Neeker-Breekers

ISSUE: 9:36-37

Attributes	BRG n/a	NIM n/a	PER n/a	STR n/a	VIT n/a	WIT n/a
Reactions	STAM n/a	SWIFT n/a	WILL n/a	WIS n/a

Defence	n/a	Size		Courage
Health	n/a	Move		Renown

Edges	none
Flaws	none
Special Abilities	none
Skills	none

TN Equivalent

n/a

Description

Neeker-breekers are cricket-like insects that infest swamps and marshes. Although physically harmless, their shrill and constant chirping can work on the nerves of travelers and deny them needed rest. These annoying insects can be found in great number in the Midgewater Marshes just west of Bree, but it's likely that similar insects live in other marshy areas such as the Gladden Fields, the ruins of Tharbad, and the Nindalf south of the Falls of Rauros.

In the Game

Each night spent in a marsh that contains Neeker-breekers, a traveler must succeed on a TN 7 Willpower test or be unable to sleep thanks to the noise. Further, a character spending two or more consecutive nights in an area infested by Neeker-breekers must on each night thereafter succeed on a TN 7 Willpower test or become frantic and frustrated at the constant staccato. A character so affected has a -1 penalty to all tests for the following day.

A character that succeeds on any of the Willpower tests has grown accustomed to the sound and can ignore it. They need not roll again until they have been out of range of the sound for at least a day. Stopping the ears with cotton or wax provides a bonus of +1 to +3 to the test, depending on the substance and the Narrator's ruling. A character that has stopped up his ears in this manner receives an equal penalty to all Observe (Listen) tests until the stoppage is removed. See pg. 249 and 250 in the core rulebook for the effects of lost sleep and Weariness.

At the Narrator's discretion, once per night a character that uses the Beast Speech spell can make a TN 10 Persuade test to keep the Neeker-breekers silent for one night.