Scarbo
A scarbo is a mysterious type of small, armoured vampire, created by powerful necromancers for the purposes of terrorizing poets, performers, clowns, artists and the like.
Scarbos enter the rooms of their victims every night and plague them with horrors, continuously wearing them down with their words and behaviour. They especially delight in (and perhaps gain power from, though little evidence actually supports this theory) causing their victims to perform or create while under the influence of the scarbo's nightly visits.
They are inextricably bound to their armour, which is fused to their body, and wear pointed hats (which can be removed) with bells on top. The bells are known as "artist's toll" and they contain a potent enchantment that negatively effects the minds of creative individuals. The precise effect varies. Those of sufficiently creative mentality that hear the bell continuously for over an hour will continue to hear the bell for up to just under a week. The hat has no effect unless worn by a scarbo, although the bell is a potent reagent. While this augments the abilities of the scarbo, it is nonessential, and some scarbos do not wear hats (usually because the hat has been stolen or destroyed).
Abilities[edit | edit source]
The scarbo is the same as a true vampire in many respects, with certain key differences.
Most notably, it does not appear to share most of the weaknesses of a true vampire. While it is vulnerable to light on the visible spectrum and exposure to direct sunlight will destroy it, the scarbo can, for example, freely pass through running water and, as is vital in regard to its habits, does not require an invitation to a home.
On the other hand, a scarbo does not gain power with age as a true vampire does, nor can it regenerate once destroyed. In addition, it can be deterred by the presence of a scarab, or a scarab amulet. It also does not share the true vampire's resistance to electricity nor the vampire's immunity to nonmagical weapons. It is also, typically, physically weaker than a true vampire, and does not have the vampire's ability to charm creatures with its gaze.
The scarbo is able to magically make itself understood when scorning its victims, even if its does not share a language with them.
When the scarbo is "born", it gains an instinctive knowledge of its abilities and intended purpose. For reasons lost to history, it also knows how to counterfeit coins from the moment of its creation.
Creation[edit | edit source]
From the pages of “Batty Rituals to Perform on a Whim, Volume One” by Gut0R58x:
“The ritual to create a scarbo is long and complex and cannot be fully described in these pages.
In summary, it begins by stripping a gnome, half-gnome, spriggan or the like of the flesh around their torso and, keeping them at the edge of death through magic, transfusing them with a special concoction consisting mostly of vampire blood belonging to a still-living vampire, a large amount of pulverised scarabs and candle wax. Following this, they are then placed into a suit of armour of some kind which is animated as per the standard ritual used to create a helmed horror. The armour can take any form but instead of a helmet it must have a hat with a bell on it, preferably of gnomish make. It is paramount that the creature be kept conscious at this stage as they will otherwise almost never survive the process long enough to see the ritual through to its end. The necromancer must use "vampire production" and several other spells to cause the vampire blood to ‘take’ before the creature finally dies. In the rare instance that the gnome survives, the scarbo must be destroyed. Otherwise, it will rise after a day has passed.
Once the ritual is complete, the source vampire can be destroyed and the Scarbo is bound to the necromancer as a true vampire would be to the vampire that created it.”