Tigbanua buso

Tigbanua buso were a race of vicious and ghoulish creatures native to Kara-Tur. They were the most common type of buso, the only known other type being the victims of their infection, the tagamaling buso.

Description
Standing tall and emaciated, weighing only, tigbanuas had long and flexible necks, large bony feet, and gnarled hands with sharp claws. They had depressed noses, their mouths were filled with sharp teeth, and their hair was curly. Their skin was pale and had the texture of leather. The most distinguishing feature of a tigbanua was its large eye in the center of its head; it could be red or yellow. Tigbanuas were generally covered in dirt, filthy, or grime.

Combat
With no clever tactics, tigbanuas simply came out under cover of night, targeting lone humanoids like vulnerable villagers and travelers. Using their sharp claws and fangs, they attacked with great ferocity whenever they got the chance. Otherwise, they were rarely brave.

Abilities
The tigbanua had an aura of fear. Any creature within 10 feet (3 meters) of a tigbanua felt great fear, enough to make them cower or even be paralyzed with terror if they couldn't resist, while it was in this range. Understandably, this left them vulnerable to attack. This lasted up to half a minute or three to eight minutes, and could be undone with remove paralysis, provided the tigbanua hadn't already killed and eaten the victim by then.

Tigbanuas transmitted a terrible disease via their claws, and any humanoid struck by them who was infected and did not seek healing became a tagamaling buso, a lesser form of the tigbanua buso.

Some tigbanuas could twist or bend their necks so they could look directly behind themselves.

Behavior
Having only animal intelligence but a chaotic and evil nature, they lived alone or in small packs of up to six. They made no long-term lairs. Instead, they wandered from place to place in the hunt for prey, usually coming close to cemeteries or in rocky mountains and desolate forests. They took no treasure or trophies of the dead.

Despite their lack of intelligence, busos had their own language.

Ecology
Despite resembling ghouls in form and habit, tigbanua buso were not undead. They were carnivorous, and their diet consisted of the flesh of any animal or humanoid. Meat from corpses found in graves was considered a prized delicacy among tigbanuas.

History
Although the origin of the tigbanua buso was unknown, rumors in Kara-Tur held that they were once an advanced and peaceful race who dwelt in the southern mountainous region of Shou Lung. They were even friendly to and aided humans, yet at some point they changed into deadly monsters who preyed on humans instead. Afterward, the tigbanuas dispersed across Kara-Tur.

Once, several centuries before, a human wu jen of Wa who had incredible power and incredible ambition even tried to challenge the Eight Million Gods for control of Toril. For anyone else, the gods might just have ignored him, but for a wu jen of his power, they dared not. Thus, an alliance among the gods cursed him and transformed into a tigbanua buso. This didn't exactly eliminate his threat, however: as a tigbanua buso, he attacked innocents and could turn them into tagamaling busos.

In, an unusually intelligent tigbanua named Getsu tried to destroy the city of Nakamaru in Wa by turning as many of its citizens as he could into tagamalings who would slaughter the rest. He had at least commoners infected within the first 99 days and went on to attack the Worthless Flower yakuza gang before adventurers likely stopped him.

A band of tigbanua entered the Kichai District of T'u Lung in the month of Yang in and started raiding villages. The local township officer offered a reward to those who killed them.

Lands
Tigbanua buso were found across Kara-Tur, typically in the temperate, tropical, and subtropical wildernesses.

Buso were known to live in the Himasla Mountains in Malatra, where they fought with patrols of the Kuong Kingdom around the town of Garuji.

Circa, at least three tigbanua lived in the abandoned ruins of the castle of Ito-jo in Wa, where they scavenged for carrion in the crypts.

Notable Tigbanua Buso

 * Getsu, an unusually intelligent tigbanua buso in Nakamaru.
 * A human wu jen cursed to be a tigbanua buso in Wa.
 * Splin, the pet tigbanua buso of a group of kappas living along the River Hidden, which led from Panchengjuduohuh in T'u Lung.

Background
The tigbanua buso is based on creatures of Philippine mythology, specifically the legends of the Bagobo people. Here, the buso is a kind of spirit or demon and the tigbanua is a buso that is a one-eyed ogrish creature. While there are multiple types of busos in Bagobo legends, and the structure of the 1-edition Oriental Adventures and Monstrous Compendium Kara-Tur Appendix write-ups imply there may be multiple busos, only tigbanuas and tagamalings have been presented in D&D, to the point that the term "buso" seems synonymous.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Blood of the Yakuza
 * Dungeon #8: "The Flowers of Flame"
 * Dungeon #17: "The Waiting Room of Yen-Wang-Yeh"
 * Mad Monkey vs the Dragon Claw
 * Night of the Seven Swords
 * Ninja Wars
 * Ronin Challenge
 * Test of the Samurai
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards