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This one properly should be filed in the Magical Studies collection. I am having a copy made for just such a purpose. However, since the record does describe a unique entity that does represent a threat to travellers, I am filing the original in our collection.While my primary expertise deals with those creatures that have solid form, that breathe and eat and reproduce, as well as plants and other living, growing things, I have by necessity gained some knowledge of non-physical beings and Horrors. As Vasdenjas said in his recent work, what the traveller does not know about can quite easily kill him. This particular Horror, due to its nature, can attack without warning, and easily drive unwary adventurers to their doom.
-- Kylara B'Tenn, Master Clerk, Fauna RoomForward a copy to Karon Foll as well. I am certain he would have some comments to add.
-- Merrox
While the climate throughout most of Barsaive is in general calm, with little variance (see my recent work on Weather), in the mountains severe storms can and do occur frequently. High winds and driving rain are accompanied by the stabbing forks of lightning and the crash of thunder, often loud enough to set off rockslides on steep slopes. Travel during such climatic outbursts is difficult enough already, but the presence of an entity I can only call a storm spirit can make being out in such doubly dangerous.
The storm spirit is either a type of Horror not previously classified, or a Horror construct not catalogued before or during the Scourge. Considering the difficulty of detecting its existence, and the rarity of encountering one, I cannot say that I am terribly surprised that there has been no record. I would also not be surprised to discover that other scholars have observed the existence of the storm spirit but did not survive to file their reports. This is a terrifically dangerous entity. Do not let its lack of material existence convey a sense of lack of physical threat. Indeed, its nonphysical nature is one of its greatest strengths.
The storm spirit manifests within mountain storms of already forbidding savagery. Once present, the spirit whips the storm into a frenzy, raising winds that can sweep horses off their feet. Hail falls like sling bullets, denting metal armor and injuring unprotected flesh. Lightning strikes with uncanny aim. During my (thankfully brief) encounter, one of my guards was transfixed with a searing white bolt. The poor ork spasmed once, then curled up like a spider touched with fire, and his smoking corpse, fused with the remains of his mount tumbled off the path and down the cliff face.
Therein lies the true danger of the storm spirit. In the midst of all of the storm's fury, a reaction of fear and confusion is to be expected. The storm spirit enhances these feelings, raising fear to stark, unreasoning terror. In the grip of panic, Name-Givers and their mounts make serious, often deadly mistakes, plunging to their death in crevasses and over cliffs. I have seen a troll warrior seized with terror attack anyone and anything that came within blade's reach, slaying his friends without realizing what he was doing. After the storm and its driving force passed, and we resumed our travels, we came upon the remains of another caravan, shattered on the rocks at the base of a high cliff. From the look of it, the horses bolted, and stampeded over the edge before their riders could regain control -- if indeed they even attempted to.
Powerful magics are needed to protect oneself from a spirit of this type. We were fortunate in that we had a nethermancer of high rank travelling with us, who was able to ward most of the party, and a troubadour who kept our spirits up and our minds focused. We were, however, restricted to defensive measures, lacking any way to attack a non-physical entity. I have heard tales of Adepts who could turn their weapons ethereal, or reach into the spirit world. Abilities such as these might prove effective against the storm spirit. I know that it did not seem to notice our Swordmaster's attempts at insulting it.
The troll moots living in the Crystal Peaks have a creation legend involving a spirit they call Grandfather Thunder. I wonder if there could be a connection between their creation spirit and the entity we encountered? If so, then I would have to reclassify the storm spirit. Referring to a relative of another Name-Giver's ancestral spirits as a Horror would be a terrible insult. Perhaps the storm spirit is the result of Horror taint infecting the troll thunder spirits. There is no simple way of answering any of these questions.
Game Mechanics:
| DEX: NA STR: NA TOU:
NA
PER: 19 WIL: 23 CHA: 20 |
|
| Initiative: 22 | Physical Defense: NA |
| Number of Attacks: 4 hail / 1 lightning | Spell Defense: 18 |
| Attack: 17 | Social Defense: 22 |
| Damage: 12 hail / 18 lightning | Armor: NA |
| Number of Spells: 2 | Mystic Armor: 15 |
| Spellcasting: 24 | Knockdown: NA |
| Effect: Special | Recovery Tests: 8 |
| Death Rating: 150 | Combat Movement: 200 |
| Wound Threshold: 30 | Full Movement: 400 |
| Unconsciousness Rating: 150 | Legend Points: 24,500 |
| Equipment: None | |
| Loot: None | |
Notes:
The storm spirit can attack two different targets with its two spell
effects with no reduction in attack step. Fear and Confusion effects are
cumulative.
Spell Effects:
If Evanten Farseeker travels much further south, he'll leave Barsaive entirely. While the flora and fauna of the Theran Empire are no doubt interesting, they are not appropriate for inclusion in works about Barsaive.The kwaltec, or ovenbird, is a large flightless bird inhabiting the far southern reaches of Barsaive in the region of the ancient Ork kingdom of Cara Fahd. While it travels in large flocks, and vaguely resembles the tabri, the kwaltec is by no means as ill-tempered, and far more useful.
-- MerroxI'll try and get word to him about this.
-- Kylara
It stands about the height of an Elf, including the brilliantly-hued crest on the males. The females are a drab brown hue with flecks of darker brown and black, but the males are really quite impressive, bright blue and white with green edges on their wings and tail. The male crest is fledged in hues of red, and stands erect when the male is defending his territory or his harem. Both genders have spurs on the back of the foot, the male's being somewhat larger and sharper.
Kwaltecs live in communal groups, small flocks sharing territory to form larger flocks. Each small group, or harem, is presided over by a dominant male. His harem consists of as many females as he can hold against challenges from other males, plus chicks and fledglings. Males are turned out of the harem when they molt to their adult plumage, at about two years of age. They must then carve out their own territory and collect their own harem, or live on the fringes of the flock. Some males seem to discard the idea of building a harem, and serve out their lives as guardians at the edge of the flock's territory. These males are perhaps the most dangerous to Name-Givers, as they will fight to the death to preserve the flock.
Each harem builds a large dome of mud and twigs, strengthened with strands of tough prairie grasses. Resembling a large bread oven, hence the name ovenbird, the dome is partitioned into an antechamber and several nesting rooms. The dominant male has his own chamber, and each hen who has clutched has her own, which she shares with her chicks and fledglings. Males line their nesting chambers with feathers from their hens and from defeated males, over a bed of grasses. Females line their nesting rooms with grasses only, and frequently change their bedding to clean up after their chicks. Kwaltecs use their homes for several years before abandoning them and moving to new grazing territory. The domes bake brick-hard over the years and are useful as shelter by the smaller Name-Givers. Trolls will find it awkward as there is not sufficient headroom for their massive frames. Colonies of ovenbirds can be mistaken at a distance for Name-Giver villages, several domes clustered together in a small area.
Territory seems to be a complex issue with male kwaltecs. The dome itself is considered harem territory. No males other than the dominant bird and his fledglings are permitted inside. The area immediately around the dome is a neutral ground, where combats can and do occur. The open spaces between domes in the flock's "village" are apparently uncontested neutral ground. Beyond the village, each harem has a preferred feeding ground, which the dominant male and sometimes his hens will defend. The flock's entire range is another defended territory, watched over by the guardian males. Interestingly, the dominant males will ignore a guardian male passing through their territory, or even sleeping in the antechamber of their domes. Non-guardian males from the fringes, however, are attacked on sight if they pass within a dominant male's boundaries.
Challenges to a male's dominance occur under three circumstances. Another male can attack the dominant male to take a specific hen from him. This usually is a young hen, just coming into her fertility. The aggressor, most of the time a young male building his own harem, circles the hen to cut her off from her harem. The dominant male puts up a token defense, but it seems to be more for show than serious. Nine times out of ten, the intruder makes off with the hen with only a few scratches for his effort. From a breeding standpoint, this is a logical response. Dominant males would not want to breed with their own daughters for the sake of the strength of the flock.
Disputes occur at the borders of feeding grounds. Males, or sometimes the older hens, will challenge one another over prime areas. Fighting is more serious, usually leaving the loser injured, although not mortally. The winner shifts the border between feeding grounds, marking the new territory. The new border stands until the next challenge. Other birds will not intervene in border challenges under normal circumstances, but if a bird gets too close to the combatants, the opposite side may attack as a pre-emptive strike. Entire harems can quickly become involved in full-scale war when this happens. Even the chicks will peck at each other. Fortunately for the welfare of the flock, this does not happen often.
Young males can challenge dominant ones for the possession of the harem. This is a fight to the death, with the winner taking the harem, dome and all. Possession challenges are rare things. Most young males prefer to challenge for young hens one at a time, and build their own harem slowly. The occasional larger specimen, however, can decide that this takes too long for their satisfaction. Most often, the young male attacks an aging dominant male, and wins the fight. His first act after the fight customarily is to clean out his new nesting room and line it with the plucked feathers of his fallen enemy.
Ovenbirds are occasionally eaten by the local Name-Givers, but hunting them is a risky business. Only the younger birds are truly edible, older ones developing a gamy taste and the meat becoming tough and stringy. Unfortunately for the would-be gourmand, the younger birds are fiercely defended, both by their dominant males and by the guardian males. Hens will also attack without quarter if their young are threatened. I have seen entire harems converge on predators, ripping the intruder to shreds in a flurry of spurs and jabbing beaks. Better use is made of the birds by leaving them alone and taking over their villages when they move to fresh hunting grounds.
Game Mechanics:
| DEX: 9 STR: 9 TOU: 8
PER: 5 WIL: 4 CHA: 4 |
|
| Initiative: 10 | Physical Defense: 12 |
| Number of Attacks: 2 | Spell Defense: 7 |
| Attack: 12 | Social Defense: 5 |
| Damage: 13 | Armor: 0 |
| Number of Spells: 0 | Mystic Armor: 2 |
| Spellcasting: 0 | Knockdown: 13 |
| Effect: 0 | Recovery Tests: 4 |
| Death Rating: 44 | Combat Movement: 65 |
| Wound Threshold: 13 | Full Movement: 130 |
| Unconsciousness Rating: 36 | Legend Points: 180 |
| Equipment: None | |
| Loot: None, although tailors will pay for the male's feathers | |
This was in the last packet from Evanten. Apparently he's been making good on his promise to catch up on his work while laid up from the jidwars. File this in the Servos Jungle collection.Tree-dwelling life in the Servos Jungle produces a wide variety of species. Life aloft poses less of a threat than ground-dwelling existence, as the larger predators cannot climb into the thinner upper branches. This is not to suggest that there aren't smaller predators, but the prime requisites for defeating them are cleverness and agility rather than brute strength and savagery. Very few of the denizens of the Servos can even approach the tonduy in these.
-- Kylara
A large animal, approximately the size of a small hunting cat, the tonduy is built lean and long. Its muzzle is roundly pointed like a rodent's, its eyes set forward for binocular vision. Some experimentation has proven that the animal can see colors. A long, bushy tail gives the tonduy excellent balance for scampering along narrow tree limbs or leaping from tree to tree.
The tonduy's forelimbs are highly developed, being smaller than the hind limbs and having grasping paws nearly as dexterous as a Name-Giver's hands. Indeed, the animal has proven itself capable of amazing feats of ingenuity. In an environment rich in food sources, the tonduy has become choosy, picking its diet with the manner of a rich merchant browsing the selections his cook has prepared. I have observed tonduys using sticks to dig termites out of their mounds, stones to crack nuts, and bits of animal bone to dig for roots on their occasional trips to the jungle floor. By no means are the tonduys Name-Givers in their own right, but they are quite clever and capable of using primitive tools.
Diet is highly varied. I have observed tonduys making raids on bird nests for the eggs, and stalking lizards. Nuts, berries, roots are all included. I have yet to see a tonduy actively eating leaves, although I did see one chewing desultorily on a twig at one point. I'm not sure if the animal was actually eating the twig or using it to clean her teeth, however.
Their smoke-grey fur blends in well in the shadows under the leaves, making them difficult to spot. Like many arboreal rodents, however, they let trespassers know their displeasure with showers of twigs, stones, nut shells, and whatever else comes to paw at the moment. Tonduys tend to live in large groups, being generally unhappy on their own. They can be encountered in the singular, but never far from the main group. Like blood monkeys, they will rush to each other's aid when a distress cry is heard.
Windlings should avoid these creatures at any cost. Tonduys are fascinated with butterflies and other brightly colored fluttering things. They don't eat them, but will play with them, sometimes destructively. A windling coming too close to one could find himself an involuntary toy, possibly resulting in serious injury.
Again, I must stress that tonduys are relatively bright. They can learn simple behaviors by observation and imitation -- drinking from a cup, opening doors, untying knots, etc. Name-Givers other than windlings may find their gear in danger when traveling through the Servos. The usual expedient of securing things in a canvas bag tied to a tree with stout rope and complex knots may not protect them from the tonduy, especially if they see you tie the knots.
Game Mechanics:
| DEX: 10 STR: 6 TOU: 6
PER: 7 WIL: 8 CHA: 6 |
|
| Initiative: 12 | Physical Defense: 13 |
| Number of Attacks: 1 | Spell Defense: 9 |
| Attack: 12 | Social Defense: 8 |
| Damage: 9 | Armor: 0 |
| Number of Spells: 0 | Mystic Armor: 4 |
| Spellcasting: 0 | Knockdown: 10 |
| Effect: 0 | Recovery Tests: 3 |
| Death Rating: 36 | Combat Movement: 80 |
| Wound Threshold: 10 | Full Movement: 160 |
| Unconsciousness Rating: 28 | Legend Points: 175 |
| Equipment: None | |
| Loot: None usually, although virtually anything could be found in their nests, depending on who's traveled through their range. | |
Notes: Tonduys can make a PER test against the Social defense of any Name-Giver to copy simple behaviors, such as drinking from a cup or opening a simple catch. Once successful in imitation, no roll is required to repeat the behavior.
Brrr.I have seen evidence of many aspects of Horror personalities. Cruelty is the most prevalent, a sadistic bent that surpasses the most evil of Name-Givers. Horrors have also evidenced a manic glee in their workings -- the Named Horror Joie is an obvious example of this. Up until now, however, I had not anticipated a Horror having a sense of humor. Granted, it's a macabre, twisted thing, but only a being with a truly sick sense of humor could have created the walking heads.
-- Kylara
I have no idea how to classify the heads. They reproduce by releasing spores like a fungus. They put down roots and feed off dead matter, which has been observed in plants growing on the jungle floor in the Servos. However, they are highly mobile when mature, and have a rudimentary social order, traveling in packs. Whether they are plant or animal is beyond me, and Jaspree has not seen fit to guide my hand in these words. I shall therefore refer to them as constructs, although they do not demonstrate any of the powers previously observed in Horror constructs.
In appearance, the walking heads resemble the severed and slightly decayed heads of the Name-Giver races, with the exception of windlings and obsidimen. The mouth gapes open slightly, the eyes are rolled upward and dull, and the features have a slack expression. In general, they look dead. From the base of the neck springs forth a multitude of insect-like black legs. These function like roots while the head is immature, becoming mobile only at maturity. The heads sway randomly when moving, in a disturbing fashion.
The mature heads travel in packs, observed to range from five to thirty-two in number. I suspect that the pack size remains small due to their manner of reproduction. When a walking head becomes fully ripe and ready to reproduce, it begins to swell, attaining a bloated, decaying appearance, like a corpse will swell if not buried properly. Parts of the interior decay, producing gases that build in pressure. I described this process in detail previously in an entry concerning the thunder tree, which uses a similar means of seed distribution. Eventually, the walking head explodes, sending a spray of spores across a wide area. When in a pack, an exploding head can touch off others, resulting in a cascade of sympathetic explosions. Even unripe but mobile heads can detonate if touched off by an explosion next to them. This phenomenon results in small packs, as larger packs are obviously at higher risk for cascades.
Walking heads can apparently bring about their own detonation if they feel threatened. Unfortunately, what makes a walking head feel threatened is the presence of anything large moving close to them. As a rule of thumb, if it's larger than a walking head and it gets closer than five paces, the walking head will probably explode. A mature head is annoying, as the cloud of spores is dense and choking, and the shock of the detonation can knock an Elf off his feet. Also, the spores must be treated as an illness, to keep them from growing in the lungs. Fully ripe heads, however, explode with a force sufficient to cause injury. The spores erupt with such force that they can cause injury themselves, in the manner of the legendary wingflayer.
Walking heads do perform a useful function. Like any plant that feeds off decay, they assist in cleaning up dead things, both in the immature, rooted stage and in the mature walking form. The danger they represent is confined to explorers of caverns and kaers, as they do not venture out in open sunlight. A large stone thrown into the middle of a pack will detonate them safely from a distance. Coming around a corner, however, and finding oneself confronted with a pack can be frightening.
Game Mechanics:
| DEX: 5 STR: 2 TOU: 3
PER: 3 WIL: 3 CHA: 2 |
|
| Initiative: 8 | Physical Defense: 6 |
| Number of Attacks: 1 | Spell Defense: 5 |
| Attack: Mature 12, Fully Ripe 16 | Social Defense: 4 |
| Damage: Mature 13, Fully Ripe 18 | Armor: 0 |
| Number of Spells: 1 | Mystic Armor: 0 |
| Spellcasting: 10 | Knockdown: 4 |
| Effect: 8 (choking) | Recovery Tests: 1 |
| Death Rating: 15 | Combat Movement: 10 |
| Wound Threshold: 4 | Full Movement: 20 |
| Unconsciousness Rating: 9 | Legend Points: Mature 85, Fully Ripe 335 |
| Equipment: None | |
| Loot: None | |
Notes: Any hit that does a Wound or kills a mature or fully ripe head causes it to detonate. When a head explodes, all heads within two yards must make a TOU save against an 8 to avoid sympathetic detonation. Any head that makes its attack is automatically destroyed. Both Physical and Spellcasting attacks are made simultaneously and are rolled separately for all characters within the six-foot blast radius. Any character who takes choking damage from the spore (Spellcasting) attack must receive treatment from a healer or Questor of Garlen within three days to prevent the spores from taking root in his lungs. Characters who do not receive treatment take Step 2 damage on the fourth day, damage increasing by 2 steps per day until the tenth day. Damage continues to accrue at Step 20 for five more days, until the immature head dies from lack of room to expand. The fungoid head is not strong enough to break ribs and burst out of a Name-Giver's chest. Treatment at any point by a healer or Questor of Garlen can halt the progress of the infestation. Damage accrued then heals at normal rates.
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