“Sunshiiine, you are my sun…shine . . . You ma-a-a-ake me happy when skies are grey . . . You’ll never kno-ow, dear, how mama loves you . . . Please don’t take my sunshiiiine away…”
The gunslinger faltered at the dry, off-key singing that drifted upon the wind, checking her musket and finding reassurance in the loaded weapon. She drew a steadying breath and crept through the shattered and crumbling ruins, drawing closer to the creaky, faltering voice. Attacks had been happening in the nearby villages, houses splintered and torn open, their residents brutally ravaged, and children absconded with. Stories spread about the perpetrator, ranging from a child-stealing fey, an ogre with a taste for the soft flesh of children, and other bizarre tales. But the tracks the gunslinger had found didn’t match up to the countless theories she heard. She had followed their culmination to an ancient ruin and as she turned the corner she found her culprit.
Weathered, rotted skin covered the gnarled form of what was once a woman. Her twisted body had been stretched and drawn into an inhuman size and her ribs exploded from her back into a cage in which whimpering children huddled. In her oversized hands, she cradled a mewling baby that she sang to only to freeze suddenly as the gravel crunched under the gunslinger’s boot. A hideous face with sunken eyes that glowed from behind a veil of tangled, filthy hair fixed upon her as she opened her mouth in a shriek.
“DON’T TOU-CH-CH MYYYY BABYYY!”
Much like the plague piper, the barrow mother is an idea that I've been holding onto for a while. The magnificent art is provided by Daniel Larios (check him out on Instagram @dlarios72) and has been what I've waiting on before posting this. The fact that this got posted as close as it did to Mother's Day is entirely unintentional, but it kind of works out. The concept was inspired by the character Kryb from the Green Lantern comics as the idea seemed great for story purposes if a little dark. Naturally, I decided to combine this base idea with my favorite creature type and got to work. The barrow mother's abilities are rather basic with most of them being borrowed from other sources. I specifically designed her at the CR she's at to keep her close in usage to creatures such as attic whisperers, which are a monster I wanted her to be associated with and sometimes the source of.
Right off the bat, child scent is borrowed from a hex that witches can learn and fits perfectly with a creature hunting for her children. She has no special defenses aside from those that being an undead afford her and her burrow movement came from my idea that they typically have to dig their way out of the grave, but it wasn't an idea that I was super attached to. She seeks to snatch up foes and then trap them in her rib cage, the function of which is based off of the capture ability of Krampus. And coming from the same source is her regression ability. I swear that I wasn't seeking to merely make a lower level Krampus. I came up with the ideas for the creature and then somebody on the Discord mentioned that Krampus does something similar, so I looked to him for her abilities. She does one have one truly unique ability, simple as it is, with her mother's cry. I enjoyed the concept of the ability having different effects depending on the state of affairs and can change even in the midst of a battle.
Pathfinder 1e:
Testing this monster out didn't go well almost entirely to poor luck on my part. None of its abilities needed revisions, but she did get a small numbers buff across the board after the test. Design-wise, given how specific Child Scent is, I felt like it was worth having it be a precise sense while Rib Cage and Regression are once more based off of the abilities possessed by Krampus. A unique ability I did add to the PF2e barrow mother as compared to the PF1e barrow mother was the ability to animate dead to summon a weakened attic whisperer, a lingering soul that perished at her careless hands.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Mommy Meanest: Years ago, a renowned warrior died in a battle far from her home and young child in service to her country. In the interim, she has risen as a barrow mother in desperate desire to protect her child. Confused by her return to the world of the living, she lashes out violently, heartlessly carving through the ranks of her people’s former foes while stealing away their own children. As she tears through villages, leaving only corpses as she gathers a legion of orphans, the heroes are called in stop her rampage before she creates an army of attic whisperers that threaten the peace that has existed since her death.
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Have a monstrous Monday!
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