It's a Beastling's business...

BEASTLING (#28/30, #119/365) [OOTP IV]

SKILL: 6+ (and see below)

STAMINA: 5+ (and see below)

ATTACKS: 1+ (and see below)

WEAPON: Small Claw (and see below)

ARMOUR: None

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Forests, Hill, Plains

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1

TYPE: Monster

REACTION: Friendly or Hostile

INTELLIGENCE: High

A variant of the dreaded Changeling, the BEASTLING goes about its nefarious business in a slightly different manner to that of its eldritch brethren. Instead of Changeling's practice of perpetrating outrages in subterranean or urban settings, the Beastling is a wild nature spirit of Chaos, that erupts from the woodland to target an isolated homestead or farm. Here it will pretend to be a mewling infant-child, and be taken in by poor cottagers, either living alone or as an elderly couple. Anyone who fails a Test for Luck will see it as a human baby instead of what it really is (on which, more below).

Once ensconced in its sanctuary, and pandered to by its new 'parent(s)', the mere presence of the Beastling will begin to affect the surrounding farm. Its evil influence will warp and twist everything on the farm, mutating farm animals into hideous Chaos Mutants, and animating tools, implements, scarecrows and even furniture with malicious spirits.

The first step to end the influence of a Beastling is to brave all the terrors of the farm that have been warped by its presence. To determine what these are, roll two dice or choose 2-7 times from the table below. To create similar entries one can use the Animated Objects table in Return to the Pit (pp. 19-21) or normal animal scores and alter them with 1-3 rolls on the mutant powers tables for Chaos Steeds (see Return to the Pit, p. 43), Chaos Mutants (Beyond the Pit, p. 31) or the Random Creature Creator (see Demons of Doom, p. 65).

First Roll Second Roll Warped Farm Inhabitant

1-3 1 HORSE: 1-3 of them have been converted into HAVOC HORSES (SKILL 9 STAMINA 10, 2 Attacks, Hooves (as per Large Claw) and Whip Tail (victim must Test their Luck, or be -2 SKILL during the battle until free), Medium Armour). 

"...something large canters out the shadows, ready to trample you into the ground. You get the impression of bony protrusions and a whipping scaly tail. With an evil snarling whinny, the mad-eyed horse-mutant attacks..."

1-3 2 COW: 1-3 of them have been converted into BOVINE BEASTS (SKILL 8 STAMINA 9, 3 Attacks, Tusks, Horns all Hooves (all as Large Claw). Adversaries must reduced their Attack Strength by 1 due to the boggy nature of the field in which they fight.) 

"...you hear a gruff snorting, and the clanging of an iron bell, and turn in time to see a monstrous bovine creature galloping across the field towards you, splashing through the mud. You would have said it was a cow, were it not for the branching, antler-like horns, claw-split hooves and savage tusks protruding from between ulcerated lips. But whatever it is, you will have to fight it..."

1-3 3 PIG: 1-6 of them have been converted into SAVAGE SWINE (also known as Hellhogs) (SKILL 6 STAMINA 5, Tusks (as per Small Bite), Light Armour).

"...the monstrous pigs with warty hide and bristly hair have caught up with you, so you will have to defend yourself against their slicing, sabre-like tusks, and belligerent porcine temperaments..."

1-3 4 GOAT: 7-12 of them have been converted into CREEPY CAPRINES (SKILL 5 STAMINA 6, 2 Attacks, Headbutt (as per Small Claw) or Acid Saliva (Test versus Skill to avoid, does 1 STAMINA damage a round until wiped off), Heavy armour. Anyone hit by a Creepy Caprine must Test their Skill or be knocked over and must spend the next Attack Round getting up).

"...you really don't like the look of the goats, clad in bizarre tortoise-like carapace armour, that does not appear to slow them down at all, and prone to bad-temperedly spitting yellow gobbits of acidic saliva in your direction..."

1-3 5 SHEEP: 7-12 of them have been converted into ULTRA UNGULATES (SKILL 7 STAMINA 4, 2 Attacks, Headbutt (as per Small Claw), regenerates up to 2 STAMINA per Attack Round. Anyone hit by an Ultra Ungulate must Test their Skill or be knocked over and must spend the next Attack Round getting up).

"...These may look like vaguely normal sheep, if a bit on the scrawny side. But then they move, with speed and agility, and any wound you dish out to these aggressive ovines starts to regenerate almost instantly..."

1-3 6 DOG: 1-3 of them have been converted into CHAOS CURS (SKILL 4 STAMINA 4, 3 Attacks, Small Bite, Horns (as per Large Claw) or Scorpion Tail (Sting does 4 STAMINA poison damage)).

"...a howling precedes the arrival of what were once dogs, but now skittering hairy things, with great sharply curved horns and a tail that ends in a venomous sting. Snarling in hatred they charge towards you at full speed..."

4-6 1 CAT: 1-2 of them have been converted into FEROCIOUS FELINES (SKILL 6 STAMINA 4, 2 Attacks, Small Bite and Tentacles, No Armour, -1 to Damage Roll, Cannot be Surprised). 

"...the cat has become something truly atrocious, with oily black skin, four green eyes staring from its head at different angles, and thrashing tentacles growing from its shoulders. It snarls and leaps towards you..."

4-6 2 CHICKEN: 1-6 of them have been converted into DEVILFOWL (also known as Foul Fowl) (SKILL 6 STAMINA 5, 2 Attacks, Small Bite, -2 to Damage Roll, Medium armour. Cannot be surprised).

"...you spy terrifying travesties of chickens, with scaly skin, extra eyes, and, disturbingly, two heads both squawking and cackling hatred at your continued existence..."

4-6 3 GOOSE: 1-6 of them have been converted into GRUESOME GANDERS (SKILL 6 STAMINA 6, Small Bite, Medium Armour). Anyone fighting a Gruesome Gander must reduce their Attack Strength by 2 due to the creature's speedy flying, however this advantage is lost when the Gruesome Gander's STAMINA is reduced to 2 or less. 

"...these things are foul to look upon, with pallid white scaly hide and pteradactlyoid skin-wings, and swarm at you screaming hideously, with yellow eyes ablaze..."

4-6 4 FURNITURE: 1-3 of them have been converted into ANIMATED FURNITURES, specifically a TABLE (SKILL 5 STAMINA 6, Small Claw) and 2-5 CHAIRS (SKILL 6 STAMINA 4, Small Claw). 

"...seemingly possessed by angry spirits, these strange adversaries will batter anyone who has disturbed them..."

4-6 5 SCARECROWS: 1-3 of them have been converted into ANIMATED SCARECROWS (each SKILL 6 STAMINA 4, Small Claws).  

"...they may have heads like pumpkins or melons, or simply made of old sack-cloth. They will clamber from their frames and attack anyone who passes too closely to their fields, clawing at them with thorny fingers..."

4-6 6 FARM TOOLS: 2-12 of them have been converted into ANIMATED TOOLS (SKILL 7-17 STAMINA 2-12, 2-12 Attacks, Improvised Weapon).

"...a mobile swarm of farm tools floats towards you, humming ominously; rakes, pitchforks, awls, scythes and sickles all heading in your direction...".

If one can slay or dodge such rustic rural horrors, one can then enter enter the farmhouse, where the mesmerized cottager(s) fawn over their 'infant foundling'. However, lying there wrapped in a woollen blanket is no baby - at least no human child. The Beastling looks more like a malevolent imp, a wolfish sprite covered in in thick fur, with pointed ears, fangs and claws and a grotesque gargoyle's smile splitting its warty face. The Beastling will fix the intruder(s) with darkly burning eyes and its sinister smile widens, a guttural growl rising from its throat.

If attacked at this stage, the Beastling will hiss and leap into the rafters above. In the same instant, as if compelled by the will of another, the ensorcelled cottager(s) will march towards the intruder(s), armed with whatver weapons are available to hand, ready to defend their unnatural 'child'. The Beastling will giggle as the cottager(s) attack, moreso if the intruders do not wish to harm anyone and so fight only to disarm their opponents. Roll for Attack Rounds as normal, but anyone attempting to disarm a cottager must reduce their Attack Strength by 1. Each cottager requires two won Attack Rounds to disarm them, but if the cottagers win an Attack Round, the intruder suffers damage as normal. 

Keep a count of how many Attack Rounds it takes to disarm any cottagers. When this has happened, the Beastling can be attacked, but during the fighting it has been steadily transforming itself, becoming much larger and more vicious than it was in its infant form. Its STAMINA score (which starts at 5), must be increased by the number of Attack Rounds it took to disarm the cottagers, and its SKILL score  (which starts at 6), must be increased by the same number but divided by 2. If the Beastling's new SKILL is at least 9, or its STAMINA at least 10, it also has 2 Attacks and does Large Claw damage.

The creature cannot be wounded by wooden or bronze weapons, but it is wise to trust in cold steel, as folk-lore has it that iron is inimical to such as the Beastling. If the Beastling is slain, any surviving cottager(s) will gasp in horror but not at the thought their baby is dead. It is as if a veil has been lifted from their eyes, for now they can see the Beastling in its true guise at last, before it dissolves into bubbling black slime and soaks into the floor.

The magic animating the Furniture, Scarecrows or Farm Tools can be dispelled with a 3 Magic Point Counterspell. Magic cannot undo the changes on the animals and birds however, but if the Beastling is slain all enchantments affecting the farm are undone; animated objects become inanimate and any animals or birds still alive revert back to normal. 

The Order of the Black Rose records a recent Beastling attack, out at old Bauer Farm in the hills east of Vargenhof, within cursed Lupravia. The Order considers Beastlings to be as to Chaos Beast Men, as Lycanthropes and Were-Creatures are to Humans and others. They are sufferers of some kind of magical disease that transforms them into screaming human babies. However, this is then used to infiltrate human society and slowly warp and bend the borderlands of civilization, as just another poisoned arrow in the black quiver that is Chaos, that must be broken asunder and never allowed to take flight...