Old Gods of Appalachia
Dazzled, your mind says mother. Your mind says beloved. Your mind says run and retreat and no. This, this is what you have come for. She is who you have come for. She lifts her blinding head, one eye black and deep as a coal mine, and she says, "Ask."
Some strange places in the woods are haunted by a sphere of burning light surrounded by electrical bolts of power. But this is no uncommon manifestation of weather. Her (and she is most definitely a her) tendrils of light caress and pry at the earth and the strange not-dead trees of her sacred grove, sending out silent chords of power that ripple through the area like music. When she speaks, it is mind to mind, her blinding head rising to reveal an eye that appears dark only because the light of her is too bright.
She has the secret knowledge. She knows the lost paths. She is the curse and the promise and the reward and the price. She knows the many things that you want—you have but to ask her for them. She is not of the Green or the Inner Dark, but something else, something unknowable and dangerous, but with the power to create and destroy, heal and sicken, find and bury.
The beloved light is intended to be a dangerous but resourceful entity that characters can interact with if they're desperate enough. She can provide almost any sort of aid, but it's always at a cost, and the specific price is unknown until the debt must be paid.
Motive: Make bargains for an unknown purpose
Environment: Remote blasted groves in the woods associated with her power
Health: 28
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (7 points)
Armor: 3 (immune to electricity)
Movement: Short
Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size; resists poison and fungus as level 4; attacks plants and structures as level 8
Combat: The beloved light can lash out with up to three short-range tendrils of light each round. A struck creature must also succeed at an Intellect defense task or become befuddled for a few rounds, hindering all of their tasks by two steps. Instead of making two tendril attacks, the beloved can perform a supernatural feat, such as healing herself or another for a major wound (10 points), moving a creature a long distance, turning invisible for a round or two, or afflicting a creature with a wasting sickness that moves them one step down the damage track each minute. By focusing her attention, she can send or receive thoughts up to a few miles, transport herself to any of her groves, bless a creature (such as granting an asset to a particular task, adding 1 to one Edge stat, or gifting someone with a new character ability), or remove her favor from someone.
As part of another action, the beloved light can move any number of creatures within long range up to a short distance closer to herself if they fail an Intellect defense roll. Some moving characters might walk under their own power, and others might be dragged like steel pulled by a magnet.
The beloved light's presence is distracting; tasks relating to anything other than attacking, defending, or interacting with her are hindered by two steps. A character can overcome this single-mindedness for a few rounds by succeeding on an Intellect defense roll.
Interaction: The beloved light limits her communications to asking simple telepathic questions within long range. A visitor seeking a bargain with her often doesn't know for minutes or hours if she has agreed to provide what they asked for. Only when the item, creature, or information appears from another source in a seeming coincidence is it clear that the agreement is in effect.
Use: Characters seeking help with a greater foe are pointed toward the beloved light's grove.
Loot: After the beloved light goes, she sometimes leaves behind a piece of herself in the soil. Gathering two bits of fossilized lightning creates a cypher that allows you and another willing creature to interact telepathically for the next 24 hours up to a mile away.
Connection: The character knows a bit of a prayer or hymn that can call the beloved light or make her more inclined to help.
GM Intrusion: The beloved light's lightning tendril also paralyzes a character for a minute if they fail an Intellect defense roll.The beloved light ends a protective or useful effect on a character (such as a cypher or defensive ability with a duration).