Bestiary

Ghebbeths are creatures created by White Order magic, either by various spells employed by a White Order Mage to make a temporary servant, or by the Mage themselves becoming overcome by their own corruption. The stats given above are for White Order Mages of various levels that have lost their fight with corruption and become destructive servants of their mysterious masters.

Ghebbeths created from corrupted Magi are loathsome creatures. Their Keldian fur is bleached, patchy and rent by swathes of scaly hide. Their eyes are milky white, their hands elongated into claws, their mouths black and full of ash. They exude a scent of bitter smoke, and their body glows with a dirty white radiance. Although a Ghebbeth is supernaturally tough, and hard to kill, they cannot heal any Lethal damage done to them, and they do not truly live.

Ghebbeth magi retain all of the spells that they had in life, and need not fatigue to cast them. However all corruption normally inflicted by the spells is dealt as Lethal Damage instead. The following lists suggest suitable spells for each rank of Ghebbeth.

Ghebbeth Magi never cast spells to shed corruption, nor do they accumulate power, draw plans, or act with patience. Their only aim is to cause as much destruction and havok as possible before they are overcome by the power they channel. Although theoretically capable of using weapons, they always attack with their claws if not using magic, as their touch causes 1 point of corruption to anyone who cannot make a resisted Spirit vs. Presence roll. If outnumbered they will summon minions, and continue to attack.

The Nin-Shub Gargantuan more closely resembles a natural disaster than a creature to be combated. A massive animated statue of obsidian and olivine, the Gargantuan stands 50 Legats tall. Its club shaped hands and feet are only capable of crushing and rending, while its enormous head bears a single eye rendered from crimson crystal. Clearly the product of some titanic sorcery of the Ancients, the Gargantuan is larger than many fortresses, and capable of destroying stone and metal with equal ease. Fortunately the Gargantuan is known only from legends and stories, a plague that would emerge from the howling gales of the Nightside to plow its way through Keldian works. Sages agree that the Gargantuan has most likely lapsed into quiescence long ages ago, and may even now be weathering away unseen beneath the snow and ice of the Night hills.

Where the Gargantuan walks, destruction follows. The earth shakes at its footsteps, damaging everything around it (In a 60 Legat area around it, structures take 1 damage a round. In a 20 Legat area, the damage increases to 1d6/Mighty 1 each round. A Keldian in the area can roll Phys/Ag vs. 15 to ignore this).

Should the Gargantuan directly intrude into an area it is subject to its crush, as its enormous feet smash buildings to rubble and grind living things to paste. It can do the same damage to buildings (and other large structures) with its fists. These attacks do not target individuals directly (they are too small for the Gargantuan to notice), but hit whole areas at once. If even these ferocious attacks fail to get the Gargantuan to its goal it can engage its Disintegrating Gaze, which works as follows:

On the first round the Gargantuan stops, making no attacks, and begins to gather energy. A low-pitched hum can be felt, rather than heard. On the second and third rounds red lambent energy begins to gather around the Gargantuan. The same energy can be seen to flicker through channels etched into its surface. On the fourth round this energy becomes blinding. Finally, on the fifth round, the Gargantuan unleashes a beam of crimson energy from its single eye. This beam rips apart matter of all sorts, causing solid objects along its path to disintegrate into black particles. Assess the full damage against the first structure on the path (ignoring armour). If that structure is destroyed, apply any remaining damage to the next structure and so forth. Creatures inside a hit structure take the full damage.

The Gargantuan itself is largely immune to damage. Its incredible armour means that only siege weapons and magic of similar power have much of a change of damaging it, and its sheer size means that even crippling damage does little. In combat each part of the Gargantuan (2 Legs, 2 Arms, Head, Torso) must be separately targeted and destroyed. The parts' Health are as follows:

• Legs : 250
• Arms : 200
• Head : 200
• Torso : 600

A better option would be to treat the Gargantuan as a location and delve the secrets within it ...