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Winter Times: Father Winters (Part 1 of 3)

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"Merry Old Santa Claus", by Thomas Nast (Harper's Weekly, 1881)

In the cold as ice falls down,
Comes a man in reddest gown.
Father Winters – with gifts arrives,
And jolly laughter and twinkling eyes.
“Have ye been good little girl and little boy?
If you have, then have a toy!
If you haven’t, then have teeth of a rabbit!
Have these lice from my pocket and this soot in my locket!
Let that remind you, deeds aren’t left behind you!
And be a kinder little ‘kinder when next Winter comes.”

The Myth

Every year when Yule-time comes round, this jolly old man all decked out in red slips into your house when all lie a-bed. Then he’ll find a tree, or any old table, and stuff under it presents and little toys out of fable.

He’s the spirit of fun, of jolly-good and whole laughter. He’s a most charitable ghost and loves all the good spirited children. To those who’ve been bad or naughty (not nice), he’ll curse with rabbit teeth, sooty hands or a head full of lice.

His ethnicity, race or nationality may change to suit the myth, but he’s always round and boisterous in every story. In some, all he does is bring gifts. In others, he’s a wise old wizard that remembers magics all but the gods have forgotten. To yet others he is a  deity of charity and warmth against the cold. Legends say he has a sky-sleigh of some kind, or perhaps a walking staff that lets him fly, or that he travels in a flurry of ice and snow warmed only by the strength of his laughter.

These myths are far from the truth…

The Man

Father Winters is an old spirit, bent and aged as the winds. Though his origins are forgotten even to himself, he feeds on the stories and does what he can to live by them. He was truly charitable once, until the wicked troll Garivela stole his heart and replaced it with a locket of soot. Now when winter passes the Father goes wandering, searching for the ever-elusive Garivela and his lost heart.

During the cold seasons each year, Father Winters returns to the Winter Hollows workshop and supervises his toy men companions, the best of which he grants a name and a true life as a man or woman. Though he cannot visit all children he tries to visit those he feels need it most, usually picking a single city or town each year to bless and curse; for he takes his rhymes as a sincere breed of doctrine.

No one is sure what he looks like, truly, for he always appears with his Red Cloak about him in one manner or another. Father Winters can always be seen wearing red and carrying his white walking staff of ash and ice.

Father Winters (Level 16 Solo Controller)

Medium Immortal Humanoid (Cold) XP 7,000

Initiative +13

Senses: Perception +16

HP 600; Bloodied 300

AC 34; Fortitude 32; Reflex 34; Will 30

Saving Throws +5

Speed 8  (Triples overland speed)

Action Points 2

Traits

Blizzard’s Whirl ♦ Aura 3

Any creature that begins its turn within the aura is slowed until the end of its next turn and takes 3 cold damage.

Indestructible

When Father Winters is reduced to 0 hit points he dissipates into a spray of snow, but is not truly dead. He reappears in 1d10 days within 1 square of his workshop, unless his heart is also found and destroyed.

Standard Actions

[MBA] Walking Staff (weapon, cold) ♦ At-Will

+21 vs AC; 2d8 +3 damage and ongoing cold damage (save ends).

[RBA] Shivering Curse ♦ At-Will

Ranged 10; +19 vs Reflex; 2d8+3 damage and you slide the target 4 squares. At the end of the slide, the target takes 5 ongoing cold damage and grants combat advantage (save ends both).

[C] Snow and Soot (cold, fire) • Recharge 5, 6

Close Burst 3 (enemies in burst) +19 vs. Fort; 2d10 +3 cold and fire damage and the target takes 10 ongoing cold damage and is weakened (save ends both).

Move Actions

Winter’s Stride (cold, teleportation) ♦ At-Will

Effect: Father Winters teleports up to 8 squares if he begins and ends the move adjacent to ice, snow, any part of his workshop or a toy man. When he teleports in this manner, he deals 10 cold damage to all creatures adjacent to him at the end of the teleport.

Minor Actions

The Red Cloak (illusion) ♦ At-Will

Effect: Father Winters can disguise himself to appear as any Medium humanoid. This humanoid is always clothed in red and is always quite rotund.

Rotting Curse (necrotic, cold) ♦ At-Will

Close Burst 3 (targets one creature affected by Shivering Curse) +21 vs. AC; 1d6 +8 damage plus 2d8 cold damage, and the target is weakened and takes a -2 to Athletics and Acrobatics checks (save ends both). You may use this power only once per round.

Alignment Unaligned

Languages All, Telepathy 10

Skills Arcana +17, Insight + 16, Diplomacy +20, Religion +17

Str 16(+11) Dex 20 (+13) Wis 17 (+13)

Con 22 (+14) Int 18 (+12) Cha 24 (+15)

Adventure Hooks

  • Father Winters has heard of the PCs after some charitable act or particular heroic event. The coming winter forces him to work in the Hollows nearby but he feels that Garivela is close. He  approaches the PCs and asks them to seek out the Troll and to retrieve his heart.
  • Father Winters gifts are stolen somehow as he sleeps by someone in the city; now he has emerged and lays siege to the town the PCs are residing in. He is in a furious anger, as he does not know the identity of the thief but is convinced that the culprit resides somewhere in the city.

Edited by Jonathan Jacobs and Charles Dickey


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