Friday, April 24, 2015

A to Z of Vampires: Upierczi

Heading to the final letters now. So lets go to Poland and meet a vampire that fascinated me when I was younger, the Upierczi.  Also known as Upierczica, Upierci, and Upir.

This vampire was interesting because it had a barb under it's tongue to puncture the victims neck instead of fangs.  The use the barb to cut their victims and then curl their tongues to suck up the blood.

Active day or night they can be found out of their graves from noon to midnight.  They must feed on a human before retiring for the night.  During the day they look human, but when they are sleeping they appear dead. Often they sleep with their eyes open so they will know if they are being visited.

In human form they are physically one of the strongest vampires, having strength roughly equal to a Fire Giant (Str 22).  They are also the vampire that most easily passes for human. They can eat and drink; though they must regurgitate it all later.  After feeding they are even capable of sexual intercourse.

 Upierczi can be detected by the drought they cause. Plants near them will wither and die.  Small ponds will dry up and it will not rain in the areas they are in.  If you can find a stream of running water then they can be killed with that.

Upierczi
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 10d8+5** (50 hp)
No. of Attacks: bite
Damage: 1d4+1/1d4+1 or by weapon + blood drain (2 Points Con)
Special:  Con drain, charming voice, immune to sleep, charm and hold spells. Slashing weapons have no effect. +1 or better to hit.
Movement: 40’
No. Appearing: 1
Saves As: F10
Morale: 10
Treasure: as per vampire
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

The Upierczi drains blood from his victims via a sharp barb under his tongue.  He uses his charming voice (same as the Charm Person spell) to lure victims into his embrace. He can drain 2 points worth of Constitution with this attack.  The upierczi must feed on 10 points of con at least once per week.
People killed in this fashion rise up as a 6HD Upierczi under the control of the one that killed them.

The upierczi is a very strong and tough vampire.  Piercing and slashing weapons have little effect on it. Swords, daggers, arrows, spears all will only do 1 hp point of damage per attack, and that is only if they are magical.   Bashing weapons and blunt weapons such as maces and staves do normal damage.  Swords specifically designed to kill vampires will do their normal damage.

In combat this vampire is very fast, gaining two claw attacks per round.  It can also opt for a weapon and also get in two attacks vs the same opponent per round.  The upierczi favors small light weapons it can conceal on it's person.

The upierczi is not repulsed by garlic, salt or anything natural.  They cannot enter into a home unless invited, but they can use their charm voice to get that.  They are however repelled by holy symbols and take 1d8 hp of damage from holy water.  They are turned as Vampires by clerics.

The only true way to destroy an upierczi is drag it out of it's resting area before noon. Nail it to the ground with an iron spike through it's head and then set the body on fire.  The body will burn quickly and then explode with all the upierczi's flesh becoming squirming maggots.  These must be burned as well.

Like the Moroi, Upierczi consider themselves lords of vampire kind.

9 comments:

Sophie Duncan said...

One tough vampire! The barb is an interesting change to fangs.

What an unpleasant death, nailing through the head and then turning to maggots.
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press

Chrys Fey said...

The barb instead of fangs is interesting, but you can hide the barb easier than fangs so that would be a plus for the vampire.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

More running water. That's good to know it does in so many vampires.
Barb under the tongue though. If I were that vampire, I'd stab myself all the time.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Running water is good against a lot of vampires. It is because it is pure and vampires are not.

Anonymous said...

Interesting vampire. The barb is a nice change from the usual fangs.

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

HollyK said...

He would be a pain to kill but I like the barb idea!!

Unknown said...

Hi there - I'd not heard of Upierczi, but agree it is interesting about a barb under the tongue to puncture the victim's neck. Scary thought for the victim.
@dino0726 from 
FictionZeal - Impartial, Straighforward Fiction Book Reviews

Barbara In Caneyhead said...

I think there was one of these in our area a few years back, as we had a drought so bad that the whole yard turned so brown and dry that the grass would crunch when you walked across it.
Visit me at: Life & Faith in Caneyhead
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Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

This one sounds like very bad news - hard to kill and can pass for human. Not what you want in the neighbourhood. Ewwwwww - maggots!
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)