The Centipede is a flesh-crafted Tzimisce Vampire and Vozhd. It was spotted by Namh Truang in the Czech Republic at the Mucha Museum. R.M. Klimu also saw it in Prague and Bratislava.
Overview[]
The child-mistress of the Centipede is indeed a vampire. She's been dead for at least 400 years. Each of the children melted into her chain of segments caught her fancy while still alive; she arranged for him or her to die of disease or simply waste away for want of desire to live, then bound the child's soul into its body, stole the body, and added it on. A segment lasts up to 10 years before becoming so decomposed that it must be discarded. She leaves the bodies lying wherever she cuts them loose; they become forever-unsolved cases in local police records. (Careful investigation turns up a pattern of such corpses appearing one to three times a decade.)
The mistress and her "playmates" (the latter of which radiate a barely perceptible suffering to users of Discern or Pierce, or perhaps even Insinuate, Becalm or Witness) travel throughout eastern Europe by compelling truck and bus drivers to transport them. The vampire has no real understanding of the modern world, and simply enjoys all the bright lights and interesting sounds. She once encountered a hunter and tortured him to death. She since seeks to draw out others, to find out what these new people are about. She'd love to have an imbued child as a "friend."
Stats[]
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 6, Stamina 4, Charisma 3, Manipulation 5, Appearance 3 (except to hunter second sight), Perception 4, Intelligence 3, Wits 4
Abilities: Alertness 4, Athletics 1, Awareness 3, Brawl 1, Dodge 4, Linguistics (Eastern European Languages) 3, Stealth 2, Streetwise 4, Subterfuge 2, Survival 3
Willpower: 6
Blood Points: 13
Health Levels: Bruised/Hurt, Hurt/Injured/Wounded/Mauled/Crippled/Incapciated
In additions to powers appropriate to vampires of middling overall potency, the Centipede demonstrates some special powers of its own.
Veil of Life: The Centipede's controller uses this power to project images of the children as they appeared in life, dressed for their current surroundings. The children seem to cluster around each other, often in a line and always within arm's reach of each other. Second sight or a perception edge such as Discern is required to pierce this illusion; the children appear dead and decayed, with fleshy tissue connecting them in disgusting ways. There is no blood point cost for this power; it's always active.
Fleet Footed: The Centipede gains three extra yards of movement per turn, for a number of turns equal to current Willpower, for each blood point spent. Each point spent offers an extra action in each of those turns, as well. Extra actions must each be dedicated to one fear only; multiple feats such as attacking two opponents cannot be performed in a single extra action.
Withering: The Centipede's controller can induce a fatal disease or simply ennui in selected victims. Imposing an ailment inflicts a level of bashing damage, which cannot be soaked, to the controller. Roll her Willpower rating against the victim's own in a resisted action, difficulty 6. If the controller wins, the victims dies in 10 days, minus one for each final success achieved. This power works on only children with whom the vampire had made contact for at least two weeks. Hunters, normal adults and children not "prepared" are immune to the effect.
Attempts to save a disease victim requite resisted and extended rolls made between the vampire's Willpower rating and a doctor's Intelligence + Medicine, difficulty 6. One roll is made per day. The first to achieve eight successes in the days remaining of the patient's life prevails. Respire and Rejuvenate do not normally counteract an imposed disease.
Segments: Each child-segment of the Centipede has three health levels (Injured, Wounded and Incapacitated), whereas the controller has eight (listed above). A segment reduced to Incapacitated simply falls off rather than slow down the remainder of the being. Segments suffer no wound penalties. Two levels of lethal damage inflicted to fleshy connections separate segments. All segments separated from the controller fall lifeless, the trapped souls released. (The bodies decompose over a matter of days.) The controller can keep up to 20 segments connected, but usually "plays" with fewer.
Strikes aimed at segment connections are at +2 difficulty. The controller is remarkably good at mentally commanding her segments to whip around in unison, but it's not perfect. She takes a -1 penalty to her dice pool to dodge and to perform other precise, quick actions for every five children connected (rounded up). Segments can grab and claw at enemies within reach, with a Brawl attack pool of three dice. Use the controller's 3 Strength to inflict bashing damage through a child. A segment's attack is considered one of the controller's actions in a turn.
The vampire can tear herself loose from all segments by sacrificing two turns in which she does nothing else, and she inflicts three levels of lethal damage to herself in the process, which can be soaked. She does so only when threatened with destruction.
References[]
- HTR: Hunter Survival Guide, p. 129-130