The grim hound is a hairless canine creature glows with an eerie green light. Its legs are distended with misshapen muscles and its back lined with coarse hairs not unlike a boars. The grim hound’s head is wide and solid, its jaw thick and lined with inward curved fangs. Its eyes sparkle with a measure of intelligence. Its gaze is often kindly unless it spies an undead horror or is commanded to attack. Then the hound is relentless in its pursuit of its prey. Best Friend, Worst Enemy. If anything, La Contessa knows how to snatch victory from despair. Like any other hunter, the noblewoman often used trained dogs in the field. The loyal creatures not only relentlessly harried prey, sniffed out hiding places, and sensed when the unnatural was nearby long before she did. Her hounds, however, were not very effective against ghosts, specters, wraiths and the like. Their short lives were cut even shorter by these phantasms. La Contessa grew sick of losing her favorite companions and w...

Extravagant and patchwork, the ghoukiller is garbed in a garish cloak, mask, and floppy hat to obfuscate its gaunt physique. One might mistake it for a grave-born horror given the pale to the point of translucency skin, sunken boiled-fish eyes, and stooped posture. While undead, however, the ghoulkiller was reanimated by alchemical means and hunts ‘naturally’ occurring undead with gusto. A grafted blade serves as one of the ghoulkiller’s arms, its blade weeping a concoction which lulls undead into a stupor and sickens the living. Much like a court duelist it wields the grisly weapon with panache and treats combat as a performance art. Tomb Hunter. Primarily deployed against ghasts and ghouls, the first ghoulkiller was crafted from the remains of one of La Contessa's loyal allies in the fight against the vampire menace. The poor soul loved to take chances with a flare for the dramatic, but flair means little against a clutch of ghouls. The duelist was torn limb from limb wh...

Teetering on two steel, skeletal legs, the aspergillum golem’s name originates with its equally thin arms. While exquisitely made, these articulated limbs end in bulbous extremities from which holy water constantly dribbles from dozens of small holes. Almost like torn muscles, reinforced hoses wrap about either arm and connect the spherical ‘hands’ to the golem’s literal metal barrel torso. The bands about the golem’s core are spiked and engraved with traditional prayers against the undead. Affixed to the top of this cask is an alchemically tempered specimen jar containing a pickled priest’s head, the spine of which dangles down into the stored holy water below. Barrel of Blasphemy. If anyone ever believed that the ends justify the means, it’s La Contessa . Like any other undead hunter, the noblewoman knew well that holy water burned the undead, but oftentimes it just wasn’t utiizlied with enough volume to be particularly effective. It took her years to come up with a viable sol...

This crude execution tool is crafted from rune-forged bands of iron in a bell-like shape. Within the cage sits the withered corpse of a vampire that was drawn and quartered. Oftentimes, its head is nailed into place at the top of the gibbet with its eyelids removed. Most of the time, the inquisitor gibbet says from a post or tree limb. However, it is completely able to float on its own, arcane power. Its chains whip about, the runes on each link blazing with radiant energy. At the same time, the skewered head screams in intelligible agony. No Rest for the Wicked. At one point La Contessa decided that she didn’t want to merely destroy vampires and other undead, she wanted to make them suffer. Every last crypt thing, graveyard feind, and ruin haunt had claimed so many lives over its existence, even if their state was accidental, that letting them rest didn’t seem fair. The inventor found it quite difficult, though, to keep them properly trapped and punished. That was, until, she...

The harpsichord mimic usually appears as a masterpiece example of the instrument. Its brocade casing is bone white against sepia tones while its legs are filigree affairs which imitate a cloud of bats in flight. When opened, the interior of the mimic’s lid always depicts a gothic romance scene such as a ghost embracing their love atop a grave, a vampire leaning in to bit a paramour’s neck, or werewolf sleeping against their intend’s legs. Baroque Weapon. A lover of music, La Contessa bred the harpsichord mimics partially to fill her lairs with comforting songs. Likewise, she knows her bitter enemies adore the dramatic, romantic instruments as well. It’s easy enough to ensure these pieces end up bought or looted by sentient undead, or smuggled one into a haunted house while the spirits are dormant. The mimic’s songs, produced on its stretched vocal chords, prove dangerous to the living and the dead alike. Harpsichord Mimic Large monstrosity (shapechang...

As ostentatious as it is deadly, the coffin mimic fits right in with the rest of a vampire crypt’s decor. This is the point, of course. The monstrosity exudes a coppery perfume that most undead find particularly irresistible once they catch a whiff. This scene lures the creature in, invites it to lay down, and gives the coffin mimic an easy meal. If that doesn’t work, the shapeshifter isn’t shy to resort to violence. The coffin doesn’t just feed on the undead. Pesky heroes poking around in its hunting grounds taste just as good. Macabre Vamp-Trap. As her fight against the vampires that took everything she had neared its in, La Contessa grew frustrated as they went to ground to wait out her wrath. While the alchemist took profane steps to prolong her life, she also bred further chemical-manipulated mimics to aid her fight. The most successful has been the coffin mimic. These wonderful abominations burrow into the dusty tombs where vampires and the like hide from the sun and s...

Soiled with blood and great stains, the horseless cart sits devoid of the corpses it usually bears. The cart’s corners are reinforced with rusted iron, it’s railing crafted from the same. The wheels are in good repair, however, appearing to be recently replaced. They too have been reinforced with metal. That is how this particular mimic appears until its prey draws near. The cage transforms into fangs, its wooden tongue becomes a purple, fleshy one, and spokes sprout into mottled pseudopods. Grim Harvest. The corpse cart mimic was alchemically gestiated by La Contessa as another clever tool in her war against the ‘natural’ undead. While it can only assume one shape, the corpse cart is a devastating battlefield controller or cavalry weapon against corporeal undead. Its unique physiology renders it immune to a variety of undead attacks, and it can chow down on ghasts, ghouls, skeletons, and zombies with easy. The same can be said for pesky adventurers or innocent bystanders, o...

It looks like a skeleton. It walks like a skeleton. It attacks like a skeleton. However, the skeletal effigy is a clever copy of alchemically-treated that has been painted and garbed to appear as one of the most basic of undead horrors. It takes a keen eye to see through the ruse, at least until the effigy explodes in a shower of shards. Walking Stake. Early on in her battles with the vampires that destroyed her life, La Contessa wondered after their weakness to wooden stakes through the heart. She found no scientific reason for this phenomenon, even after lengthy experiments involving a restrained bloodsucker, their central organ, and a variety of woods. Eventually, the torturous trials paid off and the alchemist was able to develop an alchemical solution that when a length of wood was saturated in it provided a modecrum of the paralytic effect. It didn’t just work on vampires but caused all manner of undead to seize up for a time, as well as poison their mortal lackies. I...

Whether a single scrap of richly colored cloth, or banded together as a well-tailored clothing article, silk rats are devious constructs that seek to constrict and devour their prey when the time is right. At rest, they are indistinguishable from inanimate silk and can naturally fold themselves into appealing shapes or nest together in a fine imitation of any attire. Once in motion, the silk rats snap into an angular approximation of an oversized vermin, complete with remarkably sharp teeth and a lashing tail of loose threads. Killer Outfit. In life, La Contessa loved fashion. She and her younger sisters sponsored many a seamstress and tailor in their kingdom. Whenever she was at court, the woman sported the latest fashion. Most didn’t know that La Contessa directly consulted on the designs she wore, and even stitched together a few dresses herself. After vampires destroyed everything she held dear, the alchemist’s first creation was the silk rats. These constructs could hide...

Bearing a severe widow’s peak and sardonic smile, La Contessa lurks in the shadows, stalking her prey. Due to her blood-shot gaze behind spectacles, raven hair, and pallid disposition the noblewoman is often mistaken for a vampire. In truth, while she is undead her state is due to science instead of the supernatural. Clad in the finest studded leather as dark as night and a cloak of direwolf fur, La Contessa is always eager for battle against her hated foes. Her 'custom-made' sword is actually a vat-grown mimic with taste for undead flesh. Alchemical grenades are secreted across her attire; La Contessa draws her weapons with preternatural speed. Wherever La Contessa treads she leaves a trace of essential salt behind, which she must leech from others to survive and continue the Hunt. Vampire Hunter. La Contessa's accursed state stems from her hatred of bloodsuckers. Over a century ago, her city was antagonized by a coterie of vampires and their spawn. Blood-ran in the st...