The Savage Created (Players, Stay Out!)

With a little luck, I'll be running my first full AD&D conversion adventure at the beginning of next week. Since I'm in a Ravenloft mood, I'll be running a Savaged version of "The Created", a 2nd to 4th level scenario set in the domain of Odiare.  It's actually the story of how Odiare becomes a domain, so it makes for an interesting entry point.  The adventure is going to be a one-off, so I'm using pre-fab characters.  I've altered the set up and the tone of some of the characters to create Red Herrings and a darker atmosphere.

--The Constable, Aldo, is the town's "big man".  He's on the take, wrenching folks like the PCs into doing his bidding and wetting his beak from the profits.  This works perfectly with plans for the party (see below).  I've tried to make him more threatening, giving him a small cadre of thugs and a pair of mastiffs that would make short work of a single low-powered character on their own.
--The PCs will come to Odiare as thieves, invited by a cousin of at least one character who acts as a small-time hustler and informant: she'll tell them the best places to steal from during the festival in exchange for a cut of the profits.
--The first murder takes place in a house the PCs happen to be robbing, forcing them into the position of serving the constable in order to keep their ill gotten gains.

I've written up the Carrionettes as follows:


Carrionette, Evil Construct

Traits                                                         Secondary Statistics

Agility                    d6                             Charisma:

Smarts                    d6                             Pace: 2”

Spirit                      d4                             Parry: 5 (7)

Strength                  d4                             Toughness: 5

Vigor                      d10                           Reason: N/A

Skills:  Climbing d6, Fighting d6, Guts d4, Notice d6, Persuade d6, Stealth d12, Throwing d6, Tracking d6

Languages: Odiaren

Edges: Quick Draw, Steady Hands

Special Abilities:

Friend to Children:  Carrionettes gain +2 to Charisma when dealing with characters possessing the Major Hindrance “Young” (and possibly other innocents such as adults with child-like mentalities).   Because of this, Carrionettes will never harm children directly, though they might use them as shields or foils to protect themselves.

Puppet-Sized Wooden Body

--Immunities: Poison, Cold, Electricity, Psionic/Magical Domination

--Falling: 1/3 Damage

--Healing: Successful Repair roll = a Wound (2 Wounds on a Raise)

--Size: Small (-2 to Toughness, -2 to be hit by man-sized creatures)

--Weakness: Fire (treat Toughness as -2)

Possession

--Silver Needles (Attack Arms & Legs w/ no penalty): Range 3”. No damage, victim makes a Vigor roll (at -2 if already hit by a needle).  First hit paralyzes a limb (limiting weapon use or cutting movement in half), second hit totally paralyzes victim.  Paralysis remains as long as a needle is in the victim.  Removing a needle causes the paralysis to lift after d4 rounds.  

--Trade Souls: Plunging a silver needle into a paralyzed victim’s neck allows the carrionette to trade souls with the victim.  The process can be reversed by the same means.  In each case, the Carrionette body is incapacitated for 1 hour.