DCC Month of Horror: Day 1 Chains of Hell

Originally published October 1st 2024

Wide-eyed peasants tell tales of horrible chain encrusted creatures, their flesh bleeding as the metal digs deeper and deeper into them.. Chain devils, they chant. They are not entirely wrong. However the bound is not the denizen of hell, the bound in their victim.

The chains themselves are what puppet these corpses. Their purpose is inscrutable but their means are simple, kill and puppet a moral victim, kill as many other mortals as they can and drag them back into the pits of hell.

When not puppeting a corpse the chains of hell take on the form of a great serpent.

Chains of Hell, Serpent Form (Type II Demon): Init +3; Atk Bladed Bite +10 Melee (1d12+5) or Tearing Tail +6 Melee (1d8+Bleed), Grapple +5 Melee (Bleed); Crit Dn / d6; AC 18 (Metal Nature); HD 5d14; MV 40’; Act 1d30 + 1d16; SP Demonc Traits, Demonic Combatants, Bleed, Variable Nature, Puppeting; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2; AL C.

Demonic Traits: As a Type II Demon a chain of hell can speak, read minds, Has infravision, can cast Darkness at +8, and may teleport back to it’s home plane if not bound.

Demonic Combatant: A chain of hell is immune to mundan attacks of creatures of 3HD or less. They suffer half damage from fire, acid, cold, electricity, and gas. They crit on 19-20.

Bleed: For every successful tail attack the victim suffers a cumulative 2 damage per round until they are bandaged up. It takes 1 HD of lay on hands healing to stop 2 points of bleeding damage.

Variable Nature: Roll 1d4 to determine chain makeup: (1) Abyssal Metal, the chains are a deep navy metal covered in rust, any creatures it grapples suffers a -5d penalty to any swimming checks; (2) Hellfire, the chains glow a bright red, any creature coming in contact with the chains has a 45% chance of catching fire; (3) Chthonic Void, the chains are a shadow in the world where something visible should be, the chains of hell are undetectable by both visual and auditory means when in darkness; (4) Chitinous Vermin, the chains are links of venomous bugs that skitter and pulse, the bite attack inflicts paralysis on the victim for 1d5 days (DC 19 Fort save to avoid).

Puppeting: If the chains of hell gets ahold of a corpse it may spend an action die to begin to puppet it. The creature gains +4HD, an additional +3 to all attacks and saves, and their crit range is increased by 2. Armed humanoids and generic monsters begin using the demon critical hit table, while all other creatures have a 50/50 chance of using their original or the demonic critical hit table.