Surtaki

Its origin is unknown; blame usually falls on a mad wizard, though some hostile power may have spawned it. Whatever its source, the beast is a bull-sized nightmare: the head is a huge snake's, the feet a tortoise's, plus a tail like a horse's and a shaggy green pelt.

Dozens of barbed quills, like a giant porcupine's, hide in that fur. Anyone who hits a surtaki in melee must save vs. wand or be stuck for 1d6 points of damage, then save vs. poison. Failing the second save brings a rotting disease that deals 1 point of damage every round from then on and stops both natural and magical healing and regeneration. Cure disease halts it. A victim killed by the rot can be brought back only by wish or resurrection.

A hunting surtaki lies in wait behind a ridge or in thick brush and charges anything within 100 yards that is not larger than itself. The charge follows the standard rules: +2 to its attack roll and +1 to its Armor Class (a penalty), while the target gets -2 on initiative and can deal double damage with a weapon set against the charge.

Roughly two-thirds of a surtaki's life is spent dozing to conserve strength, yet it never truly sleeps, and keen ears and nose alert it to prey or threats.

These territorial hunters prowl foothills, badlands and other rough, fairly open country. Adults tolerate one another only to mate. Young siblings stick close for one or two years before each claims its own range. Two surtakis met together are equally likely to be a mated pair or clutch mates (50% each). Three are always clutch mates of the same age, usually (75%) of one sex.

Ever hungry and strictly carnivorous, a surtaki takes any prey it can and scavenges freely. It grows to full size by about five, breeds from about 10, and lives 35 to 40 years. Females mate every second year. A year after mating, the female digs a scrape on a sunlit hillside for 2d12 eggs that need 4d4+4 weeks to hatch. She guards them fearlessly (morale 20) but ignores the hatchlings and may eat them if hungry. Usually 1d6 survive six weeks and only 1d3 their first year.

Some regions prize fresh eggs as a delicacy at 2d4 gp apiece, though plenty of folk find them disgusting. Hatchlings sell for 1d4x10 gp, but their quills stiffen into weapons barely half an hour after they emerge and they are all but untrainable. Their bizarre looks impress as guard beasts, yet they are so unreliable that owners either loose them in an otherwise empty area to attack whatever enters or charm them into obeying.