Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords - Free

PSlONlC ABILITY: Nil
AllACWDEFENSE MODES: Nil
LEVELKP. VALUE: Vl/5UU + 6/hp
The storoper [from ”stone roper”, also called ?tar roper”] is about 5’
high and 2‘ in diameter, and appears to be a small statue of a
roper. It is a cigar-shaped creature with 6 tentacles and a gaping
maw, and weighs about 500 pounds. The storoper has a silicon-
based, rocklike body; furthermore, it can sense movement up to
200’ away and will become perfectly still, resembling a statue.
If anything approaches within 50‘ of the storoper, it will attack by
suddenly shooting out its tentacles; it prefers to attack 2 victims at
once, each with 3 tentacles. The first two victims successfully at-
tacked will be injected with the storoper’s venom (through the
tentacles-- saving throw. The victims will be immoblized; in
fact, they will uppeurto have turned to stone! One round after the
“petrification”, the victims will recover] - but they are now
drugged and will fight to uidthe creature to the best of their ability!
If the storoper is killed, its drugged “defenders” will stop attacking
and wander about aimlessly until the venom wears off [this takes 10
turns).
The storoper can only inject victims twice per day; thereafter its
attacks are similar to those of a normal roper. Each hit by a tenta-
cle causes weakness (50% loss of strength in 1-3 rounds], and
each round the victim (orvictims) is dragged IO‘ closer to its maw.
The chance to break these strong tentacles is double the charac-
ter‘s chance to Bend Burs/Liff Gates [a character with a Strength of
15 has a 14% chance].
Because of their stony exterior, normal missile fire will not injure the
storoper [but magic missiles and normal or magical hand-held
weapons will). All spells, including those using lightning, cold, and
fire, will do normal damage to the creature. Once dead, the
storoper can be pried open using a chisel (an iron spike will do).
Inside its gizzard may be found a few coins, and possibly a small
number of gems as well.
22