Monster Monday: Cinder Bat - Wings of Smoke and Fire

"It all started with a sheep, so they say."  The old man leaned close to the fire, the flickering orange light throwing his wrinkled visage into stark relief.  The children, sensing the beginning of a story, hushed their burbling conversations and turned to face the storyteller.  When all they could hear was the crackling of the pine branches in the campfire, the old man continued.  

"Farmer Agrup's prize ewe wandered on to Farmer Jenton's land and gave birth to a single little lamb.  When Farmer Agrup went a-searching for the ewe the next morning, he saw Jenton leading the ewe back, clutching the newborn lamb to his chest.  He said that the lamb rightfully belonged to him, since it was born on his land.  Now, this was just another in a long line of disputes between the two farmers.  As you may know, when two farmers have plots of land right next to each other, they can find all sorts o' things to fight about.  Farmer Agrup took his case to the shire-reeve but he found no justice there.  Agrup was known in town as a loner and a drunk - which he was - and a troublemaker - which he... well, he was a bit of that, too.  Farmer Jenton, though, had a big family, and was well-liked in town.  He often had the shire-reeve over for supper, and so the shire-reeve said that Jenton should keep the lamb.

"That night, Farmer Agrup got very drunk and worked himself into quite a rage.  He lit a torch, hopped over the fence, and threw it at Farmer Jenton's house."  The old man paused now to throw another log on the fire.  Smoke and cinders burst upwards to dance away into the black sky.  "When he passed out, it had caught the thatching all ablaze.  When he woke up hours later, the whole house was burnt up, Farmer Jenton and his family with it.  As he looked on, dumbfounded at what he had done, a charred beam fell into a pile of low embers.  It threw up twisting clouds of ash and flame that seemed to take the form of wings.  

"Cinder bats!  Creatures of smoke and fire, born of arson.  When Farmer Agrup cast his torch onto the house, he cast his rage with it.  That rage festered in the burning house and mingled with the rage of the dying Farmer Jenton and his family.  The ashes gave shape to that rage.  Four cinder bats flew across the night sky from the ruins of Farmer Jenton's house to roost in the eaves of Farmer Agrup's.  Agrup could only watch as his farm went up in flames.  Out of the ashes a dozen more cinder bats burst forth, some flying into the forest, others flying back towards town.  The shire-reeve's house.  Lucinda's.  The Korb family.  By morning, they had burnt up half the shire."

A little girl raised her hand to interject.  "So, do the cinder bats represent how violence begets violence?  Like, the dangers of holding on to anger instead of seeking peaceful conflict resolution?"

The old man shook his head, his eyes never leaving the campfire.  "No, my dear, no metaphors here.  The cinder bats are very real.  I saw them that night."

Today's Monster Monday is the cinder bat, an incorporeal cloud of ash and cinders in the shape of a bat.  It breathes fire and sets ablaze everything it touches.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

A bat-shaped cloud smoke flaps toward you, a fiery orange light glowing within it

Cinder Bat                 CR 4

XP 1,200

NE Small magical beast (fire, incorporeal)

Init +7; Senses blindsense 60 ft.; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 13 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +2 deflection)

hp 32 (4d10+10)

Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +2

Immune fire

Defensive Abilities incorporeal

OFFENSE

Speed fly 40 ft. (good)

Melee incorporeal touch +7 (2d8 fire)

Special Attacks breath weapon (15-ft. cone, DC 14, 4d6 fire)

STATISTICS

Str --, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 13, Cha 15

Base Atk +4; CMB +6; CMD 16

Feats Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative

Skills Fly +14, Perception +6

Languages ignan

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Breath Weapon (Ex)

A cinder bat can breathe out a cloud of burning cinders once every 1d4 rounds.  This cloud fills a 15-foot cone, dealing 4d6 points of fire damage to all within.  Those caught in the cinder cloud can make a DC 14 Reflex save to take half damage.  This attack ignites flammable materials.  The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary, pair, inferno (3-6)

Treasure none

A cinder bat is a malicious cloud of cinders, ash, and smoke that takes the form of a bat to terrorize the night.  These creatures seem to delight in arson, often nesting in the eaves of wooden houses or infesting hay barns until their sparks ignite an inferno.  In fact, since cinder bats are often seen bursting out of mysterious house fires, it has been theorized that these fiery beasts reproduce through arson.  

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-your arsonist d20 despot