Description: An antlered, hulking bipedal creature with powerful digitigrade hind legs ending in long bear paws. It is musclebound and covered in thick patches of fur. Its eyes are on the sides of its head much like a normal deer, but they reflect and shine red.
Type: Beast (running wild, destroying buildings and those who get in its path)
Powers: extremely fast, strong, and perceptive. Hunters must be cautious in approaching or it bolts. Its adaption to the flesh means that it’s constantly growing- the Keeper rolls a d6- if it rolls a 5 or a 6 it heals 1-harm)
Attacks:
Weaknesses: Slaughter or Hunt aligned entity/creature/artefacts, Capture with a cage given by a specific NPC, Aiming for the heart and lungs angled from behind the shoulders
Bystanders:
Esqivel de Murio (Witness)- Will drop in on anyone investigating his escaped pet, and ask them not to kill it. He would catch it, but he’s busy. If he likes the Hunter(s), he will offer them a cage to capture it. Esqivel de Murio is tall and pale- his white hair and red-purple eyes betray him as albinistic. He also has body modifications- many piercings but his accessories are small and tasteful. When he speaks, he annunciates carefully around a forked tongue and fangs. He wears expensive clothes- cashmere sweaters and a fur coat.
Priscilla Livingston-Clarke (Victim/Witness)- Priscilla was hiking on the trails around the country club when she very narrowly avoided getting rammed by the deer man. She can give a rough physical description, and suggest the specific aiming for a proper “deer hunt” having been on one or two with her father. Once she reaches the party she has about a minute before the adrenaline runs out and she requires medical attention. The woman- nay, lady, before you is blonde and wearing nice athletic gear- visor, yoga pants, very nice running shoes, an armband for her smartphone. Her large blue eyes betray a profound innocence, though they have a doe-eyed terror to them right now.
Alice Pearson (Victim)- a quiet groundskeeper, landscaper, and gardener at the country club who is likely to find her way into the trajectory of the beast later into the mystery. Depending on how thorough the group is, she will be proportionately harmed. If they are particularly negligent, she may die. This young woman is tanned with dark wavy hair. She’s wearing workman’s coveralls over a purple shirt, and you can see a Star of David pendant on a necklace though it catches and slips behind the overalls.
Locations:
The Country Club- The country club is currently hosting an event that the PCs (or at least a few of them) would feasibly attend. The main room is set up as an open gallery through which members of the club are walking, snacking on hors d’oeuvres. Caterers silently bustle from the kitchen behind a bar on one end. A room on the opposite end has dining tables set up. A patio on the southern side shows the expansive view of a well-maintained golf course. This is a good place for the PCs to meet up and begin to banter. Esqivel de Murio is here for this event. The patio is where the Deer Man can be seen from as it crawls out of the woods briefly.
The Green- The golf course below the country club is expansive and well maintained- a long, sloping stretch of grass with tree hazards more than water hazards. Exploring this stretch will take a while, though with carts it will take less time. Heading to the spot that you saw the creature stumble out of the woods, you can find what looks like a small rest spot- a few foldable chairs and a collapsible table have been ransacked. Sleuthing can help determine more information about the monster- its size, claw marks, strange tracks.
Forest trails- Surrounding the golf course and above the country club are dirt hiking trails, for those who prefer a walk or run to the other amenities the country club offers. They tend to get narrow when the forest gets more dense. Every so often, make the Hunters roll Act Under Pressure to stick together. If the party is proactive, they might meet Priscilla before she has her encounter. She will be oblivious to the Deer Man but maybe less injured if the group warns her before it happens.
Landscaper’s Shack- Off the side and out of view of the country club, there lies a landscaper’s shed. It’s larger than the average backyard shed on account of having space for a cart, but it is otherwise rather drab. More importantly, the door is hanging off its hinges and the frame has been powerfully damaged. Inside, gardening tools are scattered about, making it dangerous to walk carefully. As a Hunter steps in, they realize the dark puddle isn’t just muddy water. Alice will be varying states of injured depending on how much the group has messed around unproductively. While inside, the Deer Man can’t charge because of the close quarters. During combat, the rattling gardening tools can catch the players for circumstantial damage. Any End avatar PCs will have to Act Under Pressure in order to not End Alice Pearson.
The Countdown:
Cold Open:
The moon is high on this particular night in January. Deep in the forest by the city of Arcata, CA, isolated by the trees and rolling mountain ranges, an old manor groans with age. Or so the manor’s proprietor believed. Far from the master bedroom, a large barn creaks, and creaks, and creaks... until something finally snaps. A large, shambling shape pushes out of the ruined stall in the darkness and skulks into the woods.