchet if they angered him.
But once Naylee found more was outside of her world of beatings and abuse she tried to sneak out. Some times she would be stared at and made fun of but some of the people were very kind. She told little of her family for fear of punishment and was lucky enough to catch the eye of a local boy named Balen Kosenrae. For near of six months they tried to be together as often as possible, carefully secretive, with a young love burning inside. He was enraptured with the shy and fragile creature and could not sleep for thought of her. She became like wise enamored and was planning to leave to be with him always.
But then a sudden blizzard came to the land. Hunting became a fruitless trip as less game was around. The blizzard continued for near three months with few gap's in the fall, and food began to run out. The village turned to it's hunters and while some were able to catch a small prize, most of them came back empty handed. If they came back at all...
For as people began to starve, Jyorsk would not let the line die out, and began hunting the hunter's in the woods. His son's and dog child, would join him on the hunts and they soon found a new challenge as the hunters made great sport.
The family was so hungry, and all but Naylee ate what was put before them. She was appalled by this new low, but she did unwillingly relent eventually to prevent a beating and to protect the child inside, as her brother had taken her again durring the long months she had feared it was his, but of the few time's they had been together before the snow, she had hoped, and believed it to be her's and Balen's.
She only waited until the weather cleared so she could sneak to him one last time. She waited till the next partial thaw and when with Yuri delivering the fur to the village, Naylee told Balen of her being with child and the horror of her family and thier crime's. She begged for him to take her away and the boy could not refuse her, but also demanded justice be done. He took her to his home and his father named Hosick gathered the remaining men together. They found Yuri in the village center yelling that Naylee be returned or the he would find her by force.
When Yuri saw the mob assembled with weapons and rope surround him, he began cursing them. When his crimes were listed off he only laughed at thier faces spitting and threatening worse should they not obey his demands and send the "*****!" of a sister out to him. Hosick held firm against the man's accusations and insults fighting down his ire and choosing to trust his son. Yuri now became paranoid like the animals that he tormented, and miss judged as the mob accidentally pushed a man infront to stumble forward. His hand axe went end over end to enter the unfortunate man's skull. The mob was spurned to action at the man's sheer viciousness and the revolting implication of truth to the tales. With only his skinning knife he could not hold off the many hands that bound him with rope. Only as the mob beat him did he cry out in fear. He begged and pleaded but mercy was not to be had and his own axe was pulled lose of it's former victim and it took numerous savage blows to finally quiet him once and for all.
Balen brought her forth and to the village she began reporting what Jyorsk and the other's were doing and that she wanted to be free. She pleaded her innocence and claimed no blood from them, but found few but Balen and his kin believed her. The mob wanted blood and while she was taken into his home and given a promise of safety, for a while the village was active, now that murders needed to be avenged. Balen's father with concern for his son took charge of the lynching party so as to leave him to protect this girl who perhaps had his granchild within, and went to capture or kill, the vile family that night.
After a hard ride, they soon found a series of bear traps just off the road, as one of the group had his leg snapped at the ankle. Suddenly the dog's began baying, howling and they shook loose, but when they failed to return the men pulled thier blades and followed, leaving two behind to tend to the injured man.
They came across an old hunched over but large crone standing in a patch of land that had bone's all about it in gruesome display. She had been scraped and hurt but had managed to mangle the dog's viciously as if she had beat them with a tree limb. The rumored cold silver colored, left hand was seen to be covered with metal plates that were coated with already freezing dog blood that near glowed in the moon light. Hosick threatend death and demanded surrender but as they did such some were bowled over on the right by a massive howling form that had a dull low voiced child's laughter. On the left a horrible shreiking of frenzied activity as a wild boy began savaging one mans leg shaking the chain furiously. Through the combat and panic he heard the Crone screachingly pointing at him, yelling words of a curse at him... "As you would do, you to shall lose what you held most dear!" As a black shadow flew toward him from her hand, he fell forward with sudden bizzare fatigue and grasping a nearby rib in the clearing of bone's, charged and skewered the witch, Olga through her heart. With her last strength she scratched and drew a line of blood from his face while they were in that death embrace whispering... "He will know... My son will know!" She fell dead, and suddenly the wailling massive hide covered form threw him from her as if he was a small thing. He and his few men fled back to the road and thier horses.
Jyorsk had managed to arrive from his evening hunt to find the scene from the noise on the wind and through the tree's. His most precious Gregor had been mortally wounded and now weeped over the sight of both thier mother's body. He saw the blood on her nail of her generally unused right hand and knew she had marked her killer. His fury mounted and as his axe laid to rest his destraught dying boy, and he found his mongrel child waiting with minor wounds, to be brought back to the hunt. He heard them fleeing back to where he knew to find them. With his massive form trembling with rage he called after the running coward's. He caught up to thier departing form's and took one rider from his horse. The man died quickly after, having his throat torn open by the jaws of the dog child. He mounted the horse and ran it at a mad pace, pushing and beating it to make the town soon.
The men looked back over to see the giant of a man and his odd offspring coming with screams of death and vengence lent volume to carry by some nightly force. Hosick ran to his home to gather all his kin to fight but found his son lying near death in the crying arm's of this girl he loved. The witches damage was done as he had feared and almost ignoring his son's gasping protests and plea's, he did as asked and attempted to get her out of danger. He dragged the girl to the fore of his door as she begged to be left with his son, only to see his men causing and recieving fatal wounds to the raging giant.
Jyorsk saw them over the throng and began to push his way through but his mongrel son was quick to give chase. He charged the man and forced them on to the ice of the nearby lake as his chain was grabbed by the man's left hand. Both Hosick and Naylee's mad child colided and fell through the ice and though the man had sense enough to cling to the icy shore, the wild boy gasped struggled in panic until he went under once more, never to find the surface. Only the edge of the chain was left above the break, and it's shaking soon stilled, as it was wrapped round Hosick's arm. He told her to run, but even though she had not though a bond existed she cried for a while shocked at her crazed son's death. Jyorsk came soon after, sword in his chest, arrows in his body, and blood covering most every part of him. He raised his axe on high over the man who had the mark of his wifes killer and his harlot daughter who sat motionlessly sobbing at the hole of icy water. He however did not strike... He had all the time to do it as they waited unmoving for the blow to fall, but he cast his axe to the side.
He grabbed the chain to pull the corpse of his son out with it. Tossing Hosick aside easily as his other hand grasped his betraying daughter and he dragged them toward the cabin, as he watched her horrified and pleading eyes. He tried to stand as she began to call out... He tried to stand but the cold would not shake from his limbs.
She screamed to which Jyorsk with no sign of notice or malice, beat her into unconciousness. Jyorsk the opposite of his rage of emotion had become ice cold as he gathered the corpses of his family. None stopped the man as he picked up Yuri's corpse, or came near him as those that could have lied dead, dying, or were too frightend of what they saw. The grissly wound's would have dropped a lesser man and they feared that his spirit was black enough to have made him one of the walking dead as he left the village. Hosick soon stumbled out to see the man carry the three bodies as if weightless back toward his cabin.
He stumbled to his home and found his son still looking almost dead with not a single wound upon him. He kept asking for Naylee and when told of her current situation demanded to attempt a rescue. He attempted to rise but was too weakend to do so, as he once more pleaded with his father. Once more Hosick road out with the frost threatening to take his limb's and the cold chill being nothing compared to the fear of losing his son.
The village had survived but the Zemlicoff family had slain near 27 soul's that night and wounded many others. Any who had battled Jyorsk were dead as he made sure to slay those who challenged him. On that night however as Jyorsk wandered back and gathered the corpses within thier cabin, he lit the place a flame and the family alive and dead burned to ash that night. Naylee had awakend and unable to escape had screamed and pleaded beyond reason for Balen to come, despair taking hold as all hope faded under the burning fire and choking smoke. Jyorsk just laughed madly. By the time Hosick had made it there in his weakend state, it was to late to save her from the flame.
The next day Balen simply died near one hour after hearing the news. His father mourned while he too died, but a slow death over the course of three month's from the cold blackening his limbs with frost bite that seemed to wrack his body with chill no matter how he was warmed. His last demand was that this story never be forgotten and taught to avoid the peril the town's past prejeduce had brought and the dangers that lie outside the civilized land. His surviving relatives did such and as they traveled they spread the story with them to any and all that would listen. Some details were lost while other's were exaggerated but the tale is told mostly the same in any land it is told.
In the end when the ashes were searched the mass of bone's that was found could not be confirmed to be the families. The fire had consumed all but the Zemlicoff family legacy...
Items of The Hill Family: These are some equipment that The Hill Family may have at the DM's choosing.
Minor Items: These include Large size non magical MW Chain Shirt on The Provider, Medium Hide armor on The Precious One, Medium MW Chain Shirt on The Favored Son, and 3-5 cure light wounds potions, 0-2 1st lvl spell scrolls, and a spell book containing: 1d3+1 3rd lvl, 2d3+1 2nd lvl, and 2d4+1 1st lvl spells, and provides a +2 bonus to Knowledge Arcana and Spellcraft checks on evil rituals and practices is on The Dire Grandmarm. These items relate to the profile above and are listed here for reference.
Major Items: DM's should look at the list below if he wishes to allow the PC's to recover these items from the defeated Hill Family members...
Neck Chain: The Runt is always running wild with this chain dragging behind him. The chain is actually cursed three fold. The chain is worn as a necklace but several links trail as if a leash. The chain may not be removed except with a successful remove curse and only on the round after. The chain automatically add's +3 to all grapple check's made by the wearer but this is a -3 penalty when resisting a grapple. The wearer lastly suffers -3 to all move silently check's as the chain rattles with every movement. The chain has a hardness of double that of a standard Iron chain and a +5 to it's burst Str check DC. It radiates moderate enchantment. These factors are figured into The Runt's statistics above.
Dead Wolf (+1 Returning Throwing Hand Axe): The Favored Son's weapon is one for which is said that he split the skull of a wolves with for fun. It is a marvelously light Iron and bone handled axe that is covered in bloody stains. It make's a howl of similar sound to that of a wolf's howl, as it is thrown and gives the wielder a -2 circumstance penalty on any skill check's with creatures physically connected with wolves in any fashion including were wolves and wolf were's.
Hand of the Frost Hag (+1 Frost Claw Gauntlet): The Dire Grandmarm's reputed cold left hand is actually wrapped in a very ornate gauntlet that while bloodied appears to be made of a very shiny silver like metal. One ice blue gem looking to be a cats eye by the slit down the middle of the stone rests in the back of the palm. To all normal inspection the claw gauntlet appears to be simply a +1 frost weapon that resizes to fit it's wielder though it stays large enough to increase the damage by one step up in size of it's current wielder. The gauntlet lock's fast to the new arm and causes it to go numb giving the wielder a -5 to all fine manipulation with that arm on skill checks. The gauntlet does however give the user a +4 bonus on all saves vs cold damage and cold resistance 5. The gauntlet however cannot be removed except by three methods. The first is a wish or miracle that will remove the gauntlet but the arm underneath will be blackened and useless as if frostbitten until a greater restoration, then heal is cast in that order. The second is to sever the arm but doing so causes the gauntlet to vanish and regenerate will not work until greater restoration, and then heal is cast in that order. The third is that when the wielder dies the gauntlet will dissappear from thier arm and above methods must be used to restore said arm if the person is revied. The above +4 vs cold and cold resistance 5 have been added to The Dire Grandmarm's statistics above.
Life' Bane (+2 Vile Great Axe): The Provider's great axe is small in his towering hands. It always appears to be a blood stained double bladed black iron woodsmans axe that has been wrapped on the handle with bloodied leather strips. It is a corrupt weapon that has killed more people then can be counted. When wielded by anyone other than The Provider, Life Bane weighs twice as much as normal and Life Bane must kill a living creature of at least Int 6 every week or it deals it's damage to the wielder every hour until it is sated.
The Hill Family use resources from: Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends, Legacies of Blood, Champion's of Darkness, Book of Vile Darkness, Miniatures Handbook, The Libris Mortis, Complete Warrior, Savage Species, and the Players Handbook. Other information from The Ravenloft Campaign Setting.
Now Also as an added bonus, the Item's of the Published Bogeyman Mister Fox, from Dark Tale's & Disturbing Legends...
Huntsman Dagger: His dagger is a beautifully crafted +1, dagger with some functions that are not easy to observe. It has the picture of a fox running circle's round a young girl his jaws open when behind her. For anyone other than Mister Fox the blade is cursed to strike the wielder in the back on a roll of natural one on an attack. He uses this weapon in all his murders and it radiates evil as if unholy decreasing a good characters lvl if her or she carry's it in any fashion by 1 until discarded.
Mister Fox's Bag: The black leather bone clasp bag still behave's as if something is inside it and faint scream's are heard as it opens, but when taken from Mister Fox it function's as a bizzare but empty bag of holding IV only.
Next is Der Kinderstod!
) or other versions politically correct society grew up with. The original fairy tales were harsh, graphic tales meant to educate as much as entertain. Bogeymen should represent these nastier aspects of life that folks try to ignore. Those are at the root of the fears that create them.Offensive? I don't see anything here that's worse than the old, original fairy tales. Not the Diz-knee (can't use the name! They might sue!
Thank you for the feed back! Im glad it doesnt seem to go too far because I tried to keep it decent enough for the board and put a lot of work into it. Anyway, thank's for looking at the post and I hope you find it useful or at least entertaining to read.:D
So post again on any comment's or criticism because it can only make me better.
Note that Der Kinderstod directly translates from German into The Child Death.
Relm language equivilent's are Falkovnia – German & Dwarven – German as I know and though I have already come up with a Bogeyman from Falkovnia I think that for purposes of the story below Falkovnia will once more be the place of origin, for at least the name.
Der Kinderstod
Medium Fey(Bogeyman)
Hit Dice: 5d6 +10 (28 hp)
Inititive: +4
Speed: 30ft special below
Armor Class: 16 (+4 Dex, +2 Deflection) Touch 16, Flatfooted 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+3
Attack: Incorporeal Touch +7 (5 +1 vile)
Full Attack: Incorporeal Touch +7 (5 +1 vile)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Death Mask, Surgical Precision, House Call
Special Qualities: Incorporeal, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5,
Abillities: Str -, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Diplomacy +8, Bluff +8, Spot +18, Listen +18, Search +18, Hide +20, MoveSilently +20, Intimidate +8, Heal +10, Sense Motive +10, Profession (Herbalist) +10,
Feats: Vile Martial Strike, Weapon Finess (Touch Attack),
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: Coins and Equipment
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Advancement: 6-17 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: The old doctor is examining the child as you enter. The boy is tossing and turning his delusional condition seeming to have turned for the worse. The doctor seems to be mumbling something angrily under his breath and you try to catch the mans speech from a closer position. It is then that you see his hand's deep within the boy's chest as if nothng seperated the two. You reach to grasp him but feel not but unearthly cold air as your hand passes through...
Der Kinderstod literally translates to "The Child Death..." and it is well suited to such a name. It is not the usual appearence of a herald of death for a child as it appears to be a rather well dressed and old doctor of some education. He usually is dressed as a very prepared and groomed man of healing. He will come having heard of the child's illness in order to treat the poor boy or girl. Once he is left unattended however his examinations will take on his true motives.
Der Kinderstod hate's children beyond all reason, as he see's them as lazy, lying, horrible, filthy, little demon spawn and many more horrible and discriptive terms. He only act's the part of the kindly doctor to get to the child alone, at which point his true self emerges for his captive audience. He frightens the child beyond thier ability to cope and then when the stage is set begins treatment. Sometime's this can be maintained as the child is either in no condition to argue, intimidated and threatend to keep quiet the truth after the painful "Treatment" while his parents are convinced of regular visits being required. Over the many nightly visits Der Kinderstod will slowly bring the child lower and lower until the poor creature that is left is crippled, and insane or simply dead.
Those that do not survive his attentions are said to be disposed of with flame to destroy the contagion. Should the body be examined under modern Lamordian forensic method however, a greater mystery is to be found. Small wounds that have necrotised are in random area's. The cause of death by disease is questionable when compared to the diagnosis the parents heard and must be ruled out by then, but the treating physician cannot be found.
Der Kinderstod is rumored to be a malovolent disease and a dire doctor that drag's it to every town that targets the young and usually those who appear sick. His method of travel is that he infects a wandering person with himself as a full round and then they catch a non fatal cold. Once that person enters the next town the cold vanishes by the next morning and Der Kinderstod walk's in on the same road that sunrise. He look's for a sick child or such and travels as much as needed. He only goes inactive in a town that he has not killed anyone recently because he must reappear in that town or the nearest town that still knows his story. He is assumed to vanish when inactive as no tale's tell of any place he goes.
The Story Told:
"Der Kinderstod is coming yes, is coming round the bend!!
Is coming yes, is coming with the handshake of a friend!
Der Kinderstod claims young not old, on that you can depend!
Those that knew you soon will morn, they cry by mid day's end!
Der Kinderstod is coming yes, is coming round the bend!"
Terrisa thought some what of the old rhyme that she had heard her uncle tell long ago. She did not remember all of the chilling tale that went with the verse, as it had been near four year's since and she did not care for those stories. But for her that verse and part of the tale had come to her this cold spell and given her an idea for some relief.
Terrisa coughed as her mother brought her the soup. She had been confined to bed for the last few days and had only gotten slightly better. Her mother had been serving her meal's here and bathed her as well with a damp cloth. Terrisa had enjoyed the brake as her schooling had been rather dull as of late and she was only exaggerating the condition to extend it some. Of course her brother having to tend to her chores was a small bonus.
Then her mother had said that if she had not recovered yesterday that she would see about a doctor today. She had decided to try and alay the fears of her mother but she had not succeded without telling that she was well enough to return to her studies. There for when the tall stately dressed old man walked through the door, with a bag and top hat in his hands she began to become nervous. The gray haired gentleman had a smile across his kindly looking face. His mutton chops and curving hair circled the balding top of his head.
"Now Terrisa dear... This man is Doctor Weisgreif Taberc. He says that he was passing through to visit a colleague and heard of your illness. I want you to tell him everything you are feeling and be truthful dear." Terrisa almost flinched at the last request but kept her self looking quite innocent.
"Yes mother.... cough..." Terrisa shook slightly and the Doctor still smiling approached her bed side.
When he spoke his voice was the voice of the old and soft in tone... "Do not worry Mrs. Olbelena! I believe that I know the ailment your daughter has. I will be quite dilligent in determining if I am right. Now then if you do not mind I must ask young Terrisa some questions and I will come to you when I am done for it may be awhile." He looked to the mother as if waiting for her confirmation.
"Very well Dr. Taberc. But before I go are you sure you don't want me to take your coat?" Terrisa knew her mother wished to stay by her side as she was overprotective. She was a young woman of 11 and despite her current state she felt far to grown for her mother to do such.
"No Thank you Mrs. Olbelena. I am quite fond having my clothing be at hand. I tend to catch chill easier as I've aged and prefer not to bother my patients to wait as I hobble for it." He only smiled and kept the smile wide as he turned and looked the young girl in the eye. "Now then little miss. If you would tell me what the trouble is?"
Terrisa sat and looked at the Man now paying very directly and piercingly at her with the same smile on his face. She began listing off all of her symptoms one by one and by the third he held his hand up to stop her.
"Wrong! You are not sick are you!" It was a statement more than a question, his voice having deepend to a low outraged tremor. "You have played a selfish game and made both your family and I to suffer your lies!"
Shocked and angered Terrisa began to feel unfairly treated. "I am so sick!" she spoke back at her accuser not understanding the man's sudden ire. She was ill and only had slightly been exaggerating.
"You will not speak you vile wastrel!" At which he stood straight and the room became very dark and what was illuminated turned a shade of putrid green. A strange force blew through like wind and upset her soup onto her. She looked through the liquid and saw him look down with utmost contempt. His face began twisting and turning as if his features were stirred stew ingrediants jostling each other. "How DarE yOu liE tO ME yoU GutTer TrAsh!" His voice rose and fell beyond what the frame should have made possible.
She backed away screaming and screaming but she was breathless and she could not go higher. She kept staring at the thing as his eyes suddenly reached out and snapped at her with a sudden opening filled with teeth.
He began unfingering his glove on the right hand but nothing existed beyond to support it. "I haTe You WOrtHleSSsss SacKs oF LieS! You WANt tooooO PreTEnd TO Be DiSEaseD. I WiLl shoW You HOw to DO IT!" At which this thing reached into his bag in his still gloved hand. He pulled forth a scalpel in the invisable appendage and with malice held it before the girl.
Terrisa stared mouth gaped and wide as her hands reached to stop the forward moving blade. But only felt a chill as the arm passed through her hand's as though they did not exist physically. She heard a scream come forth from her and it suddenly ended as she felt a sharp pain in her throat.
Silently her mouth kept opening as if to try and force the tones but her voice had left her. "Oh IT iS DelicIOUs to SEe yOu Now! CuReD Of thE LiEs Of bEFOre. Now YouR FIrsT ComPlaiNt waS BReaTHinG TrOUBle RiGht." She kept trying to speak shaking her head and sobbing silently as all the room seemed swelled with green toned darkness that left that terrifying thing before her eyes. "Don't wORRy fiLThY GiRL... I CAn fiX thAT LiE! ThEN We CaN gET TO thE StoMACH pAin's!"
Only a half hour had chimed on the clock but Terrisa's mother had decided to check in. She had not heard anything for the time and had just entered the door to find the Doctor reseting his hat with her pale daughter fast asleep but covered in soup. He glanced over and smiled her way. "Ah Mrs. Obelena... I must say that I am afraid I noticed a turn for the worse. I think the girl may have a serious case of infection in the throat and lung's. She has just spit up in her sleep Im afraid and she was quite raspy before that."
"Oh my but she seemed so much better before... Do you think it is serious?" She looked past him bringing her hand to her mouth in shock.
"Yes and no my dear lady... I have seen symptom's like this before and while it start's out slow it is often time's very severe when it strike's. Perhaps I am wrong but to be safe you should, make the girl rest and give her visit's only at meal's. We don't want this to spread through the family. I will delay my journey till this crisis is taken care of Mrs. Obelena so do not fear." He said in carefully sympathetic tones.
"Oh thank you Doctor. I can't thank you enough! I don't know how we will ever repay you!" She attempted to reach him but he stepped back out of reach of the womans hand.
"I am sorry but I fear I must wash first before you may thank me such. She and I both need cleaning and I will return to check up on her early in the morning." going around respectfully he turned at the door way and looked back at the woman as she cleaned the child.
"Don't fret about the cost madam. I assure you that helping her is all the payment I need on your families behalf." He turned and left with a smile on his lips.
The True Story: A Barovian native by the name of Radreg Moulkeld was a vastly intelligent young boy. Born in the year of 674 BC he felt broken and cowed under the web of superstition in his native soil. So when struck with disease and bedridden for his younger years he begging that something should take this plight from him. Town wise women and cleric's of many faith's all failed to do more than leech money from his relations as they fed him concoctions and preformed rituals.
At age 10 he found that his hope's were fading until a traveling man heeded his parent's plea for aid. The learned man of the odd dress of the northwest, was well studied and questioned the boy and intrigued him about many subjects as they talked of his condition. The man's name was Dr. Olan Vouser and he offered to take Radreg to his homeland to try and save the boy with the treatment's they had there. When asked of price Olan simply refused to accept. He said... "What I try is desperate and complex... I will not make you pay when I may fail to return your son to you!"
All the village warned of what this would do. That it was a fool's errand and the boy should accept his fate. His parent's had asked him what he wished for and he choose to go with the man and to return to them should he survive.
That had been what was intended but fate had other desires, that had affected the course of his life durring this time. He never planned to stay with the fine Dr. Vouser but found that his family had been arrested durring his time away. He was told by the relative's who could write not to journey back to thier ancestral home at this time.
Still weakend and somewhat frail, Radreg became facinated by literature that spoke of something he had taken to heart. Medicine and the men who had advanced it from herbal remedies to the new surgical procedures that his unintended guardian and savior would be researching. He became Olan's unofficial protoge as he devoured medical text's and theory. When old enough at age 15 in the year 689 BC he was sent to the finest school's and was found quite a genius and favored pupil. Some where jealous and other's envious of his natural talent. He felt he had little talent and was overly critical of himself as he stayed up late cramming and learning as much as he could.
At the age of 25 in the year of 698 BC he left his university as one of it's younger graduates and an expectedly bright future was predicted by all of his teachers and the students who had followed his example. He went back to his mentor to have found him to have settled on a calm life of town work, with research as a hobby. He had come for advice on how to procede in the world that lay before him. Olan looked him up and down and simply said that "...travel and experience are what make a doctor be forced to deal with both the realities and hardship's that face one who fought death. Answers were not meant to be found by the the careful man but the one who sought them at any cost to himself."
After one year of preperation Dr. Moulkeld left to find his answer's to his driving goal in life. He would find and destroy any illness that he could, and learn how to combat the filth and germs that so much knowledge had brought to light. He headed back to his village just in time to find that a rash of disease had infested the lower end, spreading a chilling disease that had caused spasms that lead to paralyisis and eventual death. The town's folk muttered of curses and spirits and all the while there remedies and tinticures where just inefficent compositions of what modern medicine had studied and learned the correct formula. It took him only 3 day's to identify that it was a fungal spore from the area and how to trace and eliminate the menace. He also gave out several ointments and treatment regimens. Those that had followed had recovered and those that had not at first quickly followed.
The estimated death count would have been at least 50 out of 200 villagers on his average figures. His family recognised him and praised him though news of his parent's suggested that they had perished with in what ever jail they had been sent to in the land. He was sorry to hear of it as he had hoped to have shown them his accomplishment's and possibly take them with him to start a new life.
From then on forth he thought that he would meet similar success but soon found many problems and illnesses that he had no reasonable explanation. He still bested many of the known illnesses and conditions and while he had been hoping to test his mind against something that's solution was still unknown. In the year of 704 BC at the age of 30 he found that he had gotten what he had begged for. Darkon had proved hospitable for a time and he learned and aided some in the suffering of those under the Crimson Death. It had been there that he had seen much advancement in theory and treatments and had worked on vaccine's to some degree. He left to find other thing's that would garner him knowledge against the disease as it was something he felt important to his work. Many of his collegues got supplies and gave warning of where he would soon enter.
He left as part of a caravan traveling through Falkovnia became part of the growing conflict as the Free Men of Falkovnia battled with the town guardsmen. He and his group were caught in the middle of the action. He was captured by the Free Men and forced to treat many wounded and dying. Some of his light died in that place and he never forgot the images or the people that he had to work with. Eventually disease began to spread through out the camp and reports of it being in the town as well were not exaggerated.
He began looking for the ilness that caused the symptoms of the disease. The symptom's while familar to many diseases however were no help as they were completely random and had no basic progression. The disease only struck children between the age's of one to fifteen, and that it's transmission seemed a mystery. He began treatment method's and regime's designed by what he did know and soon found that each and every case was unique.
He left the safety of the camp and went out to the people to cure what ever seemed the cause of the contagion. He traveled all through Falkovnia and found cases that had come to far or cases that trailed behind. Over three year's he walked the suffering land living with paupers and the suffering of these people began to rot at him. The people began to speak of him as an ill omen, as where ever this "Doctor" trod the as they called it, Der Kinderstod followed swiftly behind. The most he ever was able to do was to ease those who's passing looked horridly painful. He began to resent his gift of knowledge and in the year of 708 BC he was frustrated of tracking the isolated child killing disease, and he decided to leave for fear of death.
He traveled back through his wandering's, feeling as though guilt followed him still, but he heard no report of Der Kinderstod durring these wanderings. After a long series of trips that had given him little time of peace he had stopped his travel's short when he recieved a short notice of a canclation of funding for his research by the man he had considered his second father. After sending word of his coming, he quickly found his way to Lamordia but was detained at the boarder, after his eight more years of travel after leaving Falkovnia, he did not wish a moment's delay, but was being treated as though a prisoner. Dr. Olan Vouser road in to the small house in a carrage within two days accompanied with men who seemed the part of soldiers of fortune.
He was told of the many who had accused him of the spread of a new disease, and that through much discussion and gathering of fact's that Olan had found what had been behind it. He found that his work on vaccine's in Darkon while being inspired had also been what some called the catalyst for the thing. The microbe was birth of his many experiments and he had unwittingly carried it with him. Moulkeld was shown proof of outbreak in Darkon after he had left and of how after it had entered the country of Falkovnia had both spread somewhat before him but mostly left a delayed back tracking trail of death behind him in every town he visited. The disease had been on him the whole time as he tried to understand how this was possible. He was told of how he would be held to account on this unforseen circumstance and how he was being tracked that last five years but had somehow avoided capture.
Even in Lamordia with Dr. Vousers support and the few remaining testament's of his good work little shined of his reputation as he stodd before the jury. After a three year debated trial and the many damning statement's brought against him Dr. Radreg Moulkeld was found to have been guilty of 234 counts of confirmed child murder and gross misconduct of his medical oath, with counts numbering 15 for causing international incident. By trial's end at year 719 BC at age 35, he had been driven quite beyond any point of sane copeability and writing a small suicide letter in which he begged for his mentor to at least believe that he had good intent, he was found dead by his own hand but three day's from execution. He was silently buried and his school's for maintanence of thier good name spoke of the disease and him as a rogue practicioner, but not that he had been expunged quite thourghly from thier records.
Dr. Vouser died in the year of 730 at the age of 66 from a resperatory ailement.
The creator of the disease whether Dr. Moulkeld or another is unknown and to all but in truth Dr. Moulkeld only acted as transport for the pathogen. Some have speculated that the little remebered doctor was part of a Kargat plot to destroy the young of Falkovnia to prevent further invasion's and he was a pawn whether knowning or ignorent. The real villian in all of this had been the disease which was now a myth used to discribe when ever a child died of ilness, and was usually atributed to the doctor that came to treat the young boy or girl after the fact by the desraught parents who where usually of a superstisious bent. It was used also as a warning of being honest and good clean children or when they finally caught ill Der Kinderstod would come and if they did not be truthful then they would pay for it later. Both the myth and the disease have life in the world today and the legend of Der Kinderstod feed's off this dark legacy.
Combat: Der Kinderstod does not fight fair in any sense. He uses his invisible and incorporeal nature to the utmost by striking out of object's or standing within someone and preforming his grizzly treatments on thier insides. Against agressive oppenents he deals his max damage but with helpless targets he only does one point of vile damage each strike. However he always retreats if he thinks someone can percieve him for his true self or could hurt him.
Death Mask: Der Kinderstod can reveal his true appearence to his victims which causes them to make a DC 16 Madness save. Those that fail become so delirious that they cannot speak other than jibbering, and screams as long as Der Kinderstod is visable. Any who do succede at the save are immune to the effect for the rest of thier live's.
House Call: Once per day Der Kinderstod may call forth the etheral resonance visably on to the place he is in to create the effects of Telekinesis once per round, Cruel Disappointment once per round, and Reality Bind once per round. Each of these abillities is a free action though only one can be used per round. If this is used in conjunction with the abillity of Death Mask the DC of the Madness save increases by +4. This effect can be centered on one room in a building that Der Kinderstod is currently in and if he departs the effects are terminated prematurely and the use is wasted. House Call lasts for 10 minute's that cannot be used in seperate durrations. The DC of these abillities is 10 + spell lvl and each are cast as if the lowest possible caster lvl.
Spell-like abilities: Ghost Sound at will, Silence 1/day, Sleep 1/day, and Invisibility 1/day as a 5th lvl Sorcerer DC = 10 + spell lvl where neccessary.
Incorporeal: Der Kinderstod is always incorporeal and thus has no strength score. He may not manipulate any object that does not have the ghost touch quality. When he does he must use his Str as though at 10 for all purposes. His clothes and other possesions are part of his incorporeal substance and are thus as insubstantial as him. He may still harm the living with his touch attack and may lower the regular damage to 0 if wished, but the vile damage must be at a minimum of 1, but they get a will save to avoid the damage completely each time. The DC is 15 and this negates all damage. He may only be harmed by magic weapons or other incorporeal creatures, spell's and spell-like abilities. He has a 50% chance to ignore damage from any corporeal source, except force effects or ghost touch weapons He may pass through solid objects and living flesh but not force effects at will. His attacks ignore natural armor, armor and shields but deflection bonuses and force effects work normally. He is always considered to move silently as the special note above relates to him being able to float an inch above any surface. He is always considered Manifested and only becomes invisible through the above spell-like ability. While within a body he is not possesing the person so he cannot be banished and gains that person as a +4 cover bonus on all hits against him. If an attack misses him because of this there is a 50% chance it strikes the person he is sharing the space with.
Surgical Precision: When wishing to torment a helpless subject Der Kinderstod can deal one point of vile damage to a specific area and cause certain conditions. Each condition causes a number of points of vile damage to achieve and lasts until the vile damage is healed. Blind 1 point per eye, Deaf 1 point per ear, Mute 1 point, Anosmia or loss of smell is 2 points, Nausiated 2 points, Fatigued 2 points, upgrade to Exhaustion +1 points, and lastly is Paralyisis which affects one limb and is 3 point's.
Eyes of Innocence: Horrid beyond repair the viewing of Der Kinderstod is simply devistating to a young or innocent person. His true form causes the same Madness check as his Death Mask ability and the majority of innocent's who see him fail to maintain that status. The insane with hallucination's may percieve Der Kinderstod but do not usually know if he is real or not. His face becomes a distorted swirl of features that combine mix and seperate in malevolent and angered combinations. His speech is without a stable tone and randomly rises and falls with disgust and rage always laced within. The only sign that is hard to percieve is that his gloves have a gap of empty space between them and his arms which when later revealed show's that no arm's exist. The Der Kinderstod however is still completely insubstancial and there for cannot enter or exit a room without notice if someone will not open it for him. He refuses to hang up his coat or hat, and will never touch or accept anything from anybody. He also never accept's payment for his "services" as he has no way to hold it. He is always a wandering doctor and healer and never give's a place where he might be reached.
Vulnerabilities: Der Kinderstod is Vulnerable to a great number of things. He cannot move through a person or damage them if they have bathed with soap in the last 8 hours and must not touch them or take 1 constitution point of damage each time or round of contact. He takes damage as an undead from recovery spell's. Remove Curse negates his abilities for 24 rounds and Remove Disease automatically banishes him from town for 24 hours, while Remove Curse and then Remove Disease banishes him from town for 10 years. On consecrated ground such as affected by a hollow spell he suffers one damage a round and flees as fast as he can. Nothing outrightly destroys Der Kinderstod but he is kept at bay from these affects or is damaged.
Der Kinderstod uses rules from the Book of Vile Darkness and the Players Handbook.
Next is something completely original! I will be back I swear but please post what you think of this so far.
Of Tome's and Tomb's: This is a monsterous darklord of a Pocket Domain that I came up with. It is directed toward outlander characters but can be used with anyone who has had a similar tragedy.
One may just expect that all the many people's of Ravenloft may seem odd and thier world quite dark and horrible to the Outlander's perspective. But what really catches the attention of those of the other relm's and plane's most is thier inability to leave this plane of nightly horror's. Most adapt and eventually give up but even they desire to see home again sometimes. Even if they could find a way to escape the plane there is no certainty that it would be to somewhere safe.
Those that journey into the mist's may find what they desire... But not exactly what they desire...
The Tomb Crafter Darklord of the Pocket Domain Laurien's Tomb.
The Tomb Crafter
Medium Humaniod (Human) 6th lvl Bard, 10th lvl Wizard
Hit Dice: 6d6 + 10d4 (41 hp)
Inititive: +2
Speed: 30ft Climb 30ft
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 Natural) Touch 12, Flatfooted 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+10
Attack: Dagger +11 (1d4)
Full Attack: Dagger +11/+6 (1d4)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Lure,
Special Qualities: Legend of Lore, Regeneration 5, Lost Mind
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +11, Will +8,
Abillities: Str 11, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 8, Cha 19
Skills: Climb +10, Diplomacy +18, Bluff +14, Jump +10, Spot +9, Listen +9, MoveSilently +12, Hide +12, Sense Motive +9, Preform (Act) +14, Intimidate +16, Craft (Facade) +23, Disguise +20, Knowledge (Ravenloft) +14, Spellcraft +12, Knowledge (Plane's) +14, Knowledge (Arcana) +14, Knowledge (Religion) +14,
Feats: Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Craft Facade), Create Portal, Craft Wonderous Item, Maximise Spell, Silent Spell, Deformity (Gaunt), Still Spell, Deformity (Eyes)
Environment: Pocket Relm
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 17
Treasure: Coins and Items
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: -
Possesions: Amulet of Natural Armor +2, +3 Robe of Armor, Ring of Sustenance, Ring of Wizardry II, Spellbook, MW Dagger, 3 potions of cure moderate wounds, Other Items listed below.
Discription: You look around. It cannot be your house... The town had been all but destroyed year's ago. Suddenly you see your wife. She wave's and ask's what you would like for dinner. She looks, sounds, and acts the same... She even smell's the same... You had just been in a cave with your companions... Hadn't you?
That above is what most of the victim's of the misguided Tomb Crafter ever see. He is however quite present in that richly made world. His target's are those that crave a return to the world that they lost to some misfortune or other and are searching for it in one way or another.
He was once on such a journey himself when he remembered himself as Laurien Longword an acomplished bard of some renown. He had been a scholar, artist, and writter of his travel's across the vast lands he explored. He had made great success with his many tale's of the world's he had visited and paintings of the wonders he had beheld, while enjoying all the riches and wealth that his family had left him.
Of course as his life style caught up with him he began having to scrape by inbetween his stories and artistry and would have continued to do so if not for the decline in his work's purchase. As he saw his delicate life of liesure dissappearing more and more before him each day he began adventuring to gather new tales. This was a risk he did not enjoy and he was going to give it up fairly quick as there seemed to be little profit in it as near every bard wrote of these adventures and while his were grand they got lost among what he thought as lesser talents.
However while on one of his journey's he came upon a few scribbled note's in an abandoned tower. It detailed staring into a relm of mists and horror. A relm that could not be placed by this apparently long lost seeker. He became enraptured by the thought of this relm of so called horror's and while he began to search for it, he had many vivid dream's and nightmare's that he wrote down in one of his journal's. He crafted these bloody and terrifiying imaginings into tale's that sold greatly beyond his wildest dream's. He became obsessed with these dark topic's as his rising fame caused his already self inflated opinion of himself to increase drasticly.
But when the dreams stopped, he began tapping into his new wealth to look for the mysterious dread plane that he had so wished to exploit, with no success to report from any of the many magical contact's and associate's that he had. Finally at near the end of his hopes for an answer a letter from a man who claimed to have the answer to his mystery arrived one day. He immediately packed much of his fortune and set out to find the man who had claimed to live in a cabin at the base of the northern mountains.
The cabin was by all appearence's abandoned and as he went in to investigate he called out and got no response. Inside he found little evidence of life but discovered a strange mirror that looked as if out of place. He could not recognise the design, or the material of it's construction under the dust coating it. He went forward and pressed his hand to wipe away the filth on the reflective surface while commenting "How is this supposed to help me get to the land of mists?" and found that in doing so he had kicked up much of the dust. He turned coughing and blinded and once the dust had settled he found himself staring into a black reflection within the mirror. Where his image should be there was only a black shadow of his form. He looked down upon himself and found that he seemed fine to his own eyes. He then noticed that the sun had set and by his count it was too early for that. He gathered the mirror as a cost to the man who wasted his valuable time, and strode out into the night. He soon found he was in a different land and when a mist bank blocked his path he was shocked and slightly hopeful that he had some how been transported to that misty plane.
Over three years he wandered to explore this vast expanse and came to see that the many people who inhabited it where diverse and willing to pay good sum's in some parts for what they considered extravagent tales. The Longword name grew for a short span in reputation and he gathered much from these folk on horrible tales and such that would give him more gold then he could spend in a life time when he returned to his home.
One night took out the mirror he had found. Its dark metal boarder with many odd embelishments was beautiful but he assumed it to be the reason for his transport. He had heard from some people that asked of his arrival how he had come and if he knew how to escape. He never told any for since the mirror had come with him he assumed it would leave with the one who departed. As before he brushed it with his hand and when nothing happend he said, "Take me to my world now!" He gazed into it and saw an image of the shadow of him from before, but sitting at a rather poor looking desk and writting. It signed his name on a page of a story. Meanwhile a simple but pretty woman was carring after several children and kissed the shadow on the cheek as she passed. He heard every word spoken except by his double and while he understood the situation he was furious. This imposter had been using his reputation and his image to live his own dreams. He kept making demands of the mirror for return but the image stayed consistent.
He yelled and screamed his want to know more of this treachery and found images of himself this time in his past recieving the note and replaying up until he was transported to his sought after relm of mists. He began asking questions of the mirror on all of the people he had known and found that he could learn anything he wanted from the mirror about any place, or persons past or present but not anything further than had already past. He finally asked about if anyone had escaped from the plane but found no answer as no image appeared before him. He asked all who had ever asked him by name and found that not a one of the souls he had encountered had escaped and many had settled into life here or died horribly.
He began to weep and said that all he wanted was a way to get his life back, and when he looked once more upon the mirror he saw a mage that he had once spoken to in Hazlan. He had said he was also looking for a way to be in his own world once more and die surrounded by those he thought forever lost, and had talked as if delusional most of the time. He was working on some strange block of stone in the image and it was carved with intricate details and many arcane markings so small as to almost be completely unreadable.
Laurien thought he knew what the mirror was telling him and told it to transport him to the old mages tower. In but a moment he was there staring at the man from behind him. He grabbed his dagger and while the old mage was still distracted came from behind and slashed his throat.
After watching the man die he looked at the tower room. It was filled with the notes of the excentric old man and perhaps had the information he desired, so he poured through the vast texts and soon found what he believed to be the man's final work. He had been trying to build a replica of his home and those he knew that would give him a peaceful death. The notes kept speaking as if having the illusion was better than nothing and this illusion would be real enough for his purposes. The notes were very exact and the process was deceptively easy. The only problem was that the small relm was only so big, and the text needed to be exact or the relm would have flaws that would worsen.
The old mage had expected it to only have the power to last as long as he remained alive and to make it any larger would require other sources. Laurien read the text and was at first displeased so he began telling it to give him some other way to escape back to his life but the mirror remained dark.
After some time in thought and accepting the possibilities Laurien began his studies and researched magic for near twenty years within his new tower. He had been capturing towns folk nearby and trying to test his creations on them with the aid of his mirror he could learn all that they had known and with a little tweaking he had managed to convice one of his subjects that it was real. Shortly after this success though the mages loyal to the lands ruler came to bring him to justice for his crimes. He burned the tower destroying all that he could not take and fled into the mists with most of the research, and the mirror as his main possesions. He soon found himself wandering for days he believed in the misty fog and came upon a familiar cabin.
He near ran to the structure as he suddenly noticed a younger and very familiar him leaving carrying a mirror in tow. He shouted out as he came to the younger him and began to speak to him of what he knew telling him of the folly of his early hopes and the mage and offering to help him to return just as he would. The two Laurien's each adapted to each others company and the younger one caught on quickly and they began constructing a new Facade as they had decided to call it for them to eventually create a fully controlable replica of thier world that they could rule.
Of course this beautiful partnership soured as the younger Laurien decided that he was more fit to rule thier new world and take credit for thier unfinished work. He battled the older him into mental submission and began to erase his memory completely of who he truly was and then made his older self a simple lacky. From there he began completing his work and within two years felt it was finished. He had converted the second mirror into a device to which he could see his victims Facade and target them with his power and control the structure from outside it. He then captured many of the people of the surrounding country side and had them attached in smaller versions so that they might power his world. He soon had enough to power as he believed and entered his world and set to the task of correcting errors, but soon found that he was ineffectual to do so. Suddenly everything in the world froze and he himself began to feel his body going numb with his vision soon darkening into sleep.
The older and wiser Laurien watched as his younger self in the self made world had done much of the work after he made him believe he had betrayed him. Now with his younger body in a special stasis he felt he had a much better chance at enjoying his new world. He began storing his memories on the stone and slowly perfecting the relm for his enterance into his new body and life. He unfortunately needed many more souls that would power his Facade and they needed to believe they were happy to stay within the life in thier facade because while in stasis they would not power anything. He went to his mirror to call for the nearest town or group of people and instead got the image of a lone traveler.
Intrigued at the malfunction he dug into the mans past and soon came to realise that he was looking for some place to be happy as his old life had ended when his wife and children had died in some crimson plague. Laurien commanded the mirror to bring him to the man but nothing happend. However soon he saw within it that the man was surrounded by the mists. The entrance to his cave loomed before the man and as he was coming in Laurien called to him. He bayed the man to him and after much memory changing and construction of a new Facade he had the man within a replica of his life as he remembered it and as his past children and wife and all those he knew remembered it. Laurien however found that he could not leave his cavern any more and with some ingenious spell work found ways to keep food on the table so that he would not starve. He became frustrated at this new torment and after quick experimentation found that he could shape the stone within to his command. With this new revelation any mistakes on the Facade were quickly fixed thanks to his mirror and new powers, and the man settled into his life after only two years of work and research, soon ignoring or accepting the few small inconcistancies of his fake life.
Laurien began trying to use the mirror again and began searcing for lost souls that would join the first of his bizzare collection of men and women looking for thier homes. It was slow work and senility was creeping in and he lost track of the many years he had hunted for these people. He remebered less of himself every day and since the mirror could not tell him of himself but only showed an increasingly older black shadow surrounded by others he had little to remind him. Eventually he looked in the mirror and asked to see himself but only saw blackness with no shape or definition. He could barely remember his plans and thought briefly of entering his younger body. But his world wasnt ready... He needed more souls if he was to have a perfect world that he could rule forever. He began hunting again but it took to long to find each one and to research it properly. He couldnt last and he began to turn to draining his older victims and taking thier life energy to get back what he needed. He found he could stall further aging and soon he began to feel that he might succeed but his mind still decayed and more of his memories were lost. He was still keen and knew his purpose but could remember almost nothing of himself other than his desire to rule his own world. He recorded the last of his memories that he had and left instructions to himself of what needed to remain.
Now he does not remember his past or name, and little beyond the rocky halls of the many sacophogi that he has built within his mountain caves. He cares and tends to a Facade for as long as he can remember it and has left some so very flawed that the individuals inside are either continuing to suffer or are long since dead by thier own hand. He adds to his disjointed writings of past and continues to make his world larger and more magnificent. His mirror takes him to those who wish for what he offers with only a very attractive carved cavern enterence with the words 'Laurien's Tomb' in a language of thier relm written on the stones. He has learned to wait until the Facade is complete and has set up a fake portal that appears to directly lead to within the false world. Once inside the home is exactly as he remembers it and wishes it to be and that may be impossible to thier minds but it seems real. Those who are too strong to be affected by the various magics he has he attempts to fool or threaten into submission as he sees them as ungreatful of his gift. From outside of his creation he can control what is within but he cannot fix what the victim remembers as false or that the victim destroys until his memory is erased. He needs weak willed people that he has broken already to drain them. Only seldom when unsuccesful does he enter the Facade himself, and when he does he destroys the offending person as soon as he can, considering both the time and effort a tremendous waste. Once in a while a person will find thier way out and attempt to escape his caves or take revenge. None have succeeded with either attempt.
Only he knows the secrets of his creations and while he continues to write his notes down he struggles to build up enough souls to power his own paradise in his forever young body. He find's lone souls on the road and has built many a fantasy world.
Combat: The Tomb Crafter only engages in combat if he must. Those that manage to find thier way into one of his Facades will face all manner of torment and any thing in the world can be directly controled by the Tomb Crafter. He will only attack those in his Facades if he cannot fool them and only does so directly if he sees them weakend enough by his previous methods. In his cavern every round he can use his spells and make some change with his stone shaping power to change any part of his domain to block, attack or hamper his opponents.
He has all the abillities of both a 6th lvl Bard and a 10th lvl Wizard. Also note that he has double his normal 2nd lvl spell slots due to his ring of wizardry II.
Spell-like abilities: The Tomb Crafter can use Shape Stone as a free action once per round as if he was maximum caster lvl. He may also Modify Memory 5/day as a 16th lvl Wizard with the DC being equal to 17+ the spell lvl
Lure: As long as he is able to be heard and speaks durring casting as he tries to convince his target that he can give them thier life back or make it better, the DC of his spells and abillities that force a will save are increased by +6 against that target. He may use it when trying to cast into his Facade's but it is decreased to a +3 to DC's unless he is in there in person.
Legend of Lore: Since before aquiring a victim he learns all that there is to know about them and continues to study them until they are within his Facade and accept it. He recieves a +3 insight bonus vs his victim to AC, Saves, Attack, Damage, and Opposed Skill Checks, and a +1 for any allies he is currently with unless they are potential victims as well and then he will have a +2 between the two of them. He only has enough mental faculty for two such victims and any more and he will only pick two.
Regeneration: Due to his body modifications he can absorb 5 health per round from any subdued victim in one of his Facades. Unless his body is utterly destroyed he will continue to regenerate from the largest piece left.
Lost Mind: Any creature that tries to enter the Tomb Crafters mind must make a madness save DC 25 or suffer the major amniesia effect. He has become a jumble of memories and disillusioned blind ambition and his mind has become like a hungry beast that craves memories.
The Tomb Crafters Facade's: Each Facade on the outside is a hard stone block lined with many inscriptions and with magical energy radiating off of them. On the inside however is a town sized dimension that can be no bigger than a metropolis in scale. While the sky and horison look real they both end one mile beyond the border of the town in a wall of mists that turn travelers back toward town and the sky suddenly fills with clouds that force any flying person back to the ground. Going one mile under a Facade leads to the character finding that the hole fills up with dirt after one mile allowing him to go no further down. A Facade can hold up to 4 people but it can only attune to one person and will treat the others as if part of the community. The Tomb Crafter may possess any of the people in the town and may fix problems in the town by erasing the attuned subjects memory of the problem. While possessed the Tomb Crafter uses the physical attributes of the person but they gain his hit die and abillities. Anyone else who notices the glitch in the world may find themselves targeted by the Tomb Crafter through a host body to touch them to erase thier memory. He prefers to pull each victim into a seperated Facade and finds that even still some times multiple are accidentally pulled in. Everything in the Facade is basicly a realistic replica of how the victim remembers it and it is so real that it can sustain the victims life. The people inside the Facade are by most appearences realistic copies of the people the victim knew and are just like the creatures and people as he or she remembers them. Even the simulated strangers act like real people, and only the glitches or the Tomb Crafters control are out of the ordinary. Statistic wise unless the DM will's it all the people in the town are considered to be in the range of 1st-equal to the attuned characters lvl commoners or NPC classes but these levels should reflect how they were remembered. When ever the DM decides to he can intentionally insert a glitch into the facade and the player gets a base DC of 15 on his first will save. If he fails then he does not remember the glitch and the DC for all future save's becomes one higher for each failed glitch. If the character fails so many as to where the DC becomes unbeatable then he is considered broken, and the Facade is then free to attune to another target if directed by the Tomb Crafter. However if the character succeeds then the DC decreases by one for each successful save. Once the DC becomes so low that the chacter can roll a one and still beat it the Tomb Crafter will begin trying to force the characters to submit by bending the world against them. If the players choose to give in they automatically become broken and under his control. If they do not and survive the world attacking them, he will enter to destroy them. The Tomb Crafter may enter or exit by use of a secret code phrase that he has tattooed on his left palm so he will never forget and become trapped within. This code phrase is "All of Creation written on my hand." A Facade will remain active as long as the person inside is alive and goes dormant once they die but can be reused. It is considered a minor artefact and it has a Hardness of 30 and 240 hp and can be destroyed by normal means. The Tomb Crafter has made close to 300 of these but only a little over half are ever full with victims as placing each of them in stasis is not possible. The victims continue to live and while they do they power his own world which is so dependent on its powersource that it would soon after become unstable and destroy it's self and the mountain in a massive implosion.
The Tomb Crafters Mirror: Nothing is known of this mirror's origin by the Tomb Crafter but before he lost his memory of his past to the ravages of age he believed it to be the creation of whom ever stole his Identity. He asked about it's origin but never recieved more than an image of blackness. Since nothing reliable is known and the Tomb Crafter when he had chance to in his past never revealed it's existance to anyone, it will probably never truly be deciphered. What is easy to determine is that when clean and a question of someone or somewhere is asked the mirror will automatically answer in the most efficent way possible. If for example one would ask "how fares my darling son Brian Wells." The mirror will show the present image of the child in question, but it requires the name of the subject to work. The mirror can transport it's self and it's holder to an image or named location but the name must be exact or the mirror will guess the location to possibly disasterous results. When viewing the past it can show any range of time but since it would take a life time to view anothers life it would be more prudent to try small spans of time or specific events, but a sentance such as "Show me this man's greatest tragidy in his past." will work just as directed but the level of the tragidy will be measured by the mans view point. The Mirror is an Artifact level Item and should only be used for plot advancement or crafty puzzle solving by the PC's if the DM rules it. The only way to destroy the mirror is unknown but it is possible it is linked to the Tomb Crafter and upon his utter demise it will crumble to dust.
The Younger trapped Laurien Longword: He is not the Darklord and will not make a suitable Darklord if the Tomb Crafter is killed finally. If saved he is greatful but only until he can get away and flee. He is quite mad for even while in stasis he has been dreaming and thinking and thus suffers from a major madness effect that should not be apparent at first. If the Tomb Crafter is present he will aid in any combat. He may think he is somewhat a mage but actually he is only a 6th lvl Bard.
Of note is that the PC's should be given a chance to escape before the small pocket relm implodes on it's self and that anything left within it is utterly destroyed. Only if a PC reaches Darklord status inside does it not destroy all inside but that is for the DM to decide if it is so.
Well that was that and as soon as I have more I will write more so enjoy!
The Denizens of Dread book also has several monsters in it that could be adapted to fit your needs such as Dream Spawn, Bastellus, or the Tenebris.
If you wished to make him a bogeyman it is a good influence but there are already alot of things that can attack in dreams in ravenloft. Of course if you ignore the dream part then he is easy to adapt to it.
Killer who worked around a school and took children to kill in the basement. His hand is a collection of claws as his fetish was using a bladed glove to kill with. He also has been burned because the town burned him at the stake and the stories reflect this. Just change the minor details and make it so he can only appear let's say before a child that has had a nightmare about him and he is still a little bit connected to dreams.
If you want to go further then tell me because I will be happy to aid you if you want to use it as a part of your game and we can both share the credit for creating it!
:D ;) By the way on the FoS board I am A G Thing so contact me where ever or just let me know. I got lots of free time and check both boards often!
abraham: how about the boogeyman from the "real ghostbusters"tv show?
Is that the one that produced the fear effect like hallucinations but was it's self scared? If so the "The Bad Thing" in the DT&DL book is fairly close to it. Or is it another episode because I am unsure as to what you are specifically refering to?
If you explain a little better which one it was because it has been a long time since I saw the show and I am a little rusty on what is what.
Thanks abraham for the reply and get back to me.
he looked like a large headed man with goat legs.
the boogeyman from the "real ghostbusters"show gained striength from fear & came through the closet to scare children & gain more striength from them thussly.
he looked like a large headed man with goat legs.
I do not remember that episode! Must have missed it... Well was there any sort of legend associated with him? If so then from there we may have alot to go on...
the boogeyman from the "real ghostbusters"show gained striength from fear & came through the closet to scare children & gain more striength from them thussly.
he looked like a large headed man with goat legs.
This is the Bogeyman abraham's talking about. If I remember he also had a raspy voice similar to Aumanator's avatar from BG2.
EDIT: The Bogeyman was a recurring villain in the series, even after they caught him (for some reason Slimer had to go inside the ecto-containment unit and Bogey was there to torment the little guy). I always thought he was a little overdone, even for a cartoon villain.
EDIT: The Bogeyman was a recurring villain in the series, even after they caught him (for some reason Slimer had to go inside the ecto-containment unit and Bogey was there to torment the little guy). I always thought he was a little overdone, even for a cartoon villain.
Thanks HighPriestMikhal! I actually now remember that episode... I also think it was some sort of shadow Bogeyman or it was some part of him that required the other half that was in the ecto-containment unit and they had to get it mixed with the main part to get both of them. I also think there was the scare that slimer got mixed with the ecto plasmic something or other and they worried that he was stuck bonded and trapped to the Bogeyman when they had to pull them both in. Of course it didn't turn out that way though.
And now with a proper reference it seems to me that he just a different looking "The Bad Thing" type of Bogeyman. I just don't see why we couldn't just tool up "The Bad Thing's" statistics and appearence and make him just a varient... Of course I don't know what we would call him besides the Bogeyman. Just make the Bad Thing a little tougher and maybe more intimidating, change his weakness to reflect a character flaw or some pre-existing weakness (Of course I think his weakness was people not being afraid of him... Though I am not sure on that.), and I am sure he could easily be done. Maybe I can work him out but the Wiki listing didn't have any powers or such. (Of course I think they were fear illusions or such... and of course the he grows in strength with fear stuff... Could he also see what people were most scared of?)
Just confirm some of it and I can get him up here if you want, because it has been a long time.
Just confirm some of it and I can get him up here if you want, because it has been a long time.
All I can confirm is that, yes, he was the Bad Thing. Sneaking out of little kids' closets, running from a real fight, he was just as cowardly and vindictive.
Another bizarre bogeyman-type villain is Samhain from the Real Ghostbusters (no, not like the Celtic holiday; this guy was a bad Halloween schtick). A pumpkin-headed scarecrow-like thing that I could easily see being a punisher of naughty children in agrarian areas. Only his punishments leave permanent scars (physical and psychological).
Another bizarre bogeyman-type villain is Samhain from the Real Ghostbusters
Then I guess I'll make a quick conversion of the Bogeyman and I will most likely check out the Samhain guy and see if I can find more information about him. :D
the bogeyman from the "real ghostbusters"show gained striength from fear & came through the closet to scare children & gain more striength from them thussly.
he looked like a large headed man with goat legs.
This is the Bogeyman abraham's talking about. If I remember he also had a raspy voice similar to Aumanator's avatar from BG2.
All I can confirm is that, yes, he was the Bad Thing. Sneaking out of little kids' closets, running from a real fight, he was just as cowardly and vindictive.
Seeing this I have decided to make up statistics for it and have added a little of my original touch to it. I also decided to leave the name the same as is reflected in the story. This was done at the request of abraham and was developed with help from both abraham and HighPriestMikhal! I hope you like it!
A massively changed "The Bad Thing" Varient as The Bogeyman from the Real Ghostbusters!
The Bogeyman
Small Fey(Bogeyman)
Hit Dice: 4d6+4 (19 hp)
Inititive: +3
Speed: 40ft
Armor Class: 17 (+1 Size, +1 Dodge, +3 Dex, +2 Deflection) Touch 16, Flatfooted 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+3
Attack: Claw +4 (1d3+2)
Full Attack: Claw +4 (1d3+2)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities,
Special Qualities: Feeding, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +9, Will +6,
Abillities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 14
Skills: Climb +9, Bluff +9, Spot +10, Hide +12, MoveSilently +12, Intimidate +9, Sense Motive +10,
Feats: Dodge, Lightining Reflexes
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Advancement: 5-6 HD (Small)
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: A large headed man with goat legs his bright yellow eyes surround red pupils that seem to glow in the dark. He speaks out from his concealment behind the cracked door of the closet, in a raspy voice only to heighten the fear in the area. He seems to be desiring the fear more and more...
The Bogeyman is possibly the first basis of the word "Bogeyman" it's self and is perhaps the oldest and yet also one of the weakest of the breed. He is a generalization of fear of the monster in the closet but as more and more of these monsters were named or given discription the Bogeyman has slowly lost his power to these base upstarts. Once before he dragged his victims with impunity to a nightime of horrors and terror into his dark relm.
Now his arsenal is depleted but is still dangerous and though his name is drowned under the other horrors who came after him, he has his own ways and powers none the less. Tales of The Bogeyman come as repremands or tales of punishment for children who are constantly sent to bed without supper from bad deeds. He was also attributed to the tales of what scared children at night but has found the Bad Thing and he are being combined with preference for the newer tale... More than any other Bogeyman "The Bogeyman" fears for his life as his tale is fading or departing. His once great tale slowly robbed of power making him desperate and fearful. He cannot risk despersal because he is frightend of no one speaking of his tales or that he will be able to reform. The Bogeyman travels by simply clawing a surface durring the night and entering the portal to his relm that is made. He may not leave the relm until the sun has risen and set again. He most enjoys drawing a victim into his relm after he has scared them enough and he has become strong enough off their fear to do so.
The Story Told: "I see darling and you think that the noise you heard was what?" Her father stared down at his frightend child as she seemed to shiver. She had been sent to bed early for lying to be with her friends at the near fields, but they were found out to have been at the river of which they were never to go with out an adult.
"It said it was the Bogeyman... It was telling me to look father... It said to look and I saw a water covered foot fall out of the closet... It was saying that it drowned bad children that went to the river... Thats when I yelled for you..." She seemed shaken and was obviously dwelling on the thoughts of the day.
He remembered the old tale in name only so he decided to humor his child. "Well then I will go to check your closet for The Bogeyman... My father used to scare away the demons in my closet for me by shining a candle in them to let me see they were gone..." He rose and wandered to the door and pulled it from cracked to wide open shining the candle deep inside. He held it back as it seemed to swing toward closed if he removed his hand. Near the door he saw his daughters wet shoe and inside was what appeared to have been the clothing falling to the floor. He would have her clean that tomarrow as he felt sad to see her so. 'She is obviously distressed by the punishment to make up such a tale that scared her so.' Standing wide of the door he revealed it to her. "There you are... No Bogeyman within here!" He smiled wide as he glanced back.
"But father what if he is but hiding under the clothes that he pulled over himself? Please father check them for I am scared!" She was braver now with her father there to check but she had been so scarred she wished to be sure.
Flustered but still obliging the father placed the candle on the floor as he bent with in to lift the clothes. The door swung back on a sudden draft and the candle blew out. Knocked off balance the poor man fell in to the closet head first. The door closed behind him and after some quick rustling there was a long silence til sound of his voice was heard and the door knob began to rattle... "Oh daughter please help, for I seem to have locked myself within the closet!" Her fathers voice seemed to be coming from the other side.
"But father the door does not lock? I am scared to come to you for fear of the Bogeyman!" The poor girl was frightend again and could not move herself to look from the door or to rise to go to it.
"Oh my child I assure you that the door if not locked is jammed shut and I am but alone in here... Please open the door for me!" Her fathers voice intoned once again to her in what appeared to be a calm way.
She stood from her bed and went to the door with the knob rattling and she spoke as she grasped the handle... "Father I am sorry I..."
The scream ran through the house and the rest of the family heard and rose rushing to the yell and the sudden slam of door on the frame. Pulling wide the door to the closet the others looked within to find only the mess of clothes and some scratches in the wood. Both the girl and her father were never seen nor heard from again...
The True Story: The Bogeyman's story is an old one and is based around a man known as Kaleber Ulenter. He was a carpenter and woodsman who was known for helping to build the houses in the town just as his family had for all the recorded years of it's existence. They did such as an insurance that they would be able to be above their neighbors.
The family Ulenter however had always had been building into the homes points in which they could gain easy access to the wealth within. These passages were deceptively simple or complexly hidden but for many years they remained a secret to all but the Ulenter family. The town had been known before the time of Kaleber's coming as home to an uncatchable thief or group of thieves that could enter most any home without leaving any sign. Thus the family became richer but hid the wealth in mass so as to keep their line secure.
Every generation of the Ulenter had been taught both trades of the family bussiness and was taught to rob and to take only so much and only on the darkest or most inhospitable nights. They were to protect their family heritage and secrets and thus had to be silent in their side lives. The family was to support its self with the loot but not to destroy the town its self and thus must be beyond suspicion. Even the Ulenters homes were robbed some times to keep appearences.
However the generation of Kaleber's coming brought a child killer into the lives of the townspeople. The robberies persisted and yet behind that children began to complain of noises and voices. Tales of a strange creature called the Bogeyman that haunted their closets and beneath their beds was abounding. The adults thought it at first a good tale to make the children behave as it seemed to be not but childish imaginings. Then when these children began to disappear in the night with no trace the townsfolk began to worry.
The Ulenters also began to worry for none in town beyond themselves should know of the passages and they saw their family legacy falling to ruin should this Bogeyman character be found of their line, and the passages and tunnels of their legacy be discovered.
Kaleber knew of the danger of the game he played but he was ill of mind and had delusions of his own self worth. As a child he grew under the constant ideals of his families secret life and superiority of position. Children around him thought him strange of mood for his silence but he showed nothing to reveal anything out of sorts. He always behaved properly and seemed fearful of displeasing anyone. He was both distant yet there for those within his family circle, as long as it would not compremise his secrecy or distance and detachment. His secrets began to give him a superior feeling to the other people and he began to exert this influence against the small animals of the forest.
His tortures of the creatures were his private fascination as he tried to coax fearful obediance from them. As his craft of wood carving taught him how to change the wood to his own ideas of beauty he felt a similar change within. He began to see how meaningless the life of just carving a similar line in his families legacy was and wanted his own path. He began to fall inside of himself and through this introspection he thought that he had found a new path.
He spoke with something that knew his secrets and began to openly voice desires he felt within himself. It slowly came to him more and more and finally it told him what he had begun to hope for. It told him of his divine purpose as he was the body of the creature calling its self the Bogeyman. He fully believed himself to be the very creatures incarnation as it spoke to him and guided him into crafting a world of more beauty then wood can show.
He would make his legacy one of morals and judgements and through him the truth of the towns sins would be revealed and carved away until only the smooth and beautiful image of his desires were left. He punished the children for their misdeeds against his family and even began to believe that his families progeny were not without need of his council. Through these children he would show the town that these offenses against his patron would not stand.
He would use his families tunnels and passages to battle the sinful elements in his victims. He began to torment and scare his victims telling them to behave and listing their offenses. He would make himself appear as a creature cloaked in fur and with cloven feet, his face covered by a demonic looking mask that moved as he spoke. Always when he felt the deed accomplished for the time being he left before any others should arrive. However he soon found some other slight of the child that came and made him feel further measures were required.
He came to these bad children many times and finally when he felt nothing else could be done he stole the child away to his cabin out in the woods. There in its basement he began a much more private and serious methods of torture to teach the child how to fearfully obey. He left the children within the cages and brought them little food for reward to keep them weakly alive. He eventually broke the children but he had to make sure they were not decieving him.
Soon however his methods were noticed by his family and to end the threat to their way of life they entered his cabin as he slept and killed him and his victims still trapped within. They then filled in and covered all sign of the basements existance and let the story spread as a cover for the horrors that had happend.
Of course when the strange disappearences once again began the family feared they had once more been corrupted from within. They began to let their secrets fade and they began to slowly depart from the land with wealth enough to hold them in high regard. The disappearences followed the story as it spread and those decended of the Ulenter line are only taught the tale of the Bogeyman and no longer know of the truth.
Combat: The Bogeyman is a coward that prefers to scare his victims and feed on the power of such fear from the shadows. He avoids combat as much as is possible and true confrontations send him running. His stories have changed from what was told and he has lost some power to several tales that are told using others that have driven his versions into the oblivion of obscurity.
Spell-like abilities: 2/day Cause Fear, Deeper Darkness, Ghost Sound, Ventriloquism, 1/day Scare, Open/Close, Hold Portal. These abilities are as the spells cast by a 4th-level sorcerer. The save DCs where they are applicable are 12+ the spell level.
Feeding: The Bogeyman feeds off of fear of all kinds and is all the more powerful the more his victims fear him. He gains a +2 to all abilities DCs and to both Str and Con scores every time he causes any creature with an intellegence greater then 6 to fail a fear check. These bonuses stack together and once The Bogeyman has gained a +10 to his Str and Con he always comes forth to claim his victim and drag them to his relm. One of these +2 bonuses drains every night and so it is neccessary for The Bogeyman to constantly come and harrass his victims to reach the heights of his power.
Eyes of Innocence: The Bogeyman always appears as a pile of clothes or some sort of clutter to those that it chooses not to let see him. It however to the innocent is always visable in its small horned, big headed, two beady yellow and red centered eyes, over a large nose and fang filled mouth. It head rests upon a blackfured clawed humaniod torso with goat legs that hold it upright at 4ft in height.
Vulnerabilities: The Bogeyman must always hide from light and becomes unable to appear as anything other than crumpled clothes or similar clutter in it's view. It is not able to face confrontation or resistance and if it presents its self and is truly ignored or threatend with conviction by its victim it begins to cowardly cringe and disapate rapidly, therefore it waits till it is absolutely certain of its victims fear to pounce. The Bogeyman must leave before dawn for if daylight ever touches it, it is instantly disapated for 20 years.
This is a dread possibility of the way The Bogeymans relm is represented and is meant to be an inspiration to the DM.
Realm of The Bogeyman: This is the place that the Bogeyman live in and is considered by what little is known to be a nightime realm. In it is a replaca of his many victims houses floating within a black void. Victims here never starve though they hunger, and never age though time may pass, and either accept the torment and brake or kill themselves. Like a Domain Boarder the Realm of The Bogeyman may not be traveled to or escaped by any known mortal method besides The Bogeymans travel method. The laws here are under control of the Bogeyman and he may create any effect from the environment with one round. These effects include, Fly, Detect Thoughts, Animate Object, Polymorph, Polymorph any Object, Telekinesis, any illusion spell, and has unlimited use of his other normal powers as well. He can direct these powers at anything in his realm from himself to the victim (Who still gets all appropriate saves) and does so only to scare and scar the victim into fearful submission.
Victims drawn into the relm are forced to live through horrorible and torturous sights, situations, and isolation as The Bogeyman controls evey facet of the realm. He attempts to drive them to any lengths to get him to release them but he never will except through death. Once the victim brakes he is perminently under the sway of The Bogeyman and finds that even if he should try to die now that he cannot end his own torment. He is a plaything and is subject to torment and alteration on almost any scale The Bogeyman now wishes.
Should The Bogeyman ever be perminently slain it is unknown what would become of those still alive within his realm or if The Bogeyman can be slain while they are in there. The truth of the realm is that the fear of his victims is what powers it and should one not fear him he cannot affect his reality control on them or the structure they are in. Perhaps the block of the teleportation is also triggered by this but there must be some trick to it because The Bogeyman seems the only one able to come and go from his realm in anyway at all and he is not likely to tell.
If the victim should escape the house the void is navagatable as if swiming through the air. The use of going into this expanse is unknown as it is still under the Bogeymans sway but they could reach another house in the void and perhaps find a way of combating The Bogeyman from one of the other trapped denisens.
Fanton Griswold Flavor Story
You'd better watch out,
You'd better not cry.
-Lines from a popular Borcan song
Fanton Griswold
Fanton Griswold
Medium Fey(Bogeyman)
Hit Dice: 6d6+6 (27 hp)
Inititive: +2
Speed: 30ft
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 Deflection) 14 Touch ,12 Flatfooted
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5
Attack: Slam +5 (1d4+2)
Full Attack: Slam +5 (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Remove Face,
Special Qualities: Blind, Turn Resistance +5, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +8,
Abillities: Str 14, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 12
Skills: Balance +7, Climb +7, Concentration +5, Escape Artist +7, Jump +7, MoveSilently +7, Survival +8,
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave.
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: 7-8 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: Tales of a faceless bogeyman that steals the faces of any children it comes across are told throughout the Balinocks. This horrific creature is one of the most widely known and feared bogeymen in Ravenloft. Its actions are inscrutable even by the standards of other fey. It journeys out from its secret lair-the Castle of Bones, hidden in the most inhospitable part of the Balinoks- only once or twice a year, dragging a huge sack behind it. In many ways it seems a festive figure, dressed in the green brown and red garb of a minstrel, a long-nosed mask, and broad brimmed, feathered hat. The creature ignores all other creatures on its long journeys, responding with a sudden, vicious attack only if others interfere with its sack or mask.
No matter how long the journey, Fanton Griswold always reaches his target village just before midnight on the night of the full moon. Once there, he searches for a suitable house, full of laughter and happiness. If the house has not been ringed with salt, the bogeyman moves up to the front door, still dragging his enormous sack behind him. He raps loudly on the door three times. If the people inside the house don't quickly respond with three long and two short knocks, Griswold is free to enter. Otherwise he moves to the chimney, quickly scaling down it if it hasn't been blocked. Once inside, Griswold strides over to any children present, ignoring anyone else, and tears off his mask-revealing the terrible, faceless form beneath it. He steals the face of the nearest child and slaps it across his own head like a rubber mask. Then he tears away the faces of any other children present, throws them into his sack, and vanishes into the night.
Combat
Improved Grab (Ex): If Fanton Griswold manages to hit with a slam attack, he deals normal damage and may attempt to start a grapple as a free action, without provoking an attack of opportunity. This ability may be used against Medium-sized or smaller creatures.
Remove Faces (Su): Victims grappled by Fanton Griswold must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) each round the grapple is maintained or have their faces torn away by the bogeyman. Needless to say, this usually causes the death of the victim. Griswold is able to 'wear' the stolen face like a mask. While doing so he gains the physical abilities of the stolen face, such as darkvision, breath weapons, or the Scent quality. This may add new racial bonuses to Spot, Listen, or other skills. To use this ability the bogeyman must first reveal his naked, faceless head to his victim. Sightless creatures are therefore immune to this fiendish ability.
Blind (Ex): As Fanton Griswold has no facial features, he is completely immune to illusions (except shadow illusions) and effects that target sighted creatures. He detects his prey using an ability similar to tremorsense. This quality does not apply when Griswold wears another's face.
Eyes of Innocence (Su): Fanton Griswold makes no effort to hide from adults. His only concession to his unnatural nature is his mask, which he removes only to steal faces. Why he makes himself so obvious is as inscrutable as any of his other behavior.
Vulnerabilities (Ex): Fanton Griswold is completely unable to cross a line of salt. He is not afraid of it and ignores it just as he ignores everything else, but it seems to present a physical barrier to him. Throwing a pinch of salt into his naked face makes him shrivel into dissolution.
The Gentlemen Flavor Story
Can't call out, can't even cry.
The Gentlemen are coming by.
Banging on the shutters, trying all the doors.
Mister Book needs seven hearts,
And he wants yours!
-Children's skipping rhyme
The Gentlemen
The Gentlemen
Medium Fey(Bogeyman)
Hit Dice: 2d6+3 (14 hp)
Inititive: +2
Speed: 30ft Fly (Perfect)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 Deflection) Touch 14, Flatfooted 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+3
Attack: Slam +3 (1d4+2)
Full Attack: Slam +3 (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: -
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 15/Magic, Steal Voices, Eyes of Innocence, Vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +5, Will +7,
Abillities: Str 14, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 13
Skills: Alchemy +8, Decipher Script +8, Hide +7, Search +8, Spot +7, Listen +7, Knowledge (any one, usually arcana) +8, Intimidate +6, Open Locks +7, Use Magic Device +6,
Feats: Iron Will, Toughness
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or Group
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: Coins and Equipment
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Advancement: 3-4 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -
Discription: The perpetually grinning Gentlemen are a group of almost identical bogeymen, horrifiying in their uniformity. They are all tall and thin, with dead white skin, black ringed eyes that glitter with malice, and shiny silver teeth. They typically wear long black cloaks, sometimes with a broad-brimmed hat. Their clothes are never disturbed by their graceful flight throught the air; the strongest winds cannot rustle the cloak of a Gentleman unless it wishes. They are completely silent, communicating with each other through telepathy. When they wish to speak to a mortal, they convey what they can with intricate bows, had signals, and nods. It is unknown whether the Gentlemen are true individuals or not. They do respond to individual names, such as Mister Book or Mister Hand, but there is no way to be sure whether it is the same Gentleman responding each time. All the Gentlemen are named after mundane objects-there is no Mister Lightning or Mister Elf.
The Gentlemen are unusual bogeymen in many ways, not the least of which is their multiplicity. They also tend to stalk asylums more than houses, and prefer adult prey to children. They still only attack the imaginative, the innocent and those too weak to defend themselves, however, which is presumably why they prefer to stalk the insane. They also allow themselves to be summoned by wizards and priests (using the summon monster or summon nature's ally spells), although they are in no way bound to serve their summoners. In this case, a single Gentleman replies to the spell, and the others usually arrive some time later. For a time, the Gentleman seems to obey its summoner, waiting until its fellows have arrived. Then, they drop all pretense of obedience, and embark upon an orgy of murder and destruction. The madman who summons them is often their first victim.
The Gentlemen reflect the common fear of wizardry and insanity. They often appear on strange, inscrutable quests, such as harvesting hearts or kidnapping people of a particular hair color. Those who are kidnapped or killed by the Gentlemen are often brought back from the dead in weird rituals to serve them. These unfortunates, called the Gentlemen's "hounds", appear just as they did at the moment of their deaths, albeit muzzled. Because of their masters' predilection for the insane, most hounds also wear straight jackets or orderlies' robes. In combat, these hounds can be treated as zombies. If their muzzles are removed, the hounds immediately collapse into decay.
Combat
Steal Voices (Sp): A Gentleman is able to steal the voices of those he touches. If the bogeyman succeeds in a touch attack, his opponent must make a Fortitude save (DC 14). If the save fails, the victim becomes mute. The captured voice is locked carefully in a large trunk or birdcage, where it remains until a mortal manages to smash the lock. If the Gentlemen move on before the voices are freed, the victims must remain voiceless forever.
Eyes of Innocence (Su): When it chooses-in the early stages of an invasion, or when they are still pretending to obey their summoner-a Gentleman is able to escape notice by assuming shadowform. Adults see nothing unusual about these lurking shadows, whild children are able to sense the chill that hangs in the air around them, quieting all sound. However, once their rampage begins, the Gentlemen drop this protective illusion, preferring to spread terro with their natural form.
Vulnerabilities (Ex): The silence that cloaks the Gentlemen is not simply another way of instilling a sense of powerlessness into their victims; it is actually vital to their survival. Any noise above a normal speaking volume causes them considerable pain, and a scream will instantly kill all Gentlemen within earshot. Note, however, that the hounds are not vulnerable to noise, so the Gentlemen's revenge on their tormentors is often swift and messy.
The Gentlemen were inspired by "Hush", an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while their naming conventions come from the movie Dark City. Fanton Griswold from JorGLeach's entry for the Book of Secrets holiday competition.
Also thanks go out to the Kargatane Staff and all the Contributers on the Book of Sacrifices Net Book. These two Bogeymen and the flavor text or tales that came with them are all of their doing and I respect and consider them to be the official versions since they were in the offical for the time Ravenloft site. I copy them here for refference and in no way intend to profit or such yadda yadda yadda...