Poupée de Haine

Size/Type: Tiny Construct
Hit Dice: 4d10+20 (42 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares), climb 40 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (+2 size, +3 Dex, +6 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/-7
Attack: Bayou Rosa Shucker +10 melee (1d4+1/19-20) or bite +10 melee (1d3+1 plus La Haine Rouge)
Full Attack: Bayou Rosa Shucker +10 melee (1d4+1/19-20) and bite +5 melee (1d3 plus La Haine Rouge)
Space/Reach: 2½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: La Haine Rouge, pounce, terrifying laughter
Special Qualities: Construct traits, darkvision 60 ft., climb speed, damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, uncanny stillness, scent
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 17, Con —, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 8
Skills: Climb +19, Hide +23, Jump +11, Listen +6, Move Silently +15, Spot +6
Feats: Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Swamps, cemeteries, abandoned homes, voodoo shrines, Ville des Marai
Organization: Solitary, pair, or clutch (3-6)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Tiny); 9-12 HD (Small)
Level Adjustment: —

Special Abilities

Bayou Rosa Shucker (Ex): Every Poupée de Haine carries a miniature Bayou Rosa Shucker fashioned from sharpened shell, bone, or iron. It threatens a critical hit on a 19-20 and is considered a magic weapon for overcoming damage reduction.

La Haine Rouge (Su): A creature damaged by the doll's bite must succeed on a DC 16 Fortitude save or contract La Haine Rouge. Incubation period 1 day; damage 1d3 Wis and 1d3 Cha. Each failed daily save also imposes a cumulative -2 penalty on Diplomacy, Heal, and Sense Motive checks as the victim's empathy erodes into violent hatred. After three consecutive failed saves, the victim becomes psychopathic, treating all creatures as hostile unless magically restrained or cured. This is a supernatural disease. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Pounce (Ex): If a Poupée de Haine charges, it may make a full attack, often leading with its bite before driving its Bayou Rosa Shucker into exposed flesh.

Terrifying Laughter (Su): Rather than roar or scream, the creature emits a rapid, dry clicking laugh. Any creature within 30 feet hearing this sound must succeed on a DC 14 Will save or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. A creature that successfully saves is immune to that doll's laughter for 24 hours.

Uncanny Stillness (Ex): When motionless, a Poupée de Haine is nearly impossible to distinguish from an ordinary handcrafted voodoo doll. Creatures must succeed on a DC 25 Spot check to notice that anything is amiss before it moves.

Description

A Poupée de Haine stands barely eleven inches tall, yet few creatures inspire such immediate dread. Its body is crudely stitched from dark leather, burlap, and faded cloth stuffed with Spanish moss and swamp reeds. Tangled black human hair hangs from its oversized carved head, framing large glassy eyes that seem to follow every movement. Around its waist hangs a faded green cloth wrap decorated with beads, tiny bones, rusty keys, and charms collected from forgotten graves.

The doll's mouth is sewn tightly shut with coarse black cord, giving the unsettling impression that it has been deliberately silenced. The illusion lasts only until the creature awakens. The stitches snap apart one after another with audible pops as its jaw stretches impossibly wide, revealing row upon row of thin, needle-like teeth glistening with crimson saliva.

Its movements are unnervingly inhuman. A Poupée de Haine scuttles across walls and ceilings with the speed of a hunting spider, freezes without warning, then launches itself at prey in explosive bursts of violence. Its head often turns before the rest of its body follows, creating the disturbing impression that its neck has no bones at all.

Though armed with a tiny Bayou Rosa Shucker, the creature's true weapon is its bite. It delights in sinking its teeth into exposed flesh before springing away, laughing with a dry, clicking "keh...keh...keh..." that echoes through abandoned houses and moonlit bayous.

Lore

Stories claim that the first Poupées de Haine were fashioned by practitioners who allowed vengeance to eclipse wisdom. Rather than channel spirits for protection or healing, they created vessels intended to embody hatred itself. Whatever ritual birthed the first doll has long since been lost, but the creatures occasionally appear in forgotten shrines, abandoned plantations, and the hidden corners of Ville des Marai.

Unlike many cursed objects, a Poupée de Haine wastes no time haunting its victims. The moment it awakens, it attacks with startling speed and relentless ferocity. Survivors often insist the doll waited until someone picked it up, smiled at it, or dismissed it as harmless before springing to life.

The supernatural disease known as La Haine Rouge has claimed far more lives than the dolls themselves. Physicians cannot explain why its victims remain physically healthy even as their personalities deteriorate into cruelty, paranoia, and remorseless violence. Clerics argue that the disease infects the soul before the body, while practitioners of the old bayou traditions insist that hatred itself is a living force seeking new hosts.

Parents throughout Ville des Marai teach their children a simple rule whenever an old doll is found in an attic, cemetery, or abandoned cabin: never touch it, never smile at it, and never believe it is only a doll. Those who ignore the warning rarely live long enough to repeat it.