DCC Bestiary - Blackvole

When I wrote my first half page 'Campaign Introduction' for our gaming group to introduce them to the dark and mysterious world of DCC, I mentioned a cyclopean ruin on Blackvole Hill ... much later, I wondered what a blackvole was in my game ...

The blackvole fills the niche of what a dire wolf would be in a regular D&D campaign, a creepy predator that is scary to low level parties.  I also worked in some fact behind village fables about these creatures and made them slightly smarter than an animal, making them both memorable and useful in packs even against higher level PCs ...

Thoughts, feedback, stories to tell around the tavern hearth?  Email me at archadethered@gmail.com.

Blackvole

     A hideous, malformed wolf-like beast matted black fur and a disjointed lope, the blackvole hunts wounded and sick creatures, or unsuspecting travelers.  While they tend to feed on carrion left by other predators, it is said they often skulk at the edge of villages and farms, and will pounce upon children wandering about after dark.  

     Being seen by a blackvole is thought to be extremely bad luck, and the old women of the village say the only way to offset the curse of a blackvole’s gaze is to recite all five verses of the Rede of the Green Rider.  

     These houndlike creatures are more cunning and intelligent than one would think, hunting in packs with cunning tactics, cutting off travelers and forcing them from the path, and luring people into the forest with soft whimpers and mutterings.  A blackvole will never enter any church, and can be turned by Neutral clerics as they are inherently harmful to the natural order of things.

     Blackvole: Init +5; Atk bite +6 melee (1d6+2); AC 14; HD 2d6 (7 hp); MV 40’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +3; AL N.

     Anyone in sight of a blackvole suffers a fumble on a 1-2, and a -1 to all Luck checks.