Astral Whale
Passive
Active
- Create Vortex +10
- Swallow +10 : 1d6 (Ensnare, Acid, Psychic)
- Whale Song +10 : 1d6 (Psychic)
Phases
- Create Vortex +10 (Dying):
The monster creates a vortex centered on itself that pulls all victims in a melee space inside. Victims who fail to resist the vortex are imprisoned within it. Each round they remain imprisoned, they suffer 1d6 damage and the peril of a maleficence the monster possesses (or if the monster has no maleficence, then force), and are subject to the effects of the spell Suffocate. Victims are entitled to a check to escape at the start of each of their subsequent turns.
Lore
Long before the creature’s colossal form parts the gas clouds of the Veil, you hear its resonant song vibrate in the marrow of your bones.
The Astral Whale glides through the void trailing veils of stardust, its shimmering bulk the size of a fortress. Its eyes are black pools that reflect the constellations, and its pod moves in slow, harmonious arcs as if dancing to a strange rhythm. Astral Whales are docile creatures of considerable intelligence; they are capable of telepathic communication, but remain wary of astral travelers. Due to their size, they carry with them an envelope of atmosphere, the air and weather conditions of which they can control with their minds. In the empty void, Astral Whales follow invisible, cosmic strands that carry them to distant places known only to their kind. Each Whale is blessed with an unerring sense of direction, allowing it to find anything or anyone in the Veil, no matter how well-hidden. When threatened, Whales swallow their enemies whole, dissolving their bodies in powerful stomach acids and currents of debilitating psychic energy. Each Astral Whale is also capable of emitting a psychic vortex that can trap aggressors in a psychical prison along with all sorts of detritus they’ve forgotten about during their journeys.
Astral Whales are better used to inspire awe in the party than threaten it. They are unlikely to attack unless it’s in defense of their pod, and if threatened they only resort to violence to escape it. Whales are useful to GMs as living MacGuffins (should the party need to retrieve something psychical that’s still rattling around in their brains) or as unwilling guides in the Astral Veil. The cosmic routes they take may lead to places lost to time, which could mean protecting the Whales from otherworldly denizens who might want to enslave them for their knowledge, such as the Zotog or the Ceremorphs.