The Yuki-Onna: A Mothership Monster

 

Own work

No scenario, just a spookum. And what turned out to be a very productive layout for monster write-ups.

Unconfirmed Contact Reports is mere HOURS AWAY at time of writing.

THE YUKI-ONNA

(3)40 I:60

A shriveled corpse; might once have been a person or perhaps only the imitation of it; blue-black flesh split open, rotten blood frozen in delicate lacework halos; eyes frozen shut.

Portents and signs: Distant howls; low moaning from nearby; walls cold to the touch; corpses crusted with bloody ice; a faraway humanoid shape in the icefields.

• Frigid Aura 2d10 - 5m range; negated by environment suit. If this attack causes a Wound, BODY save vs limb loss from frostbite.
• Hideous Scream - Deafens for 5 minutes; negated by ear protection
• Rending Claws 3d10 - Serrated talons. Wounds ooze black and tarlike.
• Quantum Ghosts - Creates quantum consciousness copy of PCs hit by Rending Claws. Victims will be overwhelmed by simultaneous and contradictory sensory inputs and must make a SAN save to make any action beyond Fight/Flight/Freeze. Stress gain from failed rolls is doubled until the creature is dead. Creature will use projections and voices of incorporated ghosts to dissuade attack or distract victims.
• Schroedinger's Step - Creature can teleport to any location that is not directly observed by a conscious mind.

Encounter Phases

• Precombat 1: PC find portents and signs; last to be found will be visual contact, leading to Precombat 2.

• Precombat 2: Creature initially appears at great distance (use barren extraplanetary environs to advantage). Will move via Schroedinger's Step when PCs blink or glance away (no need to mechanize this, just describe it for now). It will remain at distance, stalking players for several hours. Appears sporadically, but always closer than it was.

• Combat Phase 1: Ambush - Creature will Schroedinger's Step to the closest location that provides access to the PCs where it is not directly observed. It will target isolated PCs if able; otherwise it will try to attack someone from behind (using doors, windows, vents, etc). Will normally attack first with Rending Claws and follow with Hideous Scream; If it cannot lay a sufficient ambush it will use Hideous Scream first and attack during the communication breakdown. Can only take action only when not directly observed.

• Combat Phase 2: Wounded, the creature will flee via Shroedinger's Step and regroup. It will not attempt another frontal assault, only attacking PCs when alone or in pairs. It gains the following ability.

• Cries of the Superpositionally Damned - Creature will use Quantum Ghosts to directly attack PCs minds. SAN save vs extreme intrusive thoughts encouraging paranoia, distrust & aggressiveness, lasting until the creature takes another Wound or the PC is rendered unconscious. It cannot control PC actions, only suggest actions

• Combat Phase 3: Tarry ichor sloughs down in oozing sheets from its wounds. The creature now gains Grand Finale.

• Grand Finale - Creature may make a Shroedinger's Step into a zone of perception. This will be heralded by a loud hiss and a sharp, bitter smell: PCs will get just enough time to make a single action before it appears, unleashing a wave of concussive force dealing 1-3 wounds to all Nearby. As per grenade, a successful BODY save may mitigate damage.
  

Death - The creature makes a noise similar to a vacuum swiftly filling with frigid air. Its body dissolves into an icy black slurry. The actinic after-images of its quantum ghosts flicker, faces contorted in distorted howls as their waveforms finally collapse.

Slurried Corpse of the Yuki-Onna

• Retains its quantum-ghost generation property even in death - only requires contact with the nervous system of a metacognitive creature. It is possible to link these ghosts with a new host, if the corpse is used as a substitute for standard cryopod stasis fluid. BODY save vs permanent loss of a Wound.