Fantasy Monster: Blasphemouse

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Blasphemouse

A coal-black mouse with tiny golden horns and burning red eyes.

CR 2; XP 600
NE Diminutive Magical Beast
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, smell holiness; Perception +5

Aura profane (5 ft.)

Defense
AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+1 Dex, +4 size)
hp 19 (3d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4

DR 5/cold iron or silver; Resist fire 5

Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 15 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d2–3)

Ranged belch flame +8 touch (2d6 fire)

Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Statistics
Str 5, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +0; CMD 7
Feats Iron Will, Run
Skills Climb +5, Knowledge (religion) +1, Perception +5, Stealth +17

Languages Understands Abyssal and Infernal

Ecology
Environment temples, monasteries, ruins, desecrated tombs
Organization solitary, pair, or infestation (3–hundreds)
Treasure standard

Belch Flame (Su) A blasphemouse main way of defending itself is belching orbs of unholy fire which are treated as thrown weapon with range increment of 10 ft., and deal 2d6 points of fire damage on a successful ranged touch attack.

Profane Aura (Su) A blasphemouse is a focal point of a miniature zone of desecration that moves with it. Any nest occupied by blasphemice for at least 24 hours becomes desecrated zone as well, though this effects fades if blasphemice leave the nest unattended for more than 24 hours.

Smell Holiness (Su) A blasphemouse's scent can discern magical auras of divine nature, attracting them to things that are holy or unholy, sacred and profane. They usually seem to avoid objects and places that are druidical or shamanic in nature, though.

Most of the time, when a stray mouse finds and nibbles on holy relics, the durability of those items is more than a match for the little pest's jaws. Occasionally, though, the little beast is stubborn enough to gnaw and gnaw, and gnaw, and the item might be already worn out by time or malice, that the mouse somehow manages to damage, or even more rarely destroy the sacred item. Such blasphemy is what turns regular mice into blasphemice.

Blasphemice infest temples, monasteries, tombs and ruins, where they love to nibble on and slowly destroy consecrated objects, holy tomes, play with the remains of peaceful dead, and make nests of pieces of sacred texts. Some monks even claim that blasphemice sing perverted holy hymns while hiding in walls, but that is certainly exaggeration of disturbed old folks.

Individually, a single blasphemous doesn't do much damage, but can live for a very long time, nibble sacred texts and holy relics here and there, with the damage accumulating over the years. It is uncertain if blashemice breed true among themselves, though some monks suspect that their progeny needs to be feed shreds of holy items to grow into a proper blasphemice themselves.

Some monasteries retain monastic cats to keep blasphemice away, but there are stories of particularly cunning monastic cats taming a blasphemouse or two. There is even a tale, surely fictional, of a monastery where monastic cats and blasphemice living along side each other...

A blasphemouse can be taken as an Improved Familiar (caster level 7th).