Dredadon

“You’re really going up against those things? Let me tell you, boy, you go up against those scythwings, your future can go one of three ways; you get blasted to pieces, you get burned to ashes, or you get sliced into rat-bait. That’s a heckuva a return on the investment your parents made in you, and for what? The glory that you and your bunch of yahoos thought they could plunder a Blood Rider-protected settlement? You had any brains left to you, you’d saddle up with us and RIDE hard; and maybe, just maybe, we might just outrun those death-runners!”

## EcoS-K-76 Dredadon

aka ‘Flamewing’, ‘Firemantis’, ‘Scythwing’, ‘Axehead’, ‘GloryTurkey’, ‘DreadDoDo’, ‘Firebird’

### Description

The Dredadon is in many ways the Blood Riders’ scale-up of the Monst-Crane, a flightless avian-themed Warmount meant for cavalry operations. The greatest complaint about the Monst-Crane has been its light weight and lack of staying power in combat, deficiencies which the Dredadon seems intended to correct. Though the heavier EcoS-K-76 certainly seems to address the armor and armament issue, the heavier Dredadon does so at the expense of the fantastic ground speed of the Monst-Crane. Still, the Dredadon is a formidable combatant, especially in the close-order combat that the Blood Riders favor.

### History

The Dredadon seems to have been prototyped on the frame of the Northern Gun NG-EXC-17 Ogre exploration robot, but everything else is wholly Shemarrian-designed. The legs have been reconfigured for faster running speeds, the cockpit has been replaced by a neck and head assembly, with an armored open saddle/cockpit atop the main body, and the arms replaced with entirely new assemblies.

The Dredadon, like the Incindar Battle-Cat, is designed for close combat. The arms have been replaced with great birdlike wing assemblies ending in large curved battle-scythes. These weapons are normally carried folded up close to the main body, but can instantly snap forward or to the sides like giant mantis claws. Besides being edged in lethal vibroblades, the giant scythes are perforated with plasma-expulsion vents. The head is crowned with a large heavy vibroblade of its own, running the length of the top of the head, and the feet fitted with sickle-blades. The Dredadon will attempt to speed into close quarters, in the thick of an enemy formation, where it can slash and burn in melee combat. However, the Bloodriders have not neglected the realities of modern warfare and have used the large roomy frame of the Ogre to provide the Dredadon with ranged weaponry as well. The EcoS-K-76 carries standard eye-lasers, but also has integrated missile launchers (a rarity amongst Shemarrian Warmount designs) concealed inside its body. Of course, the rider can blast away with her own weapons.

The large size, heavy weight, and relatively slow speed of the Dredadon has earned it a somewhat less-than-sterling opinion from other Tribes, who often refer to it by such names as ‘the Dodo’ or the ‘Glory Turkey’. The Bloodriders who developed it haven’t deployed many of them(compared to their Incendar), but still regard the Dredadon highly.

Besides the Bloodriders, the Horrorwoods have also been observed to deploy a few Dredadons.

## Abilities

Dredadons can swim, but mostly walk along the bottom at 10 mph, and DOESN'T like to get wet.

### Sensors

Full optical systems, laser targeting, passive nightvision, telescopic vision, thermal imaging, infrared, ultraviolet, and polarization filters. Also has motion and heat detection, built-in radar (60 mile range) and other standard power armor-equivalent systems.

### Weapons Systems

#### Eye Lasers (2)

 Damage
 Damage2
 Rate of Fire
 Payload

Standard robotic eye lasers, common in the Shemarrian arsenal.

#### Plasma Scythes (2)

 Range2
 Damage
 Damage2
 Damage3
 Rate of Fire
 Payload

The ‘wings’ are actually powerful plasma blades that can spray a ‘firefeather storm’ incinerating wide swathes of area.

#### Mini-Missile Launchers (2)

 Damage
 Rate of Fire
 Payload

Mounted in pectoral installations are two mini-missile launchers with a generous supply of ammunition for sustained combat.

#### Flame Breath

 Damage
 Payload

Incendiary sprayer, fed from a ‘gizzard’ in the main body. The Dredadon can set fire to large areas of ground (and enemy) with incendiary substances; the Dredadon will often use this attack to remove lesser opponents from conflict, or to pen in a target, concentrating on those in the center of the ‘pen of flames’ in more personal combat.

Damage varies by the type of fuel used.

* Gasoline/Alcohol 1d4x10 SDC
* Napalm 1d6x10 SDC, plus does 5d6 SDC per melee for 1d4 minutes
* MD Fluid 1d4 MD per blast, 1d4 MD per melee for 2d4 minutes
* Incendi-Gel 2d6 MD, 2d6 MD per melee for 1d6 minutes
* WI Napalm-P 3d6 MD per blast, 1d4x10+10 MD per concentrated burst(counts as two attacks). 2d6 MD per melee for 1d4 minutes.

Note: The flame-thrower can also be used to cover an area with fluid: up to 10 ft per attack used. Used with Super-Napalm, this does 1d4 MD, Incendi-Gel does 1d6 MD, and with Napalm-P, this does 2d6 MD.

Payload varies by fuel type, and is quite large compared to many other warmounts.

* Gasoline/Alcohol 50 blasts
* Napalm 150 blasts
* MD Fluid 250 blasts
* Incendi-Gel 250 blasts
* WI Napalm-P 400 blasts per tank (much more concentrated than the regular gasoline/alcohol).

#### Razor-Tail

 Range2
 Damage
 Damage2
 Rate of Fire
 Payload

The Dredadon’s ‘razor tail’ is a turkey-like fan of overlapping molecularly-sharp blades. Anybody attempting to grapple the warmount from behind will run the risk of running up on 1d6 tail blades, each doing 1d6 MD damage. The blades can also be ejected like projectiles. Dredadons are also known to ‘rattle’ these plate-blades prior to combat, causing what one observer dubbed ‘cutlery-chatter’.

The tail blades are one of the few body parts that can be completely regenerated if destroyed/expended; a complete tail blade is re-grown at 4d6 MD per hour.

Ejected tail blades can be recovered and reused/reattached if they possess more than 50% of their MDC; otherwise they can be consumed by the Dredadon and recycled that way. Ground troops (EShemar and NeShemar) as well as affiliates have been known to use discarded Dredadontail vanes as shields.

### Programming

The Ecotroz have installed robotic AIs, then infected the matrix with a low-level Ecotroz sentience.
Has the standard Monstrex base programming.

The Ecotroz entity can also pick up one Secondary skill at levels 2, 6, and 12 of experience, though the nature of the Dredadon intelligence and design is such that it is limited to skill selections from Technical: Language(understanding) and Lore.

### Combat

* Bite 1d6 MD
* Peck-Jab 2d6 MD
* Head Butt/Slash 4d6 MD
* Head Butt/Cleave (2 attacks) 1d8x10 MD
* Wing Slash 3d6 MD un-powered, 6d6 MD powered
* Wing Power Stab (2 attacks) 1d6x10 MD un-powered, 1d8x10 MD powered.
* Leap Kick (2 attacks) 1d6x10+10 MD

## Ecotroz Fragment

Note: The Ecotroz intelligence fragment inhabiting the ‘bot gives the Dredadon an aura and behavior more befitting a sentient being than a robot. Dredadons are relentless predators, akin to raptor dinosaurs in attitude. They will run down prey, for hours even, and take it apart. They hunt well in packs, and will instinctively coordinate attacks on large prey.

The Ecotroz fragment does occasionally need sleep/rest...though they only need 2 hours of rest/meditation per 24 hours...they can push this, going without for as many days as they have I.Q. points (most Warmounts, unless otherwise noted, have an effective IQ rating of 8 ), but will have to go dormant for 4d6 hours after such exertion.

Susceptible to Exorcism and Banish spells, but are +6 to save against such spells, +1 at levels 4, 8, and 12 of experience, and becoming IMMUNE at level 14 and up. Such Banishment causes the ‘bot to revert to its default robot programming. (OPTION: Ecotroz may become IMMUNE to Exorcism and Banishment with experience, and NEW BUILT EShemar constructs are immune to this)

Note also that the Ecotroz-possessed ‘bot can infect other bots with the Ecotroz viral-entity, by bite or sustained touch(takes 3 attacks).