El Invunche

The most singular creature associated with the Sect is the Invunche or Guardian of the Cave, a human being perverted into a monster by a special scientific process… It never acquires human speech, yet, over the years, it does develop a working knowledge of the Committee’s procedure and can instruct novices with harsh and guttural cries. Sometimes the Central Committee requires the presence of the Invunche for ceremonies of an unknown nature at an unknown place…
—Bruce Chatwin, “In Patagonia,” Chapter 52

Alternate names: imbunche, infünche

A human boy deformed by dark sorcery, an invunche is a magical familiar created by Chilote kalkus, the brujos of Chilean legend. The role of the invunche is to guard caves and other sacred locations, to run simple errands, and to terrify or kill enemies of La Recta Provincia, the secret society of brujos spread across Patagonia.

To create an invunche, a brujo must obtain a male child. Infants under nine days old are preferred, and are usually kidnapped by the sorcerer or sold into bondage by desperate parents. Older boys may be used, but once a child reaches his first birthday, he’s considered unsuitable. If the child has been baptized, he’s held under a waterfall for forty hours to reverse the sacrament.

Once the boy has been purified, he’s presented to a deformador, a powerful kalku who’s mastered the terrible art of transforming a boy into an invunche. The process begins by violently disjointing the child’s arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, and toes. These appendages are patiently stretched and warped into new shapes. Each deformador has their own unique approach, a “signature” inscribed into the living flesh of their creations. No matter the ultimate position of his limbs, the boy’s head is always turned backwards. Using a wooden rack and a series of tourniquets, the head is rotated one degree counter-clockwise every few weeks. Eventually the head is twisted a full 180° from normal. While most invunches re-orient themselves so their “back” is now their “front,” some maintain a “normal” posture, and thus always appear backwards to onlookers.

During his time on the rack, the child is nourished with milk from a black cat mixed with raw goat flesh. His skin is treated with powerful ointments. Over time, these potions turn his flesh a phosphorescent blue, and trigger the growth of long, course hairs across his back. Many deformadors split the boy’s tongue into a serpent-like fork. Some collect the boy’s baby teeth and sew them into his skin, forming bumps, ridges, or distinctive patterns. As the boy’s adult teeth grow in, they’re filed to sharp points.

The final operation is performed soon before puberty, and always during the full moon. A bag is placed over the child’s head, and he’s laid on the brujo’s worktable. Most deformadors cut a deep incision under his left shoulder blade. The boy’s right hand is inserted into the incision, which is sewn back up. Other brujos break the child’s right leg, twist it over his back, and sew his foot into his shoulder.

Once the boy’s muscles have healed, he’s granted his first adult dinner—a generous helping of mother’s milk and human flesh. This completes the transformation, and the resulting creature is released to serve its new master. Although an invunche cannot speak, it often mutters and growls, and frequently sings the scared songs of La Recta Provincia. From this point on, the creature must consume the flesh of human beings, whether living or dead.

Aura of Fear: an invunche is surrounded by an Aura of Fear. Anyone encountering an invunche must make a Hard Power roll. Failure paralyzes the onlooker for 1D4+1 rounds. A paralyzed victim is considered “seized,” and is immediately susceptible to the invunche’s “parch” attack.

Panel from “Swamp Thing.” By Alan Moore, Rick Vetch & John Totleben

El invunche, the guardian of the cave

Average Hit Points: 15
Average Damage Bonus: +1D6
Average Build: 1
Average Magic Points: 1
Move: 4

Combat

Attacks per round: 3 (bite, claw, kick)
An invunche attacks by springing onto its victim. Each bite, claw, and kick does 1D4+DB damage. If two of these three attacks are successful in a single round, the target is “seized.”

Seize (mnvr): once an invunche has seized a target, he may use his parch attack on the following round. Unless a target’s been paralyzed by Aura of Fear, the target may attempt to free himself with an opposed Strength roll.

Parch (mnvr): can only be used on a seized victim. The invunche causes the target’s bodily water to travel up his throat and out his lips. This is an extremely painful attack, and the victim feels like he’s drowning in his own saliva. The parch attack causes 1D8 damage per round, and leaves behind a desiccated corpse with sunken eyes and shriveled lips.

Skills
Climb 40%, Jump 60%, Listen 80%, Spot Hidden 75%, Stealth 75%.

Armor: 1-point skin.
Sanity Loss: 1/1D8 Sanity points to encounter an invunche.

Sources & Notes

Most famously introduced to English-speaking audiences in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing comic, the invunche is a common staple in Patagonian folklore, particularly the myths associated with Chiloé Island. First introduced in Swamp Thing #37, the creatures was drawn by Rick Veitch and John Totleben, and went on to haunt many a reader’s nightmares! Moore himself drew inspiration from Bruce Chatwin’s celebrated travelogue In Patagonia, which highlights some legends from La Recta Provincia. While the invunche has made numerous appearances in horror and fantasy over the years, none are quite as disturbing as the rows of caged children in Mariana Enriquez’s magnificent novel, Our Share of Night. My own version draws from various aspects of Chilote mythology, but contains numerous details of my own invention—this is a Call of Cthulhu monster, not a piece of cultural anthropology!

White Leviathan > Bestiary
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 30 July 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
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