She'Nidre
Terrain: Mountains "I saw a ripple of movement to my left and turned to look. At first, I dismissed what I saw as an odd rock formation. But, then, I saw a flicker of movement, a twitch of a wing, and I realized that I was looking at a she'nidre, one of the winged predators of this mountain. I trembled with fear and excitement at being this close to one of the beasts. I so wanted to pull out my notebook and begin sketching the beautiful creature, but my hands would not stop shaking. As if sensing my intentions, it moved and was suddenly there .. so very there. I could clearly see it's great wings outlined against the mountain sky, it's deep, cinnamon colored fur ruffling in the wind. Casually, it opened massive jaws and yawned a great, predatory yawn. It then settled against the rock, folding it's clawed paws beneath itself as if to rest for awhile. I began drawing, lost in the experience. I do not know how much time passed as I drew, but when I looked up there were at least five other she'nidre settled about the mountainside before me. Each raised it's eyes and watched me carefully as I set aside my tools. I was amazed at the variety of color and size I saw among them. Fur and feathers gleamed white, black, cinnamon and silver. I simply sat and stared, as one by one, they gracefully stood and stretched their long, almost canine bodies. By some unspoken signal, they all stepped off the mountainside as one creature, spread their wings and glided away. With a sigh, I began gathering my gear once more, but my mind was hardly on the task." The she'nidre is a relatively reclusive predator of high mountain areas. Feeding mainly on mountain goats, the she'nidre employ an unusual method of hunting. They simply dive bomb the sheep from high above, herding them down slope. From a height which will kill the prey without causing it to explode on the rocks below, they knock their prey from the cliffs, letting gravity kill their dinner. This ensures that the pack does not encounter unnecessary harm during hunting. However, if forced onto the plains, they will use a similar tactic. Two or more she'nidre take to the air while the rest of the pack use their blending ability to sneak up on the prey. The airborne canids then swoop down, racking their claws across the prey's back and attempting to pull it off of it's feet before climbing into the skies once again. When the prey stumbles, the rest of the pack bolt from hiding and swarm over the prey, working as a group to keep the frightened meal from escaping. While a couple of them focus merely on holding the prey down, the others focus on the actual kill. On one or two occasions, naturalists have recorded the she'nidre fishing much in the same manner as a bear, but this is rare. The she'nidre are a pack unit. Each pack generally consists of 1D6 adults, 1D4 adolescents and 1D3 pups. The pack itself is led by an alpha female. She is responsible for the safety and welfare of her kindred. Should she ever become too old or injured to maintain this position, a new alpha is chosen through combat. Combat for the right to lead is almost never fatal. In fact, the weaker of the combatants usually relent after only a few moments of facing off. The individuals of the pack communicate with each other through empathy, a simple language of yips, barks, and growls and body language. For the most part, the highly intelligent (average intelligence of 8) canids tend to avoid humanoids, but will, upon occasion interact with them. If they are able to sense that the humanoids are either not a threat or actually beneficent, the pack will remain in the same area but employ their blending powers to remain undetected. If they sense a threat, they will usually simply leave the area. If a group of adventurers came across a pack and were foolish enough to attack, they would immediately find themselves ringed by 1D6 angry, adult she'nidre. Their first and deadliest attack is their electrokinetic ability. Once they have the threat surrounded, all the adults generate lightning bolts which they send hurtling towards the center of the circle. Each adult can generate one bolt which does 4D10 points of damage and has a range of 100 feet. While this is a devastating attack, it is also quite draining for the she'nidre. Usually, they are only able to attack with lightning once per day and must rest for a couple of hours after it is used. This is why they never use electrical attacks for simply hunting. They can channel electricity safely, increasing electrical voltage to 30,000 kilowatts or just as easily reduce it to 1 volt. Not surprisingly, she'nidre are impervious to electrical attacks. They can bite for 1D8 points of damage and strike with their retractable claws for 1D4 points of damage. Some humanoids have taken to hunting the she'nidre for it's thick, insular fur and beautiful feathers. A garment made of she'nidre fur is a rare thing and usually worth a great deal of money. This creature was originally created for the Realmswalker system. I have paraphrased the Electrokinetic psionic ability per the Realmswalker handbook by William Graves. |