Inncreeper
| Inncreeper | |
|---|---|
| Hospitalis cryptonemis | |
 | |
| Class | Humanoid |
| Habitat | Inns and traveling waystations. |
| Description | Craggy humanoid responsible for the “settling building” noises in inns. |
The Inncreeper (Hospitalis cryptonemis) is a monster found in Godville. It most often haunts public accommodations when the lights are out.
Contents
How to Recognize this Monster
Inncreepers are not so much recognized visually, as auditorially. The hero who lays down to sleep at an inn or a traveler’s waystation, only to be kept awake by the sound of the building “settling,” may find himself the prey of this monster.
Hunters of the Inncreeper should be advised that it never carries a lantern. One that is seen to carry a candle or lamp is likely to be a legitimate innkeeper, and ought not to be attacked. But if a hero finds a humanoid shape in the darkened hallway, bearing no lantern, and stepping on nothing but the creakiest boards, the hero should draw his weapon. Or run back to his room and hide under the covers. Whichever is more expedient.
Origins
Even the vaunted De La Fossey family of naturalists and cryptozoologists seems to be at a loss for explaining what causes an Inncreeper.[1] However, the Dark Elves of the Wastelands of Insomnia share a myth of wandering servants of the Spirit of Insomnia held captive in their lands, and hold that the servants work sleeplessly to strengthen their object of reverence by keeping the greatest number of people awake.[2] This myth may have grown from the very existence of Inncreepers, or it may explain how the first of them came to be.
The historians and physicists of Unspecifiedistan University have united to advance a different theory for the origin of Inncreepers, wherein heroes and heroines who have snuck out under the cover of dark for a drink at the local tavern in the hopes of avoiding the wrath of their deities make the return journey in a state both inebriated and under intense self-control. This altered state causes the hero or heroine to alter the vibrational frequencies of their molecules, allowing for refractions of the same actions to occur across time in places of similar makeup but no occupant. Records of appearances of heroine Joan d'Adventure in taverns long predate her actual birth by this mechanism, and present historians are gathering descriptions of current Inncreepers with intent to compare them to future heroes.
Attributes
Strengths
- Unerring sensitivity to what will cause the greatest chills.
- Friends with Norman Bates.
Weaknesses
- Prone to stubbing its own toes in the dark.
References and Footnotes
- ↑ "Wha-- what?! Who are you, and how did you get into my room?" -- Lady Dianne de la Fossey during a layover between expeditions, when queried on the nature of Inncreepers.
- ↑ The Gnomes of Sleepless Hollow of course consider this story to be complete balderdash
