SPECTRAL DANCER

Initiative: 14	Physical Defense: 20
Number of Attacks: NA	Spell Defense: 15
Attack: NA	Social Defense: 12
Damage: NA	Armor: 0
Number of Spells: 1	Mystic Armor: 8
Spellcasting: 20	Knockdown: 7
Effect: 23	Recovery Tests: 4
Death Rating: 90	Combat Movement: 45
Wound Threshold: 16	Full Movement: 90
Unconsciouness Rating: Immune
Legend Points: 3,400
Equipment: None
Loot: Usually none

Commentary
Undead creations of the Horrors, spectral dancers are individuals who possessed considerable charisma and social skill in life. They appear as phantoms of the bodies they once inhabited. To make a spectral dancer, the Horror severs the dancer’s spirit from his body in a grisly ritual, so that the dancer loses almost all ability to communicate with other sentient beings. He can occasionally see, hear, smell, and taste the world of the living, but cannot make contact with his fellows. The spectral dancer can only speak in garbled howls, and loses all ability to write, draw, or communicate in any way. The desire to communicate and the need for companionship remain, heightened by the ritual to the point of torment.

Their utter isolation drives spectral dancers insane. The spirits flit in and out of humanity, moving in a chaotic, frenzied dance. Desperate to communicate, a spectral dancer approaches a character and dances for one to three rounds, waiting for the character to join it. If the character turns down the “invitation,” the spectral dancer attacks with desperate fury, using its Spellcasting step. The creature makes a Spellcasting Test against the target’s Spell Defense. If the test is successful, the spectral dancer rolls the Effect dice to determine damage. It continues to attack until the character dies or the dancer is destroyed. Keep in mind that these devastating magical attacks can kill even a stout troll within a few rounds.

The spectral dancer’s almost incorporeal form gives it its high Physical Defense Rating, reflecting the Difficulty of finding a solid spot to hit amid the swirling, pulsing light and fog. Though not an easy task, a determined (and lucky) character can find and attack such a spot.

A character may also attempt to defend himself by joining the spectral dancer in the dance, but this carries its own danger. The character and the dancer remain locked in the dance until the character either dies or manages to assuage the dancer’s terrible loneliness for a brief moment. Once joined, the character must see the dance through to its conclusion.

During each round that the dance continues, the dancer’s movements cause a number of steps of damage to the character equal to the number of rounds the dance has lasted. For example, on round 5 of the dance, the dancer does Step 5 damage, Step 6 damage on round 6, and so on. No armor can reduce this damage.

During any round of the dance, the character can try to make contact with the dancer in order to ease its loneliness. To do this, the character makes a Charisma Test against the spectral dancer’s Social Defense; at the gamemaster’s discretion the character may use another Charisma-based talent for the test. To ease the spirit’s loneliness and escape its clutches, the character must achieve an Extraordinary success against the dancer’s Social Defense. Each lesser success level adds to the character’s empathy with and understanding of the spectral dancer, and increases the character’s Charisma step by 1 for the duration of the dance. As the dance nears its end, the character often sees or relives the dancer’s memories. Once the character achieves an Extraordinary success, the spectral dancer’s motions slow, then stop. The dancer thanks the character for giving it brief companionship, then fades away.

STORM WOLF

Initiative: 9	Physical Defense: 9
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 9
Attack: 9	Social Defense: 5
Damage: 12	Armor: 2
Number of Spells: (1)	Mystic Armor: 0
Spellcasting: 9	Knockdown: 7
Effect: See below	Recovery Tests: 1
Death Rating: 32	Combat Movement: 50
Wound Threshold: 8	Full Movement: 100
Unconsciouness Rating: 28
Legend Points: 125
Equipment: None
Loot: Pelt worth 75 silver pieces. The pelt counts as treasure worth Legend Points.

Commentary
An excellent hunter, the handsome storm wolf stands taller and is a little stronger than a normal wolf. Storm wolves travel in packs of 8–24 animals, and hunt travelers only if desperately hungry or if they sense evil emanating from the traveling party. Though not “good” in a moral sense, a storm wolf’s pure, elemental spirit detests impurities commonly found in evil spirits, and the wolves go out of their way to destroy such impurities. Legends say storm wolves have hunted undead creatures across hundreds of leagues.

Storm wolves have an ability called Storm Call, an eerie, whistling howl that summons a storm. To call a storm, the leader of the pack makes a Spellcasting Test against a Difficulty Number of 20. Each Spellcasting Test does 2 points of damage to the leader, and each additional wolf in the pack adds 1 step to the leader’s Spellcasting step. If the Spellcasting Test is successful, the storm arrives in 1D6 rounds. It disperses after one hour, unless the leader’s command dispels it earlier. Should the leader die, another wolf takes his place and inherits control of the storm. During the round after the pack leader calls the storm, the storm wolves leap into action. When the storm arrives, the fury of the elements reduces by 3 the appropriate step used by any of the wolves’ opponents to take any action that requires a test. The storm adds 3 steps to the wolves’ Attack and Spellcasting steps when making Attack and Effect Tests. Injured wolves who make no tests during a Combat Round have their wounds cleansed by the rains, reducing their Current Damage by 3 points for each round that the storm lasts. Though they heal injuries, the rains do not revive dead wolves.

In the same way that they sense evil, storm wolves can also often sense good within a party. In the past, storm wolves have led “good” parties to sites of evil they wish to see destroyed, creating a storm to let a party approach safely. The leader of the storm wolf pack can also heal a wounded character by placing his muzzle in the character’s lap, thereby transferring the healing power of the storm to the character.

A storm wolf pelt is worth 75 silver pieces, and counts as treasure worth Legend Points. Elementalists are forbidden by their Discipline to take storm wolf pelts. A character who has skinned a storm wolf for its pelt can never receive aid from another storm wolf, because every wolf’s spirit can sense the character’s desecration of its fellow wolf.

THORN MEN

Initiative: 7	Physical Defense: 8
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 10
Attack: 8	Social Defense: 15
Damage: 12	Armor: 4
Number of Spells: NA	Mystic Armor: 5
Spellcasting: NA	Knockdown: 5
Effect: NA	Recovery Tests: 3
Death Rating: 40	Combat Movement: 35
Wound Threshold: 11	Full Movement: 70
Unconsciouness Rating: 32
Legend Points: 100
Equipment: Spears
Loot: None

Commentary
roughly 6 feet tall, weigh 60 pounds, and possess rudimentary intelligence.

Thorn men patrol the Blood Wood, searching for intruders to bring before Queen Alachia. They carry wooden spears tipped with polished stone. In the hands of a thorn man these spears become magical weapons; when wielded by anyone else, the spear remains ordinary until a spell thread is attached to it.

THUNDRA BEAST

Initiative: 7	Physical Defense: 8
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 7
Attack: 7	Social Defense: 10
Damage: 15 (19; see below)	Armor: 8
Number of Spells: NA	Mystic Armor: 1
Spellcasting: NA	Knockdown: 11
Effect: NA	Recovery Tests: 7
Death Rating: 66	Combat Movement: 45
Wound Threshold: 19	Full Movement: 90
Unconsciouness Rating: 59
Legend Points: 200
Equipment: None
Loot: Various items from rider

Commentary
This large, four-legged animal looks like a cross between a rhinoceros and a dinosaur, with a tough, rock-like skin covering its entire body. Thundra beasts stand 7 feet tall at the shoulder, are 10 to 12 feet long, and weigh nearly 1,000 pounds. Each thundra beast has a large horn in the center of its forehead, which it uses to attack opponents. Ork cavalry groups and others frequently ride thundra beasts; adventurers rarely encounter a thundra beast in the wild.

Thundra beasts attack by charging their targets and goring them or trampling them. Any charging attack, whether using the horn or not, does Step 19 damage.

TRIPLICANT

Initiative: 9	Physical Defense: 11
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 9
Attack: 12	Social Defense: 10
Damage: 16	Armor: 3
Number of Spells: (1)	Mystic Armor: 3
Spellcasting: 8	Knockdown: 7
Effect: Triplicates	Recovery Tests: 2 (19)
Death Rating: 35	Combat Movement: 40
Wound Threshold: 9	Full Movement: 80
Unconsciouness Rating: 30
Legend Points:
Equipment: Odds and ends worth 1D8 x 10 silver pieces
Loot: Commentary

Commentary
Solitary creatures, triplicants stand about 5 feet tall and have bluish-white skin and purple eyes. Their hands look huge in proportion to their slender bodies. Triplicants wander the land, eking out a living through hunting and theft. Though of subhuman intelligence, they display great cunning, ambushing unwary travelers in search of ordinary items that they consider treasure. According to rumor, triplicants sometimes manage to collect items of real value along with the everyday odds and ends they hoard.

Triplicants can conjure copies of themselves to engage in combat. Only the original triplicant, called the core triplicant, can reproduce. This process requires the core triplicant to make three Spellcasting Tests, each against a Difficulty Number of 4. The final Spellcasting Test causes 1 point of damage to the core triplicant; if that final test is successful, two duplicates appear. These duplicates remain for 3D6 hours before dissolving into a frothy mush. The copies may act individually or together, and even under the influence of magical charms refuse to harm the core triplicant. A core triplicant can make an unlimited number of duplicates, and always gives itself numerical superiority before ambushing a party.

MUNDANE ANIMALS

The following table lists the Attribute step numbers for many of these animals. Using these numbers as a guide, the gamemaster should consult the Attribute Table in Creating a Character to assign each creature’s remaining statistics. As with all creatures, the statistics listed in the table below represent the average for the animals described. The gamemaster should feel free to alter any game statistics as the situation requires.

When determining an animal’s Attack and Damage step numbers, the gamemaster should add 1, 2, or 3 steps to the animal’s appropriate Attribute step number. For example, say the gamemaster needs to find a lion’s Attack step. Because most animals’ Attack steps are based on their Dexterity steps, the gamemaster can simply add 1, 2, or 3 to the average lion’s Dexterity step number of 4 as he deems fit. If the gamemaster decides to add 3 steps, he gives the lion an Attack Step Number of 7. This means that the gamemaster rolls 1D12 (Step 7) when making Attack Tests for the lion. For more information regarding step numbers and dice rolls, consult the Step/Action Dice Table, in Game Concepts.

The Notes column on the following table indicates an animal’s special abilities. As with all statistics, the gamemaster may alter the information listed as he sees fit.

MUNDANE ANIMAL TABLE

Animal DEX STR TOU PER WIL CHA Notes Legend Points Alligator 5 6 6 4 4 2 35 Ape 6 8 6 4 5 3 30 Bat 8 2 3 6 5 1 Flight, Sonar 20 Bear 5 7 6 3 4 5 75 Cat 5 1 2 5 5 4 20 Cheetah 8 5 4 5 3 3 40 Crocodile 5 5 6 4 4 3 35 Deer 4 6 6 4 4 4 30 Dog 4 5 3 4 3 3 25 Eagle 5 5 4 6 4 5 Flight 25 Elephant 4 11 9 3 5 4 50 Gorilla 5 7 6 4 4 3 35 Horse 6 7 8 3 4 4 55 Jaguar 7 5 5 4 3 4 35 Leopard 6 5 4 3 5 3 50 Lion 4 7 5 3 3 3 50 Lizard 4 5 5 4 3 4 30 Monkey 7 5 4 5 3 3 20 Moose 4 6 7 3 4 3 35 Rhinoceros 5 10 10 3 6 5 50 Snake 6 3 4 3 4 4 *Poison 25 Tiger 5 7 5 3 3 2 50 Tortoise 2 2 5 3 4 2 10 Wolf 6 5 4 5 4 3 30 *adds 5 steps poison damage