The Strange Bestiary
Scormels are rarely seen, and luckily so, since these creatures with the upper torsos of people and lower bodies like giant scorpions are vicious, xenophobic cannibals whose "terror is awesome" (according the Tablets of Rabisu), and whose poisonous sting is difficult to survive. These so-called scorpion people speak the Maker's Tongue, like all intelligent creatures of Ardeyn, but otherwise don't have much in common with other cultures. They sometimes raid remote keeps and hunt the edges of the Night Vault, but they are most concerned with intratribal conflicts that set one small band against another in a constant struggle for dominance. (Scormel tribes use elaborate body paint and shell etchings to denote their identities, though outsiders have a hard time telling one group from another.)
Scorpion people eat their defeated foes during celebratory midnight feasts around great bonfires. Usually, defeated scormels are the main course, but sometimes humans or qephilim are served.
Motive: Territory and defense
Environment (Ardeyn | Magic): Almost anywhere warm and uncivilized, in groups of three to five, or tribes of up to twelve plus a level 4 leader
Health: 9
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 2
Movement: Short; immediate when climbing
Modifications: Resists poison and psychic attacks as level 6; Ardeyn lore as level 5.
Combat: Scorpion people attack with their grasping pedipalps. Alternatively, they can use their venomous stingers on a target, which inflict 3 points of Speed damage to those who fail a Might defense roll. Further, a stung victim must make another Speed defense roll; failure means that the poison remains active in his body and automatically inflicts another 3 points of Speed damage each round until he succeeds on a Might defense roll. Some scorpion people also use bows to attack targets at long range.
A scormel leader"called an ensi"has a supernatural ability at her disposal. When an ensi attacks, her eyes blaze with terrifying majesty. Creatures within immediate range must make an Intellect defense roll or lose their nerve for one round. The difficulty of a victim's tasks, including attacks and defense, increases by two steps for that period.
Interaction: Usually, the only way for visitors to avoid becoming the main course during a scormel feast is to show heartfelt obeisance and offer a gift of cyphers or artifacts to the ensi. Even then, it's touch and go.
Use: The son of a merchant was taken by scorpion people. When next seen, it was as gnawed bones strewn along the mountain pass as a warning. The merchant, furious in her grief, has sworn vengeance. She offers good pay to anyone who joins her retaliatory strike.
Loot: Ensi have one or two cyphers, possibly an artifact, and access to a treasury (a burlap sack) containing several hundred crowns.
GM Intrusion: When the scormel successfully attacks the character with a pedipalp, it grasps his leg and doesn't let go, inflicting 3 points of damage every round until he succeeds on a difficulty 4 Might-based task. While so gripped, the difficulty of his Speed defense rolls is increased by two steps.
Ensi: level 4; health 12; Armor 4; blazing eyes cause targets to lose their nerve for one round