Travis: ya ill be home at 9
Travis: were getn lots of candy
Travis: im with some new kids
Travis: hittin all the houses
Travis: going threw the woods
— last messages received by Mrs. Margaret Jackman from her missing son.
The irony of trick or treat tradition, is it was originally done to ward off evil spirits. Dressing as the dead convinced the actual dead that you were one of them, so why bother molesting a fellow corpse? Treats left out on door steps were a form of bribery, as if to say “Here’s some turnips, go bother the house next door”. Over the years the tradition has devolved to just that; a barely remembered tradition. Children don the latest Iron Man, Batman, and Frozen kits purchased at their local mega-mart, and go door to door demanding and receiving SEVERAL pounds of candy, and for this, I imagine; the dental industry rejoices. Threat of childhood diabetes aside, the idea of hundreds of unsupervised, unidentifiable children wandering around in darkness has not been ignored by things that are not quite human anymore.
It seems sometime ago, possibly the late 1970’s judging by the peices of some of the costumes, a small clan of goblins realized that they could join with the gangs of children and lure them someplace out of the way and get a relatively cheap meal… acting almost as a cross between the Pied Piper of Hamlin and a shepherd leading his flock to butcher. The goblins have no idea that the red with web print top belongs to Spiderman, and the hockey mask to Jason Voorhees which is an easy tell if one is out hunting the goblins.
Using a mixture of the Siren Song spell, and simple tricks such as “There’s a bunch more houses with candy not far from here, we can take a short cut through these woods.” they herd small groups of children to isolated areas. After they lure their prey to the kill site, they surround them and begin their dire work. Bits of halloween costume are saved for next year, thus the mismatch and anachronism of some outfits (A beastie wearing a combination of Skeletor and Ironman was particularly vicious last year).
The problem with this method of hunting is that it only provides yields once a year; not enough to make it worth it. This is solved once again by our modern society. Rarely in this day and age is trick or treating done on actual halloween, but rather some village, suburb, district appropriate day chosen by council or committee. This means, but virtue of a gate spell, the goblins can hit 100’s of trick or treat nights all over the country. Once they’ve stockpiled enough meat and candy, they retreat back to their hidden caves and sleep at eat until next year.
Halloween Goblins, Cannibalistic Opportunists
STR 1-20
CON 1-20
SIZ 1-8
INT 4-24
POW 1-20
DEX 2- 40
Move 8
HP 8
Damage bonus: -1D4.
Weapon: improvised weapons 25%, damage 1D3 to 1D6.
Armor: Childrens Halloween costumes, possibly varied sports equipment such as shin gaurds.
Spells: Most goblins know at least one spell besides Body Warping, Become Spectral, and Gate (“scarlet Circles”), these have learned Siren’s Song over the years and utilize it for hunting, usually applied to halloween themed songs.
Skills: Hide 90%, Sneak 70%.
Sanity loss: 0/1D6 Sanity points to see one unmasked
