Bestiary

***This section is reserved for players to fill in information on creatures they encounter.***

## Venture to Shrieken Mire via Thresh River

### Monstrous Chicken

* Seen during the day along the Thresh River, west of Thandol's Span

* A few feet tall, it looks like a strange, enlarged, diseased chicken
* Can fly and is willing to do flyby attacks
* Will attempt to retreat if in danger of dying
* Its claws and oozing pastules cause stiffening of limbs (maybe poison? paralysis?) - be careful touching it
* Its scream can make a person stop moving for a moment from the sharp, grating sound.

### Creeping Mound of Vines

* Came during the night from a dark forest about 15 miles along the Thresh River to the west of Thandol's Span
* Very large creature, approximately 15 feet in diameter
* It was surprisingly quiet for its size
* When unmoving, it just looks like a pile of vines
* Moves by rolling into and over itself, like a nest of snakes
* Its vines lash out at anything next to it to grab them. It will attempt to wrap around and eat(?) any person it grabs.
* Fire and frost magic seemed to work particularly well against it.
* Its core was a pulsing red pocket inside a dense mass of vines.

### Undead Minion

* Rotting humanoid corpses, still with shreds of clothing on them
* Noxious stench, enough to churn one's stomach
* Its clawed hands seem to cause a person's body to stiffen and unable to move (paralysis effect?) if one is weak of body.

### Undead Boss

* Shares all of the same characteristics as the minions, with a few differences
* Larger than an undead minion
* Gave orders to the minions in a strange, harsh language

## Arden Vale Cathedral Venture

### Giant Six-Legged Panther

* Black-furred large cat, much larger than a normal panther, with 6 legs and 2 whip-like tentacles on its back, solid green eyes, and quite muscular
* Its body was more than 10 feet long from nose to the tip of its tail, not counting the back tentacles.
* The tentacles end in wide leathery pads which are covered with close-together spiny teeth on one side.
* Something about it sometimes made it look like there were two of these creatures next to each other. This illusion (?) would stop for a few seconds after it was hit, but it would always shimmer again.
* It seemed intelligent to a degree. It recognized the Sylvan tongue, but it also seemed to grow very angry upon hearing it.
* Very stealthy! Our watch did not see it coming in the night.

### Wild Child

* Apparently looked like a 8-9 year old child with wide unblinking eyes, stringy hair, gray skin, and wearing a crown of laurels
* Neither human or half-elf actually saw it. The wizard's familiar could see it perfectly.
* It enjoyed the music played by one of our party, and even gifted him a small bracelet, which has unknown properties.
* It left no physical trace of itself where it passed.

### Dead Wood Ambusher

* This clearing was about 1 mile northwest of the Arden River, perhaps the same distance north of the lake.

*Encounter Summary:*

* Our party saw a small clearing which was made up entirely of dead wood and plants, unnaturally clean edge between living and dead. Our ranger cut a small leafy branch from a living tree and quietly approached the clearing. She poked the branch over the border between living and dead plants, but nothing happened to it. She then threw it into the clearing. The dead trees in the clearing all dived onto the offending branch, moving so quickly nothing could be discern about them. After a short frenzy, they returned to being dead trees. She backed away slowly, without their notice.

* Approach similar strange clearings with caution! The ranger said that they looked no different from dead trees; no way to tell that they were creatures of some sort.

### Giant Bone Snake

* Powerful guardian creature of the cathedral in the Arden Vale
* At least 10 feet tall(?), made of hundreds of animal bones, it quite literally looked like a huge snake made of only bone.
* Warning! It is likely very intelligent! It spoke to us in the Imperial tongue, calling us intruders, and it was able to cast some powerful spells. It has a paralysis spell, which can be mentally fought off. It attacks with its fangs as well, very quickly.
* It did not chase us past the main doors of the cathedral. So it must be bound to the interior of the church. Unknown if the side wings are safe from this creature.

*Encounter Summary:*

* The creature was not apparent to us right away. There had been unusually clean animal skeletons with no teeth markings scattered within the main building. When we reached the altar, the bones clattered and moved across the floor towards the altar, forming into this creature. It attacked as soon as the bone came together completely.

### Goblin

* Similar in build and strength to a halfling, but clearly a different creature -- more teeth and a feral look
* Their language sounds like squirrel chittering but changed in pitch like a regular language
* The group my party encountered consisted of 6 goblins, and 1 larger goblin that seemed to be the leader. Seen along the Arden River almost directly north of Alistair's Stand.

Quick-lings (Old Cathedral)

Tiny Shadow Fey that move and speak extremely quickly. Their speech is also so fast that it is impossible to understand. These Creatures attacked us on site and proved very difficult to hit with conventional weapons. Recommend using magic to slow them or homing magic.

Clockwork Dragon (Brass) (second level of the undercity.)

This small brass dragon is the size of a horse and spews fire from its mouth. It needs to recharge it's fire attack. This creature seemed to want to stay back and engulf us in flame rather than use it's formidable claws. It's armor is thick and we found some success in using blunt force to knock plating off. This creature roars mechanically and fled after being gravely damaged.

Clockwork Giant Spider (second level of the undercity)

These mechanical creatures seem to not hear but feel any movement within their silk webs. They attacked me as soon as I got within 10 feet of it. There are two types. One uses teeth and hooks and needles to inject venom. The other fires a large Crossbow with a pull hook. It tried to drag me off the edge of our platform and to almost certain death. Both of these creatures seem to be vulnerable to blunt force trauma. It is likely their mechanical clockwork function is highly delicate and thus more sensitive to blunt force.