Saturday, April 4, 2015

A to Z of Vampires, Dearg-Due

For D let's travel to Ireland for the nasty Dearg-Due.  Also know as the Dearg-dul or "Red Blood Sucker" these are particularly nasty little beasts.

Presenting them here for use with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG or the Ghosts of Albion RPG.

Dearg-Due

These ghoulish vampire sub-types were found in Ireland and parts of Great Britain before their Christian conversion. During that time, all Dearg-duls were wiped out. Some Church historians claims these are “snakes” that St. Patrick drove from Ireland’s shores. In any case, no one has seen one in nearly 1,000 years. Until today that is (aren’t you the luck one).
Dearg-dues are basically animalistic predators. They are not intelligent, but may be controlled to a slight degree by a sufficiently powerful sorcerer (Magic/Sorcery 4+). They hunt in packs of three or more. The creatures prefer the taste of fresh blood like all vampires, but they are not above raiding a tomb for food. Their eyes glow amber-red and they look like ragged, blue tinged corpses.
For the most part, Dearg-dues have the same powers and vulnerabilities as your garden variety vampires. What sets these little nasties off is that a stake to the heart (sufficient to drop them below zero Life Points) does not kill them. It stops them, but they don’t turn to dust. Their only goal at that point is to reach out feebly and remove the stake. Once that is done, they recover normally (normally for a vampires, that is) and come back for more. The only way to kill them permanently is by piling stones on top of them. Once every part of their body is covered, they are destroyed.
Dearg-dues can’t effectively make more of their own kind, but once in a while (1 on a d10) a victim drained by a Dearg-due will rise as one.

Name: Dearg-due
Motivation: Kill! Blood!
Creature Type: Vampire
Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 4, Constitution 4, Intelligence 1, Perception 3, Willpower 2
Ability Scores: Muscle 16, Combat 14, Brains 9
Life Points: 46
Drama Points: 1
Special Abilities: Destroyed only by stones, Vampire
Maneuvers
Name Score Damage Notes
Bite 14 18 Must Grapple first; no defense action
Dodge 14 — Defense action
Grapple 16 — Resisted by Dodge
Kick 13 15 Bash
Punch 14 13 Bash

8 comments:

Sophie Duncan said...

That's an interesting way to kill a vampire, totally covering with stones. It must be quite tricky stopping it from removing the stake while trying to finish the pile :)
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press

Anonymous said...

That looks like a nasty dude! Interesting way to kill them. Better work fast though.

~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

Jennifer Hawes said...

I will never look a Ireland the same again. ;-) I like the motivations you listed: Kill, blood. Thinking of my teenage boys: video games, food. Just saying.

Jeremy [Retro] said...

If I have a choice, place on my team... :)

Unknown said...

I've never heard of a Dearg-due, but I love the picture and the description. Cool!

I'm not doing A-Z this year but your blog title caught my eye. I love monsters!
Lexa Cain’s Blog

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

Oh, such lovely beasties! So the only way to kill them is to press them to death in a tomb of stones - never heard of that one before.
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Roger said...

I ruined it by pronouncing it "didgeridoo."

Mike Gibb said...

And they even have their own soundtrack.... (To help with the pronunciation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5G8AJf4Xzw