The Barrow-Man

The Barrow-Man is a Bogeyman who first appeared in pre-Grand Conjunction Dorvinia. He works in tandem with his mate, the Lady Fair.

Origins

It is possible that the Barrow-Man's legend and that of his mate originates with a pair of murderers and resurrectionists, Bram and Leila Stovich. The Stoviches would murder specific victims to the specifications of medical researchers, necromancers and the like by poisoning them, then steal the corpse in the dead of night and bring it to the customer. Even after the Stoviches were caught and executed by hanging in 717 BC, the tale of the two killers persevered and mutated into a dreadful fairytale -- especially because many of their victims had been young children. In 730 BC, the telling and retelling of the Stoviches' story as a cautionary tale caused the Barrow-Man and the Lady Fair to be spawned from a Sinkhole of Evil in the Ziyden Woods.

Appearance

The Barrow-Man is freely visible to adults, and appears as a middle-aged human man, worn, rugged and gnarled from a long life of hard labour. He wears the clothes of a working man, a tinker or a vagrant, and is usually seen dragging a barrow or cart behind him. A flat cap shades his face against the light of day. His boots are stained with miles of dust, have soles worn as thin as cloth. The Barrow-Man's cart is loaded up with the tools and products of the tinker's trade. He freely sells his pots and pans to adults, or agrees to do jobs as any itinerant tinker would. When he speaks to negotiate his work, the Barrow-Man's voice is hoarse and raw, putting many in mind of a door in dire need of oiling, or perhaps a disappointed crow.

The Barrow-Man's hoarse voice may be a holdover from Bram Stovich, who was forced to swallow red-hot stones before he was executed.

Modus Operandi

Like the Lady Fair, the Barrow-Man only leaves his lair when a child openly displays ingratitude for its blessings in life, and openly envies another child what it perceives to be their good fortune. His contribution to the nasty murders and suffering that follow is mainly that of transport and bringing a close to the hunt. As the Lady Fair is incapable of traveling long distances, he transports her from their lair in the 'Dark Woods where shadows grow like brambles' to wherever their intended target is on his cart. He is also the one to pinpoint the target's location once the bogeymen have sensed that a child has sinned through ingratitude and envy.

Once the two monsters have found their target, the Barrow-Man busies himself with apparently ordinary bits of work and earning coin while the Lady Fair sets the trap and commences the torture. This lasts until the Barrow-Man judges that the child has suffered enough under his wife's attentions to make up for the act of ingratitude that drew the two bogeymen forth in the first place.

When the balance has been redressed, the Barrow-Man will go to wherever the child is, and offer to end its by then considerable agony in one stroke.

• If the child accepts, the Barrow-Man will kill it with the skill and care of a craftsman, then butcher the carcass and prepare the best cuts for transport. The Lady Fair returns to the cart, and the Barrow-Man starts the journey back to the 'Dark Woods where shadows grow like brambles', where the two bogeymen will feast on the remains of their victim and await the next ungrateful child to draw their attention.
• If the child does not accept, the Barrow-Man still collects his mate and departs for the 'Dark Woods where shadows grow like brambles', except then he will randomly kill and butcher the next person he encounters on his way home. The child is not provided with any kind of healing, and may still live out the rest of its life in agony, barely capable of movement.

Powers

The Barrow-Man can use Shadow Walk, Locate Person and Phase Door at will, but only at night. In natural darkness, he gains a move speed of 60 ft., but only on land. Once every day, he can use death attack like an Assassin of his level.

Bane

Like his mate, the Lady Fair, the Barrow-Man is vulnerable to a victim showing contrition and doing its utmost to make amends for its earlier ingratitude and envy, but only so long as this is truly selfless and heartfelt. A child trying to make amends for the purpose of surviving the attention of the bogeymen would not affect him. Unlike the Lady Fair, the Barrow-Man is not sickened by genuine contrition, but he is forced to immediately collect his mate, end the hunt and return home to their lair without killing anyone along their way.

Lair

The 'Dark Woods where shadows grow like brambles' is not a location recorded on any map penned by mortal hand, though it does feature in some particularly nasty fairy tales. There are secretive whispers that the Shadow Fey and some of the more intelligent Bogeymen know where it can be found, but neither the Barrow-Man nor the Lady Fair is a particularly gregarious host. Those same whispers claim the two of them have upholstered their lair with the skins of any intruders they managed to capture.