#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 14

 Encounter area 14 features a true horror.

This is an Eye Tyrant / Eye of Terror / Beholder (depending on the game you are using).

It will attack as soon as it can. It is guarding double the amount of treasure listed.

Monstrous Mondays: D&DGII Doppelsauger

 Trying to wrap-up my entries for my Deities & Demigods II: The Black Forest Mythos this week. Here is a monster I have always wanted to include somewhere. A particularly horrific little monster.

Doppelsauger

The Doppelsauger, or "double sucker," was a creature I ran into very early in my vampire research. Back when I was known more as "the vampire guy" than "the witch guy."  It appealed to me then because the name is so evocative and descriptive of what it was; a creature that sucks twice. The first time when nursing milk from its mother and then again with blood.

DOPPELSAUGER
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 7 
MOVE: 6"
HIT DICE: 4+8 (26 hp)
% IN LAIR: 60%
TREASURE TYPE: None
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d4 + Blood (Con) Drain
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Vampire traits
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
SIZE: S (under 2')
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

The Doppelsauger, or "twice sucker" is the vampire revenant of a child that had been weaned, but had gone back to the breast later on. It would have died sometime after this point. Some claim that the death of the child needs to be intentional, such as leaving it out to die of exposure or via disease. In either case, the undead creature returns to feed on the blood of its mother and other close family members. 

The doppelsauger needs to find a way into the home of its victims. This must be their former home, and their victims can only be family members. It won't feed on non-family members.

Like the common vampire, this creature can charm its victims. The charm is similar to the spell of the same name and the vampire ability. Family members save at a penalty of -2 and its own mother at a penalty of -4. The doppelsauger can turn into mist like a common vampire and can summon 2d10 rats. It takes damage from sunlight, holy items, and holy water, as do other vampires. It can't enter another home, but its home is always open to it. It said that it must enter via the same way it left their home. If this entryway is blocked, the doppelsauger cannot enter.  Garlic flowers, wolvesbane, and holy items will keep it at bay. They are turned as Shadows (Type 4).

Their attacks are weak, causing only 1d4 hp per attack, but its greatest attack is its ability to drain 1 point of Constitution via blood loss. The doppelsauger prefers to feed off of their mothers first, then other family members. One of the ways to know a family is being attacked by a doppelsauger is if they all start showing signs of anemia and losing weight. 

To stop (or prevent) a doppelsauger a board with a semi-circle cut-out must be fitted over the neck of the creature and hammered into its coffin. One can also be stopped via a stake in the heart and then removing their head with a sharpened shovel. 

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
• 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

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 13

 Entering encounter area 13 the party sees what appears to be a giant dwarf.

This "dwarf" is 16 ft. tall, and is in truth a powerful Earth Elemental. 

This Elemental was summoned by the dwarven geomancers, but corrupted by the magics of the Vampire Queen.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 12

 Encounter area 12 also has a swirling portal, this one from above.  When the party comes near a giant abomination drops from the portal; a Giant Astral Spider.

This nightmare is accompanied by a normal Astral Spider. 

Astral Spider, Giant

Monstrosity (Demonic)

Frequency: Very Rare

Number Appearing: 1 (1)

Alignment: Chaotic (Chaotic Evil)

Movement:  Special

Armor Class: 4 [15]

Hit Dice: 13d8+13* (72)

Attacks: 1 bite, web

Damage: 3d8+6, 2 points Widom per day

Special: Immune to physical attacks, affected only by magic

Size: Huge

Save: Fighter 13

Morale: 12

Treasure Hoard Class: None

These creatures are like their smaller cousins in they have no physical form but can still attack creatures on the Prime Material.

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

 Encounter Area 11 also features a monster who has just arrived from a swirling portal.

This monster is a Type II Demon, also known as a Hezrou. It is a large frog-like demon. The portal was not like a summoning gate, so no magic circle and the demon is free to move around as it needs.

Friday Sci-Fi interlude

 I interrupt this non-stop talk of Gods and Monsters to look towards some sci-fi ideas I have been playing around with.

The FASA Star Trek Facebook Group has been a huge source of ideas lately.  

Poster Greg Price had some uniform ideas that would be perfect for my Trek games set between the TOS movie area and the Next Generation. This would cover my Star Trek: Mercy (2295) and Star Trek: BlackStar (2352).

They work rather great to be honest.

Kevin McCaig in the same group, also shared his HeroForge Klingons.  They look like tweaks to the Klingon design floating around the HeroForge groups a bit back. They look great.

Mercy

Speaking of Star Trek: Mercy. I just learned, or re-learned, that there was a short-lived TV series called "Mercy Point."  IT was on the UPN back in 1998 to 1999. I am sure I saw it advertised, but never watched it. My wife and I were expecting our first born at that time and we were a little distracted by all the work we needed to do before he was born.

But anyway the show takes place on a hospital space station ("Mercy Point"), it was a medical drama in space, in the future. Or pretty much everything I am thinking of doing with my own ST: Mercy. It even takes place in 2249, so a few years before my games.

I'd like to watch it, but it doesn't seem to be streaming anywhere I could find.

Doctor Who: The Lost Children of Time

The 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who is less than two weeks away now. I am quite excited.  

Completely unrelated to that my wife and I just COVID binge-watched Bodies on Netflix. It was a fun little time travel show that reminded us both a little of Dark.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but suffice to say there is a character at the end who is someplace she should not be, time-wise.  This reminded me again of Dark where there two characters disappear due the paradox falling in on itself.  

This got me thinking about a Doctor Who adventure.  Something I am calling, The Lost Children of Time.  In it these various people find themselves together despite the fact that they should not even exist at all. I figure I'll find a few others, maybe even grab one of the characters from Manifest! (my wife and I like to mock that show, but we watched every damn episode.)

Might make for a silly-fun Convention game with the right people. 

Back to Gods and Monsters here in a bit.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 10

 Encounter area 10 features two classic monsters. A glowing portal can be seen nearby.

Two huge Manticores roam these halls. They have maximum hit points and they always hit for maximum damage.

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A few of these monsters in this level are inspired by this old ad.