Grigori (Patreon)

One day I'll make a monster that isn't to do with the Saints of Troika, but not today. Enjoy this raw and wriggling first draft.

# Grigori
Skill 6
Stamina 12
Initiative 2
Armour 1 (thick hair)

Damage as Unarmed or Knife

Mien:
1. Staring accusingly
2. Moving with purpose
3. Swaying
4. Shouting at someone
5. Being driven away
6. Transporting tithes

People who have lived in Troika for long enough will see a Grigori, if not be outright visited by one directly. You might wake up one humid Bathday, feel your way to the kithcnette, and find your window is broken and all your dry puddings have been toppled off the counter and stamped into the carpet. Rubbing your eyes you might stumble to the window expecting to see the back of a burgular, but instead standing in the middle of the dew-damp street is a a tangle of human limbs and hair. The Grigori, as you know it to be, sees you and extends its multi faceted accusatory head from within its damp hair and shouts "no currents on Bathday, no dried fruit on the Feast of St. Ivans, no baking widdershins of the St. Lyles sugar mill!"

Violence
The punishment issued by Grigoris is usually verbal abuse or petty vandalism rather than direct violence. However they will protect themselves if bothered, which happens quite often in the shape of householders with brooms and children with rocks. In these cases they will kick with their human legs until the threat relents. In more severe cases, where mortal peril is involved, they will expose their accusatory head and reshape their symbolic tendrils and mouth part into the sharpest saintly sigils they can think of.

Ecology
The Grigori are cacogenic creatures donated to the city by the Throne Rulers to instil virtue in the unachored citizens of Troika. The specific virtue is an ever growing and conflicting list of Saintly observances. In the years since their introduction the number of Saints and accompanying observances has ballooned beyond control and even the Grigori can't keep them all in order, so much so that it is not unheard of for two Grigori to get into kick-fights in the street over each others' peccant behaviour.

Lair
The Grigori spend most of their time immobile on quiet streets tucked between bins and downspouts, legs withdrawn in their hairy mass, head extended just barely, slowly forming and unforming Saintly emblems on their head stalks, ready to accept tithes.

Special
If you throw a tithe of the appropriate amount into their head depression they will leave you alone. They will deposit the money at the appropriate shrines to absolve you of your wrongdoing.