Nasnas

A nasnas looks like a human fighter split down the middle: a single arm and leg, half a face, half a trunk. Its skin is faintly gray and its lone eye glitters with madness. It hops on its single leg surprisingly well (movement 9). A few sprout a small black bat wing from the shoulder, which adds menace and maybe balance but cannot lift them. They understand the common trade tongue of the desert lands perfectly yet cannot talk with half a voice box; they only hoot, high and eerie, and the pitch and loudness betray their mood.

Nasnas wear armor (AC 6) and fight with weapons: 75% scimitars, 15% battle axes, 10% maces. The single arm has 18/95 Strength, for +2 to hit and +5 damage. In battle their shrieking hoots fill a 10-foot radius, and anyone who hears must save vs. spell or stand rooted in terror for 2-5 rounds. Their unnatural origin means only iron or magical weapons can hit them.

These fanatically loyal, nearly sleepless guards serve the evil priests or wizards who made them, unto death, usually in strongholds or ruins. Making one takes a potion that only an evil caster of 9th level or higher can brew; once the formula is researched it is cheap and simple, and some shady alchemists sell it, though the buyer must still add a drop of his own blood to forge the bond. The potion is injected into a ripe fruit that is cut in two. A woman tricked or magically compelled into eating a half conceives, and nine months later bears a nasnas, which its maker soon collects.

Each half fruit can yield one, but a woman carries only one at a time, so would-be warlords keep 10-100 captive women. Such crimes rarely stay secret; rumors reach the caliph, paladins ride out, and so nasnas mostly guard remote, isolated keeps.

Nasnas are sterile, grow up fast, and die young, obedient but insane all their lives; most kill themselves before 30. If their creator dies, over half end it at once, leaping from cliffs or drowning in the sea, while the rest wander the wilds, hunting and scavenging until their short lives end.