Teeny Tiny Tales of Terror: C is for Chilling

Discussing all things Ravenloft
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Joël of the FoS
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Cadaver collector [Monster Manual III]

After this terrible battle, I walked the fields of death near the end of the day, trying to get inspiration for a song to the madness of Drakov’s war, while avoiding getting too much spooked. The odour of fresh blood was overwhelming. The Falkovnians had already passed to embark those that could be saved and healed, and they killed the helpless others.

Then I saw this large metallic monster reflected by the light of a dying fire. This thing walked mechanically through the killing field, and methodically collected the dead corpses by skewing them on spikes all over its metal body. I say collected, since I do not have other words to express what I think the creature was doing.

But it was huge and terrible in its cold systematic mode of functioning. Then it came a little close to my hidden watch position and I left the field quietly.

I still wonder who or what needed all these dead bodies.

- an old bard tale in Rivalis
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Post by Corrupted_Loremaster »

Cerebral symbiont: psionic sinew

To be honest, none of us quite knew what to expect when we moved in to arrest that murderous lunatic. From his handiwork, we'd almost expected something more animal than man. When we burst in and found a bloke who could've been mistaken for just another day labourer, had we not known better, we were almost ready to start laughing I suppose. Nothing funny about when those claws came out, long as a shortsword and twice as sharp. I swear, he took more of a pounding than any man like that has the right to, and for a fellow wearing nothing but his work clothes, our clubs bounced off him a touch more than they should've. Never did work out what the trick behind all that was, and since we couldn't take him alive, I guess we never will. Still, makes you wonder where he learned to do all that, doesn't it?

Unnamed Paridonian detective, on the attempted arrest of the "Griffoth Street Mauler"
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Post by Mangrum »

We've made pretty good progress, so on Monday I'll flip us over to D -- otherwise known as "the long haul."
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Post by Tertius Bellamont »

I say! What a brilliant idea... here we go, I don't think these are done yet...



Cloaker, Dread, Resplendent


Personally, I found Giulietta's behaviour this evening inexcusable.

It is simply a common courtesy not to overshadow your hostess. To turn up to an informal party dressed in such a gaudy and tasteless thing, all flashing jewels and glitter... the woman simply has no manners. Doesn't she know that capes are to be left in the cloakroom? Of course we can normally put up with her eccentricities, one keeps friends who like to poke around in crypts primarily for amusement value.

Unfortunately, dear Ivana was not amused.

I was really rather surprised how much of the party that Giulietta attended. I am certain that the cocktail which Ivana offered her normally works so much more quickly.

Other than that, of course, the evening was an unparalleled success, although it fell to me to store Giulietta in one of the cloakrooms. I must admit, I was rather irked to discover that one of the other guests must have taken her cape by mistake. It would have gone beautifully next week for fancy dress.

- From the Private Diaries of Nostalia Romaine



Corpse Candle


"Poor dear, he was shaking like an aspen leaf when he left this morning."

"Left before breakfast? Not like Marcus..."

"Bless you, no! But then... well... after that dreadful business over at Arden farm..."

"Aye... dreadful. Buried her this morning. People like that ought to be strung up..."

"Too true. But I think it hit Marcus worst of all... after finding those bodies... ugh, makes me quesy to thing about it..."

"Don't you go thinking about it too much. I don't want two of you brooding on it, it's bad for the mind. You know, he wouldn't sit near the fire last night. Kept glancing over at it and mumbling."

"Mumbling?"

"Aye, something about 'soon...' and that he was 'still trying to find them...'. Load of rubbish if you ask me."

"Still... I do worry about the boy. His teacher says he's been missing from school."

"Heh, don't you worry yourself about the lad. He's just going through that age."

"True... everyone has to grow up eventually. But it makes an old woman wistful..."

"Tell you what, why don't you put his old night light in his room when he comes home tonight? There's nothing like a bit of candle light to help you forget your troubles."

- Overheard the Night before the fire at Grebe farm, East Mordentshire.[/b]
Now this is most interesting...
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Post by Tertius Bellamont »

Ach... should have put these in my last... but they just occurred to me...


Bogeyman, Monsieur Croquemitain

Hear a knock
Rattle the lock
Midnight strikes on the big old clock.

Hide from sight
In the night
Close the window and shine the light.

Heart will beat
Oh so sweet
Just the hearts that he likes to eat.

Nothing fat
Thin and flat
Squeezes in like a scuttling rat

Treasure fair
Lucky pair
Little twins in the darkness there.

Out again
Very plain
Grown-ups nod at a simple swain

They depart
Vanished heart
Off to tea in a rattling cart.

- Rhyme found chalked on a wall in Port-a-Lucine


Bogeyman, Madame Croquetimaine

Chemical composition:
59% glucose
23% fructose
15% starch.
Plus binding agents, associated colouring (bright pink)

Investigation of samples of paper taken from the paper wrapping the item reveal traces of the same.

Control substance, a humbug purchased nearby, reveals identical composition.

Several other such sweet papers, recovered from other children interacting with the obese woman, produce similar results, within an error margin of 5%.

It's a sweet.

Just a sweet.

....

So why did it kill my daughter?

- Final lab notes of Dr Wilhelm Strauss[/b]
Now this is most interesting...
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Post by Tertius Bellamont »

Broken One


It was just breathtaking.

Head of a fish, three arms dangling from its scaly hide, legs that looked like they were melting into stumps. And the eyes... they were human, and so filled with rage. I shivered in anticipation, and reached out a hand. The thing snarled, throwing itself against the bars. I couldn't suppress a gasp, and Vlad grinned to see it.

"Well Greta..." he said, reaching down for a key to unlock the cage. "Didn't I say that I'd get you something special for our aniversary..."

"Why... Herr Ludzig..." I breathed, he loves it when I call him that. "It's just perfect! A whole meal all in one."

"Trust me..." he said, baring those beautiful fangs. "No two are ever quite the same. A unique culinary delight..."

My mouth watered in anticipation.

- Memoires of Greta Haskopf, Vampyre debutante.



Chiang-Shi


Well how was I to know?

I mean... that new incense that Father Claude had bought was a disgrace to Ezra, and he knew that we don't strew flowers all about the place. We're not into fripperies like that. As far as I saw it, I was tidying up the place.

And if he'd only explained that the girl with white hair had something against him. Strange, foreign looking piece, was thinking of turning her away until she looked at me. Oh my, those eyes... couldn't move for thinking about them for minutes... no wonder Father Claude got himself involved with her, I thought...

Of course I tried fighting back, once I snapped out of it.

Wasn't quite prepared to see my mace melt when it hit her though.

And the cats... whoever thought Madame Genevive's old tom could have been so vicious.

I mean... I'm not a mind reader... if you get yourself involved with orientals what do you expect...

- Transcribed by dictation from Michael Jendalis, medium. The Spirit in question declined further comment.
Now this is most interesting...
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Post by Matthew L. Martin »

Crawling claw

Even as the hand’s freakish intelligence seemed to grow, its flesh decomposed. It started slowly, with discolored patches of bruised skin, but progressed to greenish-black blotches, and started spreading up Dunkel’s forearm. When the hand started to reek of rotten meat, the chiurgeon was called for, despite Dunkel’s urgent, desperate pleas against it. The chiurgeon immediately declared Kralle’s hand to be gangrenous, and pronounced that it must be amputated at once. Kralle went into a panic, pitifully pleading for them not to remove his hand. Obviously in a feverish delirium, Kralle insisted that, so long as the hand was anchored at the end of his arm, he could keep it under control. The healer ignored his ranting, calmly warning Kralle that, if the hand was not removed, it would surely drag him into the grave with it.
After the hand was amputated, Kralle made just one, feeble request before he passed out.
“Bury it deep.”
--from the notes of the Corvia militia.

Footnote: This is actually a piece of flavor text from John's entry for the crawling claw in "The Forgotten Children" netbook.
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Post by Matthew L. Martin »

Caller in darkness

"Even months after Master Ulathar's destruction, his wickedness stains both Kartakass and my soul. To ensure we had not overlooked some legacy of malign will that could plague the land in later years, we returned to a small village I and his other acolytes had visited with him, where he had instructed us in the arts of wounding and slaying others with their own fears.
"At first, I thought the banks of fog among the collapsing and abandoned houses to be purely natural, or outliers of the Worlds-End Mists. The uneasiness that gripped my heart, likewise, I put down merely to my own guilt and remorse over the evils I had witnessed and even abetted in this very place. It was only with a glimpse of the face of my old colleague Endorlas in the swirling white vapors--a lad of elven stock, who had been set upon by three other apprentices when he rebelled against Ulathar's 'teachings'--that I realized both the lich's sins and my own had left yet another taint upon our land."

--From the journal of Matthew Swiftsinger of Skald
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Post by Mangrum »

Here's the remaining to-do list:

Charnel hound* [Monster Manual III]
Cinder swarm [Monster Manual III]
Cloaker, dread, outlander** [Monster Manual]
Composite walking dead [Van Richten’s Guide to the Walking Dead]
Crimson death [Monster Manual II]
Crypt chanter [Libris Mortis]

* In Ravenloft, these originated as Vecna's creations for use on the battlefield. Rare examples may escape/survive the Burning Peaks via the Mists, however, emerging anywhere else.

** The standard MM monster.

*** Ancient dead (deathless), not undead.

And the remaining leftovers from B:

Bat, sentinel bat [RL MC I]
Blackskate [Stormwrack]
Blaspheme [Libris Mortis]
Bog imp [Heroes of Horror]
Bogeyman, Alligator Lenny [Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends ]
Bogeyman, the Bad Thing [DT&DL]
Done! Boneclaw [Monster Manual III]
Done! Bonedrinker [Monster Manual III]
Bony hands [VRG to the Walking Dead]
Breathdrinker [Monster Manual II]
Last edited by Mangrum on Sun May 28, 2006 4:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Jakob »

Crypt Warden, Dread

"Will you serve?"
"I will serve"
"Will you obey?"
"I will obey"
"Will you uphold the will of Ezra?"
"The will of Ezra is mine"
"Shall Ezra, then, bless you"

In the secret catacombs under S.te-Mere-des-Larmes, Warden Armand Pineau looked intently at the holy warrior crouching at his feet. He whispered an incantation, and felt the Holy Ghost of Ezra descend upon the man. He reached for a knife, and silently slit the man's throath. Blood spilled upon the holy icon at his feet.
The eyes of the man were filled with happiness and wholeness.
Then Pineau watched dipassionately as the spirit of the man, a skeletal ghost clad in chainmail, lifted from the corpse.

"Shall your life forever be in service of Our Lady in the Mists" said the Anchorite.
The ghost was immediatly joined by three others, who greeted him with camaraderie and joy, and disappeared in the walls of the cave complex.

Closing the trap door in the St-Mere's floor, the Warden smiled, covering his head with a cowl. The secrets of Ezra had now a new protector.
Corpse rat swarm [Libris Mortis]
Crawling claw [Monsters of Faerûn]
Crypt warden, dread*** [Book of Exalted Deeds]
These're done. The Crawling Claw has been done TWICE. :shock:
I coloni rovinavano la foresta costruendo il capolavoro dell'uomo civilizzato: il deserto.
- Luis Sepúlveda
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Post by Jakob »

Boneclaw

Christina Masall: We were... Far. Our friend, Marcel, made the floor collapse behind us, and the bridge over the abyss, in that horrible, horrible crypt [the patient screams and sobs]...
It was then... We were looking away from that monsters [sobs] and then... I felt Marcel's hot blood on my face. He was dead, and he didn't even had the time to realize it! [cries]

Dr. Fulviani: How did he die?

Christina Masall: The claws... The claws... They reached over the chasm, directly into Marcel's heart!

From an interview with a patient of the Mikki Sanitarium, made by Dr. Dario Fulviani
I coloni rovinavano la foresta costruendo il capolavoro dell'uomo civilizzato: il deserto.
- Luis Sepúlveda
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Post by Jakob »

Bonedrinker

Dr. Fulviani: You and your friend were in Tepest, right?
Christina Masall: No! No! [sobs and screams]
Dr. Fulviani: Relax, Christina. Tell me everything. [mesmerism begins]
Christina Masall: Yes... We enter the mound... It was of the goblins... [shivers]. We saw a rite...
Dr. Fulviani: What kind of rite?
Christina Masall: There was a dead goblin... A GIANT goblin. A shaman was upon its corpse... Three dead goblins near him. Then the shaman casts a spell... The corpses of the goblins shudder... [water begins to form at the corner of the eyes]
Dr Fulviani: Then what?
Christina Masall: The marrow... The marrow of their bones flows from their mouth into the giant goblin... And it MOVES! IT MOVES!

From an interview with a patient of the Mikki Sanitarium, made by Dr. Dario Fulviani
I coloni rovinavano la foresta costruendo il capolavoro dell'uomo civilizzato: il deserto.
- Luis Sepúlveda
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Post by Mangrum »

Jakob wrote:These're done. The Crawling Claw has been done TWICE. :shock:
Whoops; fixed.

About the Crypt Warden blurb.. I think you've written a blurb for the Sacred Watcher. (A crypt warden is a corporeal, skeletal creature.)
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Post by Jakob »

Mangrum wrote:
Jakob wrote:These're done. The Crawling Claw has been done TWICE. :shock:
Whoops; fixed.

About the Crypt Warden blurb.. I think you've written a blurb for the Sacred Watcher. (A crypt warden is a corporeal, skeletal creature.)
Whooops... My bad. I got the Italian version of the manual, and the translated names are really similar.

Sorry. :oops:
I coloni rovinavano la foresta costruendo il capolavoro dell'uomo civilizzato: il deserto.
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Post by Mangrum »

Jakob wrote:Whooops... My bad. I got the Italian version of the manual, and the translated names are really similar.
S'OK. I don't actually have the Sacred Watcher in my collection (since it's just a deathless ghost), but I'll save your blurb and include it in the compilation.

Oh, last minute here, I'm tacking one more monster onto the list:

Blood hawk [Fiend Folio]

Only change for RL is that Drakov likes them, has a few in an aviary in one of his castles. They're protected by law (killing one is legally equivalent to murder), even though they're quite dangerous and can't really be trained.
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