Bonus Black Friday Runequest Content - The Whirlvish!

A mad spirit formed of ashes, sand and hatred, they are much more than a typical sand devil, but far less than the mortals they once were. Victims of the Wild Hunter, Gagarth, their sentience and corporeal existence stripped away, they whirl across the plains of Prax as lashing twisters of sand and ash. When they sense the living, they coalesce into something more human seeming. But what attacks is far from human.

Whirlvishes may be found singly, but often congregate, winding their way over the wastelands. When they encounter intelligent life, some may attack while others carry on their meandering.

Each Whirlvish should roll Sense Intelligent Life, If it succeeds it will attack the nearest intelligent foe that is not already under attack by a Whirlvish. If it fails, or if there are no such targets, the Whirlvish will continue on its way. Animals and creatures of similar intelligence are safe from Whirlvish attack, though no one knows why.

A whirlvish can be harmed by normal attacks, which reduce its cohesion, such that it must take days to reform if its Hit Points are exceeded. Since its soul resides within Gagarth, it cannot truly be destroyed. It has no hit locations, cannot be disarmed of their swords, and suffer no effects of any morale or emotion related spells or powers.

A Command Whirvish spell could control one, as a Dismiss Sylph spell could dispel one as if it were reduced to Zero HP [A whirlvish has one effective level for this purpose for every 5 POW, or fraction thereof, that it possesses]. Someone with sufficient Spiritbinding Skill could bind a Whirlvish in Spectral Combat. They may then exact a single service immediately, or bind it into a specially prepared ‘whirlvish bag’, to exact the service later. In either case, the whirlvish can really only be commanded to attack a person or thing [which at the direction of its binder, need not be intelligent]. Once it has fulfilled the service it immediately is free and wanders off unless recaptured.

                                                         Average

POW               3d6+6                           17

DEX                 3d6+12                        23

HP                   Same as POW            17

Move               12 Fly*                                   

Defense          equal to DEX             23%

Combat Actions 2

Skill:

Sense Intelligent life POW x5%     

* Whirlvishes may fly and do so to cross open spans and similar. They prefer to stay near the ground, however, and will never ascend into the sky.

Attacks:                  SR        Attack %            Damage

Abrasion                 17      POW x5 [85%]    1d3 to engulfed locations

Spectral Attack       17      POW vs POW     Spectral Attack

Each round they attack once with each of their attacks.

Abrasion – Whirling its twin swords until they become a single rasping whirlwind, the whirlvish rushes madly to the attack. Each POW increment lower than POW x5 affects another location. So a success of POW x3 would engulf two additional random locations of the target. Armour wears away as it is affected, losing AP equal to the damage done by the Whirlvish. Armour lasts until overcome, when it is destroyed. Armour that has not been destroyed can be repaired, magically or otherwise. Armour that has been destroyed cannot, it has been worn to nothing by the whirlvishes mad dance.

Spectral Attack – As a mad soul bound to the physical world, a Whirlvish cannot fully enter the spirit plane, nor can it discorporate its target to drag it there. Instead, it simply attacks it spectrally, much in the same way it does physically. If it overcomes the POW of its victim, the victim loses 1d4 temporary POW. If it destroys all of a victim’s POW, the unfortunate soul joins the whirlvish horde.