A constant damp pervaded the whole jungle. It wasn't even raining; water just dripped perpetually from leaf to leaf, more than enough to make sure that nothing ever dried out. Not for the first time today, the magistress was glad not to be wearing her academic robes, which would have instantly become unbearably sodden and overwhelming in this environment. Instead she wore simple, practical travelers' garb which belied the fact that she was the foremost expert in her field. She was supposed to be here studying the local plant life in all its scientifically intriguing strangeness. Now she barely registered it. A lot had changed since yesterday, when her expedition had been betrayed by her mysterious benefactor's security chief, leaving them unprepared for the furious onslaught of the monsters who dwelt in the deep jungle.
"I can see the cave from here," she called out to the ranger, Muldoon. They were searching for Sir Raymond Arnold, who had been missing since last night. He had been seeking out an important artifact thought hidden in a nearby cave. The cave's black maw stood not far away, across a small clearing. So close, and yet Magistress Sattler was unnerved at the thought of exposing herself, even for a moment, by leaving the cover of the trees. "We can make it if we run," she suggested.
"No we can't," Muldoon said, flat and measured, eyes fixed on a patch of jungle not twenty meters away.
"Why not?"
"Because we are being hunted."
"Oh, gods..."
"In the bushes, straight ahead. It's alright."
A shadow flicked across the patch of leaves, and suddenly she could see a green reptilian eye watching them. "Like Hell it is!"
But the keen-eyed ranger was already nocking an arrow to his bow. "Run. Towards the cave. I've got her." He paced forward, ever so slowly, and Magistress Sattler stayed with him, unwilling to free herself from this last safety tether. "Go!"
She spun and immediately tripped on a root, twisting her ankle. She sprang up and hobbled faster than she had ever run on two good legs, leaping over logs, sliding through puddles, and out into the clearing. She breathed through gritted teeth, not daring to look behind her until she passed under the roof of the cave.
Muldoon took one step forward, then another, slowly drawing his bowstring back until his thumb brushed his jaw. The creature clearly saw him, but made no move to attack. The dumb beast had probably never seen a bow before. He let fly the arrow, straight at the monster's eye. Faster than the arrow, the monster disappeared, reappearing in the same instant right next to him.Today's Monster Monday is the blink raptor, a fierce and intelligent magical dinosaur that can teleport and phase in and out of the Material Plane. Think blink dog mixed with deinonychus.
"Clever girl." Muldoon nocked and drew again in the blink of an eye, but as he whirled to skewer the beast at point-blank range, it squealed and lunged at him. he was surrounded, but by how many he couldn't tell - they seemed to shift in and out of existence. Their claws slashed at him from everywhere and nowhere at once.
The blink raptors' pack leader watched the kill unfold from the bushes not five feet away from where Muldoon had stood; completely still, eerily silent, and undoubtedly clever.
The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.
This agile dinosaur prepares to leap,
flashing its sickle-shaped toe-claws as a smoky blue nimbus flickers across the
tips of its feathers.
Blink Raptor CR 5
XP 1,600
N Medium magical
beast
Init +7; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60
ft., scent; Perception +18
DEFENSE
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+3
Dex, +5 natural)
hp 51 (6d10+18)
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +5
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 talons +8 (1d8+2), bite +8
(1d6+2), foreclaws +3 (1d4+1)
Special Attacks pounce
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th;
concentration +10)
Constant – blink
At will – quickened dimension door (self only)
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 15
Base Atk +6; CMB +8; CMD 21
Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will,
Run
Skills Acrobatics +20, Perception +18, Stealth
+20; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics,
+8 Perception, +8 Stealth
Languages Draconic
ECOLOGY
Environment warm forests
Organization solitary, pair, or pack
(3-12)
Treasure incidental
Closely
resembling a deinonychus, this beast is an even more fearsome pack-hunter due
to its magical nature. Blink raptors constantly blink in and out of the
Material Plane and can instantly reposition themselves with dimensional magic,
making them difficult to hit and their attack unpredictable. They use their
cunning and intelligence to coordinate deadly attacks on much larger and more
powerful beasts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-your antirrhopus d20 despot
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