Fenhound

Fog-choked moors and steaming peat bogs are perilous enough at night, but those who live near them also murmur about the fenhounds. A fenhound shows itself only under a full moon. Its body is that of a big, heavily muscled mastiff with short, bristly brown fur; what sets it apart is the pale yellow glow that bathes it, drawn from the supernatural power of the full moon.

Fenhounds cannot talk, but as pack hunters they share simple ideas through barks, yips and growls.

A fenhound can sense and unerringly trail anyone who has had to make a dark powers check on the moors near its home. The quarry's first warning is the baying of the pack. The howl chills everyone, but only the hunted person must roll a fear check, and only on first hearing it.

On reaching the victim the hounds charge straight into melee, each biting for 1d10 points of damage per round. They focus on their target but quickly turn on anyone who blocks them or shields the quarry.

Their moonlit aura grants magic resistance and makes them immune to weapons below +2. Sun-sphere spells neither hurt nor hamper them, and neither can spells cast by priests of a deity of the moon, moors, vengeance or a similar portfolio.

A slain fenhound dissolves into fading, glittering mist, but whoever struck the killing blow is marked: each full moon a fresh pack hunts him. Only atonement or similar magic lifts the curse. Killing every hound in a pack buys freedom only until the moon is full again, when the moors release another.

Fenhounds do not belong to the Prime Material plane and seem to be a manifestation of the misty dread realm itself. They are not evil, despite their looks; they target those who do evil in the moors, swamps and bogs. Anyone forced into a dark powers check, pass or fail, in their territory draws their notice. At the next full moon two or more hounds rise from the swirling mist over the marsh to hunt the offender down, staying until dawn or until they or their quarry are dead.

They act as guardians of the darkest bogs, though sages are baffled that avengers exist in a land so steeped in evil. Since the realm's dark powers both punish and reward wickedness, their true purpose is impossible to guess. At the least, they torment evildoers who have not yet earned the eternal torments reserved for the lords of the realm's domains.