From TES issue 22 (July 2003)

Series 6. Level 1/2.
STORMGEISTS

These were kind of a replacement for skull ghosts in the technologically revamped series 6. As Tim Child mentioned in an article in The Quest, the term 'geist' comes from the German for 'ghost', and that is as good a definition as any for these creatures.

Stormgeists appeared as computer-generated blue or grey skulls that would float around the chamber attempting to reach the dungeoneer and feed off their life force. They emitted an eerie wailing noise and often caused the team to panic quite a bit as they were clearly in danger from the strange new creature.

However, as with so many creatures and monsters, stormgeists were only ever intended to scare and hurry up the teams rather than kill them off. If you judge them with this purpose in mind, the stormgeists performed their job in the Dungeon very well, floating into chambers and scaring the teams into making a quick exit. Treguard and Pickle were always keen to point out how dangerous the stormgeists could be ("Touching a haunting like this can result in serious damage!" - Treguard) which added to the sense of danger and urgency whenever a geist appeared.

The appearances were far from ineffectual, with life force damage being sustained on several occasions as a dungeoneer blundered foolishly into the path of a geist. Who could forget Sofia's encounter with a stormgeist in the first dwarf tunnel of level two? She had stopped in front of a turning and a geist began to float out of the tunnel to block her path. Immediately the three generally level-headed advisors began to panic and scream instructions at Sofia, who very nearly became trapped on the wrong side of the geist.


And then there was January [above], who was accosted by a geist in the level two clue room before she had chosen any objects. The team's hurried choice was undoubtedly part of their downfall, as I'm sure the purse of silver would have been more useful than the firestone for dealing with Julius Scaramonger. Even with only one series, stormgeists were effective scarers, and memorable Knightmare monsters.

Fear Factor: 7 Eerie and unnerving.
Killer Instinct: 3 Caused some life force damage.
Gore Factor: 5 A disembodied head is always a bit gruesome.
Humanity: 4 Perhaps they were once human, but who knows?

login to vote