Two Pepla Monsters

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Posted by Carnby
8/27/2022 7:07 pm
#1

A couple monsters from a couple of pepla.

KHELANICTHYS 

"We encountered one of the Zangeriosan Beasts in the waters by the Kitasion Archipeligo, two days after the pirate attack. It crashed through the hull of the ship, snatching sailors as they scrambled to keep out of the water with grasping claws. I'm sure I ony escaped because the captain and a handful of survivors caught its attention as they made for the rocky shore. The captain made it, only for the beast to heave itself onto land and snatch him in its jaws. I don't know what was worse, those twenty minutes or the two months of hard living on the islands before being rescued." 

Large and malicious, sea beasts of this sort lurk most commonly in the waters around the Kitasion Archipeligo, though they are sometimes known as Zangeriosan Beasts after one that was legendarily slain on the Zangerios Islands, where it had been the subject of cultic worship and sacrifice. They have long bodies plated with thick carapace that protects from most attacks, two bulging gem-like eyes, and two large crab-like claws it uses to grasp its prey. It has four spindly legs that it can use to pull itself along on land and occasionally comes out to ravage coastal towns and villages, though it is far more comfortable in the water. Predators of most things smaller than they are, the beasts are often the prey of sea serpents and other deep-sea monstrosities, and are sometimes caught and eaten by the cyclopes of the Kitasion Archipeligo. Armour is sometimes made from their carapace, and some Atlantean examples from the time before the Green Death were known to be enchanted. 

Khelanicthys: #E 1|AL N|SZ L|MV 20 (swim 50)|DX 8|AC 0|HD 10|#A 3/1 (pincer/pincer/bite)|D 2d6/2d6/3d8|SV 12|ML 10|XP 1900|TC Nil| Special:
Bite Bonus: If both pincers hit, bite attack is made at +2 to hit.
Ramming: These beasts have been known to attack small ships, ramming them in an attempt to knock sailors into the water to be devoured. A ramming attack deals 1d6 hull damage.

"I've only seen these beasts once in my youth, and only at a distance. I stumbled upon a strange ritual in a cove on Dagon Bay. I watched the hooded worshippers make propitiations to the sea, but when the beast rose from the waters and the worshippers hauled forth a large and squirming sack, I turned and fled." -EC


MEDUSAN TREE 

Despite the name, these creatures are not vegetable but some strange form of animal life. Dwelling in rough and lightly forested terrain, often worryingly close to trade routes and trails, the lairs of these hideous creatures are easily recognised, as the petrified remains of travelers and adventurers are strewn about. They are tall, around 9 to 10 feet, with a thick, rubbery, tree-like body and stumpy, crawling tendrils for locomotion. Around the "head" are eight ropy tendrils that will lash out at anything not succumbing to the single, glowing eye in its center, meeting the gaze of which can turn a person to stone. Medusan trees are thought to be visitors from the outer dark, polyps deposited on Hyperborea by the tails of comets. It is unknown what they feed on, or even if they do (some sages speculate their stony victims still live in a sort of half-life and the creature feeds on their woe), but they are aggressive against intruders in the area they consider their territory. 

"The sages of Khromarium, fractious though they tend to be, are united in one case: that everyone else calls these creatures by the wrong name. According to them they are properly known as 'medusozoan trees.' I recommend just politely nodding if the matter comes up; sages are insufferable enough without getting them riled up over petty matters." -EC 

Medusan Tree (otherwordly): #E 1|AL CE|SZ L|MV 20|DX 8|AC 4|HD 8|#A 8/1 (tendrils)|D 1d4 (x8)|SV 13|ML 9|XP 1880|TC Nil| Special:
Petrifaction: As a gorgon, however the medusan tree is immune to its own gaze and after it dies there is a chance that some petrified victims will be freed (2:6 that the victim returns to flesh, though still subject to a Trauma Survival check).
Sorcery Resistance: 5-in-20 sorcery resistance versus spells, magical abilities, and all sorcerous devices. Sorcery resistance should be checked before a saving throw is rolled.
Resistances: +2 to death and transformation saves.

 
Posted by Caveman
8/28/2022 5:45 am
#2

Greatly enjoying your monsters Carnby. Each time I read one it like they could walk out the page at me; it so realistic!

 


 
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