Monster Monday: Phase Serpent, the Slithering Ethereal Hunter

The serpent stirred at the approaching footfalls - a telltale sign of incoming prey. It uncoiled its sleek body, muscles rippling under silvery blue scales, and dove into the floor, passing through the ancient flagstones and into the misty mirror universe of the Ethereal Plane. It slithered through curling wisps of vapor until it came to a place where it sensed the echoes of creatures on the material plane. Slowly, cautiously, it passed its head up through the floor behind the interlopers. There were four of them, two in gleaming metal armor, one in flowing robes, one in black padding. 

   Like flowing water, it lunged, piercing the robed one with its long fangs, then dropped back through the floor and into the ether. The one bearing its venom glowed, visible to the serpent even across dimensions. It followed the warm glow of the venom as the material creatures continued through its lair. When it judged the time to be right, it found a passage through the ether to the ceiling of the room the prey were in. It struck boldly now, hissing and rearing. At it attacked, it blinked back and forth between ether and material. One of the prey swung a cruel sword at the serpent, but the blade passed through curling mist as the creature popped back to the Ethereal Plane for a split second.

   Taking advantage of its distraction, the black padded prey cut deep into the serpent with twin short blades. The serpent recoiled into the ceiling. The black one was a greater threat when part of the group. It needed to be isolated. The serpent sprang out of the ceiling, barreling into the black figure, sinking its fangs deep into its shoulder and pushing it into the floor and through it, dragging it into the shrouding ethereal mists that lay just beyond the edge of the material world. The black padded figure was startled. The serpent tasted its fear on the air. It tried to strike back at the serpent, but the silvery beast simply coiled around it, biting it again and again.

   Suddenly, there was a burst of flame searing the serpent's hide. The serpent turned to find the robed prey blinking erratically in and out of the Ethereal Plane. It was terrified even as it blasted the serpent with another gout of flame. The hunter reared back and struck, but it bit down on nothing as the robed one blinked away. As the serpent hissed in frustration, the robed one reappeared and unleashed a crackling bolt of deadening energy which struck the serpent square in the snout. It felt heavy. It tried to pursue the robed one back to the Material Plane, but it couldn't make a passage there. The ethereal connections to the solid world were closed to the serpent by some magical force. It could only watch angrily as the three remaining prey, still lit up with the serpent's venom, passed deeper into its lair.

   It watched, and it waited.

Today's Monster Monday is the phase serpent, a silvery hunter from the ethereal plane. Armed with an array of dimension-defying abilities that let it strike from anywhere, this slithering terror is the perfect ambush predator to stalk the halls of any dungeon.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Platybelodon, the Shovel-Tusked Elephant

Today's Monster Monday is platybelodon, the weirdest elephant ever. This prehistoric elephant-like creature is distinguished by its four tusks, the lower two forming a shovel-like growth jutting out below the trunk.

Platybelodon sculpture by Sean Cooper & Martin Garratt, photo by RobinGoodfellow_(m) via Flickr

Platybelodon and related amebelodonts were gomphotheres - elephant-like creatures that roamed the earth 12 million years ago up until the end of the last ice age. While most gomphotheres had four tusks, amebelodonts had these specialized shovel-like plates. It was once thought that they used them to literally shovel up their food, but according to recent reconstructions of their life and diet, these creatures used their shovel-tusks to scrape tree bark and even as a saw to cut down small saplings and shrubs while their flexible trunk held them in place.

It also has one of the most terrifying skeletons of any herbivore:

via Wikimedia

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Giant Camel and Two-Humped Camel

Today's Monster Monday is a twofer: both the two-humped camel and the giant camel, two sure-footed pack-animals specialized at living in harsh conditions.

Tang-Dynasty model of a Sogdian riding a camel, via Wikimedia
Modern camels aren't as big as that tiny rider makes this one look, but the scale is about right for someone riding a
prehistoric giant camel like titanotylopus. Also, the rider looks like a lawn gnome, which amuses me.

The two-humped camel is more commonly known as the Bactrian camel, but Bactria is a real place on Earth, so that name is probably not suitable for most fantasy campaign settings. The one-humped dromedary or Arabian camel has already been statted up, but I felt the need to stat up their hardier, stronger, and more wide-ranging two-humped cousins as well. Two-humped camels have higher Strength and Constitution scores, making them ideal for hauling heavier loads in harsher environments than dromedaries, and also making them more formidable in a fight - both of which are characteristics that adventurers in camel-country might want to look for in their mounts and pack animals.

Bactrian camels resting in Jiayu Pass, by Emcc83, via Wikimedia

Prehistoric North America was home to many species of camel, including the gigantic megacamelus, titanotylopus, and gigantocamelus (those last two are considered by some paleontologists to be the same). These giant camels could be roughly 12 feet high and weighed over 5,000 pounds, making them about twice the size of the largest modern camels. In your campaign, giant camels might be employed by wealthy merchants to ship large quantities of goods across the desert, or they might be ridden by desert giant warriors. They could even be used as fighting platforms similar to war-elephants; imagine a giant camel draped in scale barding armor, with two archers firing from its back and two pikemen fighting from armored baskets hanging on either side of the beast.

(Don't forget to check out the encounter ideas and adventure hooks for these camels below the stat blocks!)

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Hellmouth, the Gateway Monster

Today's Monster Monday is the hellmouth, a tremendous beast whose very mouth is a gateway to Hell (as you may have guessed from the name). Hellmouths were a motif in medieval art that tended to result in some pretty metal images, as in this detail from an icon showing a black hellmouth swallowing a bunch of damned souls, who are also simultaneously being roasted in flame, tortured by devils, and/or attacked by snakes:

Hellmouth, via Wikimedia

As it is statted up below, the hellmouth is not a monster the GM should use lightly. It is always important, when designing encounters, to take into account what might happen if one or more of the characters succumbs to the monster's powerful abilities. You don't want to throw a medusa at your players if you aren't prepared to spend some time with one or more of them petrified. Just so, you don't want to throw a hellmouth at your players if you aren't prepared to spend the rest of the session with half the part stuck in Hell. The hellmouth is best used when necessary as part of the story, rather than as a random encounter. That said, suddenly having to improvise a rescue mission to get your bard out of Hell sounds like a pretty fun session.

The hellmouth does not have to be a potential campaign derailer. If you aren't ready to randomly throw some of the PC into a screaming torture-dimension, the hellmouth can suppress its throat-gate, allowing it to simply swallow folks into its flaming stomach. It is also designed to act as a living infernal siege engine, launching flaming boulders at distant targets and calling in reinforcements from Hell.

By the way, I've decided to start giving some adventure hooks below each monster, so even if you don't feel like reading a stat block, scroll down for dem sweet hooks.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Salt Ghouls, Desiccating Dead from the Desert

   When the sun was at its highest and the caravan had stopped to give the men and the camels rest, the howlers came pounding out of the desert. They were dead, emaciated men, their cracked faces twisted into cruel sneers. The monsters dashed across the dunes on all fours, kicking up a cloud of sand as they plowed toward the caravan.

   Hassan drew his falchion as soon as the first scream hit the hot air. He watched the undead horde with trepidation, eyes occasionally darting back along the road whence the caravan had come. No, fleeing was not an option here. His only chance of surviving in this harsh desert was to stay and ensure that the caravan survived. He dashed up to where the first of the ghouls were already swarming a panicked camel laden with silks. Hot blood sprayed out, staining raw silk red and sizzling on the skillet-hot sand. 

   Hassan's falchion bit into one of the ghouls, producing no spray of blood but a small puff of ancient dust. The creature was caked with sand and salt crystals. Its shriveled yellow eyes fixed on Hassan and it lunged at him, raking a gnarled claw against his upraised forearm. He kicked it in the chest, gathering space, then swung his sword with both hands, decapitating the ghoul. Its husk fell with a light thump. Hassan took a second to examine his wound. His flesh was puckered and cracked around the three gashes, but no blood was coming out - not even a trickle.

   Another scream ripped the air close by, and he turned to meet another leaping ghoul with his blade, blocking its claws and using its momentum to toss it over his shoulder. But another leapt for him at the same time, clawing at his silk jazerant and sinking yellow teeth into his neck. He dislodged it with an elbow to the skull and brought his curved blade down into its back. But Hassan's strength was leaving him. His muscles were slow to respond, and his tongue was glued to the dry roof of his mouth. He stumbled back, clutching at his neck wound. His vision blurred, he tripped over something and fell, splayed out on the sand, eyes closed. 

   Thirsty. So thirsty. Hassan rubbed sand and grime out of his eyes and sat up. The sun was low and orange on the horizon. Dead men and camels and dismembered ghoul husks littered the road around him. Not enough to account for the whole caravan. So they had made it. They had weathered the ghoul attack and gone on. Gone on without Hassan. His situation began to dawn on him. He was alone in the desert with almost no water. He frantically patted his hip, searching for his canteen, but it was absent. They had left him and taken his water. Bastards. 

   He rushed to the nearest camel corpse in hopes that they had overlooked a waterskin. There was one resting on the camel's side, shredded by ghoul claws and drained of its contents. But the array of leather straps suggested there might be another under the bulk of the dead beast. Hassan began to dig, heedless of the pain. At last, he drew forth a small bladder of water, though his cry of triumph could not escape his dry throat. He uncorked the skin and upended it into his mouth. The water seemed to disappear as soon as it hit his tongue. No cool wetness soothed his dry mouth, no refreshing fluid filled him. It was as if he was drinking ash. A cry of frustration and pain escaped him now, rasping and high pitched like the screams of the ghouls. He touched his neck wound and his fingers came away crusted in salt. As the last light of the sun dipped below the dunes, Hassan stumbled down the road after the companions who had left him to die. 

Today's Monster Monday is the salt ghoul, a ravenous undead creature from the dry dunes. Their cursed claws and bite can drain the water from a living being, leaving them dehydrated and desperate in the desert.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Zitiron, Mer-Knight in Shining Scales

Today's Monster Monday is the zitiron, a merfolk-like creature with a body covered in bony armor plates that gleam like steel. Zitiron are knightly sea creatures, who train by jousting with each other under water or at the ocean's surface - much to the delight and amazement of passing ships. Zitiron knightly orders are often called upon to fight in wars between merfolk kingdoms, or enrolled by port cities and merchant concerns to defend stretches of sea from rampaging sea monsters.

One of many zitirons depicted in the awesome Bosch painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights (c.1490-1510).

A black-scaled zitiron dueling a woodwose on a battle-gull. From the Hastings Book of Hours (1480).

As A Book of Creatures points out, the fanciful, knightly depictions of zitirons likely derive from descriptions of sea turtles. A common medieval artistic trope is that everything in the surface world has its counterpart in the sea. On many medieval maps and manuscript illustrations, you will see sea cows, sea horses, sea goats, sea cats, and other aquatic versions of surface animals. Early modern fishermen reported encounters with sea monks and sea bishops. Dolphins and porpoises were even sometimes called mereswine - sea pigs. In this context, is it any wonder that late medieval Flemish artists reinterpreted stories of sea turtles - altered through oral transmission as if by a game of telephone - into sea knights?

c. 1350 illustration of a zitiron accompanying Jacob van Maerlant's poem "Der Naturen Bloeme", via Wikimedia

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Yara-Ma-Yha-Who - He Eats You When You're Sleeping

"Get up, young lazybones! Do not sleep under the fig tree! Did I not tell you who lives up there? I didn't? Well, I'm telling you now, so listen up and listen good! You want to grow up big and tall, right? Then don't do what I did. 

   "I used to be tall when I was younger. Taller than your father, in fact. Don't laugh, it's true. But I was lazy, like you, and I often stole away to nap in the shade of the fig tree instead of helping with the work. One day I woke up from my nap and found my skin had grown redder. I thought it was a sunburn, but it could not have been. See, even my back was redder! And when I went home, my mother thought I was shorter. And I had these round wounds on my neck. Father thought they were bug bites, but they were not from any bug we knew.

   "It was a long while before I fell asleep under the fig trees again. The next time I did, I woke up even redder and even shorter than before! I was even shorter than my old mum now! Well, I did not want this to happen again, but I did want to know what had done it to me, so I came up with a plan.

   "One day, when the sun was high in the sky, I went to the fig grove and pretended to sleep. I waited and waited, and sure enough, something came down out of the tree. It wasn't a bug, it was a little man - yea high - and bright red all over. He had a big head like an overripe fig, and a big mouth, and suckers on his fingers and toes like the suckers of the octopi we see at the beach. It came down the tree head-first, and as it opened its mouth to swallow me up, I leapt to grab it. I brought a sack with me, and I tried to wrestle it into the sack so that I could bring it back to the village to show everyone. But it escaped and ran up the tree and out of sight.

   "I think if it had swallowed me one more time, I would be just as short and just as red as it was. Think, I might even have turned into one myself! Do you wonder, now, why an old man like me is always going about his work, even in the hot sun? And why you never catch me napping here in the shade? It could happen to you too, boy! So get off your lazy butt and get back to work!"

Today's Monster Monday is the yara-ma-yha-who, a strange creature from Aboriginal Australian mythology. The yara-ma-yha-who is a short man with bright red skin, a round, oversized head, and sucker-tipped fingers and toes. It preys on victims who fall asleep under its tree, draining blood with its suckers and swallowing its victims whole. It does not eat those whom it swallows, though. It regurgitates them, leaving them redder and shorter than before. If an individual is swallowed and regurgitated enough times by a yara, it becomes one!

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.