Monstrous Mondays: Mini Monsters

 I love HeroForge minis. I have made hundreds, but I can't afford to buy all the ones I want. Thankfully, I spent my Christmas break getting our resin 3D printer working. Once I got going, I went nuts.

That may not look like a lot, but it takes a while for them to print, and there are many casualties along the way. But I wanted to get all the Archdevils and Demon Lords from the AD&D Monster Manuals.

All of these demons and devils were made with HeroForge, and then I downloaded the STL files.

Geryon, Asmodeus, and Titivillus

Moloch, Mephistopheles, and Beelzebub 

Belial and Glasya (Fierna broke)

Lilith and a succubus.

Lilith is from the cover of Eldritch Witchery and the Succubus is my version of the Sutherland Succubus. 

Kelek on a Warg

Camazotz and Akelarre

Camazotz and Akelarre are two demons from my own games.

Archdevil Zariel. The only "newer" devil I use.

And I had to do a witch!

I bought this STL (3d printer file) online from Torrida Minis because I thought it looked like Larina. It is Tasha, from D&D, but she has been looking more and more like Larina over the last few years anyway. I still prefer her 3.x look. I kinda want his BloodRayne one too. My wife painted it for me. She also painted Belial and Akelarre above.  

I am going to try my hand at painting some of the demons and devils here but that is WAY outside my comfort zone. I am not very good at all. I still need to prime them all first. That at least I can do.

These are all resin prints, but Akelarre is from our FDM printer (which I still need to get fixed) and is a lot heavier than the others. 

Still have a few more to print out, but I am having a blast with this.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 23

 The first room on the left is a Ritual Room.

This room has altars and ritual spaces dedicated to the demon lords Akelarre and Orcus, the arch Devil Dispater, and to the dark gods Ereshkigal, Hecate, and Hel. The last and central altar is to the Vampire Queen herself.

There are treasures here upwards of 100,000 gp, but all are cursed.  Removing them from this room requires a save vs. Death or die. A Remove Curse can be used, but it must be done on each item. There are seven altars here.

There are no creatures here.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 9

 The PCs enter the foyer of the grand tomb. This area is 10 feet wide and 60 feet long.  In front of the party at the end of the 60 feet is a large set of double doors. There is no lock and no mechanism for turning to open the doors.  As the party approaches the door a voice can be heard and even though it is not loud it echoes throughout the darkness.

"From where does the Vampire Queen gather her true power?"

There are four floor-to-ceiling portraits of the Vampire Queen at various stages in her life. In front of each is a small brass brazier with a small hole in the bottom.  Examination will show there are blood stains on and around all the bowls. There is no way to see if one is bloodier than the others.

The four paintings are: 

1. The Vampire Queen when she was young and alive. It shows her making her deal with Akelarre.

2. The Vampire Queen at a little older making her deal with Orcus.

3. A portrait of the Vampire Queen alone.

4. The Vampire Queen at the front of a large army of demons and undead, a Death Knight at her side.

The correct answer is #3. The Vampire Queen relies only on herself. A character must cut themselves and bleed into the brazier in front of Portrait #3.

Doing so to any of the others will result in the release of a Bronze Golem fashioned to look like her companion in the portrait (Akelarre, Orcus or the Death Knight). 

#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).

#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.

Monstrous Monday: The Demon Prince Akelarre

 Akelarre is a demon that has kinda always been with me in one form or another. He has had a variety of names over the years, but in all cases, he has been a large goat-headed demon whose main reason for being is to corrupt witches.  He is based on the various Demon-Goat creatures, mostly featured in the witch sabbat paintings of Francisco Goya.

Akelarre is the Basque word (where Goya is from) for a Witches' Sabbath.  The name of both of these paintings from Goya is "Akelarre."

I wanted a new demon lord, one associated with evil witches. The role in my games in the past has largely been filled by Graz'zt and others. But I wanted someone I had more creative control over. I also wanted someone that was also like Éliphas Lévi's Baphomet.  He will serve as the witches' "Dark Man" as mentioned in many witchcraft trials. In Europe that was always considered to be the Devil or a at the very least a high-level demon.  

My print of Alelarre with Larina for scale

Akelarre, Demon Prince
Huge Demon (Evil, demon)

Frequency: Unique
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
  Fly 120' (40') [12"]
Armor Class: -2 [21]
Hit Dice: 20d8+80******** (170 hp)
 Huge: 20d12+80******** (210 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 6 (+13)
Attacks: 1 bite (1d6+3), 2 claws (1d6+3 x2), or by weapon or breath weapon or by spell

Special: Breath weapons, capsize, digestive acid, swallow whole, dominate and summon water-borne creatures,+3 or better weapon to hit, immunity to fire, electricity, and poison, magic resistance (100%), telepathy 100 ft.
Saves:  D2 W2 P2 B3 S4 SS3 (20)
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: W, Y, Z
XP: 16,003 (OSE) 11,450 (LL) 6,800 (S&W)

Str: 18 (+3) Dex: 16 (+2) Con:  22 (+4) Int: 20 (+4) Wis: 15 (+1) Cha: 20 (+4)

Akelarre appears as a large goat-headed humanoid. On his brow is a burning crown. His heavily muscled form is covered in dark gray fur. His hands end in vicious-looking claws, and his feet are cloven hooves made of gold. He smells of animals and brimstone. His voice is high but melodious and comforting.

This demon avoids interactions with other demons and instead focuses on growing his cult on the Material Plane. He is known as the Demon of the Witches' Sabbat and he eitehr attends himself or via proxy when he can. Here, once per year, he gathers his witches for revels of feasting, sacrifices, and all sorts of debaucheries. He flies to these via magic once the sun has set. It is claimed that it is impossible to know if it is genuinely Akelarre at a sabbat, a high priest, or even a goat he has possessed for the night, save for when the sun rises. The true Akelarre will flee before the sun, a possessed man or goat will revert in the morning light. 

Akelarre can fight, though he prefers not to do so. He can attack with bite and claw or a weapon. Most often, he prefers to cast spells. He can cast any Magic-User spell and has the casting ability of an 18th-level caster. He can also breathe fire 3 times per night, doing 6d8 hp of damage, save vs. Breath Weapons for half.  He has a Charm gaze that can Charm Person at will, save vs. spells to negate. He can also use this power to charm animals with no save granted. Magic is needed to hit Akelarre, whether by spell or by weapons. A +2 weapon is needed. Like many demons, he is immune to mundane fire and mind-affecting magic. He takes half damage from magic or dragon fire, cold, electricity, or gas-based attacks. 

As the Demon Prince of Witches, Akelarre teaches witches of the demonic traditions of their craft. He sends out demon familiars in the form of normal but evil and lascivious in nature.  Offspring of these familiars and normal animals tend to be more wild and prone to attacking humans. His court comprises satyrs of the more feral natures, succubi, warlocks, and witches. He has no dealings with the undead.

Akelarre is a highly charismatic demon, and his honeyed words sound like the voice of a friend or lover promising you everything you desire and more.  There is a great rivalry between the demon Akelarre and the devil Abraxas.  Each seeks to find more magical tomes than the other, and they instruct their respective warlocks to do the same.  

Akelarre as a Patron: Akelarre believes that the pleasures of the world are the best reward and the pleasures of the flesh most of all. He typically grants his witches and warlocks the ability to summon demonic spirits for their pleasures, the ability to conjure up feasts as needed, and of course, grants them gold on signing their pact. Witches and Warlocks of Akelarre gain a Charm Person and Glamour-like powers they can use once per day. 

October Horror Movie Challenge: Daughters of The Craft

Over the years I have noticed a trend in movies to try to recreate the..hu...magic that was in the movie The Craft. AKA the move that made a thousand teen witches in the 90s. I have taken to call these movies Daughters of the Craft since that is what they obviously desire to be. 

Here are a few I watched starting on Friday till tonight.

The Coven (2015)

Take the Craft (sorta) and put them in an English boarding school. No not Hogwarts, but they do name-drop Margaret Murray, Robert Cochrane, and Gerald Gardner (though they call him Joe) so that is something. 

There is a new teacher, Mrs. Belial, who takes over the class and teaches them about Uri Clef (an anagram for Lucifer). We see her eating raw meat later on. 

The girls head out to Queens Woods where Robert Cochrane used to meet with his Wiccan group. They are joined by two boys, Eddie and Louie, the five girls and two boys realize their first names all spell out Lucifer. Now strange things start to happen. They are joined by the at first uninvited Eve (who has been at home researching all of this) and soon they are being chased through the woods by the guy on the motorcycle...who might be Eddie? All the names appear including Eve's but not Eddie's and they all get sucked into a burning tree.

Yeah. Ok, that one was rather bad, to be honest. I had such hopes for it in the beginning.

Ouija Craft (2020)

This one is "What if the girls from the Craft were in college with an Ouija board.

And man is this one starting out bad. There are two characters who look like they are some time in the past, running through the woods. The woman uses magic to try to heal the man but it doesn't work. What else that doesn't work is their acting. Cause they are both terrible. Not a great start here. Anyway, there is a demon girl of some sort and an Ouija board.

Fast forward to the present day. Abby, Rory, and Jess are in a barn somewhere practicing magic. Jess is trying to get a spell to work with only a little success, Abby and Rory, along with Abby's boyfriend Sam, are making potions. Abby and Rory are obviously better at magic. Rory drinks a potion and is able to levitate for a bit. Abby decides she wants to mix a temporary immortality potion with a healing potion to live forever. The potion seems to work at first, but soon she is convulsing. I guess she never saw the Potion Miscibility table in the 1st Ed DMG because she rolls a 01% and her whole chest blows up. 

At the wake, Rory and Jess are each dealing with grief in different ways. Jess keeps thinking she hears Abby. Finally, she does and she wants her and Rory to take the Ouija board to the graveyard where she is buried and try to contact her. This is of course breaking the rules of Ouija. Anyway, Abby comes back but needs a real life so she has to kill someone who saw her die, Rory or Jess.  There are some magic battles between the three and in the process, Sam is killed and Abby brings him back. 

They learn from the ghosts from the opener they have to burn the Ouija board. Oh and that Jess is not a witch but a psychic. Jess gets stabbed by Sam, but Rory gives up her life force so she can live. Since Jess didn't see Sam die he falls to dust. Now Jess and Abby fight it out and Jess is able to TK the board into a fire burning it and Abby, but not before Abby stabs Jess. JEss drinks the temporary immortality potion and passes out waiting for the paramedics. 

Months later Jess is still recovering and she sees Abby's ghost who apologizes for everything. She tells Jess that she could become a very powerful psychic, but Jess takes all her books and potions and witchy stuff outside and burns them all.

Ok. Not great and some really terrible acting. I felt though the two leads Jess and Rory, Ivy Rhodes and Lacy Hartselle respectively were actually fairly good and made the movie watchable. 

Coven (2020) 

Also known as Akelarre and Coven of Sisters it is not to be confused with the 2019 movie Coven.

This one just sneaks in with the theme. Maybe Great-Great Grandmothers of the Craft is a better descriptor for this one.

This one is horror, but not for the reasons the first two are.

In 1609 in the Basque Country of Spain five girls are all arrested and charged with witchcraft.  One of their friends tries to rescue them and she is captured too. At first, the girls are afraid but then they begin to joke about it, not believing that this is happening to them.  Then the torture begins.   

It's all rather horrible to be honest.  Worse, because you knew this sort of thing happened all the time. 

Amaia Aberasturi stars as Ana and she is the real stand-out here. She keeps stringing along her accusers to drag out the proceedings to help save the other girls. Ana easily strings along the horny men till the full moon.

The girls decide that in order to delay their execution longer they tell the judge they will re-enact the Black Mass, or the Sabbath, for his records. They do so and get him all involved as Lucifer.  Once they had frightened the men, or turned them on, enough they run into the woods. They are chased by the men and soldiers till they get to the edge of a cliff over the ocean.  The other women, the ones not accused of witchcraft, sing a song about the full moon and the high tide.  Ana, realizing the message, tells the other girls they can jump.

They jump over the side, not knowing if they lived or died. 

I thought this movie was great honestly. Not the typical sort of horror, but also not exactly what I thought it was going to be either. 

Really good to have this one the last of the night to wash the taste out of my mouth from the first one.

Of course, I have heard this word, Akelarre, before and named a witch-focused demon after it.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 22
First Time Views: 17

Introducing the Demon Lord Akelarre!

I was going to wait until this was painted or until I worked up some more stats for him, but the truth is I am just too excited. So here is the newest 3d print fresh off our resin printer!

When painted he will look like this: 

I made him on Hero Forge, downloaded the STL, my youngest printed him out, and with a bit of luck, I'll get my wife to paint him! 

He is based on the various Demon-Goat creatures, mostly featured in the witch sabbat paintings of Francisco Goya.

Akelarre is the Basque word (where Goya is from) for a Witches' Sabbath.  The name of both of these paintings from Goya is "Akelarre."

I wanted a new demon lord, one associated with evil witches. The role in my games in the past has largely been filled by Graz'zt. But I wanted someone I had more creative control over. I also wanted someone that was also like Éliphas Lévi's Baphomet.  He will serve as the witches' "Dark Man" as mentioned in many witchcraft trials. In Europe that was always considered to be the Devil or a at the very least a high-level demon.  Well...here he is!

Before I get too deep into his history and background I want to share this print. 

The mini is depicted as 20 ft tall, so the Akelarre himself would be 15 ft tall. So smaller than say Demogorgon in AD&D 1st ed and about the size of Orcus.

Given the work my wife did on Gog and Magog, I am really looking forward to seeing what she does with this guy.

Now...what will be done first? My wife painting him or me getting his stats done!