Bugstiary Adventure Seeds: Mimic Beetle to Móðir

Finally returning to the adventure seeds for The Bugstiary, (written by me and published by Gaming Ballistic LLC for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game), I give you a creature feature, and a cryptid.

Previous: Maurakappi

Mimic Beetle (p. 35)

The Missing The delvers are investigating a series of disappearances. Witnesses describe hooded figures at night and strange conversations. Evidence (and red herrings) point to human kidnappers, but the truth is an infestation of Spegilvilla in a nearby ruin.

Where The Hel Did These Things Come From Anyway? Hired to find the source of these creatures, the heroes do some combat entomology and epidemiology and which eventually leads them to a secluded laboratory thoroughly overrun with these things, other weird bugs, animated plants (see The Garden of Evil) and diverse biological experiments. At the heart of the complex they uncover a well meaning attempt by alchemists and druids to breed a counter to Tomb Bugs (Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 p. 48-49).

Móðir (pp. 36-37)

The Mothman Prophecies A child of the local Jarl has been stricken with debilitating nightmares. They dream every night about a disaster [flood, giant locust swarm (p. 25), undead vikingr raid, etc] as they waste away. The symptoms seem similar to a martröð (nightmare; Norðlond Bestiary p. 140) but no such creature comes to the bedchamber at night. The child does report seeing a figure with glowing red eyes at the crossroads. When the delvers go looking at night, they find the Móðir waiting. If they chose to attack, the alfar will flee (and between his invulnerability to physical attacks and it's aura of Death Visions, they are unlikely to defeat it before he does so). It will return each night and they can try again. Of course, having witnessed it., they too will experience prophetic dreams (giving the child some relief, as it affects only one witness each night). If they instead try to communicate, the Móðir will do his best (within his geas) to assist them. As a complication, a Mýrartröll (Bestiary p. 143) who feels slighted by the Jarl for not making her the child's godmother knows of the impending doom and relishes the anticipated suffering. Her Nordalf (Bestiary p. 148) goons will oppose any attempts to forestall disaster.