Cheshire : Three Vis Sources

Moston Dragon

I wanted to wrote up the Moston Dragon as a a monster of the month, but the folklore surrounding it is not detailed enough to extend it past variation on the generic stats given in Realms of power Faerie (page). It is suitable for a combat encounter. The creature’s lair was at Dragon Lake. It had three layers of fangs, six claws on each foot, and had a tail strong enough to crush a bear. As dragons go this one was on the smaller but more ferocious end of the spectrum. A local nobleman weakened it by showering it with arrows, then finished it with a sword-thrust. It was a scaled dragon, and these are usually sufficiently armoured that arrows are little trouble for them, but not in this case, arguing for a lower Soak score.

One variant of the story I saw, from Tom and Sue Hughes, indicated that Motram’s population lived by harvesting marvelous apples from a field that the dragon took possession of. The apples were as large as a human head and particularly flavorful. This may be a modern evolution because I’ve only seen it on their site. It works as a vis source regardless.

Moston Dragon

The Moston dragon is unusual for an orm, in that it is not poisonous. It lacks the acidic blood, corrosive slime or venomous saliva of other orms. It compensates for this by being stronger than average, and having more claws and teeth than usual.
Faerie Might: 20 (Animal)
Characteristics: Cun 0, Per –2, Pre –6, Com –6, Str+4, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik -1
Size: +1
Virtues and Flaws: Large, Faerie Beast; Faerie Sight, Incognizant, Increased
Characteristics, 3 x Increased Might (adjusted with size increase or decrease).
Personality Traits: Hungry +3
Combat: Fangs: Init –2, Attack +14, Defense +3, Damage +10
Constriction (one target maximum): Init 0, Attack +9, Defense +5*, Damage +10
Claws: Init –1, Attack +11, Defense +10, Damage +7
*+6 to Defense against grapple attacks
Size +2
Soak: If using the version where the creature is weakened with arrows, +3, if using the version where it is immune to arrows so the knight engages with his sword +8.
Wound Penalties:–1 (1-7), –3 (8-14), –5 (15-21), Incapacitated (22-28), Dead (29+)
Powers:
Constrict:: When successfully struck with a constrict attack, the character is encoiled by the dragon’s tail and unable to use mêlée weapons. The dragon automatically does damage in
each subsequent round, without requiring an Attack roll. The victim may still Soak damage. At the end of each round, including the round in which the constriction attack succeeds, the character may attempt to break free by an opposed Strength roll. To do this, the victim rolls
Strength + a stress die, and compares it to the orm’s Strength + a stress die. Success indicates the victim is free, and may attack normally in the following round. For each character assisting a victim to break free, add +1 to the Strength roll, but an assistant is unable to attack the orm in that round. A character unable to break free for 30 seconds (6 combat rounds) needs to make deprivation rolls, as described on page 179 of ArM5.
Pretenses: Area Lore 3 (watering points for prey), Athletics 5 [Swim), Awareness 3 (prey), Brawl 7 (crushing), Hunt 4 [children), Stealth 3 (stalking prey)
Equipment: None
Vis: 4 pawns, in a snakeskin.
Appearance: Oddly cat-like head. Often drawn eating a baby.
Source: based on the Orm statistics in RoP:F 99-100.

Image from “Ballads and Legends of Cheshire [Collected and edited by E. L, with illustrations.] L.P” / Leigh, Egerton. (British Library CC0]

The Hunting of the Wren

On St Stephen’s Day young men kill a wren, dress in motley, then tour about asking for money to bury the wren. As a personal aside I’ve previously been told the Jenny Wren was a sort of pagan survival in Cornwall, perhaps a celebration of the Queen of Birds, which would make this a Rego or Auram. The wren becomes king, the story says when the birds agree that whoever can fly highest will be their ruler. When the eagle reached his apogee the wren, who had hidden in the eagle’s feathers, took off and flew slightly higher. I have been told this is a Cornish story but I suspect that it’s Irish. That’s likely not the approach here. Some Christians believed that wrens would tell their hiding places to viking raiders. They also believed that a wren had betrayed St Stephen to his pursuers. This could imply that wrens house infernal spirits or dark faeries. This could explain why its bad luck for the men to bury the wren on your doorstep. In Irish stories there’s also a spirit that lures men away, and she can take the shape of a wren. She’s a variant of the queen of the banshees of one region of Ireland, as I distantly recall. I’ve not seen a Cheshire repetition of this idea, but it gives an extra option of a demon or dark faerie.

Demonic Wren

Infernal Might:5 (Animal)
Characteristics: Cun -1, Per +3, Pre -7* , Com 0, Str -10, Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik +7
* +6 when attempting to scare or intimidate, due to the Corrupted Beast Flaw.
Size: -5
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Corrupted Beast, Ferocity (attack), Keen Vision, Fragile Constitution, Lesser Infernal Power, Tainted With Evil
Qualities: Accomplished Flier, Keen Eyesight.
Personality Traits: Nosy +6
Reputations: Enjoys betrayal +3
Combat:
Talons: Init +8, Attack +4, Defense +10, Damage -8
Soak: -3
Powers:
Crushing the Will,* 2 points, Init 0, Mentem: This Power saps the courage and vitality of its target, leaving them afraid, tired, and withdrawn. All Personality Trait rolls suffer a -3 modifier, and the target may not spend Confidence Points to increase other rolls. Each use of this Power
lasts until the victim has slept for at least six hours.
Protection of the Close Friend, 0 points, Init +3, Mentem: The chosen victim of the wren cannot act directly against it without extreme provocation; it would be akin to attacking one’s own mother. The victim may be as angry as they like with the demon, but actually physically opposing it requires a huge effort of will, which must be repeated every time the victim wants to renew their attacks.
Where you gonna run to? 1 point, Mentem: The wren draws attention to itself, and any concealed object nearby, with its song. All characters within Sight range gain +3 on Perception-based rolls to find the wren or the thing it is drawing attention to. The wren’s song can last for a Diameter, and it may move while it sings, following a fleeing victim.
* Swap this out for something that does damage if a combat encounter is desired.
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1), -3 (2), -5 (3), Incapacitated (4), Dead (5+)
Abilities: Area Lore 6 (Hiding places), Athletics 5 (swift flight), Awareness 4 (spotting prey), Brawl 1 (talons), Hunt 9 (hiding people), Survival 6 (forest)
Equipment: None
Vis: 1 pawn, body. Tainted.
Source: based on the falcon statistics from Book of Mundane Beasts, made less dangerous and smaller, then run through the Corrupted Beast rules in RoP:I (pp.77-8). The Crushing the Will Power comes from RoP:I page 60. The Protection of the Close Friend power comes from RoP:I p 57.
Appearance: A small, brown bird with a needle beak designed for catching insects. Distorted by demonic possession: flaming eyeballs, oddly mobile growths, or shedding rotting plumage as examples.

Speedwells

The speedwells I know best are Veronica longiflora, which have tall spikes coated in a cone of flowers. I’m used to them being purple, but there are other cultivars around in the modern day. Their scientific genus is Veronica. I presume the Cheshire speedwells in 1220 are a little less glamourous, because the Veronica family includes a broad range of plants. If you pick a Speedwell of Virtue, it causes thunder. presumably this is an Auram source.