Nonhuman vampires

[Highwayman]

In the Monsters, Minions, and Marauders thread, someone brought up the idea of tailoring monsters around the fears and concerns of other races, specifically coming up with a vampire that would scare an elf. I was thinking about that, and I came up with a couple of ideas. I haven’t done stats and exact powers so they can be customized, not because I’m feeling lazy. These are based more or less on the standard Tolkien/D&D interpretations of these races; your mileage may vary. If I’ve duplicated something out of fiction or gaming, I apologize.

 

The uvanmia is thought to be a demon loosed from hell specifically to torment the elves in revenge for some long-ago defeat of a demon lord by an elven hero. No one knows what its form is, as it is said no one had ever seen one face-to-face and lived, but the tales tell of fierce teeth and claws, thick hide, and a gaze that can freeze the bravest man. By night, it can fly in the form of mist and shadow, and it is in that form it takes its victims. Those victims are left withered, disfigured, crippled, and without magic, but not dead. Even as the creature drains their beauty and grace it magically chains their souls to their bodies, so even violence and magic cannot kill them. The only way to end the curse and restore the victims is to destroy the demon, which is clever, powerful, rarely strikes in the same place twice, and can only be killed by one specific, obscure means.

[Highwayman]

and now, dwarves

 

Long ago, there were two dwarven brothers. One, Furan, was a great craftsman, who won praise far and wide for his work. But that praise ate at the heart of his brother, Gibur, who had none of Furan’s talent. Finally, out of jealousy, he called on dark forces to give his skill and craftsmanship to surpass all other dwarves. In exchange, he offered his own brother in sacrifice. From that day forward, he was the greatest craftsman in the kingdom, surpassing even his brother, and he gloried in his newfound fame.

But his brother hadn’t died, not really. Furan’s surprise at being alive was soon replaced by terror when he realized that food gave him no nourishment, and drink could not slake his thirst. Finally, dying in truth and more than half-mad, he received a vision of a forge, a forge with an all-consuming black flame. Guided by his vision, he built the forge, and when he was done, he threw his own tools into the flame. As they were utterly consumed, he could feel his hunger ease.

Soon, he learned that the greater the care and skill put into the things he fed the flame, the longer his hunger would be slaked. Weapons that should have outlived generations, tools that should have outlived clans, stone carvings that should have outlived the mountains themselves all disappeared forever into the flame of his hunger. It could not go on. He was discovered, and beset by the greatest warriors and sorcerers of the kingdom. By that time, he had discovered he could become invisible, pass as a mist, and had powers of decay and destruction. He used them to kill many of these heroes, but in the end he was cast down, and brought alive before the clan fathers. He told them his story, and they passed judgment. Furan and Gibur were cast into Gibur’s workshop, which was forever sealed behind adamantine walls. They are said to be there still; Gibur creating works of craft so beautiful as to make the heart weep for joy, and then watching Furan consume them.

Every dwarven child knows this story. Most take it as the warning it is. Some don’t believe it at all. But sometimes, a desperate and evil dwarf will see the story as a guide. And another zaruk will be born.