Note: Before we get started, the "Pard" entry is now up. Check it out here.
As if soulbound dolls weren’t creepy enough! Soulbound mannequins are an improvement on
the original—or an “improvement,” depending on your stomach for carving off
larger and larger filets of soul. The
resulting construct has at least some of the donor’s personality, albeit with a
flattened affect/aspect (hence the mandatory neutral alignment component). They
are also armed with a number of utilitarian spell-like abilities that make them
useful servants, guardians, and spies.
But their ability to convey emotion, traditionally displayed through a
series of masks, makes them at best stilted actors on the stage of a much more
lively world…and at worst, uncanny and disturbing monsters.
The mysterious Castle
Marionette is so named because of the mannequins that hang on strings like
abandoned dolls from its ramparts.
Hard-bitten adventurers might scoff at such whimsical decorations, given
that most rulers achieve the same effect hanging caged criminals and political
prisoners from gibbets. But locals
whisper of the real horror of Castle Marionette: The dolls are soulbound
mannequins created from the souls of scores of kidnapped, purchased, and
otherwise disappeared young women. The
(literally) ice-hearted mistress of the castle hangs the playthings that
disappoint her outside to be worn away by the elements until she had forgiven them.
Adventurers destroy a
soulbound mannequin, and as a bonus get to claim the construct’s cloak of resistance with a unique comedy
mask-styled clasp. The clasp is actually
the mannequin’s soul focus—and the soul in question belonged to the creator’s husband. When she discovers the adventurers have
absconded with her only means for recreating her late spouse’s mannequin, she
hunts them doggedly until the clasp is hers again, sending disguised soulbound mannequins to ambush, enervate, and otherwise torment them.
A director proudly
shows off his newest actor: a soulbound mannequin whose expressions are
painted on a series of masks. By the end of the performance, the director is dead. Was it the crime lord to whom he was deep in
the red? The wayang shadow puppeteer who
blames him for the wholesale theft of her repertoire? Or the soulbound mannequin itself, who (when
not employing disguise self) has
refused to wear any mask but one with a hand-drawn smile since the night of the
murder?
—Pathfinder Bestiary 4
248
Emily! That pun was a
bit fishy.
I also wanted a masked shae to serve the crime lord in that third
adventure seed, but it seemed like one too many shadow creatures. You might disagree though!
So an anonymous reader wrote:
Not to put too fine a
point on it, but you do have a few holes to fill in after you wrap up Bestiary
4. I actually happened upon your blog while searching for ideas about astral
leviathans. That being said, no matter what you decide to do in the future,
thank you for all you've already done.
Someone anonymous is getting a li’l sassy up in my feed! (Though I do appreciate the thanks!) By my count, I’m only short 22 monsters out
of 1022 (which makes the math easy, at least).
Let’s just say that, with a 2% truancy rate, I will stake my record
against any other weekdaily monster blog out there. And it ain’t September yet…
Speaking of which, the “Pard” entry went up this
afternoon. So 21 monsters. ;-)
And anomalitstic said:
This blog is part of
what keeps me going through the week and gives me motivation for another day
(of awesome adventure seeds I might add). If you want to keep the blog going it
would be great, but if doing another project is what you want, I'm sure
there'll be support for it from all the fans like me.
Dawww, thanks anomalitstic.
I want to chime in (a trifle belatedly), and say that this is quite possibly the best gaming resource I have *ever* seen on the net. Hell, it's better than many a supplement I've spent money on.
ReplyDeleteI'm running a Planescape campaign right now, and the PCs are most of the way through an adventure inspired by one of your Morrigna Psychopomp plot hooks -- and a future adventure is going to spin off a Shaggy Demodand plot hook.
Amazing stuff!