Resources: Creatures

Cranes, giant

Blood-red legs. Golden feathers. Beautiful singing voice, that often sings in rhyme or nursery rhyme. The song of the giant crane can calm anyone hearing it; if they are not active, they must make a willpower or fortitude roll to remain awake. If they are active, listeners must make a willpower roll or have a penalty of one to all actions. The crane does not sing and attack at the same time, but in a group of attacking cranes one or more may choose to sing rather than attack.

Creatures: Eiron

Eiron is the baby protodemon in control of the house. Steffan Delarosa summoned Eiron to give the house power and life. Eiron is an emotional demon. It feeds off resentment and self­ishness. The more resentment outsiders bring to the house, the more power Eiron and the house have.

Fetal spider

Creatures created from the fetuses and infants sacrificed by Louis and Steffan. Fetal spiders have eight arms and legs (3+d4 arms, 5-that legs) and crawl up walls and across ceilings at the same speed they crawl across floors. They can burp a white viscous sticky burning liquid once every ten minutes that causes d4 damage the first round, d3 damage, and then d2-1 damage. They can be attacked by non-magical weapons.

One in six fetal spiders have two heads, are level one and can burp twice every ten minutes.

Creatures: gaunt

A gaunt is an undead ghost from a person killed by a demon but maintained in shell. Their corpse is rotting, but concealed with a gaunt glamor. The house will create gaunts from any of the ghosts, as well as any dead characters. Gaunts attack with thrown objects and automatically induce a coldness of the soul causing -3 to any action and half movement on a failed willpower roll. They are semi-solid and can be attacked by non-magical weapons.

Goldwing harriers

A goldwing harrier is translucent and reflective, allowing it to easily blend with its surroundings. A harrier in motion looks like a tarnished or rusty bump moving along the walls. On closer examination their golden-smooth skin can be seen for what it is: skin drawn so tight it’s translucent, and some slimy substance taking on a gold-toned hue of its surroundings.

Harriers first appear as nearly spherical golden balls with bat-like wings, and no other sensory organs or appendages. They move by flying, preferably, or by crawling using the claws on their wings. When they attack, their spherical body neatly separates to display a huge gaping jaw and razor sharp, jagged teeth. They can hover in place and easily turn sharp corners.

They almost always attack as a group effort. For example, ten harriers fighting together will be a level 3 group effort: +3 to attack, d4+3 damage, +8 defense, 4 attacks, and 4d4 survival.

Their main purpose is stealing shadows so that Eiron can create shadow simulacra. They will thus often attack at the feet to cut the victim’s shadow clean away. Stealing a shadow requires a called shot to the feet; the target must lose survival on the attack and then fail an evasion roll.

When a harrier dies, their tight skin draws tighter, becomes paper thin, dries, and crackles. Within d12 rounds they are a pile of tan dust. This dust is worth about ten shillings to ritual-aware alchemists and sorcerors.

Harriers do not themselves speak, but their mouths can be a conduit to their master’s voice if their master desires. In a swarm, all harriers speak in unison.

Goldwing harriers are visible only on lamina 1 or higher; they only show their teeth on lamina 2 or higher. When on lamina zero, they can be sensed only through non-visual means.

Stolen shadows

Stolen shadows are simulacra that can speak simply, but cannot carry on conversations, and are immaterial. The house can spend one point to make a stolen shadow material for up to ten minutes. Creating a stolen shadow requires the shadow of the living guest who serves as the simulacrum’s model. The simulacrum can take on the appearance of the source of their shadow as well as of close friends and family members of that person. However, the shadow cast by a stolen shadow always remains that of the original—who loses their shadow until the stolen shadow is destroyed.

Stolen shadows can be hurt by magical attacks and magic weapons, sunlight, complete darkness, silver, wood, unarmed combat, or any attack from the shadow’s owner. Sunlight causes d6 damage per round, and complete darkness extinguishes the shadow temporarily.

Stolen shadows cannot go through walls, but can go through windows, doors, and secret doors without opening them.

Steffan acquires the shadows to create stolen shadows using shadows stolen by his goldwing harriers.

Steffan Delarosa

Steffan Delarosa’s evil survives as a corpse lamp that haunts the house and the marshes around it. It lives off resentment and hateful jealousy. Its special “place of danger” is Delarosa Manor.

Corpse Lamp: (Undead: 4; Survival: 22; Moral Code: Evil; Movement: 16; Attacks: none; Defense: +6; Special Attacks: spark for d6 4 times per night; Special Defense: +1 to hit required and immune to most attacks, including fire, cold, and lightning)

A spark automatically hits its chosen target, which must be within two yards of the lamp.

Besides tempting unwary travelers into a lonely death, corpse lamps may also tempt jealous, seething, or resentful victims into torturing and eventually murdering the object of their festering emotion. When a corpse lamp finds victims who harbor a grudge against each other, it will nurse this resentment and build it up slowly action by action, so that the victims’ anger is never checked until they destroy each other. Wary victims are allowed a willpower roll against this effect, but the effect itself never goes away. The urge to greater and greater retribution may only be held in check; it will not disappear until leaving the house.

Steffan Delarosa can walk invisibly through the halls of Delarosa Manor. It will bang walls to cause fear, and it will shine to attract characters to dangerous encounters.

In lamina 1+, Steffan Delarosa appears as he did in life, though gaunter, and can be hit by normal weapons. He can attack with his hands for d6 damage.

Steffan’s level is equal to the current lamina. He regains one survival per round per lamina, or heals one injury per maximum lamina per night. If killed, he only regains one survival per hour per lamina, and the house is unable to act while he is dead.