Another one I have been playing around with for a bit. The final product was not what I was going for originally, but I like what I came up with. Doing research on the demonic offspring of witches. I played around with Aludemons, Alrunes, even Agrat Bat Mahlat.
My research will come up with something closer to what I was looking for, but until then here is a nice low-level monster for you to use.
Alraune Medium Humanoid (Demonic)
Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1) Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
Armor Class: 9 [10]
Hit Dice: 3d8+3* (64 hp)
Attacks: NA
Damage: NA, or by spell
Special: Charm x3, Witch spells (3rd level), damaged by holy weapons
Size: Medium
Save: Witch 3
Morale: 8 Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 75
The Alraune is born of the unnatural union of a witch and a specially procured and enchanted mandrake root.
The witch must find the place where a murderer was hung to death. It is believed that the "final power" of the hanged man would fall to the ground below him. The witch must come by night and there dig up up the mandrake root that has grown from this final power. If she can do this by the new moon then all the better.
The witch then takes the mandrake and applying certain alchemical elements and demonic rituals, he will make a lover for herself in the shape of the dead man. The man/mandrake will then impregnate her his demonic seed. The mandrake creature is mindless and serves only one purpose. By the light of the morning sun, he will wither and die.
What is born then after the normal amount of time is the Alraune. The child, who is always a girl, will grow quickly (three days) into young adulthood. The witch will then set her new demonic daughter loose to wreck chaos.
The Alraune is always beautiful and smells of sweet flowers. She has a natural charm ability that she can use 3 times per day as if she were a witch of the 3rd level. The creature has no soul, nor any sense of morality. She will seduce faithful husbands to destroy their marriages, disrupt any village she is left in, inspire envy and jealousy in all that see her. She will avoid anyone she perceives as stronger or more powerful than herself. If the tide of the village goes against her she will attempt to escape. Most often they end up sharing the fates of their mothers; on the stake and pyre.
The Alraune does not attack with physical attacks or weapons. She will instead rely on her natural charm ability. If pressed she can use witch spells as a 3rd level witch of the Mara or Demonic traditions. Alraunes take double damage from holy or blessed items. Holy water does 1d4 hp of damage to them and burns like acid on their skin.
Alraunes, by custom, are often named after flowers.
Special: Once in a great while a witch will birth two alraunes at once, twin girls. When this occurs one will be exceptionally evil and the other, while not good exactly, is not dedicated to evil. The witch will not know which is which until they become older. It is believed that if the evil twin is killed the "good" twin will be free and even gain a soul.
We are in the last week of October. I am sad to see it go. But we still have the whole week and I am going to watch as much as I can. I had some movies still on BluRay so I thought I'd make a theme weekend of it.
Inquisition (1976)
Another Mondo Macabro purchase. This is Paul Naschy's first directorial effort. The Blu Ray is quite nice, you could almost believe it was originally filmed in HD. The transfer is very good. Naschy is his best leering self and chews up scenery like no one's business.
It's the 16th century and witches, warlocks and the devil is everywhere. At least that is what Benard de Fossey thinks. One by one all the beautiful women in the village are accused of witchcraft and find themselves at the mercy of de Fossey.
It is largely an excuse to have a bunch of naked women getting tortured. Even so a lot of effort went into this one. There is the witchhunter's manual that is as nicely illustrated as any Monster Manual. I'd love to get some art like that for a monster book.
There is a witch, of sorts, and she recruits our star, Catherine (Daniela Giordano). The scenes of the witches' sabbat are trippy and Naschy pulls double duty as Satan. Triple duty really since he also plays the Grim Reaper.
The ending is not entirely unexpected but still, there is a nice twist ar the end.
The Demons (1973)
Jess Franco is as notorious as Paul Naschy. But in some ways I like Franco better. It's nothing I can put my finger on, I have just seemed to like his movies a little more. This movie though is a touch sleazier than his others. This one also reunites Britt Nichols and Anne Libert with Jess Franco. Their last outing together was La fille de Dracula in 1972. Though this time Brit Nichols and Anne Libert play sisters and not cousins.
This one begins with the trial and burning of a suspected witch. She curses all who are there, by saying her daughters will avenge her.
We switch to a convent where two orphans have been raise. One Margaret (Carmen Yazalde appearing as Britt Nichols) is good and pure, but Kathleen (Anne Libert) daydreams (a sure sign of sin) and moans and writhes in her sleep at night. So she is obviously possessed by the devil. Sure enough, these two girls are the daughters of the witch. We are treated with not one, but two scenes of Katheleen being "seduced" by the devil.
Lady de Winter (Karin Field), an eyewitness to the execution of the witch arrives at the convent. We discover that Kathleen, unlike her good sister, is no longer a virgin. She is taken, strung up on a wrack, and tortured. Lady De Winter seems to get off on the torture. While Lord De Winter pities the poor girl. She is found guilty of witchcraft, of course, and sentenced to be burned. But Lord De Winter sets her free in the night. She finds the home of a painter where she stays.
While that is happening Margaret is back at the coven praying when she is visited by the ghost of her mother and then by a servant of Satan to "initiate" her. And no Margaret, putting your cross between your legs won't help. Now a full bride of Satan Margaret starts in on the convent. First by seducing another nun and then getting her to commit suicide. She soon finds Kiru "Satan's Favorite Wife."
Kathleen is recaptured, but her captor falls in love with her and wants to escape to England with her. But she manages to escape again and is recaptured.
Margaret finds her way to Lady De Winter's home where she seduces her. But now she has the cool power of being able to kill anyone she has sex with. I guess we see that again in American Horror Story Coven.
Margaret and Kathleen escape, but when Margaret uses her sex magic on Kathleen's lover (who had hunted their mother) she turns Margaret in.
On the pyre, Margret requests a last kiss from the Lord Justice and she kills him. She laughs while she burns. In the end, Kathleen finds Kiru.
Not a bad flick, but a little all over the place. The BluRay has a couple of nice features, but not a lot.
Also known as "Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält", or "Witches Tortured till They Bleed."
Bleed is appropriate here since this movie is overflowing with blood.
This features a young Udo Kier as a magistrate over the European Witch Trials in Austria. Naturally, he falls in love with a woman accused of witchcraft. There is some goings on with the local witch-finder and his gang and church appointed witchfinder. But honestly, it is just an excuse to make a torture-porn movie.
The torture is vivid and done well with the effects of the time, but after an hour or so it gets routine. Starting off the movie with the rape of some nuns sets the desensitizing dial pretty high, everything after is just more brutality. Or maybe since this is the third movie of roughly the same subject I am getting burned out.
I guess the film was fairly notorious back in the day. I have seen copies of this go for really ridiculous amounts. Not as much "sexploitation" in this as "tortureploitation" as some of the other movies about this time.
The highlight of this one is Udo Kier, who even then, showed a great talent for acting.
I looked for "Mark of the Devil Part II" since it featured Erika Blanc, but all I found was a really terrible copy on YouTube.
A tortured innocent will say many names, but a real witch will never reveal who her sisters are. I also need more prophetic dreams for my witches.
Lady De Winter looks like she could be part of the Winters family of witches. She enjoys the torture of the other witches a little too much. But the deviousness with the blonde hair and blue eyes almost makes her a family member by defualt.
Margaret's death by sex is a cool Occult power (for one of my Old-School witches) but it has limited utility in a game.
Nuns and witch covens have a lot in common.
I also need more witch hunts in my games. Something for my witches to act against. Especially skeezy ones like from Mark of the Devil.
Another attempt to find this mysterious movie that haunts my memory. Last week I did three, this week? Well, I have a whole list of potential candidates but my expectations are pretty low.
I think for this one I am going to come up with my NIGHT SHIFT content while I watch them. I just got into the first and need something to keep my focus.
Asylum of Satan (1972)
I think I may have seen this one. Not sure. A woman, Lucina Martin (Carla Borelli) is brought to an asylum/hospital and she has no idea or memory why. And....that's about it really. The asylum is a front so Dr. Spector can sacrifice people to Satan. Crappy acting all around, crappy script.
I am glad I stuck through it if no other reason that to see the shittiest Satan/Devil I have EVER seen. There was a part about an hour in which I thought I had found my movie, but thankfully it was not. I am not sure I was ready for the movie I have been searching for for so long to be this steaming turd.
I am never getting "Red Light Lady" out of my head.
Viewed: New The movie I was looking for?: Hell no
NIGHT SHIFT Content. Not a lot here that hasn't been done better by so many others.
Something Evil (1972)
This one was also my list but in the "not likely" category. A couple of things though made decide to watch it. First, the main actor is none other than Darren McGavin, Kolchak himself. That's a plus. And the Director is Steven Spielberg. THE Steven Spielberg. So I figured, what the hell.
It also features such 70s fixtures as Johnny Whitaker, Ralph Bellamy, David Knapp, and Sandy Dennis. The movie is rather cheap. IT is a made for TV deal after all.
One nitpick, the six-pointed barn hex sign is called a "pentacle". It's slow, but the acting is good and everyone gives it their best, so they make the best of a small budget.
In a decade Spielberg would go on to do Poltergiest. Some of seeds for that movie can be seen here, to be honest.
Viewed: New The movie I was looking for?: No, but I was pretty sure of that when I started
NIGHT SHIFT Content: Haunted houses are always fun. Watching this is like a Proto-Poltergiest in the country.
An "Attack of opportunity" tonight of sorts. I had installed the Tubi channel on my Roku recently and I was paging through all the horror movies to see what they had. One came up that I had seen before (so I thought) and figured, why not, it had not seen it since the 90s. So I loaded it up.
Well...it was not the movie I thought it was.
Wicked City (1987)
Ok, so this one seemed familiar at first. And then it turned soft-core hentai. The premise is that the human world and the "black world" or the demon world have been fighting for years and a new peace treaty is about to be signed. An agent for the Black Guard, Renzaburō Taki, has been called in to protect a mystic, Giuseppe Mayart. He is partnered with a woman from the Black World, named Makie. She is a demon and can grow long claws.
Anyway Giuseppe Mayart might be a few hundred years old, but he is a big old pervert. Constantly grabbing at Makie, reading adult magazines and finally sneaking off so he can visit a brothel. Taki and Makie follow him but get separated. Makie is found by her ex-lover, a demon, so he proceeds to sexually assault her for a bit. Till Taki kills it. Mayart is wounded and needs to be taken to a hospital, they are chased by demons but Makie sacrifices herself to protect them. Something that has a huge effect on Taki. While at the hospital the demon lord lets Taki and Mayart (and most of Tokyo I think) know he (and the spider demon Taki had sex with in the opening) has Makie and she is currently being gang-raped by three demons. Taki of course takes the bait and saves her.
In no amount of logic, Taki and Makie have sex in a church. The big bad demon shows up to kill them and a perfectly healed Mayart shows up to kick the demon's ass. Turns out that Mayart was actually here to protect Taki and Makie so they could conceive a child, the first Demon-Human child to be born and be the one to bring peace to both worlds.
It's an interesting premise with some cool ideas.
Demon City Shinjuku (1990)
Ok, THIS is the movie I thought I was watching. It is a lot less violent and a lot less tentacle rape. This one takes place 10 years after a huge earthquake caused by a demon, Rebi Ra, happens. The entire Shinjuku area of Tokyo has been destroyed and overrun with demons.
We meet up with Kyoya Izayoi, a martial artist in "Nem Po" training who wields a wooden sword. He is the son of the man who failed to kill Rebi Ra in the opener. He is sent by floating mystic, Aguni Rai to protect the World's President's daughter Sayaka. Though she has gone to Shinjuku to find Rebi Ra.
Rebi Ra has been spending the last 10 years opening a portal to let in more demons. Of course our hero now only has 3 days.
Kyoya jumps at any combat, whether he can win or not, and is soon captured by Rebi Ra. Then there is a bit where Sayaka tries to free some ghosts from a park. This wakes up Kyoya. They are recaptured by Rebi Ra and Sayaka is chosen for the sacrifice. Kyoya finds his father's wooden sword (filled with his Chi/Qi power) and he kills Rebi Ra.
Oh, and there is this strange dude named Mesphito and a kid who helps named Chibi who for reasons unknown to god, man or demon has the worst Mexican accent I have ever heard. Mesphito seems like he could be demon, but certain on his own side.
The movie is a bit slow and the dubbing in some places doesn't make a bit of sense.
It is easy to see Demon City as a sequel of sorts to Wicked City, with Kyoya acting as the son of Renzaburō Taki and Makie. Aguni Rai could even double as Giuseppe Mayart.
A new experimental Quantum Nuclear Reactor has gone critical but instead of blowing up Tokyo a rift has appeared opening the city up to the depths of hell. Now 20 years later the children of the people trapped in the Demon City deal with demon excursions, the walking dead, and the police of the DCO (Demonic Control Operation). High tech meets old magic. Demonically possessed humans and the undead fight cyber-enhanced martial artists. It is all happening in Demon City Tokyo!
One Occult/Hippie/Witchcraft movie leads to another and another and another. This time though we might have some fruit.
Queens of Evil (1972)
A lone biker/wanderer David (again) stops to help an older man with a flat tire. For his effort, the older man punctures David's motorcycle tire with a nail. David gets his bike fixed and tries to chase down the old man. The old man panics and crashes his car into a tree and dies. David, wanting no part of this speeds away.
He comes up to a shack and since it has been dark this whole time he decides to spend the night. When he wakes up a young woman, Liv, who tells him he needs to leave now before her family sees him. David is expecting parents but instead is found by her two sisters Samantha and Bibiana. They invite him to stay for breakfast and ends up staying for much longer. The three women live in the BEST witch house I have seen in a while and really is making me rethink what needs to go into a witches' house. The wall-size pictures of each of the three women are going to go into something to be sure.
Everything is very psychedelic. The first hour of so is slow, but the last 20 minutes really kicks in and gets really going. David begins to see what sort of trouble he is in. Not before he has sex with Liv at any rate; which actually might have been the final thing that does him in really.
The women kill him and bury him in the yard. All the guests from the party are there, already in black. The rich older man from the first scene is also there. Turns out he is the Devil! Pretty cool ending really. The witches mention that to corupt him was very difficult and that the Devil will no longer be needed. All the guests at party are "conjurers" and are designed to keep sin alive and well.
Pretty cool.
Blood Orgy of the She Devils (1972)
This one starts off with some trippy special effects and a witch ritual that at least reads right. It's the early 70s so we are also are going to get some scantily clad dancing girls and a vaguely Satanic looking sacrifice. I been wanting to see this one since the witch (Witch Queen maybe) Mara.
At one point Mara channels her "Indian guide" with some of the most painful dialogue I have heard outside a racist cartoon. It is quite painful really. So our witch Mara kills a UN Ambassador and the ones that paid her try to kill her, but I guess she can't be killed.
This movie though is so 70s it treats magic as a foregone conclusion; it exists but not everyone has mastered it yet.
There is a lot of neat sympathetic magic here, but not really a lot of blood nor orgies though really.
The movie ends with a group of "good guys" killing all the women.
Last year I talked about this movie I have been trying to find. This movie is about witches and the occult; satanism in particular. It was on TV on Halloween night. It had to be between 1977 and 1982, I know a huge time frame. I think it was a made for TV movie. The movie had a girl with psychic powers or witchcraft; they were often synonymous in the late 70s. There is a scene near the end of the movie of a girl (not sure if it is the same one) lying on an altar. Either she about to be sacrificed OR this is supposed to give her powers. All I can remember was there a long progression of cultists going up a circular staircase up in a tower and each one put a drop of blood on the girl's forehead. That is the clearest thing I remember.
This past summer I reached to various horror groups on Facebook to help me out. These are the movies they suggested.
Mortuary (1981, 1983) This movie was released in 1983, but everything about it screams late 70s. The copyright date on the movie itself is 1981. It stars a young Bill Paxton as the son of a mortician. He is love with Christie (Mary Beth McDonough) but she is in love with Greg (David Wallace).
There are some murders, and a bit with Christie's mom (Lynda Day George, who is only 17 years older than McDonough) being part of a weird séance to contact Christie's dad (which is why I think it was offered to me). Other than that it is kind of a slow slasher flick that was done better in films like "Fade to Black".
But it was new to me so, that is something and it does hit that sweet spot of horror films in terms of timing.
Most of the actors here are normally TV actors, so there was a pretty good chance this one was going to be it. Sadly not the case.
Viewed: New The movie I was looking for?: No
Crowhaven Farm (1970) On the surface Crowhaven Farm should have everything I want. Made for TV. Satanism. Salem Witchcraft. The release date is a bit older than I would have thought. It even has John Carradine in it. Though he is woefully underused here.
The movie does have a nice creepy feel to it and it even starts out with a creepy kid causing a death, so that is always a plus. It is though fairly typical of the 70s made for TV fare.
There is some 70s interpreted witchcraft ideas, which is always fun. Crowhaven is like "Salem-lite" with more Satanic elements. So yeah, exactly the sort of thing I enjoy.
Maggie and Ben, our childless couple that inherits Crowhaven, also "inherit" a new child, in the form of Jenifer (Cindy Eilbacher, later to star in Beverly Hills Cop), when her aunt Mercy dies. Jennifer is also the child (teen really) that causes the death of Maggie's uncle. Jennifer as it turns out knows all the secrets of Crowhaven and wastes no time getting all creepy with Ben and causing more deaths. Turns out that Mercy and Jennifer were condemned for witchcraft back in 1692 and Meg was the cause. They are all replaying again in the 1970s.
Viewed: New The movie I was looking for?: No
Satan's Wife (1979)
Also known as "The Ring of Darkness."
Gotta love the Occult 70's. This bit of cinematic trash fits the time frame and has many scenes of occult rituals that are close to my memory, but I doubt this one was ever on American TV. Too much occultism and nudity. Plus the star of the movie, Lara Wendel, playing the possessed/demonic daughter Daria spends some time in movie topless and nude and she was 14 at the time. I have not found details on if the movie was banned or not, the 1970s were different and so was Italy. This is also not the first such scandalous movie involving Lara Wendel. She had other movies in Germany and Italy from when she was 12 as well. There is a story here and likely not a happy one. She retired from acting in 1993 and is 65 now.
The plot should work, women make a deal with Satan, but later they back out so he goes after their daughters. I was unclear whether or not the children were also supposed to be Satan's kids or not. But it doesn't. Not even close really. I have heard that is had to be recut and re-edited because it was too much like The Exorcist. So, I guess that could explain it.
Plenty of ripping off of Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby. There is a final fight between Daria (who has to do it full frontal) and her mother Carlotta (played by Anne Heywood) and then the movie just ends.
Viewed: New The movie I was looking for?: One scene was so very close but in the end. No
With Crowhaven, first I love the name, great name for a farm where witches once lived but it is also a great little spooky film with some reincarnation. In my games witches can't be raised from the dead, only reincarnated. So reincarnation often becomes a theme in my games.
All three movies have satanic cults in common, so maybe an old school 70s occult style cult is needed again.
This one came up while I was doing some reading up on The Devil's Nightmare. On the surface, it has a lot going for it. I liked the recently passed Ben Cross as an actor. Nicole Fortier (who never really appeared in anything else before or since) makes for a very attractive Demon. And the story sounds like it has some potential.
The movie opens with a priest confessing before the altar. While he prays a nude redhead woman shows up. She caresses him and then rips out his throat.
Later, a priest, Father Michael (Ben Cross) arrives to administer the last rites to another murder victim. He is warned that she is coming for him. Three years later Father Michael is attempting to talk down an attempted suicide when he is pulled out a window and falls 17 floors to the ground. He wakes up in the hospital with hardly a scratch on him. Hal Holbrook, playing Archbishop Mosely, decides that Micheal is ready to run his own parish, but there is more to it than that. Michael is getting the church where the priest was murdered three years ago.
We learn from Ned Beaty that not one, but two priests were murdered in the church. One other a year before Father Dennis. We learn a bit more about the case including meeting Millie (Jill Caroll), a girl Father Dennis tried to save from her job in a local "satanic" themed club.
Father Michael starts seeing some strange happenings and even a dog gets sacrificed on the altar.
The movie starts to drag at the half-way point, never really going anywhere. In fact, we don't even learn the demon's name, Desiderius (Latin, "ardent desire"), until about 1 and 20mins into the movie. The final battle doesn't get started until an hour and 25 mins in.
Nicole Fortier makes for a very fetching demon, even if she never has any lines.
I also find it a little interesting that I never saw this one when it was out. I mean this was at the prime of my Horror VHS renting time. But I was also in college so cash was not a luxury item.
At this time I also had a red-headed girl-friend and I can assure you that their reported demonic powers are an exaggeration. But only by a little.
There is a great scene at the very end of what can only be described as Clerical Turning. It works here.
Make no mistake. This is not an Oscar-caliber movie and Ben Cross acts circles around everyone else. But it is a fun little romp. Ben Cross would right after this star as Barnabas Collins in the NBC mini-series remake of Dark Shadows. I have been meaning to rewatch it someday.
Ben Cross' Father Michael makes a great Theosophist/Chosen One multiclass in Night Shift. I might have an older, now semi-retired, Father Michaels show up in a game one day, playing the role that Trevor Howard as Father Silva played in this movie. I also just learned that this was the last movie that Trevor Howard was in.
I am also thinking that a Cinematic Horror New Orleans. This movie, Cat People, maybe even the Interview with a Vampire and The Vampire Lestat among others.
This is the movie I thought I was going to watch earlier tonight.
This is an older one and one I had seen before, but have had a difficult time finding it. When I first saw it, years ago, it was under the title "The Succubus". This BluRay transfer is a bit better than a copy I saw just a couple years ago. I noticed I have talked about it, but never gave it a proper review. I did give it a brief review while watching some 70s horror films a few years back. I figure I should pop it in. Plus it is a "Succubus Sunday" so let's have it.
The DVD transfer I had is good, but not great, transfer. Still a lot of hisses and pops from the source. But still viewable. It does seem to have some material cut from it, or I am remembering it wrong.
The Blu-Ray is fantastic. Also, it has all the scenes I remembered.
We start the movie with a woman giving birth in Nazi Germany near the end of WWII. The woman's father is a Nazi officer and wants to know if the child is a boy or a girl. The woman dies in childbirth but the baby survives...until the Nazi officer stabs and kills the baby.
The story follows a group of seven tourists as they become waylaid in a creepy German castle. Turns out the Baron of the castle is the same Nazi officer from the beginning.
The guests gather and we begin to learn a little about each one. As they begin to talk about the family curse the Baron is under, another guest, Lisa Müller, arrives. One known to the housekeeper, Martha. In pure succubus fashion, she is a beautiful redhead with blue eyes. I'll be honest, I watched this movie for the first time early in my D&D years so a lot of what a succubus *is* for me comes from this movie. Or. Rather, my memory of this movie.
Each guest is revealed to represent each of the seven deadly sins. The deaths are really what makes this movie fun. Seven Deadly sins deaths years before Brad Pitt screamed: "What's in the box!" Makes it worth seeing again.
As soon as six of the guests die, the remaining living guest, the seminarian, Alvin Sorelle, trades his own soul to Satan to bring the other guests back to life. There is a nice twist at the end which really makes the movie memorable.
The succubus, Lisa, was played by cult horror figure Erika Blanc. Her demonic make-up effects are both understated and extremely effective. While I know others could see them as cheap, I rather liked it. Plus regardless, Erika Blanc is great to look at. It is no shock looking back on this that I have had so many witchy characters with red hair and blue eyes.
The BluRay is so much better than the old VHS I watched back in the 80s and the DVD copy I watched just a couple of years back. Well worth getting. Mondo Macabro really puts out a great disc.
I was doing a bit of reading before posting and I noticed that "The Unholy" with Ben Cross is a similar themed movie. I will have to check it out.
I thought for sure I had seen this movie. It is a little earlier than my "sweet spot" of movies, but it is a Jesús Franco movie and it is about a Succubus (maybe). So yeah feels like something I would have seen.
Well not so much.
Succubus, also called "Necronomicon – Geträumte Sünden" has nothing to do with Lovecraft and maybe nothing to do with succubi.
The lovely (and almost 40 at the time) Janine Reynaud plays Lorna, the star act of a live S&M show at some seedy European nightclub. A voice-over by the club owner leads us to believe that Lorna here has sold her soul to the devil. She is called "Faustina" at various points and "the essence of evil... a devil on earth!"
Lorna manages to move through the movie is a semi-languid daze, that is when she is not killing people she almost has sex with. There is plenty of nudity, drugs, and killings. You are never sure if Lorna is possessed by a demon or just crazy. Either could be true.
Since this is a Jesús Franco flick Jeanine Reynaud is front and center and spends more time undressed than dressed. She is supposed to be a succubus after all.
The ending is also what should be expected. But it is still a fun romp. Very 60s.
This is another one from last year. The Blu-Ray was not available till November, so here we are. This is another one of those notorious movies of the 70s Euro-sleaze horror. One I had been looking for a while mostly because I never thought I'd find it.
Byleth: The Demon of Incest is a little Italian gem that features murders, gratuitous nudity and enough brother/sister incest for an episode of Game of Thrones.
Let's get right to the point. It's not good. It is slow and the lead Mark Damon as Duke Lionello is not great.
The movie revolves around Duke Lionello, his sister Barbara and Barbara's new husband Giordano. This is a problem of course since Lionello and Barbara have been having an incestuous affair. An affair that Lionello is loathed to give up.
The movie does make use of the demon Beleth, which is expected. At one point Barbara asks her brother, Lionello, if he still has his white horse. They later talk about "Byleth" on his white horse.
Of course, you are never sure if Lionello is possessed by Byleth or just crazy. I like to think possessed because that is what I do here.
The Severin Blu-Ray version is really good. There are some color issues from the original negative, but otherwise, it looks great. Too bad the movie could not live up to the hype.
This was a fun one. It reminds me a bit of "The Mephisto Waltz" and a little bit of the "Music of Erich Zahn", only in reverse.
Rose Fisher (Freya Tingley) is a world-class violinist and she learns that her estranged father, and brilliant strange composer, Richard Marlowe (Rutger Hauer) is dead.
She inherits his home and all his belongings including a very strange violin sonata. Her agent Simon Abkarian(Charles Vernais) investigates and learns that the sonata was part of a work linking it to a cult of Satan worshipers in France and it appears to have been written just for Rose.
The movie is more of a thriller, but there is the summoning of the antichrist and the ghosts of the children sacrificed by Marlow in the process of composing his masterpiece sonata.
The movie was rather good. Frey Tingley is great as Rose and I wanted more Rutger Hauer.
The end was a nice little twist so I enjoyed that.
I am a sucker for any story that mixes music with magic.
Frankly, I would lift this plot wholesale to use as a NIGHT SHIFT adventure. Investigate the scary mansion of a composer that commits suicide. Horrible tapes found in the basement. All sorts of great things here. Though stopping it would require an active antagonist.
Lucifer, The Lord of Hell, has suddenly vanished without warning leaving the pact of the realm of death in unrest and on the brink of war. Now Lilith, his bride, must try and reclaim the realm in his absence, but not everyone wants to bow to her rule. With enemies at every turn, Lilith searches for the Sacred Heart to increase her power in order to gain the allies she needs to claim her missing husband's throne and restore peace to the kingdom. Filled with intrigue, epic battles, and a dash of humor, this comic is sure to leave you wanting more!
Honestly, this looks rather fun. The art is varied, but it is all really good.
Getting back to the mythos in the Deities and Demigods proper I want to take a look at one filled with demons, elementals and other creatures of the multiverse. The Melnibonéan Mythos of Michael Moorcock.
The Melnibonéan Mythos is one of the two expunged mythoi from the D&DG, the other being the more popular Cthulhu Mythos. I talked about those myths and some of the controversy around them in a previous installment of One Man's God. I'll also talk a little more about that at the end, but first, Gods and Demons.
Elric of Melniboné was my gateway to Cthulhu. I had done all the high fantasy that was popular in the 80s and Tolkien in particular. But I was looking for something a little darker, something that also appealed to my same frame of mind that loved horror films. Elric then was the logical next step.
Maybe as much as Tolkien, the works of Michael Moorcock laid down the foundation that was going to be the lens of D&D. The alignment system, the multiverse, champions of Law and Chaos, all these things came to D&D via Moorcock. Though in truth for this piece I could also just say Elric since these are the mythos we are discussing today.
Melniboné and Demons
The tales of Elric and Melniboné are overrun with creatures called demons. Everyone from Arioch on down is referred too as a demon in fact. Elric's own ancestor, Terhali, also known as the Green Empress, ruled Melniboné for 605 years a thousand years before Elric. Her long life was attributed to her mother, who was a demon. Other creatures in the books are also called demons. Arioch himself appears in many Medieval grimoires as a demon and in Milton's Paradise Lost, Book VI, Line 371.
Whether or not these meet the AD&D Monster Manual criteria for a demon is to be decided. Let's explore some other details first.
Law & Chaos, Good & Evil
The battles in Elric's world(s) are not just of Good vs. Evil but of Law vs. Chaos. Chaos is shown to be a destructive, and often evil force. Elric and his kin are all dedicated to the Lords of Chaos and have pacts with many of these lords. So the "alignment" system of Elric's world view is the same as that as D&D really. It's where we get it in fact. So this does free up one issue; creatures described here as being Chaotic Evil are likely appropriately described in their own world and an AD&D one. We are not going to run into issues here of Chaotic Evil creatures that also protect mothers like in the Aztec myths for example.
Lords of Hell and Demons
The Elric saga takes a "multiple hells" view on the cosmos. There is more than one hell and they ruled over by Lords of Chaos. Some of these Lords are also explicitly demons. They are called such in the text. In many ways, One Man's God and my own games have evolved to be more like this point of view.
Demons vs. Elemental Lords
There are many creatures of power in the Elric tales (and Moorcock's books as a whole). Some are explicitly demons. Others though are classified as Elemental Lords. These creatures do not see to differ very much the Princes of Elemental Evil first seen in the Fiend Folio. In the 4e cosmology they would be called Primordials and the Titans and Giants are their offspring. This also fits in well with the mythology Gary was building in the GDQ series. So there are at least some relationships between these Elemental Lords and the Demons. But that is for another day. Though all of this leads me to two conclusions:
Many demons/creatures/lords of the Elric saga are very much like the demons of AD&D. Or maybe it is the other way around.
Elric might be listed as a "Magic-user 19th level" and "Cleric 10th level" but what he really is, using the current term, is a Warlock. In fact he might be the exemplar from which we draw from.
But more on that later.
Elemental Lords & Animal Lords
Before I get to the Demons, let's look at the various Elemental Lords Elric has pacts with or is able to summon. We can compare them to other examples in other AD&D works.
In the Melnibonéan Mythos, we have Darnizhaan (NE, Earth), Grome (N, Earth), Kakatal (CN, Fire), Misha (N, Air), and Straasha (N, Water). Generally speaking, these creatures are more powerful than the Princes of Elemental Evil found in the Fiend Folio. Which would track if these are the "Kings" and the others are just "Princes."
Elemental Lords are not the only creatures Elric encounters. There are also the various Animal Lords, or Master Types. These are almost taken verbatim for the Monster Manual II Cat Lord and in the later editions of AD&D/D&D. Among the Animal Lords are Fileet (Lady of Birds), Haaashastaak (Lord of Lizards), Meerclar (Lady of Cats), Nnuuurrr'c'c (Lord of the Insect Swarm), Nuru-ah (Lord of Cattle), and Roofdrak (Lord of Dogs). Back in the 80s we treated Meeclar as the Cat Lord before the "current" Cat Lord and Bast as the one before Meeclar. Gary would go on to support our claim in the 90s when he made Gord the new Cat Lord. all of this fit into our worlds very nicely.
The Demons
Let's get to the demons. There are lot of creatures in these myths are weird and Chaotic Evil. BUT, does that make them an AD&D demon? Well, some fit perfectly, others, we might need to file off some of the edges to make them fit.
Arioch (and Xiombarg)
Let's address the Chaos Lord in the room. Arioch. In the books he is Elric's patron. I believe he is even described as a Patron Demon. He often referred to a Lord of Hell, a Lord of Chaos and it is said he is worshipped as a god in many worlds. But is he a god? He is certainly very powerful. On the side of a God is the fact that he can have many avatars on multiple worlds (though in D&D 3 and beyond this would be called an Aspect), on the side of Demon is the fact that he can be summoned, sometimes even against his will. It is possible that Arioch (Knight of Swords), as well as Xiombarg (Queen of Swords) and Mabelode (King of Swords, and not in the D&DG) are Demons, they are just very, very powerful ones on the level of the Arch Dukes of Hell.
I am inclined to make them powerful Demon Lords/Princes. Their power is such that would disrupt the hierarchy of Hell (the AD&D Hell), but in the Abyss they can plot and scheme all the like. Again they have never been described as anything but Chaotic Evil. I would also argue that their stats in the D&DG might be a touch high. Elric did kill Arioch in the end.
Assassinator of the Gods
Back in the AD&D days we always combined this creature with Ma Yuan of the Chinese Mythos. Though they were not exactly the same. In this case, I am inclined to make this a completely unique creature.
Clakar
Chaotic Evil winged apes that can be used as guards. A bit like a summoned demon, but nothing about them screams demon to me.
Elenoin & Grahluk
These two are in a perpetual race war against each other. Not demons. I always thought of them as the female and male of the same species in a division that has gone very, very wrong. I say every few years both races have a "pon farr" like time where both are compelled to mate. While both can be summoned I took this more as they were responding to some other pact made. So they are not demons, but likely commanded or ruled by demons.
Kelmain
Humanoids from Limbo.
Mist Giant
More of a monster than a demon.
Mordagz
Now here is an interesting character. A former Lord of Chaos, he has been "demoted" to a Storm Giant. He could qualify as the classical definition of a demon; a former god reduced in power and status. His alignment though is Chaotic Neutral.
Pyaray
Now this guy. Lord of the Ocean Abysses. Looks like a demon. Commands a flotilla of sunken ships manned by undead sailors. his soul is stored in the blue crystal on his head like a demon amulet. Yeah, this one fits the demon description rather well. His 250 hp makes him a bit more powerful than Demogorgon, but otherwise he is a good fit. We also know that Pyaray and Straasha are bitter enemies. so if Straasha is an Elemental Lord, we can have Pyaray be a Demon Lord.
Quaolnargn
Ok. This one is explicitly called a "demon from the Abyss."
There are more creatures in the tales, but these are what appear in the D&DG.
Elric as a Warlock
The big surprise here is not that there are demons and elementals in this mythos, but that Elric might be better represented as a warlock rather than a wizard, or as he is described in the book, a sorcerer. We see Elric using magic, but mostly we see him summoning creatures to do his bidding. We rarely see him use the sorts of magics that one might expect of a 19th level magic-user/10th level llusionist/10th level cleric/5th level druid. However, all this magic can be used by a warlock.
I did a quick build with Elic for the 5th Edition warlock. I made him a tiefling to cover his demonic ancestry and it worked out well. But a better choice might be a Demonic Pact Warlock using some old-school rules.
My Warlock book for Swords & Wizardry would be a good fit here since I also re-classified the various demons to work with multiple "hells" and planes.
Elric of Melniboné
19th level Warlock, Demonic Pact (Melnibonéan) Tiefling Male
Spells: 1st: Black Fire, Charm Person, Command, Detect Magic, Mage Armor, Obedient Beast, Spirit Servant 2nd: Agony, Burning Gaze, Cause Light Wounds, Clothes of the Emperor, Grasp of the Endless War, Magic Circle Aganist Spirits, Share my Pain 3rd: Astral Sense, Circle of Respite, Clairsentience, Fiend's Shield, Lifesteal, Summon Winged Steed 4th: Arcane Eye, Call Imp, Divine Power, Fear, Spell storing 5th: Blade Dance, Conjuration of Elementals, Extend Spell (Greater), Song of the Night, Ward of Magic
*6th: Invisible Stalker **7th: Conjuration of Demons ***8th: Symbol
I rather like this.
And Arioch would fit rather well in my Warlock book too.
And finally,
The "True" Story of the Melnibonéan and Cthulhu Mythos in the D&DG?
Back in the 3.5 days there was this contest, the D&D Creature Competition. It was a fun little romp of pitting monster vs. monster in a bracket-style competition where people voted. There were such mainstays as the Tarrasque, Meepo the Kobold, and a gelatinous cube, and some odd ones like a half gold dragon/half pixie, a warforged ninja, and Half-Amethyst Dragon/Iridescent Naga. But the strangest one, and the one that eventually won was Eludecia, the Succubus Paladin.
Eludecia got a featured write-up and even an adventure centered around her, Legend of the Silver Skeleton. I always thought the character was a really interesting one. She is seeking redemption at a level that honestly staggers the mind. She has suffered (imprisoned inside a gelatinous cube to burn the entire time) and yet she is still trying to be better. She is a character I could see working quite well in D&D 5th edition. But what about Basic-era D&D?
Basic D&D: B/X or BECMI?
Lately, I have been playing an unholy hybrid of D&D B/X and BECMI and OSR. It might not work for others, but for me it has been fantastic.
So I try to aim at a 1st to 14th level range, this allows me not to have to choose between B/X and BECMI level play. I add in BECMI details when things get higher in level. Thankfully for me, there are plenty of examples of Eludecia at levels 8th, 14th, and 18th level. Once you figure her 6HD of Succubus this makes her 2nd, 8th, and 12th level Paladin. That keeps her within the bounds of my B/X sweet spot.
In this version of Eludecia has been roaming the multiverse, seeking quests not to prove her worthiness, but to test it. She has a shape-change ability, but she keeps her succubus features in the open so that everyone knows what she is. To her, it is far more important to be truthful in her dealings with all mortals than to pass herself off as human. She carries a holy sword, even though its touch hurts her.
For her Basic build, I am going to start with the Succubus as presented in Eldritch Wizardry. Then I am going to add the Paladin class on top of that. For the Paladin, there are a lot of choices including the BECMI Paladin in the Companion Rules or the OSE Paladin. I think in the end I'll use the OSE Paladin and add in the BECMI material as needed.
The Eldritch Wizardry Succubus has the following features.
Succubi prefer to act alone and Eludecia is no different. In her case though it is because she knows her journey is a solo one. Only she can earn her redemption. Plus she knows she is a target by the forces of Evil and sometimes Good alike. She does not wish to put others in harm. She still has all her succubus powers; causing darkness, drain life, become ethereal, charm person, ESP, clairaudience, shape change, and gate. She considers these powers to be tainted and will never use them, even to save her own life. Her Gate ability will not work even if she tried, no demon will answer her summons. She does know this. She can't control her 70% magic resistance.
Her base AC is 9, movement is 40 (120), and 60 (180) flight. Her base HD is 6.
I think for this build I want her a little higher level than her 3.5 days, so here she is now a 14th level Paladin. With her base 6HD this makes her a 20HD/level NPC.
Her base 3.5 stats are a little bit outside the realms of Basic D&D (unless I use some Companion or Immortal Rules). Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 30
I'll re-scale these to Basic levels.
I also opted to make her blonde as a nod to Sheila Mullen the supposed "model" for the succubus in the AD&D Monster Manual.
Eludecia, the Succubus Paladin
14th level Paladin, Lawful (Lawful Good)
Strength: 18 (+3) Intelligence: 16 (+2 languages) Wisdom: 14 (+1 on magic-based saves) Dexterity: 14 (+1) Constitution: 14 (+1) Charisma: 20 (likely it is a lot more) (+4)
1st level: Cure Light Wounds, Detect Evil, Protection from Evil
2nd level: Bless, Hold Person
3rd level: Striking
How I Would Use Her
There is so much that could be done with this character. I guess that is why 15 years after she appeared I still find reasons to pull her out for things.
I am getting near the end of my HUGE Order of the Platinum Dragon campaign (more on that later) and presently the characters are stuck in the Abyss. I think it is entirely possible that they might find her silver bones stuck in the Gelatinous Cube. The PCs could free her and gain an ally. AND since I now have Basic-era stats for her, I can see her making an appearance in my new campaign, War of the Witch Queens.
Wynonna Earp is the great-great-granddaughter of Wyatt Earp and heir to the Earp curse. She is the one that must rid the Ghost River Triangle of all the revenants, or "demon-adjacent" dead that return to battle with the Earp heir.
Waverly Earp is Wynonna's younger half-sister. She only recently discovered that she is not in fact and Earp, but instead the offspring of Michelle Earp, nee Gibson, and the Angel Julian. She knows the most about the Earp family and curse. She is currently engaged to former Sheriff Nicole Haught.
Nicole Haught AKA "Red", "Sheriff Hot", "Hot Sheriff" 4th level Veteran, Human "Did I just hit my head and wake up in patriarchal bullshit land?"
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +3/+2/+0 Melee bonus: +2 Ranged Bonus: +2 Saves: +2 to all saves
Special Abilities/Skills Combat Expertise, Increased damage, Supernatural attack, Tracking
Equipment Shotguns, handguns
Sheriff (formerly) Nicole Haught is the only survivor of an attack of demons lead by Bulshar, the demon responsible for all the demonic activity in the Ghost River Triangle and the town of Purgatory. She is smart and resourceful. She is in love with Waverly Earp and just said yes to Waverly's proposal.
John Henry "Doc" Holiday AKA "Doc", "Holiday" 5th level Veteran, Vampire "Careful, Earp. Doing what’s right, even in the face of ridiculous odds … you are beginning to sound like a hero."
John Henry "Doc" Holiday was cursed after his friend Wyatt Earp died and had been trapped in a well for 130 years. He was released by Wynonna and they went from being colleagues to friends to lovers. Though with his aging catching up to him Doc went to his ex-wife Kate and became a vampire.
