Horus Wutherburough's Almanac of Monsters of Espern First Edition By Flora M. Rosenkreuz Foreword by Horus About This Book by Flora M. Wutherborough Rosenkreuz Why hello there, young chap! I would like I wrote this book from the perspective of a to thank you for purchasing my almanac. I, famed famous human huntsman, Horus Wutherborough. huntsman Horus Wutherborough, have traveled all Hopefully, it shouldn't be too hard to read, because over Espern to complete a book full of monsters, I also included monster stats in it as well. Also, the demons, and all sorts of unsavory folk that a rarity scale goes (from common to rare): abundant, wanderer like you might encounter. This book is a common, uncommon, very uncommon, rare, must have for any fledgeling adventurer, sport legendary. I hope you enjoy! hunter, or student of life. This book is organized into different sections based on the type of monster that is listed. For instance, there is a section about the undead. This makes the book more navigable in situations where you might not know what monster is currently before you. Hopefully, this bestiary can provide some use to you, as a lot of this information has not been recorded before. In fact, I had several expeditions where students would accompany me to see any new creatures they might encounter, and many a new creature we did see! We also put together information on monsters that have already been discovered. Anyways, I'd like to thank you once again for purchasing this book! If I had a copper coin for every brush with death I had while putting this together, well, I wouldn't be needing to sell books, mind you! -Horus Wutherborough, Famed Huntsman Section Onc: The Fae spirits of “natural good”, and if you do not disturb the local nature, they will not bother you. However, The fae are a magical set of creatures, usually I made the mistake of mistaking one for a fish and small and with bug-like features. Legends say they trying to catch it. Needless to say, it was a kind of are made of pure magic, but no evidence gives tedious battle. These fae are not very tough, but in these legends any credit. The fae are notoriously numbers, they can be a nuisance. However, there is difficult to encounter, but I gathered what little on a legend that if infants fall overboard a vessel, the these buggers I could. Birog will take them and turn them into a Birog. Size: Three or four feet tall. Brownies HP: 12 In my experience, these are some of the most hard AC: 8 to find fae. The brownies are spirits of good that Rarity: Common in the southern ends of the Bold manifest themselves in homes that are at peace or Ocean. very well. They look like small monkeys. The Alignment: Chaotic Good brownie can only be seen by children, or a magician with an especially good eye. Brownies Exp Value: 40-60. grow attached to the family of the home they are in Attacks: Water Bolt (2d4, range 3 squares), and do labor or guard the house while the family Whirlpool (2d6 to enemies adjacent to the Birog). sleeps. Brownies will also travel with a moving family. They have no combat ability whatsoever, Speed: 5 although proportionately they are surprisingly Bluecap strong, possibly to do housework with. These incredibly small fae appear in caves as small Size: About a half foot tall. blue flames. They are commonly mistaken for HP: 7 fireflies. They will swarm around humans, and if AC: 3 given an offering, the bluecap will show the way to rich mineral deposits or treasure. However, if Rarity: Very Uncommon disturbed or provoked, they will use powerful earth Alignment: Lawful Good and fire based magic against you. It is advised to bring honey with you in caves in case Bluecaps EXP Value: 10 swarm around you. If you want to hunt these, Attacks: Bite (1 damage). however, it is advised to take them out from afar. Many people hunt them as they are not very Speed: 2 intelligent (swarming around humans), and their Water Sprite corpses are an efficient fuel. These fae are commonly spotted swimming in the Size: Incredibly small. southern parts of the Bold Ocean. They appear as HP: 14 half-dolphin and swim around fishing boats, where they sometimes free fishermen's catches. They are AC: Hard to hit, treat as 14 Rarity: Rare A Kelpie is a shape-shifting spirit that lives in swamps. They look like blue elves with webbed Alignment: Chaotic neutral. ears, and are not intelligent. They act like animals, EXP Value: 50-60 on instinct. As such, the only reason they would Attacks: Wisp Flame (2d4, 5 squares), Flash (-2 to attack travellers is for territory reasons and for strike for 5 turns, all squares within 4 squares), food. Kelpies have the magic to change themselves Dust Spirit (1d4, -1 to strike next turn, all adjacent into the being their prey loves most, but not their squares). animal-like behaviour. Cat-Sidhe Size: Normal elf size. HP: 22 The Cat-Sidhe, sometimes pronounced as Cat Sith by outside cultures, is an incredibly dangrous fae AC: 12 haunting the mountains of North Point. I have seen Rarity: Very Uncommon only one, but it got away, so all this information is based on local mythology. They appear as Alignment: Chaotic Neutral beautiful, luxurious cats with two tails, and when EXP Value: 60 people get close, they turn into a female figure Attacks: Shapeshift, Bite (2d4 damage), Acid Spit with cat ears and two tails and steal their victim's (2d6 damage, 3 squares). souls. The easy way to identify a Cat-Sidhe is if it is a solid, long haired black cat, with a white heart Speed: 7 on its chest. These are not recommended to be Lorelei approached at all. Size: Normal human size when in humanoid form. The Lorelei is a flower spirit, often just a few inches tall. They have bug-like wings, antennae, HP: 28 and eyes. They are generally friendly spirits that AC: 14 propagate the flowers, but if their flowers are desecrated, they will attack. Rarity: Legendary Size: 1-4 inches. Alignment: Chaotic Evil HP: 8 EXP Value: 600 AC: Hard to hit, treat as 8. Attacks: Soul Stealing Bite (must roll higher than 10 on a 1d20, if the roll is failed the cursed one Rarity: Uncommon loses 2 health per turn until the Cat-Sidhe is dead), Alignment: Lawful neutral. Scratch (2d4), Demonic Bolt (3d4, 7 squares). EXP Value: 10 Speed: 6 Attacks: Rose Cutter (1d4, 3 squares) Speed: 5 Kelpie Pixie Pixies are small sprites that appear all over the Alignment: Chaotic Evil world, regardless of environment. They act in EXP Value: 50-60 many different ways, but are usually mischevious. The more evil ones outright attack adventurers, and Attacks: Pike (2d4), Bloodbolt (1d4, 4 squares), in my experience, the more good ones make Bite (1d4), Charged Bloodbolt (3d4, 4 squares, excellent guides for their native environment. They charges on the first turn and fires on the second.) typically wear mushroom caps on their heads, and Speed: 5 have bug-like wings. They also manipulate mushroom-based magic. Nymph Size: 5 or 6 inches. Nymphs are spirits that represent a certain aspect of nature, and form when there is an abundance of HP: 12 that aspect. They are immortal until the nature is AC: Hard to hit, treat as 8. gone, although their physical form can be Rarity: Abundant temporarily killed (they reform later). Various nymphs are colored differently and have different Alignment: Chaotic good, true neutral, chaotic abilities, so they have different names. Nymphs neutral, or neutral evil. have the mentality and appearance of an adolescent EXP Value: 20 female, but have powerful magic. Nymph stats vary based on what they represent and how Attacks: Poison Spore (1d4, does 1d4 for the next powerful they are. 2 turns if it hits, 2 squares), Stinging Spore (2d4, 3 squares). Names and skin color: Speed: 4 Saltwater – Dark Blue – Nereid Redcap Freshwater – Teal – Naiad Wind – Light Yellow – Auread Redcaps are dangerous, evil fae that are named for the mushroom caps that decorate their head. Precious Metals – Gold – Pleiade Initially white at birth, redcaps kill and the more Stone – Gray - Cragad creatures they kill, the deeper red the caps become. They carry iron pikes as tall as they are and use Flowers – Pink – Antheads them to attack. They appear like fairies with large Trees – Green – Dryads mushroom caps and red skin. They also typically inhabit ruined dungeons and castles, to kill stray Sand/Desert – Dark Yellow – Alseide travelers. Art/Creativity – Purple – Themeide Size: 1 foot, roughly. Crystals – Light Blue/Pink - Shinead HP: 25 Size: Adolescent elf. AC: 13 HP: 20-30 Rarity: Uncommon. AC: Depends on the element, 8-14 Rarity: Very uncommon. can manipulate fire and use that as their main way of attacking potential predators. They are also Alignment: Any neutral. incredibly flighty, and can (and will) run away EXP Value: 60-70 whenever given the chance. If you corner one and Attacks: Elemental Bolt (1d4-3d4, 2-4 squares), manage to kill it, however, one tail will sell Elemental Strike (2d4-3d6), the ability to upwards of 500 gold on the market. Multiply that manipulate their element nearby. by nine and you have a nice profit. Speed: 7 Size: About three feet long, plus the tails are about one foot long. Section Two: Beasts HP: 12 These are monsters and creatures more animal-like AC: 10 in nature.