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Shore Wights (and Dread Lurker)

Shore wights are the animated corpses of drowned sailors, lost fishermen, and children who ignored warnings to not play by the shore. They are controlled by a _Dread Lurker_, a monstrous anenmone-like beast that lurks in shallow waters. A lurker may control a half-dozen wights, which it uses to lure further victims into its clutches. A sodden, translucent tendril connects the beast to each of its puppets; this limits the distance the wight can venture onto land, and if severed results in the wight's swift demise.

Shore Wights

ST 14, DX 11, IQ 7, MA 5

These undead creatures are pale, with ragged clothing, mussed hair strewn with bits of sea weed, and an uneasy shambling gait. They may be encountered on sea shores, river banks, quays and canal paths. They maintain enough of their living personality to speak and dissemble; after emerging from the sea they generally hide, waiting for a single passerby or a small group of vulnerable-looking people to appear. They may attack outright, especially if the victim appears weak, but usually try to lure their quarry closer to the water with cries of help. ("Please! My daughter fell in. I need help!" "My ship, wrecked around the headland there. Please, come help me rescue them!") Generally, only the simple minded, drunk, or gullible fall for these clumsy entreaties.

Each of the wights attached to the same lurker are aware of what the others sees and hears, as is the lurker.

When a victim gets within a hex of a waterline, the wight will try to push or drag him in. They may be armed with a cudgel, dagger, or (rarely) a spear. Sometimes a second wight will lurk just off shore, ready to assist.

Wights may move no more than 5 hexes from the point where they emerged from the body of water. The tendril has armor 4 and ST 3. Damaged dealth by blunt weapons (club, mace, hammer) is halved before subtracting the armor. If its tendril is severed, the wight thrashes about wildly for two turns, then collapses and dies a final death.

Dread Lurker

Dread Lurkers are a three-hex creature. The lurker's bulbous body is covered with a mantle of squirming, yard-long cilia; six great tentacles -- used for locomotion and to drag prey to their beaked mouths -- ring the body. They have no facing; the have numerous eye spots, a keen sense of smell, and can detect disturbances in the water. They usually live in beds of seaweed a mile or so offshore; when they are hungry they slowly make their way to the shallows in the company of a half-dozen or so shore wights.

ST 25, DX 10, IQ 14, MA 1

A lurker generally keeps one or two wights nearby as guardians.

A lurkers tentacles are studded with stinging barbs. It can strike with two of them each turn. The tentacle deals 2-1 damage. If any hits penetrate armor, the victim must roll 4/ST to avoid the effects of the toxin. The toxin reduces effective DX by 2 and MA by 1 for two hours; the effects are cumulative. Spells which relieve the effects of poison instantly remove these penalties. A victim struck by two tentacles in the same turn may be entangled; a 4/DX throw or 3/STR throw is required to keep from being grappled and pulled toward the lurker's mouth. The lurker can strike at the grappled victim; its beak does 2 dice of damage.

Lurkers eat most of the prey that are brought to them. However, if they are running low on shore wights they will convert a freshly drowned corpse into a new puppet. The spell consumes 15 points of Strength and takes an hour to cast.


The deep-sea lairs that lurkers spend most of their time in often have piles of treasure. Most of this loot consists of coins and gems embedded in the lurker's coral-like excrement.