4/03/2012

Hunters of the Swamp



A stretch of the Black Mangal.
 The costal areas of the Abraxas region are rife with great swamps, such as the notorious Black Mangal and the vast Neverglade of Heliodor. Treacherous places, all, they are haunted by many dangerous beings, flesh, spirit, and in between. Below is one of the more sinister:


A deceased Mandrake.
Mandrake
________


AC: 5
Hit Dice: 2+2
Move: 90'(30')
Attacks: 1 Strangle or 1 Bite
Damage: 1d6 or 1d6
No: Appearing 1-4 (2-8)
Save As: Fighter 2
Treasure Type: D
Alignment : Chaotic


Mandrakes are cruel hunters and ambushers that grow from a kind of wetland rhizome into a lurching, roughly humanoid being (6-7') with a toothsome, mudskipper-like face, a dragging tail, and layers of rough, fibrous skin. From sloughed-off layers of their body, Mandrakes fashion tough ropes that they carry twisted on spool-like wooden shields, and use to capture and strangle foes. Unnervingly stealthy, Mandrakes surprise on a 1-3 and attack with their ropes at +4 if they surprise, dealing an automatic 1-6 damage per round unless the rope, which has AC 6 and requires 3HP damage in one blow to cut, is severed. Mandrakes prefer to strangle, but can resort to a nasty bite with sharp, woody teeth, if cornered. If they overwhelm their opponents, they prefer to bind their prey and drown them alive, and Mandrake treasure is usually found underwater, still on the body of a victim slowly bloating in the water in preparation for later eating. 


 Mandrakes are silent while hunting, but have been observed to communicate with a rustling noise from their throats resembling a chuckle. Mandrake ropes have extraordinary strength and lightness, twice that of a silk rope for the same weight if intact, but quickly ravel if cut; they are worth 1 GP per foot and a given rope will be 1d6x25 feet in length. The core of a Mandrake is tough, but has a delicately spicy flavor if cooked slowly in oil or fat, and in Abraxas some cooks will pay up to a gold piece per pound for mandrake core, with a given mandrake yielding 1 pound per hit point of usable core.



The head of a Mandrake breaches the water as it follows its prey.



2 comments:

  1. I'm now imagining the Mandrake sneaking up behind a lone sentry, tossing a noose over their head, and immediately dragging them underwater to secure the other end of the rope at the bottom of the swamp. Before the victim has died, the beast returns to the surface to pick off the rest of the party one by one.

    Great stuff, Cole!

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  2. That sounds like textbook mandrake behavior.

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