Gunslinger Knights
Overall this creature resembles a twisted apelike tree covered in spikes, with burning coals embedded in the tips of its fingers. It is not a tree at all, but a horror that walks with an awkward sideways gait, swiping at foes and sickening them with its stench. Its blood is red and watery, looking disturbingly like human blood. What appear to be malformed branches and leaves on its back are external heart-like organs that visibly pulse. It smells like dangerous alchemy, and even other horrors avoid getting too close to it.
Motive: Hungers for flesh
Environment: In, near, and after Fundament Storms; alone or in groups of up to four
Health: 17
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (4 points)
Armor: 2; 4 against fire
Movement: Short
Modifications: Initiative and Might defense as level 5
Combat: A thorned matchwood attacks once with its burning, clawed hands, inflicting a moderate wound (4 points) and embedding a burning pellet under its foe's flesh. This pellet burns the foe for 1 point of damage at the start of the matchwood's turn for about a minute. As an action, a character can cut out the pellet (inflicting 2 points) or extinguish it with a quart (1 L) of liquid.
A matchwood can fire a cluster of burning pellets as an attack, striking a foe within short range and inflicting a moderate wound (4 points) due to fire. This doesn't embed any pellets in the foe.
The acrid stench of the matchwood hinders actions of all creatures within an immediate distance of it. Creatures immune to poison are unaffected.
Any creature striking a matchwood with a melee attack automatically takes 2 points of damage from its body spikes.
If a matchwood takes 10 or more points of damage from a single attack, its external hearts begin beating at a rapid pace and the creature's body starts to swell. At the start of its next turn, it bursts open and dies, spraying thorns, burning pellets, and stinking blood over a short area. Creatures in the area take 4 points of damage from thorns and 4 points of damage from burning pellets, and are hindered due to the stench until the blood is washed off.
Interaction: Matchwoods are invariably hostile and have been known to smack smaller horrors out of the way when approaching a chosen foe. They enjoy lighting fires and may pause to ignite flammable materials such as a house's thatched roof or a puddle of phoroil.
Overall this creature resembles a twisted apelike tree covered in spikes, with burning coals embedded in the tips of its fingers. It is not a tree at all, but a horror that walks with an awkward sideways gait, swiping at foes and sickening them with its stench. Its blood is red and watery, looking disturbingly like human blood. What appear to be malformed branches and leaves on its back are external heart-like organs that visibly pulse. It smells like dangerous alchemy, and even other horrors avoid getting too close to it.
Use: A wildfire rages in the wake of a Fundament Storm, caused by one or more matchwoods.
GM Intrusion:
The matchwood's burning pellet ignites something flammable on the character or their crafted steed, inflicting
2 damage each round until extinguished. (If the steed is on fire, its fuel tank may explode as a second GM Intrusion.)
GM Intrusion: Upon dying, the matchwood explodes as described in the Combat section.