(David M. Donachie)

The Pazuzus are masters of disguise. There are many ways to meet them on the road and not know the danger that awaits you. Roll 1d20, and consult below to see what may befall you.

1. The crimson knight, a haggard questing knight in battered red plate. The plate is real (AF 5); the knight is a pazuzu who dyes its stolen armour in its victim's blood.
   
   
2. Melitus, an innocent young goatherd, leading his flock. He conceals the bodies of his victims inside goat carcasses then blames wolves for the deaths.
   
   
3. Sonia, Mela, and Sara: three unconnected survivors from a caravan slaughtered by an unseen beast. Each privately confides that they fear one of the others is the monster. All three are pazuzu.
   
   
4. Mota, a suspicious old goatherd, leading his flock. The pazuzu is one of the goats. It emerges at night.
   
   
5. A party of afflicted lazars, led by a mendicant healer, Vitus. The pazuzu is a particularly hideous lazar wrapped head to foot in bandages and wearing a pewter mask upon his face.
   
   
6. A wealthy merchant, Godfrey, travels in an ornate coach with a party of retainers. The retainers know their half-seen master is a beast. Victims are put inside the coach and never seen again.
   
   
7. Five soldiers: Hugh, Roral, Albert, Geoffry, and Pons, flee from the nighttime slaughter of their unit. The blood-soaked encampment is nearby. The pazuzu tracks them from the hills near the road, striking after dark.
   
   
8. Edwin the mystic is hunted by pazuzu disguised as royal soldiers. He carries a golden lion's paw that the creatures seek. The soldiers have letters declaring Edwin a wanted outlaw.
   
   
9. A foam-flecked riderless stallion leads you to a gravely wounded knight, Gilbert, lying by the road. Gilbert, a pazuzu, will attack whoever tends him alone.
   
   
10. Hilda the seeress prophesies that one of you will be slain by a beast with a lion's head. Her protector Gregory is a pazuzu who ensures that the prediction comes true.
    
    
11. A mighty pazuzu lord, Nagal (30 HP), lies sleeping in a tomb, placed under a spell by an ancient sorcerer. Dagobert, a scholar, hires you to recover a fictitious treasure from the tomb, hoping that Nagal will awake.
    
    
12. Alstor, a friar, seeks absolution at a shrine at your destination. Alastor is a pazuzu, but the pilgrimage is real. He reveals himself only when danger threatens.
    
    
13. Gui of Balham, a merchant, offers you a place in his caravan; then the murders begin. The pazuzu is one of Gui's hired guards, a veiled woman, Yolande.
    
    
14. A band of troubadours have a lion in a cage. A man is murdered, his son says he saw the lion do it, but the pazuzu is Guillaume, the fire-breather.
    
    
15. An imperious lordling, Hoston, finely dressed and riding a palfrey, makes intolerable demands on the road. The real Hoston is dead, a pazuzu wears his skin.
    
    
16. Robelard leads a company of bandits, the Red Feather, who do not suspect that their leader is a pazuzu. Robelard claims one victim from each raid to 'entertain him'.
    
    
17. A torch-wielding mob. They are convinced that one of your party is a pazuzu in disguise, and that burning you all is the way to prove it.
    
    
18. In the midst of a storm, a woodcutter, Artois, stumbles across you. The old man is sick and grateful for your aid, and also a pazuzu looking for a victim.
    
    
19. Two young lovers, Helain and Adam, are eloping on the road with their angry families in pursuit. Helain is a pazuzu who intended to get Adam alone, and isn't ready to give up yet.
    
    
20. Dame Cécile, a knight at arms on a grey mare, seeks a pazuzu who has murdered seven lone travellers along the road. She is full of fire and brimstone. Roll again to see who she hunts.

This article first appeared in Casket of Fays Issue 5.