Monstrous Monday: The Beast of Eloise for Dungeon Crawl Classics

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Eloise has been a thriving trading post and village at the crossroads of the Stone Road and the Old Road for close to a century. The Inns, all three of them, are full most nights which are just as busy as the days though the work is often illicit in nature.

However, two months ago, on the three nights of the full moon several heads of cattle and two horses that were put up for the night in their barn were attacked by a vicious wild animal that tore them to pieces while leaving most of the meat. The local Sheriff called in a sage named Barnaby Duncroft from nearby Portent to help investigate but no more attacks occured and Barnaby was uncertain what kind of animal attack it was.

The killings began again one month ago over the three nights of the full moon, but on the third night, something broke into the Faversham farmhouse and slaughtered Ebon, his wife Pearl, all three of their young children, and Pearl's father Emmet Clover. Unfortunately, the bodies weren't discovered until three days later when Clem Nottingham checked in on them. This time Duncroft and several Clerics of Pelor were called in to investigate and people began gossiping about a werewolf which caused was a run on the local blacksmith to melt and shape various silver objects of the villagers into weapons. Unfortunately, Duncroft and the Clerics only found one odd fact about the killings and it was that Ebon had his great-grandfather's long sword set over the hearth and it was now missing. There was some question why the first five attacks were against livestock and the final one was against the Favershams. Ebon, the husband, was a mere farmer and while he was a ruffian in his youth he had settled down to a quiet life with his wife Pearl and their children. Emmet Clover, Pearl's father, was respected and well-liked and had sold his general store to his apprentice Gloria Wulling around a decade ago. 

It's now two nights until the next full moon and the village is terrified and most of its normal business has disappeared. 

The Beast of Eloise for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Init +6; Atk claw +3 melee (1d6) or bite +2 melee (1d6+3); AC 14; 

SP hide in shadows 60%, move silently 70%, regeneration HD 5d6; MV 30’; Act 3d20; SV Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +4; AL C.

The Beast of Eloise is an old man named James Culver who was given a belt that would allow him to transform into a werepanther in exchange for killing the survivors of the Violet Swords for a stranger named Easop. If he succeeds Easop has promised him eternal youth. Thus far, Easop only has one target left Beur Faversham, the great-grandfather of Ebon. Culver has been in town for three months now but no one suspects a man as old as he is of the killings and he has been very careful in his investigations. When he ran into a dead-end, he sought Beur's sword for any clues, but he has gained such a taste for blood he couldn't keep himself from slaughtering all of the Favershams in the farmhouse. Tomorrow night he has a meeting with Easop, in the forest to the East of the Stone Road and he hopes the strange man can point him where to find his final target. However, Culver has grown to like the power the belt gives him and he savors the next time he will taste blood.

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