Ker Ghost

Keres (the singular is ker) are hideous winged humanoids, black from head to foot, with glittering fangs and long, sharp nails. Each wears gore-spattered robes and wields a scourge strung with cruel barbs.

A chance meeting is possible, but a ker is nearly always hunting someone specific. To stalk unseen, it can polymorph into a speck no bigger than a gnat that flies at a movement rate of 18 for up to 6 turns. If no one notices, it tails the target and strikes when the victim is distracted, often in the middle of some other fight. It cannot attack as a gnat, and changing back takes a round.

In its true form a ker lashes three times per round with its scourge, each hit dealing 1d8 points of damage plus an extra curse. The first lash brings bad luck, the second ages, and the third spreads disease, and repeated hits stack.

Keres shrug off sleep, charm, and hold person, as well as paralysis, poison, and cold attacks, and they take only half damage from electricity. They are turned as ghosts.

A ker fights on until destroyed or until its target and every companion lie dead. Victorious, it drinks their blood, rips the bodies apart, and eats them down to the bones, leaving nothing to raise or resurrect.

A lone ker is usually the vengeful spirit of a monster or person avenging its own death. Three keres together more often come as punishment for adventurers grown too bloodthirsty or greedy. Destiny runs through nearly every ker attack.

Keres may remember their lives and keep the customs of the culture they came from, so a hill giant ker might hold on to her old superstitions and habits. Daylight does not hurt them, but they prefer night attacks and spend the day hidden in gnat form.

Folk tradition counts keres among the wicked spirits of the dead. Some peoples treat them as ancestors who must be soothed with offerings and set aside whole holy days for the purpose, sometimes ending the festival by ordering the keres out of the house. Otherwise, keres are drawn to extreme greed and bloodlust, and the gods may dispatch them as a warning or a punishment.