By Colin Chapman (col.chapman@virgin.net)
"Damn car," he muttered, glancing back at the dim silhouette of his predicament. Only a mile across the highlands to home. The moist grass and heather a blanket beneath leather shoes, the light a soulless grey, the mist devouring sound.
He crested the hillock, glancing down towards the warm lights of habitation, and sighing with relief began a cautious decent down the slippery slope.
A dull crack. "Ow!" He looked down beneath his feet at the cause of his discomfort; a thick white branch. Cursing, he carried forward. 'Crack! Rattle!' he almost fell, his foot entangled.
"Bloody hell!!", he made to kick the round white rock; he stopped. Eye sockets!? His heart stopped in time, numb and cold, he felt limbless. for eternal moments he stood transfixed. His legs began to run...
Fingers clutched him like a vice, the scream racing to tear from his throat, cold talons entered his mouth and he gurgled a pathetic sob. gazing into that one malevolent eye, his heart shredded.'
Black Annis is the nightmare of the Scottish Highlands. For centuries tales have been told, but the Highlanders of yore knew better than to dismiss such stories. She roams the wildlands and glens seeking the flesh of the living, the warmth of life in fresh blood, and she is ever hungry.
Unique and solitary, terrible and cunning, and fond of human flesh. As men have fled the wilds to live in the cities, her thirst has grown, and she uses sheep to sustain her. Many are the farmers who lose sheep or find their broken bones, but woe betide the incautious traveller.
She is a hideous hag, blue of hide with a single piercing eye. Thin, but filled with unholy strength, her flesh is cold, her hair long, black and lank. Breath of fetid decay, her long dirty claws seek purchase.
Charms: Materialise (Power cost:22; Str 5, Dex 3, Sta 4, Alertness 3, Brawl 4, Dodge 2, Intimidate 3, Stealth 4, Claws Str + 1, diff.6; health 7), Reform