Time for me to try and get my backlist of monster stats under control.
November 1
We start with the Terror of Blue John Gap, a trogoloditic cave bear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
November 2
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November 3
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November 4
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November 5
Sometimes a piece of art is so good it needs its own monster. Desprez was an engraver and architect. His chimera is a skeletal creature with three heads: one like a bird and the other two with the faces of humanoid demons. It carries its latest victim inside itself, chewing on their body until it falls apart. It then makes a nest of the bones.
My suggestion is that this is what Baudelaire's Chimera becomes after it marches a sufficient number of victims to their death.
Desprez’s Chimeras
Order: Tempters (Greater Maggots)
Infernal Might: 25 (Animal)
Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +2, Str +6, Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik -2
Size: +3
Virtues and Flaws: Weak-willed.
Reputations: None
Hierarchy: 1
Personality Traits: Selfish +5
Combat:
Enormous Beak Init. -4, Attack +14, Defense +2, Damage +11
2 x Large Teeth Init. -2, Attack +12, Defense +5, Damage +9
2 x Large Claws Init. -2, Attack +13, Defense +7, Damage +10
Tail spike Init. -4, Attack +10, Defense +5, Damage +5
Soak: +4, but is skeletal so this rises to +9 against weapons that pierce.
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, –1/–1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–8), –3 (9–16), –5 (17– 24), Incapacitated (25–32), Dead (33+)
Abilities: Brawl 5 (humans), Athletics 5 (run), Hunt 5 (humans), Infernal Lore 2 (tempters)
Powers:
Possession, variable points, Init +2, Mentem: See Chapter 4: Infernal Legions, Demonic Powers. Can only be used on victims hooked with tail spike.
Coagulation, 1 point, Init -1, Corpus: See Chapter 4: Infernal Legions, Demonic Powers. Obsession, 1 to 3 points, Init -5, Vim: Pilgrimage. See Chapter 4: Infernal Legions, Demonic Powers. Can only use this power on victims hooked with its tail spike
- Weakness: Abhorrent Material (fennel)
Vis: 5 pawns of Vim vis, in spike
Appearance: A skeletal creature the size of a horse, with three heads. It carries a victim in its abdominal cavity, from which it eats. It sometimes does this in battle to force Brave checks. For more terror, eating refils its <ight Pool.
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November 6
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November 7
Boneless
There’s a cryptid found in Longdendale, a mountain pass in the Peak District of England. It’s a slug the size of a horse, with a head that looks like that of a whale. It has at least one eye, which swivels madly in its socket. Boneless makes a grating noise as it travels. It doesn’t seem linked to any Realm: it might just be an animal that has risen up out of the caves that riddle the Peak.
Characteristics: Cun –2, Per +4, Pre –2, Com –2, Str +10, Sta +3, Dex –1, Qik –6
Size: +3
Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal, 9 x Large, Finds salt mildly poisonous.
Personality Traits: Hungry +3, Patient +2
Combat: Bite: Init –6, Attack +5, Defense +5, Damage +14
This bite is made using a tongue covered in tiny, rasping teeth.
Soak: 0
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, -1/–1, -3/–3, -5/–5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1-8), –3 (9-16), –5 (17–24), Incapacitated (25-32), Dead (33+).
Abilities: Awareness 9 (predators), Brawl 5 (bite), Swim 5 (river).
Vis: Nil.
Appearance: a slug the size of a horse, with an oddly-shaped head.
Source: Based on the Sarmatian Sea Snails in Transforming Mythic Europe, page 57.
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November 8
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November 9
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November 10
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Time to catch up!
11
The boggarts of Clegg Hall, faerie poltergeists
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12: A lucifuge.
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13
The Dark Angel of Lionel Johnson, a shedheh of self-hatred.
Added: Envisioning, 1 point, Init +0, Mentem: This Power allows a demon to appear in the dreams of a sleeping target. A demon cannot instantly make substantial changes to a dream, but instead gradually twists it to take on a darker and frightening tone, and can speak through any figure from the victim's subconscious. This creature cannot use the more powerful version of Envisioning that causes waking dreams and seizures.
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Back up to speed!
November 15
I failed at one a day, so there’s no reason not to stock up a little:
November 16
The Red Dragon from The Book of Beasts by Edith Nesbit.
November 17.
I really like this one.
Goethe’s Erl-King was inspired by a ballad found in many of the countries eventually settled by Nordic people. In English it is sometimes called Sir Olaf he rides, after the first line in some English versions. In Danish it is called Elveskud, which is what we call elfshot in Ars Magica. Smith-Dampier has translated “erl” as “elf” here. but I’ll read it as alder here, to give more detail for the creature. Note that the erl-king’s daughters show up in his poem as reaching shadows that offer riches.
The Elfin Shaft
Sir Oluf hath ridden west and east
To bid his friends to his bridal feast.
—Gay goes the dance by the greenwood tree.
By the howe he took his way,
And there danced elf and fay.
There they danced in blithesome band ;
The Elf-king’s daughter reached forth her hand.
The Elf-king’s daughter her hand stretched she:
“And will Sir Oluf tread a measure with me?”
“T may not, I dare not, the measure tread!
To-morrow morn shall I be wed.”
“Oh, tread now a measure, Sir Oluf, with me!
Two buckskin boots will I give to thee,
“Boots well beseeming a knight so bold,
With spurs thereto of red, red gold.
“Oh, tread now a measure, Sir Oluf, with me!
A silken kirtle [‘ll give to thee,
“A silken kirtle so fair and fine
That my mother bleached in the pale moonshine.”
“I may not, I dare not, the measure tread!
To-morrow morn shall I be wed.”
“Oh, tread now a measure, Sir Oluf, with me!
An orb of gold I will give to thee.”
“An orb of gold I fain would win,
But I may not dance with the fairy kin.”
“And if thou wilt not dance with me,
Scathe and sickness shall follow thee!”
She struck Sir Oluf under his heart,
Deep in its roots he felt the smart.
She lifted him up on his horse of pride :
“Go home, go home, and seek thy bride!”
Oh, he rode up to his castle door,
And it was his mother that stood before.
. “‘Lithe now and listen, Sir Oluf my son,
Why is thy cheek so white and wan?”
“Well may my cheek be wan and white,
I have seen the elf-maids’ sport to-night !”’
“Lithe now and listen, dear son of mine,
What shall I say to that bride of thine?”
“Shalt say I am in the mead
A-proving hound and steed.”
All on the morrow ere dawn was grey
The bride rode in with glad array
They poured the mead and they poured the wine:
“Now where is Sir Oluf, dear bridegroom mine?”
“Sir Oluf is in the mead
A-proving hound and steed.”
“Oh, doth he love hound and horse of pride
Better than he loves his bride?”
She sought him alow, she sought him aloft,
She found Sir Oluf sleeping soft.
She lifted the cloak of scarlet red,
There lay Sir Oluf, was cold and dead.
She kissed him in the bridal-bower,
She died herself the self-same hour.
All so early, ere dawn was red,
Were three in Sir Oluf’s hold lay dead.
Sir Oluf lay dead, and his bride also;
The third was his mother, that died for woe
—The dance goes gay by the greenwood tree.
- from Danish Ballads by E.M. Smith-Dampier
Faerie Might: 15
Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +3, Com +1, Str +1, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Virtues and Flaws: Greater Faerie Power, Cognizant Within Role, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Feast of the Dead, Humanoid Faerie, 2 x Increased Faerie Might, Lesser Faerie Powers, Observant, Personal Faerie Powers, Restricted Might (outside the forest), Sovereign Ward (injury of tree is reflected on faerie), Traditional Ward (folk charms).
Personality Traits: Bold +3
Combat:
Claws: Init 0, Attack +11, Defense +10, Damage +5
Fangs: Init +1, Attack +10, Defense +8, Damage +4
Soak: 0
Wound Penalties –1 (1-5), –3 (6-10), –5 (11-15), Incapacitated (16-20), Dead (21+)
Pretenses: Awareness 5 (humans), Brawl 6 (dark forest areas), Carouse 5 (dance), Charm 3 (lonely men), Etiquette 3 (making people feel guilty for not dancing), Faerie Speech 5 (conversation with nobles)
Powers:
Cause Sickness 3 points, Init –3, Corpus. The daughter causes elf stroke with her touch. This is treated as an Incapacitating Wound that worsens unless treated. Oluf, in the poem above, is able to sit his horse, but that’s about the limit of physical capacities. Going quickly to a healer might have saved him, but his condition degenerates and he dies the next day.
Costs 25 spell levels (Base 20 +1 Touch)
Perpetually Present: 2 points, constant, Corpus. The daughter is somehow always nearby, despite the fact that the human is retreating as swiftly as, for example, a galloping horse. She follows as a misty shape in the trees. This has been priced as per the power Flight and shares its limitations. She may not engage in combat while moving swiftly and may not use this power when when heavily encumbered. (ReCo Base 4, +2 Sun, +1 constant. This base is deliberately lower than Hermetic magic might suggest.)
Enthrallment: 3 points, Init –3, Mentem: Characters who join the dance lose all track of time. A stress roll with an appropriate Personality trait against an Ease Factor of 9 allows a victim to overcome this power’s effect. As the character continues to dance without rest they suffer deprivation rolls. Each failure allows a new Personality roll.
CrMe Base 4 +2 Voice* +2 Sun +2 Group. * Must join the dance within the sound of the elven music.
Transform Into and From Human: 0 points, Init. 0, Animal (3 intricacy points on cost, 2 on initiative): This power transforms the character between human and combat form. The combat form has sharp, wooden teeth and serrated claws.
This is treated as a Personal level 25 MuCo(An) effect.
Equipment: Clothes. Bribes, possibly illusory.
Vis: 3 pawns Perdo, an alder tree.
Appearance: Elf maidens who dance by day and flit along roadways at night.
Source: Based on the Evil Jinnyah, Rival Magic pages 119-120.
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November 18: Thy erl-king from Goethe
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November 19