[Day 18] The Brass Monkeys

The Brass Monkeys

(I took a break from monsters yesterday. My apologies)

The music had grown louder still, and now the musicians themselves came into view. Hannah wasn't sure if they had come over the hill or simply come into focus, like a view through a looking glass. They were monkeys with brass faces. Their wild unblinking eyes were painted white and yellow, and their wide mouths were daubed with crimson. The paint work was shoddy, almost as if the monkeys had not wanted to stand still for the time it took the painter to do his job.
Their instruments were wondrous. One had hands that throbbed with veins and with flaps of skin between the fingers. When he banged them together it sounded like a cymbal. One had no lips, but a fleshy horn seemed to have forced its way from behind his brass face. When he laughed it sounded like a muted trumpet in a wild neighing solo. Further back Hannah thought she saw one with bellows for a torso and a reed in his mouth like a lolling tongue.
 From: The Adventures of Hannah: A Fantasy By An Unknown Hand (Quite a hit among the idle and bohemian in Galgenbeck)

The monkey marching band are described in the rather fevered novel The Adventures of Hannah, or maybe they did not exist before the story called them into being.

The monkeys rarely attack, but when they do it is to create more like themselves. They seem to be made from brass, but these forms need to be filled with still quivering human fat and muscle ever so often.
 Once they have a victim on the ground, they will often ignore any allies she might have in favor of slicing off still-living meat.
The music the monkeys play is wild and lurid, and some people in Galgenbeck have taken to following them around, dancing and drinking. Some may even aid them in procuring material for their brass shells. The monkeys do not acknowledge their 'entourage', except by playing on.



Hp 7, Morale 8, brass armor -d4, Heavy fists 1d6
Special: Once per altercation the monkeys can deafen all their enemies with an ear-bleeding cacophony (Toughness check DR14 to resist). Being deafened does 1d2 damage, and lowers Presence by 1d3 points for the next 24 hours. 

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