Tengu

Secretive and fickle, these bird-people haunt lonely mountains a short way from civilization. Beyond their jealous guarding of privacy and their contempt for humans, scholars know little about them. They come in two kinds. The slightly more common crow tengu is about 2 feet tall, with a crow's head and beak, wings between its shoulder blades, and bright plumage, usually green, yellow or red. The humanoid tengu stands 3 to 4 feet tall, with a human face, red or blue skin and an extraordinarily long nose; about 70% have small, stunted feathered wings.

Both kinds talk with beasts and speak their own tongue and the nearby human language, and mimic perfectly every voice that has ever reached their ears.

Ill-tempered crow tengu attack humans who wander into their lands. Armed with a katana and a wakizashi, each may also cast polymorph and shout up to three times daily. A typical attack is a diving charge: a shout to stagger the enemy, then a rush with blades flashing.

The humanoids hang back and let their crow servants do the fighting, yet turn sly and savage once threatened or trapped. Three times a day each they can use shout, polymorph self and phantasmal force. They can turn invisible at will, use ghost light every round, misdirection once per turn, and either ancient curse or reward one time weekly. They cast spells as an eastern priest and fight as a sword-master, in both cases at a level equal to their Hit Dice, and each has mastered a single martial art, knowing 2-5 of its special maneuvers.

Each humanoid tengu keeps a magic fan of vivid feathers, which serves as an ordinary katana when folded. Spread open, it offers three powers, each three times daily: a gale-force wind like wind breath, a quickgrowth spell, and the power to make a foe's facial feature, usually the nose or ears, swell or shrink grotesquely.

Tengu build no villages. Instead they weave rough nests from twigs and grasses beside ponds and streams, in meadows, or in woodland clearings. A flock counts 1-4 males, as many females and 2d4 young; females lay 1-2 eggs yearly. A crow flock is usually led by 1-3 humanoid tengu, who outrank it and give the orders.

Though not evil, humanoid tengu enjoy cruel jokes at human expense. They do, however, warm to eastern priests, eastern sorcerers and sword-masters who specialize in the sword. Once in a great while one teaches its sword secrets to such a student, a 1-3 month apprenticeship that grants him 1,000 experience points.

Their diet is chiefly fruit and grain, with an occasional insect, worm, fish or small mammal for variety. They love sake and music, especially flute and drum, and often hang caged songbirds in the trees near their nests.