Corpse Tearer [Linnorm]

Corpse Tearer is a mottled brown linnorm with no hind legs and long forelegs tipped with jagged, broken but lethal claws. Small weathered scales slick with slime cover its body, and at rest it could pass for a fallen, rotting log. A matted ring of brown and gray hair circles its head, and more tufts sprout across its body, some so tangled they resemble decaying flesh. Despite this corpse-like look it is fully alive and very quick.

Centuries of wandering have taught it nearly every human and demihuman language, and it can also talk with every linnorm and many evil, intelligent monsters.

It enjoys a fight but is never hasty. From a distance it watches enemies, noting what they can do and where they are weak. Then it flies over them to unleash its paralyzing gas, then the plague breath and its spell-like magic. Survivors find the linnorm dropping onto the strongest of them, crushing them before attacking with claws and bite; every claw that hits drains a life level automatically. Once it has taken over 100 points of damage, it flees by air if possible or by dimension door.

The paralysis breath is a cone 300 feet long, 10 feet across at the mouth and 50 at the end. Victims under 4 HD are paralyzed for 4d4 turns with no save; stronger ones save vs. breath weapon to resist. The plague breath fills a cloud 100 feet long, 80 wide and 80 thick dealing 8d12+12 damage, half on a save. It also inflicts a magical disease that strikes within 1d6 rounds, halving Strength, then halving it again every three turns until it reaches 1. Cure disease ends the decline, but restoring lost Strength takes a wish or limited wish. The linnorm can breathe twice, then must rest two rounds before breathing again, with no other limit.

At will it can use fly, feign death, polymorph self, water breathing, speak with dead and continual darkness in a 100-foot radius. Once a day each it can use vampiric touch, control undead, wraithform, dimension door, spectral hand, enervation, delude, protection from good and animate dead. All its powers function at 15th level.

Its lair is a vast vault beneath an old burial cave, guarded by two vampires it controls, a host of lesser undead including the remains of fallen linnorms. The place is almost impossible to locate, and the handful who have found it now stand among its guards. The dank cavern reeks of decay and is piled with riches, for the linnorm is obsessed with coins, gems, art and magic. It sends animated corpses to rob graves and raids towns and ships for more. Corpse Tearer claims only its tomb as territory and gladly leaves the surface to other linnorms; cataloguing its hoard takes so much of its time that it seldom goes out.

Inside its lair it needs no nourishment. Abroad it eats almost anything, though rotting carcasses are its preference. It has no known predators, because its many enemies have the sense to keep clear.