Old Man Leafs is a 8´ high “tree humanoid”, thick and gnarly. His bark is ashen gray and flaky, not much leafs still grow from him but for some wispy yellow-green foliation high up at the end of the twigs that that grow out of his “head”.
Hit Dice: 5
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 45´(15´)
Armor Class: 4
Attacks: 1 (“the big branch”; 3d6 damage)
Save: L6
Morale: 9
Mutations: Bizarre Appearance (Tree Humanoid); Increased Willpower; Intellectual Affinity (special; see below); Neural Telepathy (his way of “speaking”); Animal Limbs (two legs and three arms, one crippled); Free Movement (but slow; see stats; it takes one round to uproot); Full Senses (is aware of anything within 100 yards); Natural Armor.
Five limbs he has, two he moves about with, so he does not like to uproot himself anymore and prefers to stay just inside the little fern garden he seeded and nurtured years ago “to have good company”. Another limp is a long and heavy branch, and the old folk in the next village remember a day when Old Man Leafs himself squashed three Mansquito with it, one by one. Another one is much smaller and branches out into numerous tiny yet still agile and leafed twigs with which he caresses nearby fern from time to time, or shush the detestable singing birds out of his tops. “I ain´t no nursing home for lil squeakers…”, he sometimes says. The last limb is somewhere in between the latter two, but the branch is decayed and will never heal. It is still attached “and if it wants to fall off, it shall. As long as it doesn´t, it stays with me. Thanks for offering me your so called help, but perhaps one of your other meaty friends wants you to remove a limb from it? No? Now THAT surprises me… NOT!”
In the nearby village, those of very old age know a time when Old Man Leafs visited once in a while to have a telepathic chat about old times. He was himself tremendously old by that time, some even believe that he was there at the time of the End of the Past, but he never answered those questions, and for sure he won´t do it nowadays. He knows a lot. By now, he has forgotten more things than “you teat-sucking softies” (as he likes to call mammals of all kind) likely know. But he wants to be left alone, and may grow angry when he is not left alone. Still, some walk to the little fern garden of Old Man Leafs to ask him about this artifact or that.
The treemutant has a base chance to identify artifacts that is three times as high as usual, and needs no time at all to check. He either knows the artifact or he knows it not. A visit to Old Man Leafs to ask him questions calls for a Random Reaction roll. This roll receives a (-3) modifier if at least one of the visitors is a plant mutant, (+2) if a mutant or mutant animal is bird-like in appearance, a cumulative (+1) modifier for every person above the second and a further cumulative (+1) modifier for every time these person/s had visited Old Man Leafs already this month.
Friendly/Helpful: For some odd reason Old Man Leafs seems to actually like the character/s. That, or they just happened to meet him on a very good day. He will still grumble a bit about “visitors coming without announcing themselves.. what is it that nobody asks a day or two ahead of time anymore?” but will explain the function of any item the character/s show him (if known). Next tim, the visitor/s get a one-time-only (+5) bonus.
Indifferent / Uninterested: The tree mutant is in a bit of a grumpy mood. He wants the characters to go away, but when they don´t and say “pretty, pretty please” (or the equivalent) he will have a look at the item they want to be identified. If it is complexity 1 and he knows it, he will tell them that he cannot be bothered to “repeat such boring old explanations that I have repeated at least eight times last year. BAH! A waste of precious time, that is what it is!” But he will do the PC the favor if they do something for him as well (see below). If it is an item of higher complexity and he knows what it is, he will explain it freely as it has been a while that he had talked about such things.
Neutral / Uncertain: If the PC want Old Man Leafs to even take a look at what they brought along, he demands that they do something for him “and I don´t say that I -do- know what you have there. If you don´t like this kind of deals, come back next spring. Perhaps my mood is more gay then, when there are daisies in May…”
Unfriendly or worse: Old Man Leafs will refuse to even show that he is even alive for about a turn. After that, he will begin to rumble “you pesky pest, you! Go! Get onto you hectic limbs and bother your own kind with your constant chirrup and chit-chat! Can a tree not even have one week of silence nowadays!?!” He will threatingly begin to swing his big branch at the PC (but with no intent to hit them). But if they do not leave now and annoy him further, he will uproot himself and attack till they either start to run or promise to leave.
Twelve Deeds for Old Man Leafs (d12):
#01: “The soil bothers me. Bring me fertilizer and apply it to my fern garden and my roots. A dozen pounds shall do it”.
#02: “Dry days are coming. I can feel it in my roots. My fern I fear for. Bring me ten gallons of water, and a watering can. My last was blown away by a storm. Damn plastic, much to light when empty…”
#03: “You see this small, young comely birch there? Yes, she has only been a sapling a few years ago, I watched her grow up. I guess she would like me if she would know me better. Dig her up and plant her at the edge of my fern garden. But be gentle!”
#04: “Those annoying songbirds will not keep away from me. I don´t like them, not at all. Don´t you toddle-arounds build scarecrows? I want three of them! One to my left, one to my right and one in front of me, and NON shall look the same.”
#05: “Bring me a piece of a humanoid robot and place it in front of me. It is so entertaining to see how man-like technology weather over the years…”
#06: “See the glass shard over there? Yes, that one. Do you see how the sunlight is reflected up from the ground by it? I like that. Bring me glass shards, and spread them all around me. Twelve pounds shall do.
#07: “You know… call me vain or an old peacock if you like, but… I miss the days when I had thick foliage. I know, those days will never return but… well, do something to embellish my twigs and branches. Surprise me… be creative, but be tasteful!”
#08: “Do you know what would make my life really complete? Bees. I want bees in my life. Bring me a bee nest, alive and intact of course! A -lot- of things will turn to the better once I have bees around me.”
#09: “Hm… when I look around, I see a -lot- of large plants in my garden that I don´t like to be here. You know, all green deserves life and such, but… this is a fern garden, you know? Please remove them…yes, its just two dozens or so… WAIT!! What do you try to do there? NO! NOT like that! Get yourself some plant pots, scoops and -resettle- them! And do it where I can see it, I don´t feel like I can otherwise trust you with this.”
#10: “Soooo.. you want me to do something for you? Than you will have to do something for me… bring me shrubbery! And plant it at the northern edge of my fern garden. Yes, I will like this”
#11: “You see the shrubbery at the northern edge of my fern garden? I really don´t think that planting them there was such a good idea after all. Please dig it up and resettle it. Somewhere were I can still see it, for I am somewhat used to it. But it must be so that I can -just- see it, you understand?”
#12: The air is a bit dry here. In generall, it is a bit dry here. I would like to have a litte pond. Create one at the edge of my fern garden.
Gregorius21778 