The Strange Bestiary
Spirit creatures of myth, eneneras exist in many recursions seeded by Japanese legends, though they tend to spread into any recursion that operates under the law of Magic. Composed of smoke, eneneras live in flames, including bonfires, torches, or other conflagrations. When one emerges from the fire, it can look like smoke, a hybrid smoke-human, or a normal human carrying any equipment she had when last she was a physical being. In addition to taking the form of a human, some eneneras can take the form of mundane physical objects. These smoke spirits are often hunted and captured so they can be exploited or, in some cases, befriended.
It's said that when an enenera is in smoke form, it can be seen only by the "pure of heart" and by those it chooses to attack.
Motive: Defense, friendship, or punishment
Environment (Magic): Sometimes alone, other times as a companion or slave of another creature
Health: 12
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Movement: Short
Modifications: All tasks related to stealth as level 7; knowledge of Asian myths as level 5.
Combat: An enenera in smoke form is difficult to damage with physical weapons. Only magic or energy attacks (such as one made by an enchanted sword, a fire spell, or a laser) can harm it. In its smoke form, an enenera can attempt to smother a foe within immediate range by leaping into his lungs. A target who fails a Might defense roll begins to smother, automatically taking 4 points of damage (ignores Armor) each round, starting the round after the attack was launched. If the target succeeds on a Might defense roll as his action, he clears the enenera from his lungs and deals the creature 6 points of damage in the process.
An enenera can exist within any normal fire that is at least the size of a torch, and only observant creatures are likely to note anything out of the ordinary with the inhabited flame. The enenera can shift between smoke and human forms as part of another action, including making a physical attack as a human. As a human, an enenera is fully vulnerable to all attacks, and some choose to wear armor for this reason.
Some eneneras can also take the physical forms of mundane objects no bigger than twice the size of a normal human. Such objects are considered level 4 for purposes of toughness, complexity, durability, and so on.
Interaction: Different eneneras have different personalities. Some are helpful and kind, while others are vindictive and cruel.
Use: A powerful NPC the characters interact with has lost his staff of office and offers a generous reward for its return. However, it urns out that the staff was actually an enenera that customarily took that form, but it grew dissatisfied and decided to seek a better life.
GM Intrusion: The character's weapon or other piece of equipment shudders and loses shape, revealing itself as an enenera that had slipped in among his possessions as a stowaway. If the PC is fighting another enenera, the new one joins the fight on the side of the other smoke creature.