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The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

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42<br />

<strong>The</strong> One has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to<br />

perform some special action or avoid a hazard. He<br />

can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even<br />

if distracted or endangered. He can use the run action<br />

while swimming, provided he swims in a straight line.<br />

Breath Weapon (Ex): <strong>The</strong> One can breathe a 30-foot<br />

cone of cold once every 1d4 rounds. This deals 6d8<br />

points of damage, with a Reflex saving throw for half<br />

damage (DC 23).<br />

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the One must<br />

hit with his bite attack. He can then attempt to start a<br />

grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of<br />

opportunity. If he wins the grapple check, he establishes<br />

a hold and can try to swallow the foe in the following<br />

round.<br />

Swallow Whole (Ex): <strong>The</strong> One can try to swallow a<br />

grabbed opponent of up to one size smaller by making<br />

a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent<br />

is dealt 2d6+6 points of bludgeoning damage plus<br />

1d8+4 points of acid damage per round from the One’s<br />

digestive juices. A swallowed creature can cut its way<br />

out using a light slashing or piercing weapon by dealing<br />

25 points of damage to the One’s digestive tract (AC<br />

17). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes<br />

the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own<br />

way out. <strong>The</strong> One’s gullet can hold two Large, eight<br />

Medium or Small, 32 Tiny, 128 Diminutive, or 512 Fine<br />

or smaller opponents.<br />

Keen Scent (Ex): <strong>The</strong> One can notice creatures by scent<br />

in a 180-foot radius and can detect blood in the water at<br />

a range of up to one mile.<br />

Origin of the One<br />

400 years ago, the white dragon Yselvir plummeted<br />

screaming from the sky, bleeding from a dozen<br />

wounds. She had been driven from her lair in the<br />

Waste. A territorial rival, Serremin, had cast her out<br />

and nearly killed her. She knew she could not return,<br />

so she concealed herself while she planned revenge.<br />

She took on the form of one of the vast sharks that<br />

swam in the arctic waters, hiding among them and<br />

living their blind moronic life of eating, swimming<br />

and mating.<br />

<strong>The</strong> eventual result of this was the birth of a white,<br />

deformed thing with rudimentary claws, half dragon<br />

and half dire shark. He ate, grew larger and ate<br />

again; stronger than those around him and possessed<br />

of abilities that he used without understanding them,<br />

he soon became dominant over the others in his<br />

region. Fearing what he might do when he grew<br />

to full maturity but unwilling to kill him, Serremin<br />

drove him away.<br />

More intelligent than the other sharks (though not<br />

by much), the One understood that being fed by<br />

others was preferable to feeding himself, so when<br />

intelligent beings began to offer him food in the<br />

hope he would take that instead of them, he accepted<br />

the offerings and left them alone. <strong>The</strong> legend of a<br />

gigantic white shark that had to be appeased with the<br />

bodies of mariners grew in the telling and became a<br />

figure of sailors’ myth.<br />

Old now, the One has taken to lurking in an undersea<br />

cavern instead of roaming the seas; this may mean that<br />

he is becoming more dragon-like in his behaviour.<br />

Like a dragon, he sometimes spends years asleep.<br />

When the sahuagin found him, they were amazed;<br />

the creature understood much more than the sharks<br />

with which they were used to communicating.<br />

Evidently he was some form of holy shark, destined<br />

to lead the sahuagin to bloody victory.<br />

<strong>The</strong> One is stark white in colour, with little prehensile<br />

arms growing in front of his fins. <strong>The</strong> sahuagin<br />

believe this to be a sign that he is some kind of<br />

mystic link between his species and theirs. He has<br />

lain inert on the seabed for so long that barnacles and<br />

weeds are growing in patches on his body.<br />

Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8

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