Morktober 2025 – Scales

Item – Mermaid Rainbow Chimes

“It was not their sound but the way the light of the setting sun reflected off the iridescent scales that held my gaze. There I stood until the darkness restored my senses, but by then it was far too late …”

Not all sirens sing.

Glistening and polished, they shimmer as they pass underneath the waterline, weaving a hypnotic pattern as they undulate. Ears packed with wax, the crew stared slack jawed as they watched over the ship rail, low hanging fruit and easy to pluck into the depths.

The categories of sirens and mermaids often seem to blur depending on the writer. Sometimes a harpy gets thrown into the mix and adding to the confusion. The song of a mermaid appears in mythology and even in Walt Disney, but as sound doesn’t carry from water to air very well (except for magic of course) so here’s a substitution of a visual rather than auditory magic. It prompts different approaches to defeating them, use of mirrors ala Theseus or creative application of darkness, other TTRPG adventure tropes.

Alternatively, the scales of the mermaid could be fashioned into a relic that has similar effects, the target needing to pass a SPIRIT DR 12 test to not be entranced. Additionally, it ought to affect multiple targets, like 1d3 per use, lasting for as long as the scales are reflecting light.

Somehow made it through without mentioning ‘squamous’ but I’d like to think I leaned a bit into the eldritch on this.

#morktober2025 #MÖRKTOBER

https://www.exeunt.press/morktober