![[Picture of groller: 57K JPEG]](groller.jpg)
Fangs:
Skills
Gifts
Equipment
Burke grew up with Rak'Esh. His parents were colonists from a village to the north.
Same stats as before, except for the following:
Gifts
Disadvantages
Darus is Burke's boss. He is paying particular attention to Fysc, who he considers something of a paid employee.
Darus is an immensely fat man. He made his name in prostitution in his younger days and has since expanded into extortion, gambling, and moneylending.
His hair is long, black and greasy. His vanity about his hair is perhaps his greatest weakness.
He is being pressured financially by some enigmatic new boss operating from "the Runs." This pressure is causing him to lash out irrationally as panic sets in.
He could even begin to think the players are involved.
Fysc is an honorable person with his employees. Everyone else is fair game. He will lie, cheat and steal to maintain an aura of infallibility and competence with his employees. Despite this, he is something of a micromanager and can become annoying even though his actions are well meant.
Skills
Gifts
The groller is a large fruit-eating fish found in swamps and flood areas. It is amphibious and can "walk" when forced to seek new ponds. It prefers to swim, however.
Males are larger than females by 10-15%. Groller males keep a harem of 2 to 4 females and stage mock battles to determine worthy suitors.
The groller appears to be a cross between an arapaima and a walking catfish. It is a muddy red color with heavy armored-looking scales. It has a pair of barbels, each about 2.5 m in length, attached to its sides. It drags them behind when moving and lashes them forward when searching for food.
Uses
Groller venom is milked from the fishes' glands.
| Scratch | Hurt | Very Hurt | Incapacitated | Near Death | Dead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrible/Poor/Mediocre | Fair/Good | Great | Superb | Superb+ | Superb++ |
| Scratch | Hurt | Very Hurt | Incapacitated | Near Death | Dead | Terrible/Poor/Mediocre/Fair/Good | Great | Superb | -- | -- | -- |
|---|
Damage is automatic every combat action until noose is released.
The noose is used to control grollers in the water. If used properly it doesn't harm the groller.
The Wailer is a large saurian quadruped. It is shaped much like a Komodo dragon with the exception of size. A Grozt Wailer is man-sized at the shoulder and capable of lifting a pack animal bodily and carrying it off.
While still animals, the Wailers are the product of a harsh environment. It would be foolish to underestimate their intelligence.
The standard laborer fills the position of carpenter, bearer, and general handyman. If not specifically given, assume that any one who is not given stats has the stats of the standard laborer.
Gifts
Groller handlers are legendary in their ability to defend themselves.
Skills
Lavender is a rare female groller handler (fish girl). As such, she is often underestimated by males, many of whom find out the hard way that she is extremely proficient with a groller stick.
The murk eel is an aquatic predator approximately 2.5 m in length. They travel in pods of four to five individuals and behave aggressively.
Skills
Neesa is a mature woman in her seventies. Due to a combination of diet and Weaponcrafters Guild training, she suffers none of the disadvantages and all of the advantages of old age. Neesa is the most frightening combination of wisdom and martial ability.
The Weaponcrafters Guild is an organization of engineers specializing in the design and manufacture of exotic weaponry. They believe in personally field-testing their creations. The Guild does not differentiate between the weapon and the user of the weapon. As a consequence, Guild members can be considered weapons themselves.
Scholar (Weaponcrafters secret techniques) allow Neesa to absorb damage as though she had a +3 damage capacity, and allow her to add +3 to her unarmed combat damage.
Gifts
Nex should be the premier crime boss of Ahr-Pinya. He is faster, smarter and more ruthless than Darus. Unfortunately, he is also a Keenan: a small biped with striped fur. Standing tall for his race at 3'10", on his home world he would stand out as a premier hunter. On Ahr-Pinya just about everyone is taller and most are stronger than Nex. This has caused members of his race to be overlooked for the most part. Nex is viewed by the authorities as a slightly cute feline-descended petty thief. This view is actually encouraged by Nex. He quickly discovered that most sentients on Ahr-Pinya allow children and the childlike to get away with quite a bit more than would be tolerated from taller, older-seeming folk.
Nex has been quietly carving a kingdom out of Darus' territory. He is secure in a base located somewhere in the part of the city called "the Runs," where only the poorest and most downtrodden can live (obviously).
Nex uses a human woman as a go-between, preferring to remain unknown and unseen.
Gifts
Relevant Skills
Equipment
The average height of a Rak'Esh is seven feet.
Having evolved from swamp predators, the Rak'Esh are built for long-distance running and ambush.
Their legs have backward-bending knees allowing their clawed feet to be employed for ripping attacks. They have short, thick tails like kangaroos for balance.
The head is canine in nature with wide jaws. The teeth are even and uniformly pointed, designed for cutting; not tearing or chewing.
A Rak'Esh has four eyes--two binocular and two further back, providing a 270-degree view.
The Rak'Esh see primarily visible light, but their vision extends into the infrared.
The preferred weapon of the Rak'Esh is a short, heavy dart or javelin/rock throwing weapon, which effectively combines an atlatl with a rock thrower. Rak'Esh use chipped stone (obsidian/chert) points. Throwing stones are loaded into a holding socket at the end of the thrower, increasing the stone's power. The atlatl/dart can be used as a short spear in hand-to-hand combat.
Rak'Esh are covered with a longish brown fur. The coloration varies from solid to large, mottled light brown/brown patterns. A very few have small patterns like leopard spots.
Rak'Esh Culture--Swamp Tribes
The Rak'Esh encountered by the players are a Questing Tribe.
Same stats as normal Rak'Esh, except for the following:
Gifts
Groller handlers are legendary in their ability to defend themselves.
Skills
Gifts
Groller handlers are legendary in their ability to defend themselves.
Skills
Gifts
Groller handlers are legendary in their ability to defend themselves.
Skills
Fhyr is the oldest of the Ringtail brothers.
Gifts
Groller handlers are legendary in their ability to defend themselves.
Irwin is nearly legendary in his ability as a groller handler.
In personality, he can be reckless in his love of the swamp and its creatures. ("She could rip my head off with one swipe of her tail! Ain't she a beaut?")
Skills
Irwin is the leader of the fish boys/girl.
Irwin is older than most groller handlers and therefore more skilled.
Gifts
Disadvantages
Ti-Rog are descended from pack hunters. They hunt the plains of their homeworld. Having few forests, the Ti-Rog have evolved into extremely fast and tireless runners.
Appearing as long-tailed quadrupeds, the Ti-Rog have three-fingered hands with opposable digits on their front legs. Their fingers fold under them to cushion and springload the limb for faster running. They each have a gray and bluish stripe running vertically along their long, deep-chested bodies, which are much like greyhounds of Earth. However, a vestigial, heavy, shell-like hide covers their backs and shoulders. Their hide is pebbly in texture, but offers no armor value.
A Ti-Rog's primary weapon is its 3-m articulated tail, which has a venomous spine.
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Text copyright 1999-2000 Todd LaRoche Image copyright 2000 Lily Principe Site maintained by Lily Principe