Yellow Musk Creeper

This wet, green, hideous ivy grows any deathly place – cemeteries, battlefields, etc. It uses its creeping tendrils to bore into the spines and brains of those immobilized by its spore cloud or slain by its minions, and then reanimates those victims to bring back additional sustenance. Should any of its minions die, the spores inside their bodies grow into new yellow musk creepers. This particular yellow musk creeper is one hex of ivy; much larger exist.  To create one, simply multiply HP (but not ST) by the number of hexes.

ST: 10                            HP: 10                                               Speed: 5.50

DX: 11                           Will: 0                                               Ground Move: 0

IQ: 2                              Per: 12                                              

HT: 11                           FP: 11                                                SM: 0

Dodge: N/A                  Parry: N/A                                        DR: –

Creeping Tendril (13): 1d impaling. Reach C-2. Typically an All-Out Attack (Determined) aimed at the face (12) or skull (10), and less often, at the eyes (8).

Pollen Spray (Resisted at HT-2): A yellow musk creeper can release a cloud of spores and pollen 2 yards in diameter that stuns all of those who fail a roll against their HT-2 for a number of seconds equal to their margin of failure. Whether or not a person fails their HT roll, he may also contract Yellow Musk (see below). This is a respiratory agent.

Injury Tolerance: Yellow musk creepers only take 1 point of injury from impaling and piercing attacks. Bladed weapons can get stuck as per Picks (p. B405). Otherwise, yellow musk creepers are treated as being homogenous.

Yellow Musk: Anyone who inhales a yellow musk creeper's Pollen Spray (see above) may become infected with Yellow Musk, a parasitic disease that slowly turns them into the creeper's mindless, zombie-like thrall.

Vector:  Respiratory.

Resistance Roll:  HT-4.
Delay:  6d hours.
Damage:  1 toxic (No Wounding) + 1d Mental Control Points.
Cycles:  Unlimited with daily intervals.
Symptoms:  First presents with sinus congestion and postnasal drip. Roll against HT every hour; on a failure, a bout of coughing (DX-3, IQ-1, and cannot use Stealth during an episode) occurs at some inconvenient time and lasts a number of minutes equal to margin of failure. At 2/3 HP, the coughing stops, your skin takes on a jaundiced appearance, and you suffer -2 to DX and IQ. At 1/2 HP, you acquire Bad Smell, Less Sleep 4, and Vulnerability (Mind Control x2), and at 1/3 HP, you acquire Bad Sense of Smell/Taste 5, Bad Sense of Touch 3, and High Pain Threshold. At 0 HP, you suffer Suffocation until you die. Upon death, a yellowish stalk bursts through the patient's neck and releases a Pollen Spray (see above).
Contagion:  Only on death.

Anyone who dies of Yellow Musk will rise as a Yellow Musk Zombie (see below) in 1d days. This is not subject to Rest in Pieces or Blessed (Last Rites) because the "zombie" is not truly undead – it is simply reanimated by the plant growing within.

Traits: Bestial; Blindness; Deafness; Doesn’t Breathe (Oxygen Absorption); Doesn’t Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Indomitable; No Legs (Sessile); No Sense of Smell/Taste; Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8); Special Rapport (All Mind-Controlled Thralls); Striking ST 4; Unfazeable; Vibration Sense (Air).

Skills: Brawling-13.

Class: Plant.

Notes: Pollen can be harvested for use as an alchemical component for 1d+2 concoctions of stun gas ($20 per dose).

Human Yellow Musk Zombie

This is an average human that has died of Yellow Musk and risen under the control of the plant.

ST: 12                            HP: 22                                               Speed: 4.00

DX: 8                             Will: 2                                                Ground Move: 4

IQ: 2                               Per: 8                                                 

HT: 10                           FP: N/A                                             SM: 0

Dodge: N/A                  Parry: N/A                                        DR: –

Bite or Punch (8): 1d-3 crushing. Reach C. Usually made as a Telegraphic All-Out Attack (Strong) at skill 12 for 1d-1 crushing damage.

Traits: Bad Smell, Blindness, Deafness, Doesn't Breathe, Doesn't Eat or Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Hidebound, High Pain Threshold, Immunity to All Mind Control, Indomitable (Thwarted by Plant Empathy), Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Homogenous), No Sense of Smell/Taste, Puppet (Progenitor Plant), Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8), Unfazeable, and Vibration Sense (Air).

Class: Plant.

Notes: Will not negotiate.

Encumbrance: 29/5/86/173/288.

Monster Affix: Yellow Musk Zombie

A creepy zombie-like reanimated plant-monster created by the spore of a yellow musk creeper. They generally have yellow-hued skin and a stiff gate. They aren’t particularly fast, but they are relentless.

Statistics: Add +2 or 20% to ST and +10 or +100% to HP, whichever is greater, and set FP to N/A. Also set IQ to 2 and Per to 8, and add -2 to DX, -0.50 to Speed, plus Bad Smell, Blindness, Deafness, Doesn't Breathe, Doesn't Eat or Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Hidebound, High Pain Threshold, Immunity to All Mind Control, Indomitable (Thwarted by Plant Empathy), Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Homogenous), No Sense of Smell/Taste, Puppet (Progenitor Plant), Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8), Unfazeable, and Vibration Sense (Air). Add the Plant monster class on top of the original class.