Z is for Zuerith

Holy cow...I did it. Or at least, I will have done it once this post is published. A to Z completed!

So, what is a zuerith? I'm glad you asked. There's a picture of one below. Nasty critter, isn't it? The image comes from The Dragon #8, dated July, 1977. It it from a time before the Monster Manual was printed, so it predates Advanced D&D. It was part of a monster-designing contest; the image was given, and submissions were made to the magazine. The eventual winner was posted in...Dragon 16, I think? I don't remember. But since I was doing a read-through of Dragon magazine and adding stuff to the D&D rules, I made my own version of the monster: the Zuerith.

The Zuerith is (only one has been seen so far, but there may be more) a creature that lives in a ruined place called the Decayed Pits. These pits are located between Meterra and Xebeoris. The adventurers who found the Pits explored them, naturally enough. The survivors emerged and told tales of this deadly creature discovered therein. Here are its gaming stats:

FREQUENCY: Very rare

NO. APPEARING: 1

ARMOR CLASS: 3

MOVE: 9"

HIT DICE: 9

% IN LAIR: 40%

TREASURE TYPE: E

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4-16

SPECIAL ATTACKS: Thrown boulders, tail strike (3-18 damage)

SPECIAL DEFENSES: immune to fire, electricity

MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%

INTELLIGENCE: Low

ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil

SIZE: L (12' long)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

  Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

LEVEL/XP VALUE: VII/1600+12/hp

The zuerith's ruddy skin and mottled tail strikes fear into the hearts of even the most experienced adventurers, for its strength is equal to that of an ogre, and it can hurl small boulders and other objects at opponents up to 24" away, doing 2-12 points of damage. Although its intelligence is low, is has an evil cunning with which it sets up ambushes in its cavernous lair. Its treasure is usually hidden, and it can use certain magic items (rings, potions, etc.). It cannot read scrolls, nor does it use weapons other than boulders. It always has a supply of at least a dozen boulders in its lair in case of unwanted guests.

The Zuerith does not speak, having no vocal chords. It does have a bellows-like vocal apparatus that allows it to make groaning sounds, but these are decidedly unpleasant and chilling to the listener. Its magical nature gives it a natural immunity to certain types of magic, and resistance to all magic; one-quarter of all magical attacks against it will fail. It will chase invaders out of its lair, but it will rarely follow them, unless it is particularly hungry.

And that will do it for this brief but fulfilling exploration of Meterra, its people, its cities, its geography, and its creatures. I've had a blast doing this, and I look forward to doing it again next year.

For those who have visited, thank you. I will reciprocate now that the month is over; in the real world I work in an accounting office, and Canadian tax season just ended. So, I will have more time to explore other blogs in the A to Z Challenge. I'm looking forward to it.