SHADOW/SLUAGH: Monster Conversion - D&D adjacent to Call of Cthulhu 5e.

SHADOWS/SLUAGH, The Pieces of the Peel of the Fruit of Evil.

A network of hostile holographic data coexistent and coterminous with mundane shadow, the Sluagh are an environment inimical to conventional lifeforms.

Manifesting as apparently normal shadows, the Sluagh can exhibit the characteristics of specific individuals and objects. This is suggestive of post-mortem existence, but is more likely to be assimilated code downloaded in response to the subtle stimuli presented by prey creatures. Nor does this confirm intelligent behaviour, or even if individual Sluagh are anything more than extruded units of a super-entity (Sommers, 2013).

Sluagh are able to alter their silhouette, appearing as any living being consumed/destroyed. They have not been observed to imitate inanimate objects. Sluagh are able to take cover in mundane shadow, hiding their shape. As long as there is shadow, the Sluagh can move anywhere with it.

The only condition for Sluagh manifestation is the presence of light within a certain range - they are neutralised (but not harmed) by darkness, and are obliterated by direct application of strong ultraviolet light. They are at their most active in interior spaces with artificial light, and the opportunities for this have only increased from the 19th Century onwards. Electric street lamps have significantly extended their potential range.

Interactions with the uncommunicative Sluagh are normally deleterious to human life, but they have been observed in non-hostile behaviour:

• Casting. A lone unit extends itself the length of a bare horizontal, or the height of a bare vertical, surface. This has been observed in the prelude to hostile interaction, but drawing conclusions at this stage would be unwise (Shavelson, 1966).
• Flitting. Lone or multiple units ‘jumping’ between zones of shadow, altering their outlines as they go. This has been described as ludic performance by some (Wagner, 1975).
• Congregation. Multiple Sluagh units gathering at the same location, unresponsive to attempts at communication and even limited aggression (Llewellyn, 2003).

The other significant behaviour of the Sluagh is their ability to detect and terminate those of human or part-human ancestry who have unnaturally extended their lifespan or otherwise cheated death. Once a unit makes contact with such an individual, other units are summoned (or spontaneously appear) to swarm the subject.

This is the only time they are known to make any noise, which has been described as the sound of babies crying, reversed and slowed down (Wheat & Bruner, 1990).

An obscure 14th Century Rabbinical tradition may reference the Sluagh as the Pieces of the Peel of the Fruit of Evil, thrown away by Adam and Lilith, and the first rubbish generated in the Creation. While widely considered to be an 18th Century hoax, it does seem to derive from an older Arabic source (Pepper, 2020).

INT 2d6 (7)     POW 2d6+6 (13)     DEX 3d6 (10.5)

Hit Points n/a     Damage Bonus n/a     Move 6

Weapons: Chilling Touch 100% (bypasses armour), 1-4 STR damage. Characteristic loss is recovered at a rate of half-an-hour per point. Anyone reduced to 0 STR decomposes to an agonised sooty patch in one round, and then rises up as a new Shadow on the next.

Armour: none, but Shadows can only be destroyed by the direct application of strong ultraviolet light or fire (flamethrower or house burning down, not a flaming torch - though this will hold them off/ drive them back) and electricity (at least strong enough to kill an average adult human).

Enchanted weapons can be used to defend against and drive back a Shadow, but cannot do them lasting harm. Spells should be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis. 

Skills: Dodge 60%, Undetectable As Anything Other Than A Shadow 90%, Move Silently 100%.

Spells: None.

Habitat: Everywhere where there is neither absolute darkness nor strong ultraviolet light.

One interpretation of parts of Neil Armstrong's unedited memoir manuscript and several photos from the ISS in 1999 suggest they are able to survive outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Sanity Loss: 0/1d6 to see a Shadow/Sluagh, 1/1d6 to hear them for the first time.

Commentary.

Yep - this is the D&D classic, via the groaning shadows in Ghost and the Sluagh from The Time Killer and The Tomb of Terror (Slaine stories from 2000AD).