Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran
So cold spirits infusing humanoid but otherwise inert matter.
I imagine heart analogues should probably be similar in size. That would likely limit the use of very precious gems, unless wealth is no object for the baddies.
The obvious gems to use, IMO, evoking cold would be anything that resembles ice like carved transparent or white crystal, quartz, gypsum, etc.
Certain gems like diamonds feel cold to the touch due to very low specific heat.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran
That fits some myths of the wechuge. They're monstrous former people infused with "too strong" of spirits and hearts of ice. Melting the heart with literal heat or in a few myths with the love of a relation would end their existence or sometimes turn them human again.
One could easily make part of that a mistake of folklore. They merely resemble formerly living people with wish fulfillment adding the happy ending myths.
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The PCs discovered the hearts to be high-quality quartz, very transparent, looking almost like clear ice. Breaking them worked, using repeated shotgun blasts to the chest cavity from point blank range, though no one thought to try to thaw them.
Having in the previous session only faced the mud people*/blood golems/servitors of the Cold Ones when they were within a Threshold in the process of expelling them, the PCs were unpleasantly surprised to note that without a Threshold to weaken them, the muddy bodies were no longer dripping and unformed, but solid, like frozen mud. This meant a DR and higher ST and HP, not to mention a bonus to strikes.
Within a Bad Place (that was also a literal Haunted Mansion, with paid tours) where a tear in reality connected them with some place which drained light, energy and warmth from the area, the Cold One servitors also seemed to gain in power, which, among other things, manifested in them growing razor-sharp icy tendrils that served as talons and them moving faster and with more purpose.
Of course, that was still much less terrifying than the Girl with the Kaleidoscope Eyes, a pretty Hispanic woman in her late twenties or so, who was waving around a sacrificial knife and magic dust that looked like crystallized ice, while she instantly snuffed out all light sources, sound and made it freezing cold. No one could see anything, no one could hear, and even when the PCs screamed in terror, they couldn't hear themselves screaming.
Shame, really, that while she was gathering energy for some magnificent ritual, a PC threw a bunch of salt in her face, causing her to lose control of the gathered energy and open up a tear in reality, located inside herself. Her skin started bluing and patterns of frost roses started forming from her face downward as tendrils of white frost covered her, but she didn't seem to be dying, just in an unbelievable amount of pain.
And her eyes, which previously had been described as kaleidoscope eyes because they seemed a different colour in different light, now seemed to draw into themselves all light while emitting its antithesis, a sort of illumination without light, simultaneously all colours and none.
I suppose the thrown lantern to her face was a mercy, really. Though it might not have been thrown if the PC had been aware that while it was not emitting any light or heat he could feel, it was, in fact, still lit and when it impacted, splashed burning oil over her face and hair. The brief flash of light and warmth nearly instantly vanished, but the oil somehow kept burning her flesh while bubbling with a dark flame that emitted no heat that could be felt even at a couple of feet away.
In the end, she was knocked down and knocked out with a couple of solid thwacks from a sturdy staff. 'Nonc' Morel didn't really take any useful combat charms with him to spend Christmas at his sister's place, but he's never without his staff. And he's found that few things are immune to being knocked over the head, and if he pulls the blow enough, they even tend to survive.**
*
No, that's probably not going to be what the call them.
**It helps that he's quite gifted at natural remedies, though even with the blow pulled to barely a love tap, the Girl With the Kaleidoscope Eyes still has a broken skull, a major concussion and is only alive because she made her two death checks for being reduced down to -18 HP.