9568 Moonlight Madness.pdf - Free
9568 Moonlight Madness.pdf - Free
9568 Moonlight Madness.pdf - Free
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surprise (it cannot make its claw attacks against a character<br />
off the ground, only its bite). If the target is climbing with-<br />
out a rope, the character loses any shield or Dexterity ben-<br />
efits to Armor Class and is considered defenseless (+4 to<br />
the dinosaur’s attack roll); furthermore, any successful bite<br />
requires the target to make a saving throw vs. breath<br />
weapon or fall. The character cannot fight while dangling<br />
from a rope or clinging to the cliff-face and must wait until<br />
he or she reaches the bottom, one way or the other. A char-<br />
acter climbing with a rope cannot use a shield (giving the<br />
teratosaur a +2 bonus to its attacks), but in such cases Dex-<br />
terity bonuses to AC do apply.<br />
PCs might spot the dinosaur if they use afly spell to re-<br />
connoiter the area, or if they stop in mid-climb to look<br />
around. In this case, the critter sits at the base of the cliff<br />
for hours staring hungrily up at the characters. It will<br />
eventually lumber away, but it will not go far. When the<br />
party finally comes down, the dinosaur charges to the at-<br />
tack. No matter when the fight with the dinosaur occurs,<br />
any character that goes ”were” during the fight will try to<br />
escape: their animal natures tell them that fighting such a<br />
powerful creature is a bad idea.<br />
Teratosaur: AC 5; MV 18; HD 10; 45 hp; THACO 11; #AT 3;<br />
Dmg ld3/ld3/3d6 (claw/claw/bite); SZ L (9 feet high,<br />
20 feet long); Int non (0); AL N; XP 1,400.<br />
43<br />
I, LcllNag-G;upsc.:ca” C’Oi‘5<br />
If the characters defeat the carnosaur, they can com-<br />
plete the descent in peace. Once all are on the ground,<br />
however, allow them all Intelligence checks to notice the<br />
solemn faces staring at them out of the bushes. The bar-<br />
barians cautiously emerge, allowing the characters to see<br />
that the right hand of each has been painted with gray<br />
clay, giving it a decidedly stone-like appearance. They<br />
stop only a few feet from the PCs, slam the butts of their<br />
spears into the ground, bow deeply, then spring away in<br />
backflips, using the spear-shafts for support. This action<br />
is repeated several times until there is a large group all<br />
doing it in unison.<br />
Thereafter the barbarians follow the player characters<br />
everywhere. Communication should be extremely diffi-<br />
cult, even by sign language (the barbarians’ culture is sim-<br />
ply too different). Every time the characters stop, they<br />
notice that more followers have joined the throng, until<br />
they lead a great multitude of several hundred barbar-<br />
ians-both men and women, from grizzled elders to babes<br />
in arms. They intently watch the PCs’ every move but<br />
never, ever look a PC in the eye. Attempts to escape them<br />
will be unavailing, due to the Stonefists’ tracking abilities<br />
and knowledge of the terrain. Any barbarian who seems to<br />
anger or displease the gods is set upon by his or her fellows<br />
and promptly beaten to death.<br />
Typical Stonefist barbarian (2nd-level Fighter): AC 7<br />
(Dexterity bonus); MV 15; 20 hp; THACO 19 (18 with<br />
Strength bonus when stabbing with spear, 17 with Dex-<br />
terity bonus when throwing spear); #AT 1; Dmg ld6+1<br />
(spear, Strength bonus); SZ M; Int low (5-7); AL N; XP<br />
65 each. Str 17, Dex 17, Con 18.<br />
The site of the upcoming battle is on the party’s way;<br />
they can’t really avoid it except by climbing back out of<br />
the valley the way they came and abandoning their quest.<br />
After three days’ travel, accompanied by an ever-growing<br />
throng, they come to a wide river. On the far side wait the<br />
Sisters of the Claw, an Amazon horde just as large as PCs’<br />
following, who hoot and scoff at the Stonefists. The Sis-<br />
ters‘ ornaments consist mostly of lizard-claw and lizard-<br />
tooth necklaces and bracelets. Suddenly both groups sit<br />
down and stare up into the sky expectantly. A winged<br />
shape swoops over the crowd, wheels, and dives right at<br />
the PCs, yelling ”Nyahhh!”<br />
Characters who battled Barney at Huttucilege’s ledge<br />
will recognize the nerdy criosphinx from that earlier en-<br />
counter. Barney charges the party on his first attack, gain-<br />
ing a +2 bonus on his headbutt. From then on it’s a<br />
straight fight, with Barney making wing-assisted leaps of<br />
up to thirty feet in an attempt to bypass the front line and<br />
get at spellcasters; the rapt spectators ooh and aah with<br />
each blow struck. Any PCs who go ”were” during the