I mean, its nearly Halloween, right?
This one is from the Chilean Mupache people, a fascinating culture.
Peuchen
by Cab Davidson
From the Journal of Averyx
"It was in the ancient days of the Azcan empire that the Peuchen variant of vampirism first arose, which makes it one of the oldest of the vampiric bloodlines. They were created by priests of Atzanteotl, in what can only be described as one of the most massive perversions of natural order in the history of Mystara.
The work to create Peuchen was accomplished primarily by a priest by the name of Cuetzpallee, a quite brilliant man in his own way. While he had no hope of ever understanding that vampirism was caused by a virus, he grasped that the means of infection actually included (as well as draining the life force of the living) depositing something new in the bodies of the dead. He was the first Mystaran to work this out, but at an unimaginable cost. He sacrificed thousands in disgusting ceremonies to Atzanteotl, his memans of execution being a vampire under his control, the horror of his work being compounded by the rapid demise of (most of) the neonate vampires created.
But his work became unacceptable even to the dark Atzanteotl worshipping lords he served, and in his own eventual quest for immortality he travelled to new lands seeking victims for his greatest crime against the living. He would produce, in honour of his master, the perfect vampire in the image of a feathered serpent. He settled in a far away land, a place on the cold shores of what would become the Great Bay of Norwold, and built his new temple there. He had found what he most desired - a colony of metamporphs he could enslave to make his vision come true.
Over the course of many years, almost all of the metamporphs died. But through prayer to Atzanteotl and self-sacrificing rituals, Cuetzpallee finally succeeded in his task - but his creation escaped him, and infected many of his acolytes. His new creation turned out to exceed expectations and had much of the shape shifting capacity of its metamorph forebear, but still needed a connection to other-worldly power to produce more of its kind. Thus it preyed on clerics, and the plague thereof destroyed Cuetzpallees order, and he eventually fell himself. Not ungrateful, Atzanteotl saved his soul and honoured him with presence in his demonic court, where he can still be found running errands to this day. He's not such a bad chap, for a demon, you understand. His mind is as sharp as ever, and I think he has earned his place as one of Entropy's most respected leftenants.
Meanwhile, his creations have periodically wiped out clerical orders throughout history. And to this day they are a significant hazard in the lands of the Atruaghin"
| Stat | Peuchen* |
| AC: | 2 |
| HD: | 7** |
| Movement (slithering): | 120' (40') |
| Movement (flying): | 240’ (80’) |
| Attacks: | 1 bite or special |
| Damage: | 1d10 + double energy drain or special |
| No. Appearing: | 1 |
| Save As: | F8 |
| Morale: | 11 |
| Treasure Type: | F |
| Intelligence: | 10 |
| Alignment: | Chaotic |
| XP Value: | 1250 |
Peuchen are intelligent shape shifting vampiric spirits. Their natural form is that of a blue, feathered snake with wings radiating multiple colours of feathers, but they may take the form of any living animal that they have seen. Such a transformation takes a single round, and the peuchen may then use any of the natural attack forms or abilities of said animal. A peuchen may also assume gaseous form, that transformation also taking a single round. They are by nature predators, preferring sentient prey but quite willing to consume mindless beasts where they must to survive.
Like other vampires they possess a gaze ability. Once per round, in addition to any other activities a peuchen may gaze at one target, which must make saving throw vs. paralysis with a -2 penalty to the roll or be paralyzed for 3d6 rounds.
Peuchen may summon any one of the following creatures, which will if within 300 feet (yards outdoors) come to their assistance.
| Creature | Number | Creature | Number |
| Snake, spitting cobra | 1d6 | Lizard, giant gecko | 1d8 |
| Snake, giant rattler | 1d4 | Lizard, giant draco | 1d4 |
| Jaculus | 2d10 | Lizard, giant tuatara | 1d3 |
Like all undead, peuchen are immune to sleep, charm and hold spells, and all forms of mind effecting magic. When injured, they regenerate 3hp per round, and they can only be struck with magical weapons. A peuchen reduced to 0 hp turns to gaseous form, must return to the earth of its lair, to which it is bound, and it reforms into its normal winged snake form therein. In this state a cleric can kill a peuchen with a single touch of their holy symbol.
Peuchen cannot enter hallowed ground, except if that ground is dedicated to an entropic immortal. They cannot approach within 10’ of a well presented holy symbol. A peuchen can only hunt at night, but unlike a vampire is not physically damaged by exposure to sunlight. If they fail to rest within the earth of their lairs during the day, they suffer 2d6 damage per day, and are unable to regenerate that damage until they are able to rest in that place.
A victim killed by a peuchen will rise as undead. Most humans or demi-humans will rise again as a wights, the following sunset, under control of the slayer. A cleric of 5th or higher level killed by a peuchen will appear to remain dead, the body indistinguishable from any normal corpse. 1 month later, a new peuchen, the tortured spirit of that cleric, will rise from the earth at the location of the clerics death, independent of its slayer, and ready to wreak revenge on a world that allowed it to die thus.