JACK-O-LANTERN

Description:
A floating, hollowed pumpkin with a grinning face carved deep into its rind, the Jack-O-Lantern drifts through the air like a will-o’-the-wisp, its inner fire burning with fey or infernal mischief. It laughs, spits flaming seeds, and shrieks with laughter as it darts around its victims. Though seemingly hollow, an invisible spirit animates the gourd from beyond the material plane, some say a fey prankster, others a lesser demon cast out of its host. Its light burns bright for a night or two, then rots into pulp as any pumpkin would.

Ferocity: 1   Size: Small

Movement: 12 (flying)   Armor: N/A   HP: 8

Persuadable: These monsters can be reasoned with.

MONSTER ATTACKS

  1. Firebolt:  The Jack-O-Lantern fires a bolt of flame from one of its eye sockets at a target within 20 meters. The target suffers 1d8 fire damage. Flammable gear may ignite.
  2. Seed Spit:  The Jack-O-Lantern spits a cluster of burning seeds at all creatures up to 6 meters away take 1d6 damage.
  3. Bonk! The gourd swoops up to 4 meters and slams its tough shell into the target’s head. The target takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage.
  4. Voice of Doom: The spirit within roars in an unearthly tone. All within 10 meters must roll WIL or suffer Fear (as per the rules). Those who succeed are immune to this effect for the rest of the encounter.
  5. Cackle and Dash: The Jack-O-Lantern’s eerie laughter disorients its foes. One target must succeed on a WIL roll or suffer a Bane on its next action with laughter ringing in their ears.
  6. Infernal Blaze – The spirit surges with power, bursting out in a 3-meter flash of fire. Everyone in range takes 1d8 fire damage. The Jack-O-Lantern then dims, losing its next turn as it recovers.

GM Notes

Jack-O-Lanterns appear near graveyards, faerie glades, or places where barriers between worlds thin. A single one can be a prank; a cluster may be a warning of something worse approaching, especially if the gourds don’t seem to decay. Destroying the gourd doesn’t end the haunting; the spirit can possess another pumpkin within a day unless the area is cleansed with salt, moonlight, or holy water. Play the tone to taste: comic mischief for a faerie curse, or creeping dread for a demonic haunting. Either way, their laughter lingers long after their lights have gone out.

Encounter: The Lantern Watch

A crooked little shack sits at the edge of the woods, its door chained shut, its windows boarded from the inside. Three carved pumpkins hover outside the door, bobbing lazily in the chill night air. Their faces flicker between wide grins and furious scowls as they drift in slow circles around the shack—like guard dogs on invisible leashes.

The villagers whisper that this place belongs to Old Birgitta, a spirit medium who speaks with the dead for coin and comfort. But tonight is the Feast of Lanterns, when the dead are supposed to rest, not work. Birgitta’s ghostly assistant, too weary of endless pleas for omens and lost lovers, has decided to take the night off. To ensure peace, it animated three warding gourds from the front step and told them to ‘keep everyone out until dawn.’

Anyone who approaches within ten meters is met with a cackle of laughter and a warning in three voices overlapping: ‘No visitors tonight!’ Then the Jack-O-Lanterns swoop down: spitting seeds, howling, and bonking intruders on the head until they flee or fight back.

If the adventurers linger, they might overhear one of the gourds muttering to another between attacks: ‘You think she’ll bake us into pie when she wakes?’
The other replies, ‘Not unless we keep the peace!’

Possible Twists:
If treated kindly or complimented on their carvings, the gourds will settle down and gossip revealing the ghost within just wanted quiet.
If smashed, their inner flames rise as ghostly faces drifting toward the woods, whispering, ‘So much for a night off…’

This game is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Fria Ligan AB.
This Supplement was created under Fria Ligan AB’s Dragonbane Third Party Supplement License.