The Strange Bestiary
A tagweh is an evil spirit that can take many shapes. Even grandfather shaman doesn't know them all, because a tagweh is a clever beast, and doesn't tell. Each shape gives the spirit an extra life. Dying robs a tagweh of one shape forever, though it can return in a new shape if it has any left.
If a tagweh is killed in one form, it doesn't return in a new form to exact revenge for many months, until the memory of the tagweh fades in the killer's mind. But return the tagweh does, and it arranges for bad luck to befall the killer of its former shape. Sometimes that bad luck is an avalanche, a forest fire, or a slip from a horse's saddle. Other times, it's a direct attack by the tagweh wearing a hideous new shape.
Motive: Trickery, vengeance
Environment (Thunder Plains | Magic): Almost anywhere
Health: 15
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 5 or 1; see Combat
Movement: Short; long when flying in flying shape
Modifications: Tasks related to deception as level 6; knowledge of Native American myths as level 6.
Combat: A tagweh uses whatever physical weapons are granted by its given shape. If the spirit wears a predominantly humanoid shape, it uses a melee weapon, but when wearing a predatory shape, it attacks with claws.
In any shape, a tagweh can project a heat-draining pulse to a short distance that inflicts cold damage to all creatures. Doing this forces a tagweh to expend part of its own spirit, and it takes 1 point of damage (ignores Armor).
The tagweh's greatest defense is its connection to the ground. While standing upon solid ground, it's nearly invulnerable (Armor 5). But if knocked down or lifted away from the ground, it loses this protection and becomes vulnerable (Armor 1).
A tagweh can take different shapes. Purposefully taking a specific shape requires one hour of agonizing effort. If a tagweh is killed, it regenerates within a few miles of the spot where it died, and it can never again take the shape it wore when killed. A tagweh's greatest secret is how many shapes remain to it.
Interaction: Tagwehs are intelligent, but most of them use that gift to trick people and cause suffering.
Use: A shaman lured a mated pair of tagwehs into a rival village, arranged to have them killed, and put the blame on the villagers. In the nottoo- distant future, those tagwehs will return in new forms, and when they do, the village will be no more.
Loot: A tagweh's skin can be used to make a lightweight hide that grants 5 points of Armor for one day. A tagweh prefers to trick lone victims who have been lured away from allies so that if a trick fails, the spirit can simply kill its victim directly with little chance of being stopped.
GM Intrusion: The PC becomes a victim of the bad luck a tagweh can trigger. A cliff face collapses, a bridge gives out, an unseen gopher hole is stepped in—whatever happens, it inflicts a moderate wound (5 points), and on a failed Might defense roll, it raps the PC until she can escape with a successful Might-based task.