Mountain fights back

 

Shadow mountain

 

Anagramming Monster Manual - Part D (part 2 of 2)

A M-U scars aura

A type of flumph. These translucent jellyfish may, if pulled over the head like a hood, mask one's true appearance by giving off a more intimidating appearance. Unfortunately for some, it only works for magic users, since the jellyfish feeds off the magical nature of its, ehm, wearer, although this hasn't stopped regular folks from pulling all sorts of things over their head, jellyfish or not.

Raucous stare

Any tree with flush cuts may develop this immobile monster; the cut turns into a parasitic eye, that catches passers-by and snare them with its mesmerising rings, luring them to slowly approach the parasite. When the prey is close enough, the rings in the eye starts spinning faster and faster, forming a portal that sucks in the victim, sending them to an unknown location in deepest space, where a yet to be discovered entity gobbles them up.

Sometimes, the portal even spits something out.

Carouse suit

The clothes (including armour) of a person who dies while carousing are cursed the next day; wearing any of these apparels causes nearby doors to be slammed shut (or opened violently), windows to be scratched and small objects such as fruit, cutlery or rats to levitate for a short period of time. The wearer may also suffer the occasional tripping. The reason for all this is that the heavy carousing attracted drunkard poltergeists, who sticks to the clothing during their hangover.

In thy disc

This monster will only attack vertebrates, and only striking against their back, trying to reach the spinal cord. Upon touching it, the monster is immediately transferred back to its home world, since the spinal cord of any creature acts as a portal key for these kind of monsters; they only want to get back home. The problem is, when one is teleported back home, another one is sent back, taking its place.

So old cupid

This creature, looking like a porcupine walking upright, shoots quills when it sneezes. The quills contains a strong toxin, that causes hallucinations of a more bizarre form: joy, and the eager feeling to seek out old loves.

Usual more ass

This creature used to be fuller.

A grog sour us

Found in taverns, these not-actually-monsters will eavesdrop on adventurers and interrupt them with comments as loudly as possible.

If the adventurers are about to embark on a journey, the Grog Sour Us will lower morale by telling the "younglings" about how badly prepared they are ("WADDYA MEAN 'NO TEN-FOOT POLE'?!").

If the adventurers are celebrating coming back from an adventure, the Grog Sour Us will lower morale by telling them about all the "easily brought back" treasures they neglected and where to find them ("WADDYA MEAN YOU DIDN'T SCRAPE OFF THE GOLD FROM THE PAINTING?!").

(Although annoying, adventurers should listen carefully when the Grog Sour Us tells them about neglected treasures, since that information is always true.)

Guano and I

This monster always hits you when you least expect it - from above.

Use our balsam

This stationary, treelike monster gives off a sweet scent, that mesmerizes passers-by and tricks them into coating their skin with a sap found on the bark. The sap is highly acidic and actually part of the monster's digestive system; after a few minutes, the prey is no more than a puddle of goo, which the monster happily slurps up using one of its branches.

Gaseous mural

Some murals come to life during new moons, especially those painted by lactose intolerant artists.

Uncoil moons

This evil spirit, known simply as a Braid in other parts of the world, needs at least three full moons on a cloudless sky to form. Each full moon, it takes the bright light of the full moon - e.g. the round shape itself - and uncoils it on the ground below, as one thick, long, glowing tube. If it can do this at least three times in a row, it will then braid the tubes together, which will be the evil spirits material form for the night.

The more strands ("tubes") in the final braid, the more powerful the spirit becomes.

Sumos auras

Also called stick-men, these extremely thin humanoid creatures lures their prey (humans) by mocking them in their tongue, in an attempt to pull them closer. When the prey is close enough, the creature will release its gaseous soul - a thick and heavy fog - in a violent eruption, that weighs down and suffocates their prey. The soul (fog) then returns to its stick-man like vessel, to devour their prey.

Calicoes puns

A fabric mimic, depicting crude paintings of people doing silly things. If a viewer laughs at the scene, the mimic shoots out a dart into the open mouth of the laugher, and pulls out a piece of the person's soul; one part serves as food for the mimic, and one part becomes part of the (potentially new) painting.

Pancreas to pet

This small parasite is often found in meat from magically created creatures. If ingested, it will try to get to the pancreas via the pancreatic duct, where it will remain for its lifetime. The parasite messes with the enzymes the pancreas produce; the host has now become a pet producer in a not so obvious and magical way: the host's stool grows new magical pets as soon as it, ehm, enters the world. It takes roughly a day or two for the "pet" to fully form, after which it will pursue and obey the person for as long as it lives.

(The term "pet" is misleading since there have been sightings of not only cats and dogs, but also goats and lions.)

A pout laser us

For a long time, there was a rumour going around about the fish in a certain lake, that could hunt with their eyes, shooting rays at passers-by during the night. It turned out to be not only false, but rather the weird pastime of one sorcerer that only knew the spell Continual Light; he would cast this at the fishes' eyes, for practice.

Unknown to most - and most of all, the poor sorcerer - is that while the fish can't shoot lasers with their eyes, they Continual Light treatment have somehow messed with the brains of the fish, resulting in new generations having greater and greater psionic abilities.

Sir Soul Pause

An extremely old knight that wanders the countryside. His soul was put on hold by a witch some two hundred years ago, meaning it stayed in place like a statue, while the body of the knight kept walking on. It took seventy five years to realise what the witch had done, and now he searches for her all over the world. He feels a bit empty inside.

Ant pored on

These ants aren't actually ants, but rather the very letters from old tomes brought to life through magic mishaps. They like to live in old books, trying to talk to the letters on the pages.

Gaseous rust

The flatulence of rust monsters. Just as with normal flatulence, it is best to stay clear of it.

Array scouts us

The "array" is a network of robed, small wizards - more animal than human - that once per hour stops what they are doing, and start vibrating for a short while. All members of this network do this exactly at the same time, no matter where they are. The vibrations serve two purposes: the first is for communication, and the second is for pinpointing people; they are nosy creatures. Some have used this to their advantage to gather information about people's whereabouts, since the creatures seems to be able to communicate both ways.

Aorta sutures

This evil spirit tries to enter the very veins of its prey (through open wounds), to stitch it up from the inside.

Creator pits

The pits - large, round holes in the ground, about two metres deep - are monsters that trap bards first and foremost, using illusionary spells. They lure the bards close enough so that they trip and fall into the pit, where the monster force the captured bards to come up with new sorts of horrific ways to lure new prey into the pit (e.g. turning their ideas into illusionary spells to use as bait). When a bard is too weak to produce, the monster opens its large mouth - e.g. the bottom of the pit - and swallows them whole.

Creator pits have been known to "leak" magic, e.g. some things the bards come up with, runs wild and materializes into a real thing.

Neuron rays surtax

This tax collector is a real monster when it comes to poor psionics.

Catbirds asleep

A terrible hairy creature from beyond space and time, capable of both flight and stealthy attacks, and would have no problem taking over the world - if they didn't nap 24 hours a day. It is a mystery how they exist at all.

Jidinn

Fights with illuminated swords and speaks with a tight jaw.

God

This humanoid is a real monster when it comes to constantly taking the credit for everything.

Pin hold

A spiderlike creature, the size of a cat, that hunts prey it find pretty; given the chance it will paralyse the prey, spin its web around it and then carry it back to its lair, where it will decorate the web using flowers. The pin hold-spider keeps several of these "pins" around its lair, but only for decoration since its main source of food is nectar.

El Drop Nap Egg

This flightless bird lay eggs that contains a mild toxin, that puts a normal adult to sleep for an hour or so.

Darn backlog

This horrible creature have a million different ideas on how to kill you - if it only could get its priorities straight.

Sand rag bros

These two humanoid creatures look like they've just endured several years living in a never ending desert storm - which they did, only it was ten thousand years ago. They sell magical trinkets no one understands. Their faces are covered, but rumour has it there's really nothing to cover.

Bronzed groan

These fragile statuettes are the captured voices of a very old kind of reptile, that went extinct when the emperor Jättedummis decided to not only wipe them out, but also store their horrible death wailing inside hollow bronze statuettes. The last groan of these reptiles have matured over the centuries inside these bronze vessels, concentrating their voices, so that they will kill anyone who hears it.

Mooch carat grind

A cave-dwelling creature, blind and bored, that constantly scrapes the walls with its twelve, wide nails - wide as a dough cutter - hoping to find some metals to munch on. But it won't break a sweat finding any.

Can God prep, or...?

This monster feels rushed and not very thought through, like, you know, as if a wizard spent like two minutes on it but maybe should've started earlier that night, like, he had a full two weeks notice but nooooo "I can make it up on the fly" I mean Jeeesus.

Nagger drone

This monster, the size of a small bird, imprints on a specific human being the very moment it is born (without the need to see them), and will spend its life doing two things: first, follow that human around at all cost, and secondly, keep reminding them about all the things they haven't succeeded at, and never will, as loud as possible.

Panda girl mount

What it says on the tin, but as soon as you get off she will try to make a snack out of you.

Darner dog

This fluffy, flying beast has an acidic drool but great cuddles.

Vinegar lords

These humanoid creatures uses their tears as a form of poison, to spread ill intentions. They usually cry into someone's drink, causing the drinker to become sour and questioning other's motives. All their fingers except their thumbs are small glass vials.

I, nth dowager

A type of hermit crab spirit that seeks out wealthy widows, kills them and then moves into the body and use that as a vessel. When the body has decayed too much, they leave and start looking for another widow.

No danger

This spirit falsely calms a person - or body part, depending on where it gets stuck - into thinking there's no danger (i.e. when monsters attack). Consult the following table to see how much control the possessed has, after the spirit has taken hold in a certain body part (the spirit has control from that part of the body and down, so to speak):

1. Head: person has lost all control. In immediate danger, the person will take no action, other than trying to calm his or her companions ("Hey, listen, the gnolls just want to talk, right?")
2. Arms: the person is herself and fully aware of the danger, but unable to get the rest of her body to function, since it believes there's no real danger
3. Legs: as 2, with arms working as well, but she won't be able to move freely since her legs believes there's no real danger
   

Ground rattle

These small, centipede-like bugs burrows into loose soil (or sand, preferable). They burrow together, some hundred individuals, spread out like a 1x1x1 metre cube in the ground. When they feel something moving directly above, they start spinning and vibrating, shaking the ground, hoping to trap the victim in their cube, where they will make short work of its prey in a matter of minutes.

Yr dad

This doppelgänger always looks like someone's dad. "- Hey isn't that your dad? - Oh good God, hope he doesn't see... - HEY KIDS! DID MARISSA TELL YOU ABOUT HER RASH? DID YOU TELL THEM ABOUT YOUR RASH, MARISSA? SHE NAMED IT, DIDN'T YOU, MARISSA?"

This monster is completely harmless. It mostly just bonds with the dad it mimics, hangs out for a week or two, and then moves on.

Warfd

A type of large earthworm that burrows around smaller villages, around and around, until a ditch has formed. It will then move outwards, and again, and again, until the immediate area around the village is several metres lower. The large earthworm then dies, and the soil and stones and whatnot it devoured forms a new hill.

Random tables: just switch titles

If you have a bunch of random tables (you know, "Why is this item cursed", "Why are these goblins here", "I search the body" and so on), but you want more, or you want to spice them up, or make them interested again - just randomly switch around the titles of the tables and go with that.

The World Birch

 

Ruin, or The Delegation That Went, Not The Delegation That Returned

 

Decay

 

Anagramming Monster Manual - Part D (part 1 of 2)

Go on, Mr Doge

                           wow

   many hp

             much attack

      so scare

                            such backstory

A rust fox belched jellies

A cute critter of the forest, that has the nasty habit of spitting up "jellyballs" (much like cat hairballs) once a week. These jellyballs are related to gelatinous cubes, only much smaller, and are spherical in shape. They roll around and mostly engulf beetles and ants.

Lately, they've been sold in hot and cold beverages, such as tea, and tastes horrible depending on if you're an adult or not.

Manse

A large, stationary mimic, with a fixed taste for higher level clerics.

When a cleric is caught (e.g. the door is slammed shut), it immediately starts draining the subject of all magic (i.e. memorized spells, magical items, etc.); one round for each magical thing. After that it will try to charm its prey, and release it, hoping it will go out and gather another tasty person of faith to this little cottage of horror.

Scour

A type of small, nocturnal, pale goblin, with excessively long fingers. Each scour is always looking for something specific, which is imprinted in their brains from birth, and will go through a party's belongings with great speed without a sound.

Although they leave a real mess behind, they seldom take anything since most scours don't know what it is they are looking for (or rather: they know what it looks like, but they don't understand what it is).

Us cubs, u c

Small, adorable puppies - that aren't really puppies, but rather a distraction so that their older kins may attack the party. When these not-really-cubs enters a space, you can't really take your eyes of them, and that's all you see.

Verity pock

A gelatinous blob, filled with swellings of different sizes and colours. The blob is non-hostile and will always retreat at the first sign of danger.

The swellings, if picked, will reveal a truth or a fact that is of relevance to the picker, uttered in a tongue understood by the same.

I zip you there

An evil sorcerer that casts spells by pointing randomly at your body, yells "I ZIP YOU THERE!" and lock that body part for a round or two (e.g. points at your left eye and yells "I ZIP YOU THERE!" - making you blind on that eye).

Gaze burl

A type of large eye mimic that camouflages itself on trees. It lives on secrets, which it gathers by peeking on passersby.

Ale fen hens

Drunken poultry from the region of the Very Wet Wetlands, called so after being flooded with magical alcohol during the war against lord Drunkard. The hens were not the only animal affected by this; many strange (drunk) creatures crawl up from the fens during the full moon.

(And they are not really hens.)

Mr "Ah I lit"

A bard that thinks he's all that, and then some. Not necessarily evil, only annoying, but will always attract followers more or less fanatical, who will defend the bard at all cost.

La Bro

See "Mr Ah I lit".

Hug on eye

A tiny, winged creature (sprite), that has a hunger for eyes. With its six arms (no legs), it tries to clasp the eye of its prey, and with the help of its wings, starts spinning around, as to unscrew the eyeball from its socket.

It's a nasty bugger!

Sad mouse

A rodent that spreads bad atmosphere (i.e. affecting morale and such). A single rodent only affects a small area around itself, but when they get together the effect multiplies fast.

A zeal bulb

Plant-based monster. The bulb - roughly the size of a fist - can be planted anywhere regular plants grow. It only takes a couple of minutes for the bulb to grow stems, which will form the rough shape of a monster (depending on the surrounding area and the nutrients available to the bulb). The plant-based monster then uproots itself and starts attacking the first non-plant-based person it sees.

Be drab

Failed rat catchers - pied pipers - that mistakenly tried to charm sad mice (see above), but fell victim to their bad atmosphere. Be drabs plays monotonous tunes on their pipes, contributing to the overall bad atmosphere. To an outsider it may look like the piper is conducting the sad mice, but it's actually the other way around.

Nosebleed Silver

Counterfeit silver coins, actually mimics that feed on other (real) coins (e.g. the metal). Only way to distinguish them is to stare at the coin for several minutes, which stresses the mimic, causing the person depicted on the coin to bleed from its nose.

Past dire

This monster has evolved beyond describable. It is too horrendous. Folk may have seen it, but if so, they are unable to talk about it.

Ye reins

These monsters - humanoid and dressed in fancy clothing - are able to cast a type of silvery chord around its victims necks, in order to steer them anywhere they want. The victim only feels a slight pull.

These monsters are spotted very easily, as they need to walk close behind their victims, while holding up both their hands, thus looking pretty stupid.

 

No grey

A distant relative to mantis shrimps, the size of a horse, dwells in swallow waters where they lie in wait for anything grey and dull, giving it a quick punch as they walk by with their large claws.

Despite having a nasty punch, they are actually herbivores, and the punching only seems to be for recreation. It is believed that they are the result of bored and fashionable wizard.

Mr. Anal Beech

Moving on...

A derelict grieve

Whenever someone finally moves on from hardships, troubles, or sorrows, that feeling manifests as a lost spirit. The spirit has roughly an hour to live unless it finds a fresh grave, where it can possess the newly buried body and rise at the next full moon.

Eel rum

A kind of ooze constructed from hagfish slime when magical thunderstorms wreak havoc upon the ocean. The ooze gets stuck in fishermen's net, and attack when lifted up in the boat. Their acidic touch will after a while sink the boat - and ooze with it - after which the process starts over.

Fetid pin

A large wasp that smells really bad. Getting stung by one of these transfers that bad smell for a week or so.

Anus sot aura

Moving on...

A soaks unruly

A type of jellyfish that doesn't live in water, only next to. It can assume the shape of a oversized glass jar, enough to contain a person. It lies in wait on a shore - flat and small - and when something steps on it, it quickly expands around its prey like an enormous glass jar, containing it. It then extends a hollow tentacle to the nearest body of water, and starts filling itself up, slowly soaking its prey, waiting for it to drown.

The contained water also serves as a way for the unruly soaker to digest its prey.

Daemon rust

All battles with demons - even between themselves - leave behind small specks of crimson "dust". These, if gathered in enough amounts to fill a small pouch, may summon a lesser avatar of that demon, if the "dust" is burnt during a waxing crescent moon.

The lesser avatar has the knowledge of the real demon, but none of its powers, and will answer exactly two questions before disappearing: one truthfully (to the best of its knowledge), and one not.

A auras stoup

This type of stationary monster is often found in churches or other buildings of religious worth (you won't find them in abandoned places or ruins since they need the constant flow of people). They feed off the aura of belief the worshippers radiate, especially during mass when the concentration is higher.

When enough aura has been absorbed, the water in the font (stoup) sets and turns into a translucent blob that crawls away - and starts devouring people (this blob could be considered a child of the monster).

Hopefully, the font is then refilled with water, blessed, and the whole thing starts over again.

Sly anarchic horse 

Consider it neutral evil.

Our chair as bus

Sometimes, when you're sitting a tavern and just resting your butt, the chair will slowly start moving as if it had a will on its own. If it does, it probably just is a wizard messing with you.

But if the chair storms off out the front door with you still on top of it, picking up good speed, and doesn't stop until it reaches the eastern shore - you probably had the bad luck of picking a chair infested with little buggers known as this monster. They are the size of dust, but are really good at working together, and are known to carry many times their own weight.

 

----- 

(There are SO many entries in the D-section of the AD&D Monster Manual, so I had to break it up into two parts - there are roughly forty entries left to write... God I hate dinosaurs)

Horizongazer

 

My daughter's monster: a blob

This (very early) morning me and my eight year old daughter had a little drawing session, and she made up this blob monster; image and description and all. Maybe you could use it in this dungeon? Enjoy!

Blob

Shoots thorns (green lines on top).

Thorns hitting adventurers depletes health, but if the thorn hits a fellow monster the effect varies with where it lands:

• Eyes: can see into the future
• Head: really smart, and can figure out really smart ways of defeating adventurers
• Muscle: becomes strong, so that one could lift 50 000 houses
• Stomach: becomes a ghost, gain ability to fly
• Ear: really good hearing (apprx. the distance of half a planet)
• Foot: becomes a giant

 The blob is built in layers (starting from the innermost):

• A golden heart (yellow)
  
• Lava (red)
• Ice poison (blue)
• Thin membrane of liquid poison (purple)
• Glass shards (purple)
• Grass filled with wasp tags; may paralyse (green)
• Membrane of silver ice

The north area of the blob (just below the green lines) is a wound that didn't heal all too well. Mostly lava.

The sharp thorns around (triangles) comes in two variations:

• Gold: indestructible. If you hit these, they will open up and shoot New Year's rockets that will swallow swords "and so on" (she never explained this)
• Pink: giant hogweed. If you hit these, they will open up and shoot New Year's rockets filled with "giant hogweed poison"
  

The creator of such a blob is immune to its effects. If the creator is killed, the blob will resurrect them.