Wolverine

Called the carcajou, quickhatch or glutton by northern peoples who have cursed it for ages, the wolverine is a weasel cousin built more like a badger: stocky, short-legged and armed with long, hooked claws. Its rounded, blunt head has widely spaced eyes and a short, pointed snout. Brown fur covers it, with a pale band along each flank, and its arched spine carries both head and tail low.

Speed is the wolverine's great weapon. It is hard to hit, which explains its good Armor Class, and attacks at +4. In a single flurry it slashes with each forepaw and then tears with its needle-sharp teeth.

A foe that circles behind it faces the musk gland. Like a skunk, it sprays a revolting oil in a cloud 30 feet long and 10 feet in height and width. Anyone caught must save vs. poison or go blind for 1d4 hours. Even on a success, the victim recoils by half its movement rate and, sickened, for 1d4 turns has its Strength and Dexterity cut by 25%. The faintest touch of the oil leaves a reek that makes every animal avoid the victim until thoroughly scrubbed clean.

Wolverines roam cold-climate forests alone, occasionally straying into milder woodland. A pair met together is nearly always a mated couple soon to part. In late winter or early spring the female bears one to four pups, raising them by herself until they can fend for themselves.

Small mammals and rodents are their usual meat, and carrion carries them through lean times. They are also clever thieves that raid the very traps set to catch them. Where people share their range, wolverines are hunted nearly to extinction, both as dangerous rivals for small game and for their pelts, which shrug off frost and cold and make superb winter clothing.

Giant wolverine: a savage, oversized cousin that, unlike the common kind, readily attacks human travelers. Its musk is twice as potent. The cloud measures 20 by 20 by 60 feet, blindness lasts up to 1d8 hours, victims must flee at full speed for a round and have Strength and Dexterity halved for 1d8 turns. Cloth touched by the spray rots to uselessness within hours; magical cloth and parchment get a save vs. acid to resist.