Mythos Society Guide to New England: Bonus Monster - The Chaousarou!
We have seen, with the demon whale, and various ocean-going witches, that the seas of New England hold more threats than those found in the Mythos proper. But inland can be just as deadly, from Misshepesha to the Dingball, the marshes and woodlands of the northeaster states are no safer.
With this in mind, we present an interpretation of a monster that was old before the coming of Europeans to these shores – The Chaousarou!
Reported by Samuel de Champlain as resident in the lake that bears his name, it is also recorded on the folklore of the Native Americans. Sometimes called by the diminutive nickname ‘Champ’ the Chaousarou has been described as a serpent-like creature, dark in color, sometimes quite reminiscent of His Majesty. For decades in the early 20th century, it was described in similar terms to the plesiasaurianeque Loch Ness Monster. Others, less fantastical in temperament, have envisioned the Chaousarou as a lake sturgeon, which historically have grown to be a dozen feet or more in length and are rather serpentlike in general shape. Recently, Jeremy Wade of ‘River Monsters’ equated Chaousarou with a huge alligator gar, another long-bodied freshwater fish that can grow over ten feet in length, this time with the jaws and dentition of a predator.
Because I have already provided a serpentine sea monster, and hoping to combine all of the varying description to come to use over the centuries, and because it is cool in the extreme. I have written up the Chaousarou as reminiscent of another prehistoric creature of the depths – the Mosasaur. It is a favorite of cryptozoologists, and existed in the same part of the world in its heyday, 70 or so million years ago. Som aybe there could be some still around, right?
Many mosasaurids, of varying sizes, are known from the paleontological record, to have existed, from some the size of a modern alligator, to true behemoths over forty feet in length with jaws that could swallow a man whole.
Here I have gone for a smaller creature perhaps 25 feet in length and a ton or more in weight, reasoning that a bigger monster might have come to light in the Lake Champlain of today, plagued as it is by sightseers, Go-Pro cameras, drones, and deep penetrating fishing sonar. If you really want a bigger one, add 4 Armor, 10 or 20 to STR and SIZ, and plus 1 or 2 d6 damage bonus; adjust other rolls as necessary.
STR 36
CON 30
SIZ 40
POW 15
DEX 8
Move 10 Swimming
HP 35
Damage Bonus: +4d6
Weapons:
Bite – 95%, 2d6 + Damage Bonus
Armor: 6 points
Skills: Watery Stealth 65%, Spot 55%, Listen 70%.
Sanity Loss: Lose 1d2/1d6 Sanity Points on seeing A Chaousarou.
Capsize – A Chaousarou can spend an attack action to capsize a rowboat, canoe or other small watercraft by rolling its SIZ or less on D100. If it succeeds, the boat is overturned.
Death Roll – A Chaousarou that scores a special hit with its bite, begins a death roll on the following round to remove some limb it has bitten. Compare the STR of the Chaousarou with that of the victim on the resistance table to see if the limb is removed. This inflicts grevious damage to most targets, roll Bite damage again. In addition, if the hapless individual is still alive, it must roll POW x1, to remain conscious.
The Image for this post is by the fantastic artist paleontologica - Carl Buell.
You can find the other Mythos Society Guide bonus articles here.
If you wish to purchase The Mythos Society Guide to New England.
