Fear the Huzuni
It’s been a little quiet around this site for a few days. Busy, busy, busy. I’ve got about 30 pages of Rantz’s Fair Multitude, my next PDF, typed up and semi-formatted. Obviously, my original goal of having this product done by the end of October has fallen apart, but that’s okay. I’d rather it get released later than I planned (or not at all) than it get rushed to the “presses” and end up a mess.
What with today being a holy of obligation for us Catholics, I took the day off from work. I’m right now hanging out at Houston Community College’s Katy campus waiting for my son Christopher to get done with the mandatory exam he has to take before he starts college classes for dual credit for both high school and college. Once he’s done with the test, I’m going to head home, take care of little bit of paper work for school, and then probably relax until this evening when it’s time to go to Mass.
Part of the hanging out/relaxing equation involves typing stuff, including what you’re reading now. I’d like to keep updating this site two or three times a week with OSR stuff, but to do that I have to use my down time to get ahead of the curve.
Anyhoo, enough about me. Let’s look at a new monster inspired by a combination of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary and George Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now”. A version of this monster was featured in the Halloween game of Little Fears that I ran.
Huzuni are a demonic creatures that feed on sorrow, grief, and pain. They enter our world through tears in the barriers that normally keep hellish planes separate from the mortal realm. These tears can be caused by tears shed in desperate sorrow by people who refuse to accept the reality of their losses, who instead, often unwittingly, bargain with chaotic powers for a second chance to be with their deceased loved ones. Huzuni wait hungrily for the chance to slip free of their infernal realm in order to cause more death and pain. A huzun’s natural form varies, but they are invariably a distorted and horrible parody of humanoid. Features are always twisted, out of proportion. Limbs have too many elbows, too many knees. They scuttle about on all fours as much as they walk on their feet.
Many people cannot see a huzuni for what it really is unless it chooses to reveal itself. Children who’ve not yet reached puberty and animals always see the monster’s true form. Otherwise, only intelligent creatures with more than 4 Hit Dice can hope to pierce a huzun’s sinister false form, and even then doing so requires a saving throw. These demons’ false forms vary, but are always seemingly normal and harmless. They often appear in the form of deceased loved ones, especially if those loved ones were children. Some huzuni look like common domestic animals, such as dogs.
Huzuni have the horrifying power of autodismemberment, which permits them to tear their bodies apart into as many three pieces. Each piece darts about independently, and can attack with the demon’s claws and fangs, depending on which body parts a particular piece has. For example, a huzuni could split into three pieces, an armless torso that could bite and two separate arms that can slither about like serpents and claw. Even pieces without apparent sensory organs can still see and hear. Each piece can be attacked and damaged as if the monster were whole.
A huzun’s most dreaded attack is its ability to manifest its foes’ darkest fears, affecting all desired targets within 30 feet who can see the monster. Targets who fails their saving throw against manifested fears can do nothing but stand helplessly, overwhelmed by the terrifying sights and sounds conjured up by the huzun. This fear effect lasts 2d4 minutes.
For Swords & Wizardry:
Hit Dice: 8
Armor Class: 3 [16]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (1d6)
Saving Throw: 8
Special: +1 or better weapon to hit, autodismemberment, false form, magic resistance (35%), manifest fear
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaotic
Challenge Level/XP: 12/2,000
The true story of where that picture came from is even more terrifying than the monster created here…