“Me and Luke was out checkin’ our mud bug traps and I heered splashin’ comin’ toward me. Luke started screamin’ sumpin’ awful. I looked over and there he was, all white in the moonlight and his skin wrigglin’. It was Missa Grits alright. Poor ol’ Luke tried to run and slipped. Missa Grits grabbed ‘im up and just kinda melted all over ‘im. I ain’t never been so scared in all my life. I turn and run, got to the truck and drove like hell outta there.”
Mr. Grits is a manifestation of the rage, fear and torment of all who have been raped, tortured and murdered in the local swamps, or who have been killed elsewhere and dumped here.
Physically, it appears as a 5′ 9″ tall, human form composed of wriggling maggots, which have consumed the flesh of these victims. It is a local monster in any area of the Louisiana/Mississippi coastal area the Keeper decides. Slow but relentless, Mr. Grits will pursue anyone it perceives–until such time as they have sufficiently escaped its territory, at the Keeper’s discretion.
Any within melee distance of Mr. Grits must make a successful CONx5 roll, or experience nausea and vomiting, due to an overpowering stench of decay. This halves all skill checks, ability checks and movement. Mr. Grits takes minimum damage from impaling weapons, half damage from fire and normal from all other mundane attacks, but reduction to 0 hit points by mundane weapons will simply cause it to collapse in the marsh. Within 24 hours it will have re-formed. Magical attacks do full damage to Mr. Grits, it gets no armor benefit, and reduction to 0 Hit Points by magical attack permanently destroys it.
Mr Grits never attempts to dodge.
Mr. Grits, Revenant of the Swampland.
STR 18
CON 24
SIZ 16
INT 6
POW 16
DEX 13
Move: 6/4 swimming
HP 20/
Damage Bonus: +1D6
Attacks: Engulf, 65%, damage 1D3 from maggot biting, plus damage bonus crushing each turn. Mr. Grits can only hold one victim at a time. The crushing damage also involves choking, as hundreds of maggots force their way down the victims throat; this causes another 2 Sanity loss, which counts toward “a single incident of Sanity loss” for purposes of temporary or indefinite insanity.
On each of the victim’s turn, they may attempt a STR v STR roll to break away from Mr. Grits. Secondary effects: Survivors of attack by Mr. Grits will be catatonic for 1D3 hours, and will vomit for the first 2D6 minutes. Anyone who has been eaten at by Mr. Grits will thereafter have a coarseness to their skin.
Armor: 4 points of maggoty looseness. Minimum damage from impaling weapons. Half damage from fire. Fully regenerates within 24 hours.
Spells: None
Skills: Climb 80%, Dodge (never), Listen 65%, Sneak 45% (85% when maneuvering along the surface of water), Spot Hidden 65%, Track 65%.
Sanity Loss: 1D3/1D6+1 (either is at +2 if Mr. Grits successfully attacks the viewer).
Note: Mr. Grits is incapable of any form of communication. Anyone reading its mind, however, receives a jumbled mass of emotions–pain, rage and shame, accompanied by the mental equivalent of an enormous buzzing sound, as if that of a huge swarm of insects. This requires a Sanity test for 1D3/1D6 Sanity.
My name is CthulhuBob Lovely, I live in my childhood hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and have a son and two daughters. I volunteer at MisCon, which occurs each year on Memorial Day Weekend in Missoula, Montana and help out at other shows.
In my younger years I had seen H.P. Lovecraft’s books in the collection of my older brother, Brian, who is also responsible for introducing me to Monty Python, Star Wars and many other things geek.
I began running and playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1977 at the age of 15, and Call of Cthulhu since its original publication in 1981.
I believe geekery and gaming can have positive effects on math, reading and writing, and social interaction skills, as well as family togetherness. I have three published stories online at
http://www.bewilderingstories.com/bios/lovely_bob_bio.html
