jacinto monsters, new barbary, san serafín, vampire, witch

out in the swamp where the water is dark

monsters in dungeons and dragons can feel very taxonomical, as if some fantasy Linnaeus separated the ghoul from the ghast and the wight from the specter. In practice, it’s just palette-swapping. However, I like the idea of monsters that suggest an unusual and inscrutable method of specifying one kind of creature from another.

by Tim Waters
distributed under CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

However, I also want there to be something of a blur between kinds of monsters. Monstrosity is something afflicted or achieved, it is a political category, a caste, a title. Bluebeard and Christman Genipperteinga are as much ogres as men; Elizabeth of Bathory was a woman, witch, and vampire. Monsters and witches can and should step on each other’s conceptual turf, just because neither are wholly one thing. 

witches with beautiful hair
Such a witch keeps his or her hair in a long braid, ornamented to look like a snake. A single strand of it, teased free and tied around the finger, wrist, or neck of a victim, ensures their compliance in all things; so long as the strand is still attached to her head, the witch can command it to sever the member around which it is tied. Neither distance no scissors are protection against this; a witch’s hair can stretch across oceans or over mountains, and no conventional means can cut it.
     Witch-hair is exceedingly fine, but a watchful witch-hunter can follow the hair from victim to owner. However, the witch can always use his or her victims as hostages no matter how far they may be, or even blackmail them into fighting their would-be rescuer.

blood-swallowing witches
A witch of this ilk has learned a very beautiful song that summons great swarms of mosquitoes. The witch then disperses them across the countryside to collect blood from her neighbors. When the mosquitoes return, they vomit the blood up into the witch’s pots and pans, which the witch then brews into vile liqueurs. Some are fatally poisonous; others simply delicious, while the most coveted restores a measure of youth to the drinker.
     A witch-hunter knows a blood-swallowing witch by their love of music, by their hidden or strangely stained pots and pans, and by the barrels they keeps but never seems to tap. Imprudent enemies of a blood-swallowing witch might find themselves exsanguinated by a storm of mosquitoes.

witches whose shadows have eyes
The most mysterious kind of witch. shadows cast by these witches have eyes, as if their owner had two holes in their head and light was streaming through. Their shadows do their bidding, rising up off the ground, gaining strength and substance. A witch’s shadow crawls about unnaturally, like a person trying to walk on all fours, but runs as fast as a horse and possesses the strength of two.
     These witches can only be caught by close examination of their shadow, or by their shadow’s absence when they have commanded it to run off and perform some wickedness. Witches whose shadows have eyes have been known to hide their nature and rise to positions of great power and prestige.

witches who live under the mangroves
These witches can hold their breath as long as they please. They carry heavy cudgels and live out in the mangrove swamp, where they float facedown in the waterways or thrash like a drowning swimmer so that they can bludgeon their rescuers unconscious and carry them away to a half-submerged larder. When they are not hunting, these witches sleep in the dark waters between mangrove roots, thinking black and briny thoughts and trading secrets with passing crocodiles.
     Witches who live under the mangroves are betrayed by the mud in their mouth, which they can never quite spit out and which prevents them from speaking well. The eldest witches of this kind are trapped below their mangroves, transfixed by slow-growing roots over the course of their century sleep. They are easy to destroy if discovered, but their mgic is powerful and filled with venom.

by Guillaurme Schaer
distributed under CC BY NC 2.0

jacinto dungeon, fairy, garden, vampire

In the Lambent Gardens

The God of the Earth pointcrawl turned into something else and it’s super fun to write so here’s some NPCs and monsters and stuff in it.

The Gardens of Lambence
There is a garden where the flowers bloom forever, where nothing ever grows or dies, where everything waits in the quiet light of an eternal blue hour. These Gardens of Lambence are a cursed place, raised up from the wilderness by two beings of ancient and wicked power: the Evening Prince, who is both sorcerer and vampire, and the Countess of Broken-heart, who counts herself among the lords and ladies of Faerie. They have grown to hate each other in their immortality, but neither can raise a hand against the other; by the laws of the fairies and the laws of the dead, the Gardens belong equally to both. 
Encounter Table
  1. d6 Evening Consorts, +2 to Reaction rolls
  2. Heart-break Courtiers, +2 to Reaction rolls 
  3. Chambliss, make a Reaction roll every encounter 
  4. The Evening Prince will arrive at this location next Turn; d6 anxious Consorts arrive and beg the players to leave or hide (unless the players have already caused trouble in the Gardens, in which case they try to kill the party as neatly and quickly as possible)
  5. The Countess of Broken-heart will arrive at the location next Turn; d6 anxious Courtiers arrive
    and beg the players to leave or hide (unless the players have already caused trouble in the Gardens, in which case they try to kill the party as neatly and quickly as possible)
  6. Roll twice
The Countess of Broken-heart
HD 9 Speed human
Armor as leather Attacknone 
Morale 8 Alignment Chaotic
Wolves proclaim her arrival and foxes bear her train: the Countess of Broken-heart, her dress the purple of beaten flesh, her high crown fashioned from black horn. A single red scar mars the pallor of her face, and all who knew or asked whence it came are now ashes.
The Countess of Broken-heart has spent the long years of her feud with the Prince devising tortures of such complexity and cruelty that they give pause to even Lucifer, her dearest friend and weekly chess-partner. Her rage is so great because she already possesses the instrument of the Prince’s destruction, but cannot use it. Years ago, the Prince vitrified the angel Suriel when it attacked him in his own Gardens. The Countess can free Suriel to complete its murderous mission without violating any of the rules of hospitality, but she shall not so long as the Prince holds her lover hostage.
  • Glamor: The Countess can alter the seem­ing of a creature of object nearby. Glamors perfectly fool all the senses, but cannot effect true change. Glamor-swords hurt and seem to wound, but never quite manage to kill; glamor-horses gallop across the landscape, but their rid­ers find that they never get anywhere. Anyone who interacts with a glamor is entitled to a saving throw to see through the illusion.
  • Polymorph: Once a day, the Countess can transform an object or creature with fewer HD than herself into any non-magical animal. The victim may make a saving throw to resist the transformation, but if they fail, they turn into a creature with their knowledge and personality until the effect is dispelled.
  • Fairy-magic: The Countess is a fairy and has all the corresponding powers and weaknesses. As a noble, she can cast spells as a 9th level magician; she knows 5 Psychomancy and 4 Elementalism spells.
The Evening Prince

HD 9 Speed human
Armor as chain Attackrapier 

Morale 9 Alignment Chaotic
He speaks very softly and smells of the lilies woven into his coat, but his shadow drags behind him as heavy and luxuriant as a cape of sable. The Evening Prince was a magician of prodigious talent when his heart yet beat, and now even the gentlest of his speech makes the air shiver with what he might do.
The Evening Prince wants to kill the Countess. He hates her down to the cold marrow of his bones, hates that she lives in the Gardens as if they were hers. He knows she hates him too, so he turned her favorite consort into a nightingale and locked her away in his chambers inside a golden cage. The Countess cannot harm him so long as he has her lover, for fear of losing her forever.
  • Vitrify: Once a day, the Prince can conjure a giant spar of smoked quartz around a creature with fewer HD than himself. The victim may make a saving throw to avoid imprisonment; should it fail, it is trapped indefinitely, fully conscious but immune to aging, hunger, thirst, or the need to breathe. 
  • Vampire: The Prince is a vampire, and has all the corresponding powers and weaknesses. He can transform into a nightingale, and will hide among the flocks that live in the Gardens if severely wounded. 
  • Magician: The Prince cast spells as a 9th level magician; for W&W casters, he knows five Necromancy and four Translocation spells. 

Evening Consorts

The Prince’s white-haired vampire servants, who loll about the Gardens in black evening suits when they aren’t tending to the Prince or maintaining grounds. Though they all adore the Prince—he Charmed them into doing so—they have no interest in his feud with the Countess, and would much rather spend their immortality playing tennis and taking long baths. They cannot refuse a direct order from their master, but have no compunction keeping secrets from him or willfully misinterpreting his instructions to maintain the Gardens’ status quo or protect peaceful outsiders.
HD 3 Speed human
Armor as chain Attackgiant scissors (as sword) OR trowel (as dagger)
Morale 8 Alignment Chaotic
  • Vampire: Evening Consorts are vampires and have all the corresponding powers and weaknesses. All of them can turn into nightingales, and will hide among the flocks that live in the Gardens if they fail a Morale check.

Broken-heart Courtiers

The Countess’ black-haired, white-cloaked fairy servants, who meander through the Gardens when they aren’t attending the Countess or working as house-staff. Though they are sworn vassals of the Countess, they have no desire to see her grudge to its bloody conclusion—drinking cordial and holding dances are far more appealing. The Courtiers must obey all of the Countess’ commands, but will happily keep secrets or follow the letter, rather than the spirit, of her orders when it suits them.
HD 3 Speed human
Armor as leather Attackgiant needle (as spear) OR ribbon (as whip)
Morale 8 Alignment Chaotic
  • Fairy: Broken-heart Courtiers are fairies and have all the corresponding powers and weaknesses. They can cast Shroud/Invisibility on themselves at will. 

Location: Tennis Court
Appearance

A tennis court with a ten foot high spar of smoked quartz jutting from where the umpire chair should be. Close examination yields a murky figure trapped in inside, and anyone listening closely can hear a muffled, endless scream of rage. Two Consorts and two Courtiers are playing a friendly game of doubles, despite the fact that they are on guard duty.
History
The quartz contains Suriel, Third Sphere Angel of the Moon. Some years ago, it decided the Prince was infringing on its domain, and made the mistake of interrupting one of his tennis games in an attempt to confront him. Its prison rests on the old court even now, daubed with specious red sigils that siphon Suriel’s power and maintain the Gardens’ endless duskShould anyone efface these symbols, the natural cycle of night and day will return.Should anyone break open Suriel’s prison as well (0 AC, 100 HP), the angel will burst forth in a blast of scorching light and start rampaging across the Gardens in search of the Prince.
Suriel, Angel of the Third Sphere and Governor of the Moon
HD 7 Speedhuman (fly)
Armor as plate Attack longsword, angelic weapon 
Morale 11 Alignment Lawful
  • Armor Gematria: Suriel is immune to damage that is a multiple of or contains the number 3. 
  • Angelic Weapon: An ivory hierogram, embedded in Suriel’s palm. On a successful hit, it causes spears of lightning to plummet from the heavens onto the target, dealing d12 damage. If taken from the angel, it can be used 5 times before breaking. 
  • Domain: Suriel can cause localized eclipses. They only affect a small area (a village or a city block, for example) and are unnoticeable to anyone outside the afflicted locale. If the angel so wishes, it can center the eclipse on a particular person or item, so that they are trapped in a false and endless night. Suriel can also exert some control over gravity. It can double or halve gravitational forces at half shortbow range around itself