Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee. Tee-hee.
Alternative names: The Dollmaker, Tashkent Ripper, Butcher of Accra, Highway 42 Killer, Alan Perry Nichols (possible)
Throughout the cities of the world, something is leaving a wake of human wreckage. Victims disappear for weeks, then return weeks, months, or sometimes years later, changed. Mutilated beyond recognition, identifiable only by DNA or dental records. Their minds and personalities hollowed out by the tortures inflicted upon them. The trauma forever trapping most in catatonic state for the remainder of days, living dolls. Authorities, for the most part, have yet to recognize the kidnappings and disfigurements worldwide as anything but isolated incidents. Few journalists, law enforcement officers, and depraved “fans” have connected the disparate evidence to discover the truth – it is all work of a single sadistic force. The Giggling Man, so called for his incessant tittering by the few victims still cogent.
The Giggling Man is perhaps the most despicable creature spewn from the god-realm known as the Abattoir. It appears he exists for no other reason than to inflict suffering on the helpless. Those arcane scholars aware of the Giggling Man’s existence cannot discern any rhyme or reason to his actions, how he chooses victims, why some are returned and others aren’t. For every victim that comes back, a dozen more remain at his “surgery” in the Abattoir. A motive proposed on an occult message board says the mutilations are part of a ritual to obtain godhood. Most scholars dismiss the idea.
Scholars do agree that the Giggling Man is a modern phenomenon. Something like the Giggling Man has always existed. Crimes with a similar modius operandi pepper history. However, it proliferated in the late twentieth century. In her occult true crime book, Marks of the Beasts, author Gail Collier attributes mutilations and murders stretching back to the 1970s to the Giggling Man (Marks of the Beasts, Sanity Loss 1D2. Cthulhu Mythos +2. Full Study 1 week. Mythos Rating 8%.). It is possible that the Giggling Man was once a human serial killer, somehow drawn into the Abattoir and remade. Alan Perry Nichols, a suspected sex-offender and murderer that vaguely matched the description of the monster, vanished around the same time as the first mutilation Collier blames on the Giggling Man.
Abduct: The Giggling Man can move between the Abattoir and our world at will. He can also drag a victim with him, by grabbing the victim and spend 1 Magic Point for every 10 points of the victim’s POW.
CULT
No formal cult worships the Giggling Man. There is a dedicated following of across several discussion boards on the dark web. These “fans” debate over which murders belong to the Giggling Man, speculate on his history, post disturbing, graphic fan-art along fiction filled with deviant sexual acts about the monster, and exchange fantasies of emulating their idol. Some have acted on those fantasies
The ultra-nationalist New American Communion and the oligarchic, cannibalistic Lestriconi cults have “contracted” with the Giggling Man to provide them “dolls” for their amusement. What they could possibly offer the entity in exchange is unknown.
The Giggling Man
STR | 80 |
CON | 50 |
SIZ | 110 |
DEX | 40 |
INT | 60 |
POW | 120 |
Hit Points: 16
Damage Bonus: +1D6
Build: 2
Magic Points: 12
Move: 6
ATTACKS
Attacks per round: 1 (weapon or lobotomize)
The Giggling Man has the usual range of attacks open to humanoids. He may use any weapon, but prefers sharp, wicked implements and magical attacks. He will try to disable opponents, rather than kill, so he may torment them later. The Giggling Man ambushes lone victims and avoids direct confrontations. Outnumbered or outmatched, he is likely to flee if possible.
Lobotomize: The Giggling Man grabs a victim, trying to force his tentacle-like fingers into their nose. If successful, the fingers penetrate the victim’s skull and latch onto their brain. The victim loses 1D10+1 POW per round. While held, the victim is wracked with convulsions and unable to act. Reduced 0 POW, the victim will be left a hollow shell, permanently. If somehow freed or released, the victim will lose 1D10 Sanity plus one point for every point of POW drained.
FightingLobotomize (mnvr) | 65% (32/13), weapon damage + 1D655% (22/11), special, see above |
Dodge | 20% (22/8) |
Skills
Torture 85%
Armor: None, but the Giggling Man’s blubber reduces damage from mundane weapon to a minimum.
Spells: Cloud Memory, Curse of the Putrid Husk, Dominate, Enthrall Victim, Mindblast, Shrivelling, Wither Limb, Wrack Sanity Loss: 1/1D6 to encounter the Giggling Man
Bruce is a sociology student and co-host of The Crypt Keepers podcast