Old Gods of Appalachia
Miners' tales of tommyknockers say they are helpful beings who warn people when a mine shaft is about to collapse. Wise miners leave food out for them and never look for them, for tommyknockers react violently when seen and don't like to be followed. A tommyknocker is about 2 feet (60 cm) tall, with a big head, long arms, a wrinkled face, and white whiskers, carrying small tools and wearing what resembles a miner's work clothes.
Tommyknockers use their tools to make quiet knocking and thumping noises on the stone walls where they live, conveying simple messages to each other through long-reaching echoes. If they sense that an area is about to have a cave-in, they knock loudly to warn each other and other creatures in the area.
They craft their own tools and clothes out of things they find or steal. A glimpse of one might resemble a child working in the mine, but a better look at the creature's odd, wrinkled face makes it clear they aren't human at all.
Tommyknockers hate whistling and the talk or music from radios. It's common for all tommyknockers to leave a mine within a dozen days of this noise, leaving the workers vulnerable to unsafe tunnels—and other strange things that live in the deeps.
It's likely that tommyknockers used to be more benign creatures that were slowly corrupted by the Inner Dark with a madness that makes them unpredictable. Now they switch between helping and stealing, and attacking those who follow or watch them.
Motive: Helping miners and cave-dwellers, stealing
Environment: Caves and mines, alone or in groups of up to five
Health: 6
Damage Inflicted: Minor wound (2 points)
Movement: Short; short when traveling as mist
Modifications: Stealth and working with stone as level 5
Combat: A tommyknocker attacks with a small tool such as a hammer, mining pick, or knife. It usually flees after a round or two.
As an action, a tommyknocker can turn into mist or flickering candlelight for a few moments, moving up to a short distance even through the tiniest cracks in the rock. They use this ability to escape pursuers and to guide rescuers to humans trapped by a cave-in.
Interaction: Tommyknockers never speak, but they understand gestures and some human words. They're more likely to be harmless if little bribes are left out for them and if nobody tries to look for them—communicating in the dark or around a corner is the safest option.
Use: Repetitive noises in a new tunnel branch signal an upcoming collapse. Tommyknockers are blamed for food and equipment going missing in a mine.
Loot: A tommyknocker might have an interesting small treasure stolen from a miner, such as a keepsake locket, a pocket watch, or scrip.
Connection: Most characters who are familiar with mining know of the tommyknockers and probably have heard them tapping.
GM Intrusion: The tommyknocker tries to hobble the character, reducing their movement to an immediate distance on a failed
Might defense roll. (A one-hour or ten-hour recovery ends this.)
The tommyknocker's face changes to that of a person who died in the mine, startling and hindering the character for a few rounds on a failed Intellect defense roll.