Old Gods of Appalachia
The things that walk these woods are worse than dead. Sometimes rotten things made of flesh, but other creatures born of the sinews of trees, formed of tangled roots and mottled bark, forgotten bones long buried in the palace of the green raised up and dressed in new raiments of vine and briar, leaves and shadow, carefully crafted into the wondrous and horrible new forms to do the bidding of their dark mother; their matriarch; their monarch.
One of the more direct and dangerous powers of the Dead Queen is her ability to create semi-living minions out of bones, death, fouled earth, dead plant matter, and debris. These rotting beasts of the dark earth are misshapen approximations of true animals, with weirdly bent limbs, extra jaws or eyes, and misplaced body parts. Some are even composed of pieces from multiple animals. Their bodies are covered in scabs, and they chew on themselves and each other like rabid beasts afflicted with mange. Their bodies ripple as they move, and under the best circumstances they look half starved. Their eyes sometimes glow, especially when they're about to strike at their prey.
You can use these game statistics for a single creature about the size of a dog or wolf, or for a pack of smaller creatures such as rats, possums, bats, or spiders.
Motive: Serving the Dead Queen, killing
Environment: Anywhere near the Dead Queen, alone or in groups
Health: 12
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Armor: 2; Instead of the beast's Armor representing thick hide or deflection of attacks, it resists damage by having a weird anatomy, lack of vital organs, and the tendency for its flesh to reshape around an incoming attack.
Movement: Short; If a beast of the dark earth has the shape of a flying creature such as a bat, it can fly a short distance each round instead of its normal ground-based movement.
Modifications: Perception as level 5
Combat: A beast of the dark earth attacks with a combination of bites, claws, and stings appropriate to its form, altogether inflicting a moderate wound (4 points).
Interaction: These things are nearly mindless, and their actions are driven by the subconscious will of the Dead Queen. The beasts can't be reasoned with or manipulated, as they are little more than rough shapes held together by dark magic, without any sense of self-preservation.
Use: A pack of strange animals is seen lurking near an abandoned old house. Beasts are making wet, sick-sounding noises just out of sight on a dark night.
Loot: The arrival of the beasts of the dark earth might churn up treasures from underground, including one or two cyphers, some coins, and a useful tool.
Connection: A character spotted one of these beasts in the moonlight and somehow escaped its attention. A character found the discarded remnants of one of these things in the daylight, but when they returned to look again, they saw only a slick stain.
GM Intrusion: The beast forms or uses a second set of jaws to make an additional attack on its turn, inflicting damage and hindering the character's actions for a few rounds from the ferocity of the attack. The thing howls, paralyzing one character for several rounds with a mix of horror and fascination on a failed Intellect defense roll.