Molemen Attack! But Why?

 

Fighting back against years of Surface Dweller oppression 

The GM’s Five Minutes is a long established tradition for when the players go in an unexpected direction. As in “Give me five minutes to figure out what’s happening and we’ll continue.” A powerful tool in the sandbox style you should probably be using for your games. Of course everyone knows that their GM, no matter how good they are, cannot prepare for every possible avenue of player ingenuity (nor should they try.)  We all buy into the illusion that is not the case though so when the GM uses some weak subterfuge such as a sudden and unscheduled bathroom break we can all pretend we don’t know they’re locked in there, looking at pages of now irrelevant notes, going “What the fuck am I going to do now?” And we all know that’s fine.

And if you can’t think of the answer then there’s always the oldest trick in the book: Orcs attack! That’s how Gary did it, probably Dave too, even Tolkien flagged for ideas at times. That’s fine too. Thinking time is created while the PCs deal with whatever generic omnipresent threat is on the warpath right now. Of course it may be that it’s not orcs and probably better if it isn’t. The more mystery we can engender with our stop gap time filler the more the game will progress. So if we can work out why the attack takes place or what is left behind that gives the players something to investigate then that’s probably better. 

Is there anyone I haven’t told that the Grim North doesn’t have orcs? Ok, good. So in those Grim moments molemen attack. Molemen are burrowers, there is an almost unlimited amount of them lurking under the cities and wildernesses of the North; and they hate you and want to devour your flesh. They can spring up practically anywhere, which is convenient if you  are Grim North GM with time on your hands and no idea what to do with it.

For some reason these are d7 tables, I must have in a deep DCC phase when I wrote them but none the less, sharp eyed readers will recognise the format stolen from the Black Hack

Mole Man Activities

1. Feasting on fresh corpses
2. Performing incomprehensible ritual
3. Carrying out undermining operations 
4. Kidnapping surface dwellers of import
5. Scouting for large scale mole assault
6. Searching for escaped flesh crafting experiment
7. Setting ambush for someone else

With.....

1. Renegade Patrician
2. Pack of mole dogs 
3. Near Seer
4. Ancient buried artefact
5. Crudely made human masks
6. Overwhelming smell of decay
7. Mankiller Molehemoth

d100 Legs, or the Cult of the Centipede!

A lot of love is given to giant spiders and serpents in the sword and sorcery world. They're classic foes it would seem and play on those primeval fears. Everything from Conan to Lord of the Rings has them in the literature, they're even in Harry Potter. I fully intend to use them in my post magical apocalypse setting (which clearly needs a snappier name) but also I want something a bit different too.

Centipedes. Yes that's right, centipedes are the new spiders. Sort of.

Aaaargh! Run for your lives!

Having recently read Rafael Chandler's excellent Obscene Serpent Religion (which I recommend wholeheartedly) I hit on the idea of a centipede cult. The cult of the Many Legged God, or The Lord of One Hundred Things, as he is known.

One of the themes of the setting is that there are no "True Gods" necessarily. There are an almost limitless number of gods worshipped, some are real beings or creatures and others simply idols or fictional ideas. Either way, there is not much in the way of confirmation, only faith. However, I digress slightly.

Cultists of the Centipede God would carry out blasphemous rites using the four listed types of giant centipede in the S&W monsters chapter; cast centipede related spells; be obsessed with the number 100 and look with awe upon the blessed sons of their god, the centauripedes.

Centauripede

Basically a hybrid with the torso of a man and but the head and segmented body of a centipede. Characterised by ferocity and  terrifying speed, the centauripede is a dangerous foe similar to an ogre in strength but with a poisonous "bite" from its forcipules. It usually causes d10 weapon damage by whatever it's wielding in its human arms due to the swiftness and power of its strikes.

Hit Dice: 4+1
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attacks: Weapon (d10), Bite (d8+poison)
Saving Throw: 13
Special: Lethal poison, +4 save
Move: 18
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

Like this but carrying a poleaxe

Perhaps they are at odds with the Praying Mantis Cult....

Wight is the new Black

The Wight. This is where the undead start to get interesting. Skeletons and zombies are classic foes obviously (with the latter being a pop culture obsession in the last decade,) and ghouls are good, paralysis is a great threat for the average PC. The wight however is a truly deadly opponent, that level drain is a total bitch, especially for your low level PCs who are staring death in the face with no saving throw.

Barrow Wight by verraux on deviantart

The Swords and Wizardry Complete rules has this to say about Wights:

"Wights live in tombs, graveyards, and burial mounds (barrows). They are undead, and thus not affected by sleep or charm spells. Wights are immune to all non-magical weapons, with the exception of silver weapons. Any human killed or completely drained of levels by a wight becomes a wight. "

Mentzer Basic D&D says this:

"A wight is an undead spirit living in the body of a dead human or demi-human. It can only be hit by silvered or magical weapons. Wights are greatly feared, as they drain life energy when striking a victim. "

Wikipedia says:

"In its original usage the word wight described a living human being.^[3] More recently, the word has been used within the fantasy genre of literature to describe undead or wraith-like creatures: corpses with a part of their decayed soul still in residence, often draining life from their victims."

Dragon Warriors says this:

"Wights are ancient undead, greatly feared because of their passionless evil and strange magical powers. They are the shamans and wizard-kings of a bygone age, and dwell in the bowels of their lonely burial-mounds. Transformed and sustained by their own necromantic magic, Wights appear sallow and desiccated, sunken eyes glittering with an eldritch light."

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay defines Wights thusly:

"Wights are the remains of mortal heroes, animated beyond death by their own evil wills, and by strong magic woven ivy those who interred them in their grave-mounds many centuries earlier. Wights are almost always arrayed in full armour but their pale faces are visible beneath the helm, the spectral remnants of their long-decayed bodies."

This guy.

For my Grim North setting wights are going to be more along the lines of the undead remains of sorcerer kings, the witch lords of a bygone age. Vulnerability to magic weapons only is an issue given the rarity of such items in the setting but let's say all non silver weapons do half damage. The touch of a wight will be ennervating but with some temporary attribute draining touch something like save vs 2d6 strength loss, rather than the dreaded level drain, although any victim not slain will soon recover if brought out into sunlight. In addition they will have some spells and unique powers (in addition to its spell casting DW allows a wight a poisonous breath weapon, the ability to raise fog, and cast illusions that cause paralysis through terror, all once per day.) The wight will be armed and armoured with its burial finery so there's scope for some serious treasure, given its status when alive, with the additional possibility as afforded in WFRP that when wielded by its unded owner a wight's blade takes on some of the creature's dark, unholy power.

I'm going to have to work on the stats, although I'm leaning towards making each one unique in some way.