Its gaunt body combines taut grey hide, a paler belly and uneven patches of coarse wiry hair. Black scale-like skin covers its head and lower limbs; low scutes follow its crooked back. Large, dead-looking pale eyes sit beneath bare, lighter brow ridges, with malformed ear openings behind them.
Slit nostrils sit above a compact, uneven bite crowded with small sharp teeth. Its front feet differ: one bears exceptionally long black claws, while the other grips with opposing avian talons. Upward hooks grow from the fronts of its forelimbs. Heavy hind thighs end in grasping feet, one turned backward, and a hairless forked tail drags barbed, needle-pointed tips over the floor.
Description and lore
Slatterscratch
A nocturnal, four-legged stalker moves unseen through urban homes and narrow streets. Clambering steps and long claws clattering over furniture precede a swift rake of searing slashes.
Lore and observations
A scrape beneath a cupboard can be mistaken for a rat. A chair shifting in the next room can be blamed on uneven boards. The Slatterscratch survives among familiar sounds until its final approach brings the quick clamber of four feet and the unmistakable clatter of long claws against furniture.
Survivor accounts describe a sharp, burning pain followed by worsening blood loss. Reports also suggest that it strikes the most exposed body part first: a hand beyond a blanket, an uncovered face, a wrist between glove and sleeve. Researchers have recorded the preference without establishing its cause.
At a glance
Category
Monster
Expected threat
Dangerous ambush predator; less effective against an alert group in clear view (draft; untested).
A nocturnal, four-legged stalker moves unseen through urban homes and narrow streets. Clambering steps and long claws clattering over furniture precede a swift rake of searing slashes.
Skill overrides: Perception d8; Withstand d4. Other Skills use their governing Affinity unless stated otherwise.
Resolve 10; Stamina 6; Mana 0. Movement 35 feet.
Abilities and details
Draft profile
Draft profile: Website draft for playtesting; not yet included in the playtest package.
Nature
Nature: A physical, nocturnal stalking monster adapted to inhabited streets and buildings.
Night Prowler
Night Prowler: Action · urban cover in darkness or dim light · self. Conceal its position with Maneuver d10 + Agility, opposed by an observer’s Perception + Intellect.
Clamber
Clamber: Movement. Climb 20 feet along surfaces with usable holds.
Exposed First
Exposed First: Hunting behavior. It appears to favor the most exposed body part within reach for its first strike. Researchers have not established why.
Last Sound
Last Sound: Trait. When it declares Searing Rake, units within 15 feet that can hear its clambering footfalls and clattering claws learn its location.
Searing Rake
Searing Rake: Action · 5 feet · one unit. Agility + one supplemental d8 Wound (slashing). On a Damaging Hit, apply Bleeding: 1 Wound at the start of each of the target’s turns. An Action spent applying pressure and binding the wound ends this Bleeding without a Test. Repeated applications of this Bleeding do not stack.
Counterplay
Counterplay: Illuminate hiding places, keep shared sight lines and protect isolated sleepers. Listen for claws against wood. Bind bleeding wounds promptly and keep an injured companion within reach.
Type interactions
Type interactions: No special resistances, weaknesses or immunities.
Encounter
Encounter: Urban areas after dark: inhabited houses, crowded workshops, storerooms, alleys and adjoining rooftops.
Relationship
Relationship: A stalking predator. Its clatter is part of the final approach, not an invitation to speak. Survivors describe a sharp burning sensation from the slashes; the wounds themselves are physical.
At the table
A chair scrapes once in the next room. Four uneven footfalls hurry across the boards; long claws rattle along the table edge. The sound stops beside the doorway.
Quotes
Survivor account · the approach
“I heard the chair move. Then the claws.”
Survivor account · the first wound
“It burned before I understood I had been cut.”
Witness account · the pattern
“The hand outside the blanket. That was where it struck first.”
