CHARNEL HOUND

“It was the oddly conventionalised figure of a crouching winged hound, or sphinx with a semi-canine face, and was exquisitely carved in antique Oriental fashion from a small piece of green jade. The expression on its features was repellent in the extreme, savouring at once of death, bestiality, and malevolence...”

—H.P. Lovecraft, “The Hound”

This ancient species of hypergeometric entity has long been known to human cultists and sorcerers. They resemble the desiccated corpse of a very large dog with a hard, chitinous skin, vicious claws on four legs, enormous jaws, and very large, tattered wings. Left to their own devices, the hounds haunt shadowy realms where they feast on the projected higher dimensional aspects of already-dead humans without disturbing their victims’ three-dimensional corpses. In short, they are scavengers who eat human bodies but only the extradimensional parts we cannot see. While in those shadowy realms, the hounds cannot be perceived by humans except for their voices, which they can project down through lower dimensions to invisibly menace their targets.

When summoned to our reality, the hounds can be bound to duties as any other servitor. Most commonly they are used to hunt and kill those who have wronged the summoner. Once bound, hounds are still free to roam their preferred realms but they will fulfill their duty at the first available opportunity. They stalk their targets, sometimes for days, in order to stoke their fears and make their targets’ extradimensional essences more flavorful and engorged. They remain in their shadowy realms during this phase, existing coterminous with our reality and able to perceive their target yet be unseen in return. They project their monstrous howl through the dimensions, however, to drive their target into increasing panic and deliciousness. When their target is well ripened with dread, the hound teleports nearby into our reality and launches a ferocious attack.

Charnel Hound

STR     25        CON    25        DEX    12        INT     8          POW   12

HP       25        WP      12

ARMOR: 3 points of furry chitin.

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Relentless Apport 75%, Flight 60%.

ATTACKS: Claw 40%, damage 2D6.

Bite 40%, Lethality 15%.

OTHERWORLDLY FLIGHT: The hound can “fly” in any environment, flapping its membranous wings as if against some unseen current—even underwater or in space.

In flight, the hound seems slow and clumsy, certainly more sluggish than most avians. Yet, while in flight, it may suddenly vanish as if launching away at terrific speed, passing out of everyday dimensions and through unthinkable realities.

RELENTLESS APPORT: The hound can teleport to the near vicinity of its current target, generally within 200 yards, no matter where the target may be. It only uses this ability to traverse substantial distances or to translate from their shadowy realms down to our reality. Once it has reached the target’s vicinity, the hound will fly, run, or stalk as needed. The hound enjoys the thrill of the hunt.

UNNATURAL BIOLOGY: The hound’s physiology would baffle any biologist. Making a called shot for “vitals” or another apparently vulnerable area inflicts normal damage, with no special game effect.

SAN LOSS: 1/1D6.