Barghest

Barghest are nightmarish beasts shaped like enormous black dogs, with multiple snarling heads and blazing green eyes. A Barghest is a massive creature, standing four to five feet high at the shoulder, and leaving a heavy trail of soot wherever it goes. Its multiple heads — as few as two or as many as 15 — belch gouts of green fire when on the hunt, and its corpus emits a choking veil of cinders to blind and incapacitate its prey. Most Barghest have short or docked tails, but some have been reported to possess a long, whip-like appendage tipped with a cluster of viciously barbed hooks.


Attributes

PhysicalSocialMental
Strength4Charisma0Perception5
Dexterity4Manipulation3 (Intimidation purposes only)Intelligence0
Stamina5Appearance1Wits3

Abilities

TalentsSkills
Alertness4Stealth3
Athletics5Survival5
Brawl4
Intimidation3

Specializations
StrengthNever Lets Go
DexterityLightning Reflexes
StaminaTough as Nails
PerceptionUncanny Instincts
Alertnesssearch
AthleticsCat like reflex
Survivaltracking

Advantages

Tempers
Corpus10
Willpower5
Pathos5
Angst7
 
Backgrounds
NA0
____0
____0
 
Passions
Serve (Loyalty)5
____0
____0
 
Arcanoi
Argos3
Kenning4
____1
 
Powers
Dreadful Howl
Fetters
 1
____0
____0

Health Levels
Bruised-0 
Hurt-1 
Injured-1 
Wounded-2 
Mauled-2 
Crippled-5 
Incapacitated- 

Bio

Hunt. Track. Kill.


NOTES:

The terrible hunting hounds of Stygia’s Legions, barghests are wraiths that have been transformed into fearsome beasts by a ruthless combination of Moliate, psychological torment, and Stygian steel. Legion kennel masters select the most violent prisoners and subject them to a ruthless regimen of abuse and torment, transforming them into unthinking, savage beasts. By the time he is ready to be Moliated into his new form, the barghest’s mind is a blank slate, ready for imprinting on its handler and trained to hunt and destroy on command.


NOTES:

Equipment: Collar of Stygian steel (Artifact)
Stygian steel teeth (war hounds only) (agg damage bite)
Dreadful Howl forces the intended prey (target) to abandon whatever she is doing and flee unless she makes a successful Willpower roll (difficulty 8).


HISTORY:

Barghests are fitted with a spiked collar of Stygian steel — a minor Artifact that compels them to obey the commands of their handler, along with a matching iron chain that mostly keeps their murderous impulses in check. A chained barghest makes a vigilant sentry dog; an unchained one is a swift and savage hunter that lives to run prey to ground and tear it to bits. Barghests typically hunt in pairs (called braces), but the Legions will sometimes run them in packs of six or more when hunting large groups or especially dangerous targets. Fearless and single minded, they will fight to the last gasp unless called off by their handler.

During training, barghests are taught a form of Keening that lends their hunting howls the power to terrify their prey. When a barghest catches the scent of its quarry, it can unleash a Dreadful Howl. The howl is designed to foil ambushes and flush prey from hiding, allowing the barghest to run the quarry to ground.

Generally, barghests take the form of large, fearsome dogs, but each Legion has its own variation depending on their tactics and philosophy. The Grim Legion favors giant, savage mastiffs, while the Iron Legion’s barghests typically resemble huge, long-legged wolfhounds. The hounds of the Skeletal Legion resemble jackals; the Penitent Legion favors hyenas, and so on. The Grim Legion has also taken to fielding braces of powerful mastiffs trained specifically for the battlefield. These barghests are even larger than normal, their teeth replaced with jagged shards of Stygian steel for bringing down Spectres and the like. Barghests have roughly animal intelligence, and are violent and unpredictable creatures at the best of times. Ones that lose their collars can to fly into berserk rages, lashing out at anyone or anything in their path, while others display hound-like affection for their handlers.