The Strange
The magicians of Crow Hollow can work a lot of mischief after they've accumulated enough power in the form of crow coin. A magician with three chests of crow coin, a mystic recipe for making coursers, and buy-off from the Beak Mafia can transform a recently deceased kro corpse into an animate and quite dangerous kro courser.
A kro courser pack answers to the commands of anyone who holds their leash (created at the same time and via the same magic as the kro coursers). Most leashes remain in the hands of mafiosos, but sometimes courser leashes are given as gifts to visiting crime kingpins, or are stolen. If a leash is destroyed, the associated courser or pack attacks all nearby creatures without restraint.
A kro courser is not really alive; it's magically animated and preserved flesh. Without the maintenance magically provided by a Crow Hollow magician, it slowly decays.
Motive: Follows commands, hunger
Environment (Crow Hollow | Magic): Anywhere, alone or in packs of up to four
Health 24
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Movement: Short
Combat: A kro courser can simultaneously attack one foe with two claws.
A courser can also vomit forth a mass of decaying flesh and grave worms. The smell and sight is so horrific that PCs who fail a Might defense roll find the difficulty of all tasks increased by one step. If the kro courser targets a PC within short range with its vomit, the PC must succeed on a Speed defense roll to avoid being splattered. Splattered PCs take 4 points of ambient necrosis damage. For each round the vomit remains on the PC, that character suffers another 4 points of damage.
A kro courser has the ability to follow the scent of a quickened creature through recursions if the trail is less than a week old. If the quickened target travels through any recursion (or up to Earth) that does not operate under the law of Magic, the trail is broken.
Interaction: A kro courser has the intelligence of an animal, but it may accomplish more intelligent actions if under the close control of a leash holder.
Use: A pack of kro coursers vaults from the shadows and into the flanks of a trade caravan that has interests in an alternate recursion. If the PCs don't intervene, the pack will kill everyone.
Loot: The cut-open gullet of a kro courser contains a disgusting knot of decaying flesh, dirt, and grave worms, as well as a small amount of crow coin and possibly a cypher.
GM Intrusion: A successful attack on the PC is from a bite, not a claw. The courser simultaneously vomits, which in addition to other noted effects, sends worms wriggling and crawling into the wound. For the next minute, the PC takes 1 point of ambient damage each round as the worms tunnel through his flesh before finally dying.
Someone practiced in riding a kro courser—and who has tack, harness, and bridle—makes all melee attacks as if one level higher while mounted. A courser can continue to make vomit attacks while serving as a mount.