Gadabout
A living winged suit grown by void-faring elves, the gadabout wraps its wearer in a self-renewing bubble of air and carries him across the empty dark between ships.
Overview
Void-faring elves wear this small winged plant as a flying harness for short trips outside a starship's air, such as boarding enemy vessels, or for emergency life support. Its branches curl around the wearer and it spreads bright, butterfly-like wing-leaves whose photosynthesis keeps a bubble of fresh air around him and makes a nourishing syrup he sips from a stalk by his head. The system works while the wings are whole and there is sunlight; in the flame-sea, a continual light spell will do.
Use and Care
Anyone can steer one by thought, as a spellcaster runs a starhelm, by means the elves keep secret. It flexes to fit gnomes and ogres alike, needs only sun and some water, and lives about 25 years; only the wings grow, so they need trimming. Puncture one, though, and it rots into a stinking mess within two hours.
Origins and Trade
Like the elves' flitters and larger living ships, gadabouts come from starfly plant fruit, here held at the mobile stage, made seedless and made obedient. Being seedless, each is rare and costs 2,500 gp. The elves only lately began selling them to other races, and owners guard them so closely that none has been dissected.
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Statistics
| Climate/Terrain | the void, shipboard |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Rare |
| Organization | None |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | Photosynthetic |
| Intelligence | Non- (0) |
| Treasure | Nil |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| No. Appearing | 1 |
| Armor Class | 7 |
| Movement | 2 |
| Hit Dice | N/A |
| THAC0 | N/A |
| No. of Attacks | N/A |
| Damage/Attack | N/A |
| Special Attacks | N/A |
| Special Defenses | N/A |
| Magic Resistance | Nil |
| Size | M (4'-6' wide) |
| Morale | N/A |
| XP Value | Nil |