Monstorus Mondays: Saving Throw Clarifications

 Just a quick on today. Really busy.

I got an email over the weekend asking me to clarify some of my Saving Throw notations on my various monster stat blocks.

I can't say that I am surprised. I post a lot of monsters here for a variety of games, and sometimes I do hybrid stats without really thinking about them.

For example some of my recent demons I have posted for my Tomb of the Vampire Queen have OSE style saving throws, with the addition of another type of save, "SS."  In this case SS is "Single Save" and is the saving throw you roll if there is no other category that makes sense. These numbers are from Swords & Wizardry's saving throws.

Some recent examples:

• Labyrinthine Lurker
• Mezzalorn Demon (Wasp Demon)
• Mezu Demon (Yokai)

I hope that clears things up.

Deities & Demigods II Updates

Still working on the PDF. Hope to get it out to you all for Christmas. A reminder this is will be a free product.

I was visiting my parents for my Dad's 94th birthday and his and my mom's 55th wedding anniversary this past weekend. Had a great time see family. My mom had a stack of books for me and in it was this copy of Edith Hamilton's classical work "Mythology."  

This was not my original, I think my cover was black, but this the same book I had. I thought this might have been the book I remembered that had Greek and Norse myths as well as Beowulf, but this one only has Greek and Norse.  Still. Wonderful to have again.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 4

 Entering the mausoleum proper, there are statues of the chief servants of the Vampire Queen lining the walls.  An inspection by a magic-using class or using means to detect magic will reveal that these statues are in fact her former servants turned to stone.

If a character casts "Stone to Flesh" or similar magic the targeted statue/servant will return to life, but will gasp and die of old age. If they do enough of these (at least 3) they will learn that the Vampire Queen took her servants with her to her final death.

Ahead of the characters is a long hallway.  The hallway is long, 1 mile, and descends deep into this structure. There are arcane lights that flicker and glow every so many yards. There are shadows that flicker and dance in the corner of their eyes. These are the ghosts of the servants. They are powerless to attack the characters.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 3

 The party moves towards the only structure on this plane. The large mausoleum of the Vampire Queen.

The large double doors are trapped (normal rolls to remove) and double locked.

The entry way is guarded by two large iron golems. They attack any who enter the entry way.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 2

 The portal takes the party to large and mostly empty expanse. 

Everything is predominantly gray. The sky is dark and a lifeless moon hangs in the sky. The light is roughly twilight and there is no sun in the sky. 

On entering this plane all characters must make a saving throw vs. Death. Failing means they lose 1 point of Constitution and 1d6+2 hp of damage permanently.  A successful save means the loss is only 1d4+1 hp of damage, but this is permanent also.

There is a dark castle in the distance.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 1

 As the party exits this layer following a grand flight of stairs they see a large glowing portal before them.

This portal will transport the characters to the Tomb of the Vampire Queen.

Into the Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 Characters (and HeroForge minis)

 For my personal foray into the Forgotten Realms, I will name this series exactly that: Into the Forgotten Realms. This is also appropriate because my very first recollection of the Forgotten Realms was not the "Grey Box" but rather an adventure in the pages of Dragon Magazine.

When Ed Greenwood was exploring the Realms in the pages of Dragon, he had a guide, the Sage of Shadowdale Elminster. Elminster told him stories of the Realms and was the intermediary between his world and ours. 

But Elminster, like Ed, was an expert on the Realms. I am not. I am not even good. I am an enthusiastic novice with no idea how much I am trying to bite off here.  So. I also need a guide. But my guide has to be as naïve as me so we can discover it together. 

Generally, for these explorations, I have characters on hand. When I was writing about vampires and undead it was my Paladin Johan. When it is magic, the occult or witches, it is my witch Larina. They are great characters, but neither is appropriate here. Neither has anything to do with the Realms for starters and I need a native.

So introducing (again) Sinéad. She is a half-elf from the Moonshae Isles and her elven mother claims to have ancestry from Evermeet. And...that is all I know. Fun right? Now to expand her out I used her as a character in Baldur's Gate 3 and of the many games I have played of it I liked her run the best.

As I progress through the material and books I am taking the literary license of having her tell me what she shows me as my guide, munch in the same way the Ed has Elminster. Plus it feels like a fun little nod to Ed and Elminster as well. 

Sinéad

What do I know about her? Well looking back at my 2nd Ed idea I know she is a magic-user of some sort and a Bard. Given some of the material I have read I also like idea she has wild magic, something she is not quite capable of controlling. This is why she leaves home. She needs a reason to go away from a loving family after all and I am not reverting to the trope of dead parents. 

This worked great in my run with her in Baldur's Gate. But I'll get to pencil and paper details in future posts.

Since I had such a great time with her and I'll be using her in tabletop games next year I couldn't help but get a new HeroForge mini of her as an early Christmas present to myself.

Sinéad from HeroForge

Not too bad really.  Here is how she looks on the HeroForge site AND in Baldur's Gate 3.

I rather like how she came out.  Of course, I had to do two of my favorite characters from the game, Shadowheart and Karlach.

I rather like how they all came out.

Shadowheart:

And Karlach: 

Yeah. If I am going to do this, then I will do it right.

I am also doing runs with Skylla and Kelek in BG3. Those have also been fun.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 30

 The exit to this maze is in sight. The only thing stopping you is the titanic red dragon.

Unlike the black dragon from earlier in this maze, the red dragon (Raxafalion) has made his home here. He has amassed a pile of gold from the Dwarven tombs above and whatever Akelarre has not claimed. 

If Sir Fluffles is still with the party he will attack.

This dragon has maximum hp (80 hp) and twice the normal treasure (Hx2).

D&DGII The Black Forest Mythos: Fata Norne, the Fates

I am now at my last set of gods (or whatever the Fates are), which brings me full circle. Today, I want to talk about the Fates.

When I began this project I talked about this book of mythology I had that had stories of the Greek myths, the Norse myths, and ending in Beowulf. In my young mind, these looked like a continuum, one set of tales flowed into the next.  While age would teach me that these were separate myths, later age would also teach me they are still just one set of myths from an even older source (Proto-Indo-European, which I still want to tackle one day). But even way back then (I want to say 5th Grade) I saw the similarities between the Greek Fates and the Norse Norns. Three women, each representing the Past, Present, and Future, spinning, weaving, or otherwise looming the fate of humankind. Each person, from birth until death.

The image was powerful, and I was sure there was a connection between them. Even doing the briefest of surface research (ok, briefest of literature review. I am particular how people throw the word "research" around) one kind find similar beings all over the Earth and across time due to their PIE origins.

• Albanian: Fatia
• English: Wyrds
• Greek: Moirai
• Hinduism: Tridevi
• Hittite: Gulses
• Lithuanian: Deives Valdytojos
• Norse: Norns

Those are only the most obvious. 

For my Pantheon here I want to include them. They were important to the Greeks and Romans in their guise of The Fates (Moirai) and very important in Norse myth. Indeed, in Norse mythology, every living creature had a corresponding set of Norns that measured out their fates. 

I will also admit (and a little begrudgingly now) that some of my ideas of the Fates have also been colored by the Piers Anthony book series, The Incarnations of Immortality, with Book 3 With a Tangled Skein chief among them. The first five books were fun. The next two ok to falling apart at the end (it's like he had painted himself into a corner among other issues) and the last one? Well I have not read it despite owning it, I heard it was terrible. 

Fata Norne

The Fates of the Black Forest Mythos are not gods in the traditional sense. They are immortal, or more accurately, unending. They often appear as three young, mature, and old women in similar aspects of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, though that is not who they are. Instead, they are Future, Present, and Past respectively. They can also appear as three identical sisters of indeterminate age. It is their job to measure the fates of the Gods and Mortals alike. No one, not even the Gods, can escape their decrees. It has led to a saying, "Once Fate has spoken, it is so."

FATA NORNE

Eternals

ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 24" 
HIT POINTS: 300 each
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Special Only
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Decree of Fate
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See Below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 100%

SIZE: M (5')
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: None
SYMBOL: The faces of three women or a loom
PLANE: Erde (Prime Material)

CLERIC/DRUID: 15th level Cleric
FIGHTER: Nil
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: 15th level Magic-user
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: 10th level Bard
WITCH/WARLOCK: 15th level Witch
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 23 I: 25 W: 25 D: 16 C: 24 CH: 10

Fata Norne, the Fates, are the goddesses in charge of all fates, from the lowest vermin to the mightiest gods. They do not interact with mortals save in the direst of circumstances. They avoid direct contact with the other gods; likewise, the gods avoid and possibly fear them.

If the Fates are encountered, they need a mortal agent of fate to complete some quest. They will give this mortal what they need but no more than that. It is assumed that since they know all creatures' fates, their choice is correct, but that is not the same thing as the mortal succeeding or even living through the quest.

If anyone is foolish enough to attack the Fata Norne, they can pass the Decree of Fate. Which removes the threat permanently. They decree that the attacker was never born and they cease to exist; no saving throw is permitted. In some cases, the offending mortal (or god) is instantly replaced with an alternate version who lived the same life but was not as foolish as to attack them. 

They can't be hit by normal weapons; even magic is ineffective. In addition to the radical removal of the offending attacker from all existence, they can, more simply, remove their attacker's knowledge of whatever magic they would use to attack. 

At their choice, they can cast spells as a 15th-level spell caster, either as a Cleric, Magic-user, or Witch.

No one worships the Fata Norne, and they do not grant spells to clerics.

--

There you have it! All the gods and monsters of this syncretized set of myths. Hope you can find some uses for them.

Now to produce a PDF of these.

Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• The Monsters
• My overview and rules for these postings
• Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
• Alp
• Die Hüne
• Jötunar
• Hautveränderer
• Heuler
• Draugr
• Doppelsauger
• Nøkk
• Ulmenfrau
• The Gods
• Unser Vater, Father of the Gods
• Sisters of the Dawn, Liebhaberin and Ôstara
• The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur, and Großmutter
• The Divine Twins
• Hüne Vater, Großvater, and Großmutter
• Ides, Demi-Goddess of Protection and War
• Helga, Goddess of Magic, Ghosts, and Witchcraft
• Hüter, Lord of the Dead
• Betrüger, The Trickster God
• Kriegskönig, The God of War
• Verwildert, the God of Wild Nature
• Wood Maidens
• Vater Meeren
• Schmied
• Skalda
• Fata Norne, the Fates

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 29

 Encounter area 29 is a large goat demon. He has been waiting for you.

This is the Demon Prince Akelarre.

He is the demonic patron of the Vampire Queen. They have an agreement and he is protecting her tomb, but he is under no obligation to stay and will retreat if the battle goes against him.

Unlike the others on this level, he can come and go as he pleases. Indeed he is the one that summons these creatures here. He is given all the spoils of this level.

Looking Ahead to 2024: It's Always Sunny in Baldur's Gate

Image by Freepik

I have yet to talk much about my plans for 2024; it is a big year for D&D. It is the 50th Anniversary, a new edition (well...5.x or 5R) is coming out, and there should be a lot of nostalgia and navel-gazing.

Incidentally, 2024 is also the Year of the Dragon.

Tentatively, I am looking at the following "theme months."

January will be part of TardisCaptain's New Year New Character challenge. Mine though will be delving into some of my favorite characters since I started playing D&D.

April is the A to Z Challenge, where I will write about D&D and its history.

May is Sci-Fi month and I'll do a deep dive into Gamma World, Star Frontiers, and the d20 Star Wars. I'll also looking into games with a solid D&D connection with me. 

June has typically been Basic-era month where I focus a lot on B/X, BECMI, and OSE/LL. I really want to be sure I do that this year.

August is Dave Chapman's RPGaDAY month. I pretty much do this one as is. But I might focus on D&D more than other games. 

October is "horror" month for me. I want to focus on Ravenloft. All my horror movies will also all be connected to D&D in some way. Either movies from Appendix N authors or horror movies that mention D&D or fantasy/horror. I'll start putting together my list soon.

Additionally, I have something else fun planned throughout the year that I am keeping close to my chest for now.

But the big thing for me next year is going to be my year-long exploration of the Forgotten Realms. 

The Forgotten Realms and Me

I was never a Forgotten Realms fan. I dismissed it in the 1980s as an "upstart," ignored it in the early 90s, and actively disliked it in the late 90s. But it seems my ire was misplaced. Around the time the 3rd Edition Realms book came out I was beginning to soften my stance. By the 4th Ed era I was considering moving a campaign to the Realms. In the 5th Ed era I made it official, more or less.

Honestly, my coverage of Ed Greenwood's work in the pages of Dragon magazine changed my mind. 

These past few months, I have been playing the hell out of Baldur's Gate 3, and my desire to play in the Realms has only grown. 

To this end, I have amassed a small collection of Forgotten Realms books. Nothing special, just ones that I have come by easily either at game auctions, Half-Price Books, or as in the books pictured above, Print on Demand from DriveThruRPG. So I will go over them in detail throughout the editions.

I'd like to run a Realms-based game someday, but I am still figuring out what edition to use. Part of me thinks I need to do it in AD&D 2nd Edition since that was the edition that was the most "Realms" to me. 

The Forgotten Realms to me was always viewed through the eyes of a character, whether that was Elminster or Drizzt or whomever. Likewise, I am going to look into the Realms through the eyes of a new character. Presently I am leaning toward my half-elf sorceress Sinéad. I know I want use someone that has magic, and someone that I can tie to the rich lore of elves in this world. She is also one of two characters I had specifically created for the Realms in all my years of gaming. I think I owe it to myself to actually give her a spin someday.  However, my wife reminded me the other night that Keller the Silent Monk might also be fun.

In any case, 2024 is going to be a busy year of posting here and I am looking forward to it.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 28

 Encounter area 28 is another portal. Out hops (yes) is a white rabbit dressed as an adventurer.

This is Sir Fluffles. He is a Neutral Good 7th-level Ranger. His favored enemies are dragons. He is about the size of a halfling. He will join the party if asked, he is actually quite brave. He has a short sword +1, +3 vs dragons. He knows nothing about Vampire Queen but thinks she sounds positively horrible. He asks if you know anything about the Dragon King. 

If the party encounters a dragon he will quite literally hop at the chance to fight it.

--

Sir Fluffles is not a bad character and would be fun with the right group. He comes from a world where all the main lifeforms are anthropomorphic animals. Think D&D meets Bunnies & Burrows. 

We were playing with the bunnies tonight.

Monstrous Mondays: D&DGII Ulmenfrau

Ok. Back it! We had some measurable snow here in Chicagoland, and I thought a snow monster might be nice for today. But while working on it, it morphed into something else.  So I might bring those original ideas back later, but for today let do the monster that came out of this process. The Ulmenfrau.

Ulmenfrau

The Ulmenfrau, or "Elm Wives" are what my Roman-Germanic/Norse Pagans call the tree spirits of the Black Forest Mythos. They are related to the Norse Askafroa of the Ash Trees.  They also fold in elements of the Nisse of the Scandinavian countries, the Greek Pteleai (Elm Dryads), and the nymph Chione.  There are some elements of the Norse myth of Ask and Embla here as well.

Ulmenfrau are tree nymphs, so they most like dryads but can move further away from their trees. It is believed that Ulmenfrau are actually tied to a grove of elm trees rather than a specific singular tree.  It is said they are the daughters of the North Wind and can be encountered most frequently after the first snowfall.

They are closely associated with the European White Elm ("Ulmus laevis").

ULMENFRAU
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1 (2-12)
ARMOR CLASS: 4 
MOVE: 90"
HIT DICE: 5+10 (32 hp)
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE: None
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 club or spell
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d6
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Magic Use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Immune to charm, hold, sleep, and other mind-affecting spells. Immune to Cold attacks, vulnerable to fire and iron.
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Very
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (Good)
SIZE: M (under 5')
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

The Ulmenfrau, or Elm Woman or Elm Wife, is a type of woodland faerie creature similar to nymphs and dryads. Indeed, she may be a type of dryad and shows many similarities to the Askafroa found in ash tree groves. The Ulmenfrau as the name suggests, is the spirit of the Elm tree, though this fae is not tied to any specific tree, but rather the grove at large. A grove of 100 trees can support a dozen or so ulmenfraus. Larger groves can support more but often no more than a dozen will ever be spotted. When dealing with mortals they typically agree on a single ulmenfrau to interact.

Ulmenfraus are not combative as a rule. They can attack with a club when needed, but they mostly will attack and defend with magical spells, typically that of a 4th-level Druid or Witch. They will avoid using fire-based magic.  If their need is dire then a group or three or more ulmenfrau can cast Control Weather as if they were a druid circle or a coven of witches. They will use this to blanket their grove in deep snow and sub-freezing temperatures. 

All ulmenfraus are immune to mind-affecting and altering magics. They can not be charmed, held, or put to sleep. They are also immune to the effects of cold, either magical or mundane, and thus do not take damage from cold-based magic. Like many fae creatures, they take extra damage (+3 to damage per hit) weapons made of cold iron. Cold iron weapons are those that lack carbon to make them steel. They are hard and heavy weapons that break easily. Also, they take double the damage from any fire-based attacks.

Ulmenfrau are hard to find in summer months, where they are busy making sure their grove is growing, they can be spoted in their humanoid form most often in the winter. Here, they appear as slight (only 5' tall) elven women light grayish brown skin that gets lighter as they age with white hair. Like many dryads their hair changes with the seasons, but green-haired and red-haired ulmenfrau are harder to find. They are thought to venture out in winter to explore and potentially find mates. Though unlike other dryads the ulmenfrau have no magical ability to charm. 

It is believed that the ulmenfrau are the offspring of the North Wind and the Wood Maidens.

Links

• One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 3, the Roman-Norse Pantheon
• The Monsters
• My overview and rules for these postings
• Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
• Alp
• Die Hüne
• Jötunar
• Hautveränderer
• Heuler
• Draugr
• Doppelsauger
• Nøkk
• Ulmenfrau
• The Gods
• Unser Vater, Father of the Gods
• Sisters of the Dawn, Liebhaberin and Ôstara
• The Mother Goddesses Herde Oberin, Mutter Natur, and Großmutter
• The Divine Twins
• Hüne Vater, Großvater, and Großmutter
• Ides, Demi-Goddess of Protection and War
• Helga, Goddess of Magic, Ghosts, and Witchcraft
• Hüter, Lord of the Dead
• Betrüger, The Trickster God
• Kriegskönig, The God of War
• Verwildert, the God of Wild Nature
• Wood Maidens
• Vater Meeren
• Schmied
• Skalda

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 27

 Encounter area 27 is quite bright. For 100' feet in either direction (East-West) of 27 is filled with glowing mushrooms. There is a mushroom every 5'. 

As the party moves through there is a 1 in 6 chance that they will set off one of the mushrooms. 

The mushrooms, if touched, will explode. If it explodes there is a 1 in 4 chance that the next one will explode as well. This will keep going for the 200 total feet.

Each explosion deals 4d6 hp of damage, save for half. Drop a d6 for every 10' the mushroom is from the victim. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 26

 A portal in Area 26 is similar to the one found in Area 25. From this one, a horse-headed demon comes out.

This is a Mezu Demon, a type of Yokai demon.

Mezu Demon (Yokai)

Armor Class -1 [20]
Hit Dice 8* (36 hp)
Attacks 2 claws (1d8+6, 1d8+6), 1 bite (1d10+6)
Special Magic resistance (45%), darkness, immune to poison.
THAC0 12 [+7]
Movement 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws D8 W9 P10 B11 S12 SS 8 (8)
Morale 12
Alignment Chaotic
XP 1,750
Number Appearing 1 (1)
Treasure Type C

Mezu demons are low-level, but powerful horse-headed demons that have two purposes, keep people out of hell nad keep those in from coming out. 

They are very strong (22 strength). They can use weapons but prefer to use their claws and bite. Their heads are horse-like, but filled with sharp teeth. 

They can gate in 1d4 Mezu Demons or 1d4 Jigoku Demons (similar stats, but with Ox heads). Gating them in comes with an obligation of future service, so the Mezu will not gate them in unless the Hóu Yaoguai is with the party.

If the party has the Hóu Yaoguai demon with them they will attack each other. The Yaoguai and the Yokai are ancient enemies. This is true is the Mezu is with the party when encountering the Hóu.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 25

 Area 25 is the home to a portal to another world. Like all the portals on this level is it one way. When the party gets within 15' of it a humanoid monkey-like creature steps through.

The creature is a Hóu Yaoguai. It is evil, it is angry, but it is also intelligent.  If the party explains their are not the reason it is here it will not attack them, yet.  The Hóu Yaoguai will attempt to discover all it can about his world and attempt to recruit the PC to its side by claiming it will aid them in their quest to find the Vampire Queen. 

This is all true, but the demon still plans on betraying them the first chance it gets.

Doctor Who RPG: The Lost Children of Time

 A couple of weeks back, I took a bit of a break to talk about some SciFi ideas I had.  Well, it must have nestled into my brain and laid eggs that hatched because I now have a bunch more ideas. Or maybe because Doctor Who has been on my mind a lot lately since yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the show and tomorrow is the premier of the 60th Anniversary special.  One of those ideas was something I was calling "The Lost Children of Time."  The idea was half-baked, at best, but that ended today.

Doctor Who RPG: The Lost Children of Time

Now to be fair this doesn't have to be used with the Doctor Who RPG. But I think the feel of the 2nd Edition game might fit this the best. Plus I think I would run this as a one-shot.  So who are the characters? The eponymous Lost Children of Time?  Well, they are the reason I put this together to start with so let us see who they are.

• Jonas Kahnwald (Dark) - Age 20, he ceases to exist when his world timeline is destroyed.
• Martha Nielsen (Dark) - Age 20, from a parallel world/timeline. Her timeline is also destroyed when Jonas' is to make room for a third (or original) timeline where they do not exist.
• Cal Stone (Manifest) - Age 22. The older version of the Cal Stone that was temporarily displaced on Flight 828. When the time was reset Cal was returned as age 11. This is 22-year-old Cal.
• DC Iris Maplewood (Bodies) - Age ??. From an alternate future (2053) where England is under near fascist rule. She is sent back in time to 1890, 1941, and 2023.  For reasons unknown, her 2023 counterpart survives the collapse of her timeline.

The characters all bring something to the table. Jonas is our everyday guy. Martha is already used to fighting and dealing with strange things. Cal has a sixth sense and visions (Callings), and Iris is a cop. All have time-travel experience. 

But who is it they are after? Well, that came to me today.

They are fighting a time and space displaced Jack the Ripper.

How is that possible? Easy. Let's take another time travel movie, Time After Time from 1979. It features Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells and David Warner as Jack the Ripper. Both who have solid sci-fi credits to their name including parts in various Star Trek movies and series.   In this movie H.G. Wells builds a working time machine, but it is stolen by his friend Stevenson, aka Jack the Ripper. He travels to 1979 where he picks up his killings anew. Wells follows him when his time machine returns.  While in 1979 Jack attempts to escape but Wells removes the "vaporizing equalizer" from the machine. This causes the time machine to remain, but send Jack to "oblivion" according to Wells. We assume he is dead.

But if he wasn't?

Que the Second Season Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold."  In this episode (note: it really doesn't hold up well despite being a good horror episode written by Robert Bloch) we meet Redjac, a non-corporeal entity that murders women to feed on their fear. Spock's reasoning aside I am going to go back on to my tried true explanation of psychic ability is a sex-linked trait on the X chromosome. People with XX chromosomes are more likely to have psychic abilities than people with XY. This is what Redjac feeds on. Everyone feels fear, but people with greater psychic potential are a better meal to it.

Redjac in the episode is believed to have been the cause of Jack the Ripper. But what if it was the other way around? What if H.G. Wells sending Stevenson/Jack to "oblivion" only freed it from its corporeal form and sent out into Time and Space to hunt anew?

I would need to figure out how this group comes together. How they find the clues and then how they solve the mystery of the Ripper-like murders of women in 2023.

Easiest of course would be to have Jonas and Martha in London where they get into Iris' cab/Uber. Cal is easy, he has a vision and goes there.  There is my plot twist too. Redjac normally only murders women because of their greater psychic potential, but Cal with his callings is a much tastier target. 

How do they defeat the Ripper/Redjac? 

No idea yet. But it will involve some time travel to be sure. 

The key here was David Warner. He was amazing as Stevenson/Jack the Ripper in "Time After Time." He has played no less than three separate characters in Star Trek and a character in Doctor Who. He was also in an Outer Limits episode about Jack the Ripper that uses a similar idea. 

Also is Redjac/Jack content to travel in time or does he have a greater purpose? 

It sounds like a lot of fun and I can't wait to try it out.