Wyvern

A wyvern is a giant flying reptile, dark brown to gray, 35 feet long with half of that in its tail and a span of over 50 feet across its leathery, batlike wings. The 4-foot head bristles with long teeth, and its eyes are red or orange. It lacks forelegs, unlike a dragon, and grips with its hind feet the way a hawk would. Its tail ends in a hard knob of cartilage carrying a 2-foot stinger much like a scorpion's.

The beast has little smell of its own, though its lair may reek of a fresh kill. It makes two sounds: a loud hiss like hot steel quenched in water, and a deep growl that recalls a bull crocodile.

Dim but aggressive, a wyvern almost always attacks, and it always wants to be airborne. Forced to fight on the ground, it bites for 2-16 and stings for 1-6, choosing whatever targets are handiest, and its flexible tail easily arches over its back to hit enemies in front. The sting carries type F poison: the victim must save vs. poison or die, and still takes the 1-6 points even on a success.

In the air it is far deadlier. It swoops on ground targets, raking with two talons for 1-6 each and trying to carry the victim off. A man-sized creature is seized if either talon hits; a large one only if both do; anything bigger is too heavy to lift. After each dive it needs a round to circle back before diving again. Once aloft with prey, it bites and stings each round, both at +4, until the prey goes limp, then lands to feed and will not hunt again until the next day. Against flying foes it makes passes, either biting or stinging on each.

Wyverns hunt with real cunning. They keep their shadow off their prey, follow from downwind, and fall utterly silent in the final dive, giving targets -2 on surprise. Older wyverns wait for the ideal moment and let pass prey that is too strong or too near shelter. They know that armored people in shining metal are tougher than they look, and given a clean chance will snatch an unarmored member of a group and fly out of reach.

Wyverns live alone except for a mate and young, laired in big caves on mountainsides overlooking forest, jungle or occasionally plains, and each claims a hunting range some 25 miles wide. When food is scarce, a few may hunt together. Only young wyverns fight their own kind, usually over new territory; older ones settle quarrels in some unknown way without bloodshed. Some serve evil dragons, which usually dominate them completely.

An adult eats one man-sized to large creature each day, such as a horse, a pig or several sheep, swallowing it whole. Bones and metal pass through undigested. It eats carrion only when desperate.

Though some powerful creatures could best it, the wyvern has no natural predators. Its flesh tastes foul, its hide cannot be tanned, and its light, brittle bones are built for flight. Spellcasters do pay fair prices for certain body parts to use as spell components.