Bird [Mystara]

Common magpies are 14 to 18 inches long, giants 3 to 5 feet; both are black with a metallic sheen and white shoulders and belly. They peck for 1 point (giants 1d4) when provoked but usually just fly away.

Infamous thieves, they take any loose bright object: a few ounces (3 or 4) for a common bird (a coin, ring or gem), 2 pounds for a giant (a dagger, wand, jewelry or potion). A flyby snatch near people succeeds 30% of the time, a landing unseen 60%. Loot goes to a round, one-entrance nest of sticks, straw and mud roofed with thorny twigs, with 5 or 6 eggs inside. Finding it may be risky but can turn up coins (1d6, 30%) and small gems (1d2, 3%), and in a giant's nest jewelry or art (3%) or a minor magic item (1%).

Magpies live in cool or temperate woods, fields and towns, eat grain and insects, nest near granaries, and sometimes become wizards' familiars. Folk count them for omens; seven together foretell great evil.

These gaudy flocks mix green, blue, red, brown, black and rare purple birds. Lesser ones reach 1 foot, greater ones over twice that with lower, sweeter whistles. Toothy maws rip flesh in flight, and they hover and dart like hummingbirds. A shrill whistle summons the flock, and only warm-blooded prey is attacked.

Lesser birds form attack wings of 1d4+2, each fighting as one monster at +2 for 1d4; under three birds left, they lose the bonus and must make morale or scatter. Greater birds bite singly for 1d6; when half are lost they check morale, and success sends them into a blood frenzy at +2 to all attacks.

They dwell in dense, warm forests but shun bright sun, hunting far afield by night or under gray, misty skies; underground strains have 30-foot infravision. Females lay 2 to 5 eggs each spring, and the flock grows ravenous feeding mates and young, with a pecking order deciding who eats first. They avoid shiny things and ignore treasure.

Larger cousins of grackles, sprackles are copper or red-brown and shed endless sparks that make them glow; the name blends 'spark' and 'grackle.' Lesser ones average 20 inches, greater ones up to 4 feet, all with 60-foot infravision.

Their beaks gain +2 to hit against chain, ring or plate (bronze or normal). They fly at prey shooting beak bolts (30 feet, or 60 for greater) for 1d3 or 1d6 on a hit, then peck for 1d3 or 1d6 plus as much electrical damage. Touching one, even through a metal weapon, also delivers the shock. Once half the flock is hurt, they check morale.

Territorial and bold, they drive off creatures larger than themselves, avoiding only undead and anything bigger than a man. Magic at a ruined mountain keep created them, and they are spreading down forested slopes, displacing other raptors. A rook of two to a dozen kin shares a down-lined rookery of sticks and mud under eaves or overhangs. Nests may hold coins (2d6, 30%) and gems (1d4, 5%, or 30% for greater sprackles), plus for greater ones jewelry or art (5%) or a minor magic item (2%), along with whatever the ruin offers. Their glow scares prey, so they hunt by day: lesser sprackles take big insects, spiders and centipedes, greater ones mice, rats, small birds and giant insects.