Shadowspawn

These creatures are the male offspring of the ‘Red Lady’ Human Mutant species. These unfortunate creatures have a very short life-span and during this period, they are utterly devoted to their mothers.

Physically, the creatures look vaguely humanoid, but appear to be made out of wispy shadow. They are typically around six feet in height and have barely any weight, only around twenty pounds or so. The creatures when the shadow stuff they are made of is not moving, appear almost skeletal, with sharp claws and even sharper teeth.

Chris Van Deelen is the author of the Skirmisher Publishing LLC sourcebook Creatures of the Tropical Wastes sourcebook, co-author of its Wisdom from the Wastelands game supplement and contributor to the 'Sword of Kos: Hekaton' Anthology.

No. Enc: 1
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement: 210’ (70’)
AC: 1
HD: 8
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite
Damage: 3d3 / 3d3 / 2d6
Save: L8
Morale: N/A
Hoard Class: Incidental (only if carrying something provided by the mother)

These creatures are the male offspring of the ‘Red Lady’ Human Mutant species. These unfortunate creatures have a very short life-span and during this period, they are utterly devoted to their mothers.

Physically, the creatures look vaguely humanoid, but appear to be made out of wispy shadow. They are typically around six feet in height and have barely any weight, only around twenty pounds or so. The creatures when the shadow stuff they are made of is not moving, appear almost skeletal, with sharp claws and even sharper teeth.

These creatures gestate inside the Red Lady for 72 hours, during which the female grows more and more visibly pregnant. At the end of the 3 day period, she gives birth. The creature she spawns appears to be fully grown and mature.

Mother and creature share a special bond via neural telepathy. They are essentially unintelligent and only know what the mother knows and act upon her wishes and desires.

These creatures are in essence, living shadows. They possess a special form of teleportation that allows them to travel from one shadow to another in a single round, no matter the distance. They are also partially insubstantial, which means that many times when engaged in combat with the monsters, they are exceedingly hard to hit, and as such have a very good armor class.

In combat the creatures can use their razor-sharp claws and teeth and when they attack, they often use the dark and shadows to conceal themselves. As such, when in shadow or darkness the creatures surprise on a 1-3 instead of the usual 1.

Sunlight and bright light is their bane. When caught in such conditions, they suffer a -4 to their AC and a -4 to hit, and -2 damage. Any light-based weapon such as lasers automatically does triple damage to these creatures and they must make a saving throw versus energy or become blinded for 3d6 turns.

These creatures are very short lived. They will survive for a maximum of 1d3+1 weeks before their very substance merges permanently with the shadow and dissipates. The mothers of these creatures do not feel any pain upon their natural passing, but they do gain any memories that the creature may have received during its short life-span. However, if one of the creatures is killed due to violence or the like, the mother must make an immediate saving throw versus death or suffer 6d6 points of damage. Once the creature is killed, the mother cannot make another for 1d6 months.

Due to their unique nature, the creatures make excellent assassins, spies and thieves. The Red Ladies often use their male children for these exact purposes. Despite their being so light and insubstantial, they can easily transport up to 50 pounds of goods through the shadows in order to present them to their mothers.

 When in the role of an assassin, the mothers often arm their children with poisoned or artifact weapons (such as explosives) to ensure that whoever they wish dead will die in one fell swoop. Poison is their preferred method of assassination, since like their mothers; the creatures are immune to all manner of poison and other toxic weapons.

Mutations: Aberrant form (natural weapons), bizarre appearance (d), immunity to poison and toxic weapons, night vision, teleportation (modified), vulnerability to light.

Source: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin