Then the stench of the camels hit her. She wrinkled her nose and drew the wrap back over her face. "Jashan, I am going aloft. You have command of the caravan until I return."
"Yes, my lady." Jashan patted the talwar at his hip and brought his camel to the head of the line.
Anachi reined hers to a stop and slid off. She unrolled a carpet that had been wrapped in canvas and draped across her camel's back. After some consideration, she also drew forth a small chest of purple heartwood, bound in silver. This she fastened to the carpet with four delicate chains running through brass rings punched through the rear third of the carpet. Finally, she placed a rectangular mask over her eyes, plates of rock crystal fitted into the narrow eye-slits. She sat cross-legged in the center of the carpet and bade it rise into the air.
The dry desert stretched out below her, bound by the Copper Teeth mountains to the north and the mighty Ranbalahs far to the south. She flew ahead of her caravan, looking for signs of the seasonal stream that would be their first water stop. Out of nowhere, a blast of wind nearly threw her off her carpet. She tightly clung to the front tassels as it rolled madly in the air, struggling to right itself and rapidly losing altitude. Once her stomach returned to its proper place, Anachi began to tug at the carpet with experienced hands, coaxing it into a level flight path just as a shadow passed over her. In a flurry of feathers, fur, and claws, the huge beast brought her and her carpet down hard against a red sand dune.
A mighty tiger's head was peering down at her, white and orange, with intricate swirls of deep purple between its black stripes. Long yellow tendrils trailed away from its blue nose and its thick brows. Harsh sunlight shone through a pair of tremendous white wings with pinion feathers longer than Anachi's arm. "None may pass through my desert without paying tribute," the tiger growled. "This carpet will do nicely, I think, and the chest. And four of your camels."
"Camels? What camels?" she bluffed. A stupid bluff, but she had not yet recovered from the tumble and the fall.
"Is that not your caravan back towards the Mouth?"
"Ah, of course. But," she changed the subject, "you do not want this carpet."
"It is magic," the beast boomed. "And pretty."
Both were true, although the Tazhenti designs in orange and blue were faded from the carpet's overuse. "Without the carpet, I will not be able to find water for my caravan. We will all die." This was only a partial lie; Anachi knew the locations of the desert wells, oases, and streams, though the ever-shifting sands made navigating to them difficult without seeing them from the air.
"I could just kill you all and take everything for myself." The beast lowered its face, its hot breath seeping through Anachi's face wrap.
Anachi lifted her flight mask and met the beast's eyes. "Hardly likely. If you eat a whole caravan, no one else will pass through here until a brigade of Gaori soldiers comes to kill you. And anyways, this is a flying carpet. You can already fly."
"It is still pretty. I will lay on it."
"Unlikely. You wouldn't fit."
The tiger lifted its plate-sized paw off the carpet and began taking mental measurements.
"In any case, it's clear that the carpet is worth more to me than it is to you, so let's take a different tack, shall we? I'll give you six camels, plus a basket full of-"
"What is in the chest? Something magic. I'll take that." He nudged past her and sniffed at the box still chained to the rear of the carpet. "And the six camels."
Anachi put a firm hand down on the lid. "This is a royal gift from the Shaltana of Bayman to the Court of the Blue Emperor! It is worth more than goods of seven caravans seven times the length of mine!"
The beast sat back on its haunches and folded its wings. "I will have it."
"But-"
"I will have it or I will kill the lot of you and have it anyways, and damn the Gaori soldiers."
"But-"
"And you can keep your smelly camels."
Anachi looked at the creature's teeth and claws, then at the silver-bound chest, then back at the creature. Silently, she drew a key from a thong around her neck, undid the chains, and unlocked the chest. From within, she produced a hunk of white jade the size of an ostrich egg, polished smooth and snaked all over with gilded sigils, glittering in the sunlight. Reluctantly she held it out to the beast. It sniffed the stone smugly, then clutched it to its furry breast with one massive paw and leapt up into the air. It beat its wings once, twice, thrice, and was gone.
Jashan leapt off the back of his camel and slid expertly down the side of the sand dune to come to a stop at Anachi's side, gleaming talwar clasped in one hand. "My lady. Are you hurt?"
Anachi could no longer mask her broad smile. "Jashan, I have bought our safe passage. I gave my teleportation stone to the qiongqi!"
Jashan looked at his mistress as if he were examining her for signs of heat stroke.
"You still have yours, right?" she asked, ignoring his unspoken questions.
The tall black-skinned man shrugged off his pack and pulled out a gilded stone identical to the one Anachi had just traded away. "My lady, I'm afraid I don't follow..."
"When we get to Char Gao, we can hire a band of adventurers and teleport right into the monster's treasure hoard. We're rich, Jashan! Well, richer."
~~~~
Today's Monster Monday is the qiongqi (pronounced chyong-chi), a flying magical tiger that loves to ambush caravans and hoard treasure. It comes to us from the Shan Hai Jing - The Classic of Mountains and Seas - a Chinese text from the 4th century BC that is full of accounts of fabulous beasts and peoples.
 |
| Composite from two photographs |
With a terrible roar, this winged tiger
pounces out of the sky, claws and teeth bared.
Qiongqi CR 6
XP 2,400
CN Large magical
beast
Init +7; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60
ft.; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+2
Dex, +8 natural, -1 size)
hp 68 (8d10+24)
Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +6
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft., fly 80 ft. (good)
Melee 2 claws +13 (1d8+6 plus grab),
bite +13 (2d6+6 plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks pounce, rake (2 claws
+13, 1d8+6)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th)
1/day – river
of wind (DC 16)
At will – detect magic, gust of wind
(DC 14)
STATISTICS
Str 23, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 15
Base Atk +8; CMB +15; CMD 28
Feats Flyby Attack, Improved
Initiative, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Appraise +4, Bluff +3, Diplomacy
+3, Fly +11, Perception +8, Sense Motive +3, Stealth +8; Racial Modifiers +4 Appraise, +4 Stealth
Languages Common
ECOLOGY
Environment any forest, hills, or
desert
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure double
The qiongqi,
or winged tiger, is fierce predator of land and sky. It has the body, head, and forelimbs of a
tiger and the wings and hind legs of an eagle.
Its fur ranges from sandy brown to fiery orange to pure white, with
black, dark brown, or even shimmering purple stripes. Its face resembles a stylized tiger mask as
much as it does a tiger’s, with slightly exaggerated features and long trailing
whiskers like those of an imperial dragon.
Qiongqi possess innate control over the air, using gusts of wind to aid
in hunting and defense. They live in
many habitats, but are most often encountered along remote trade routes where
they can raid caravans for prey and treasure.
Some qiongqi can be reasoned with, and caravan masters often carry
bribes so that they may pass freely through the beast’s territory. Qiongqi are especially fond of magic items, precious
metals, and gemstones, which they hoard in their lairs much like dragons do.
-your fangshi d20 despot
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