Creating A Bestiary

Ehvarion

Ehvarion

Newbie
When I attended the information sharing meeting this last gather I noticed many of the attendees scribbling notes down on the monsters we encountered. When I inquired I learned that Foxbridge is without a bestiary.

As a writer I would like to create a bestiary that contains a comprehensive detailing of the forces we face as well as document their history so that new and experienced adventurers alike can have an easily accessible record in town they can reference rather than relying upon personal journals or memory. Knowledge is power and I think all in Foxbridge would benefit from such a project.

If there is an artist of skill that would like to create illustrations of the monsters we face I think it would help to have a visual aide, especially for newer adventurers.

To those who would like to contribute to the creation of Foxbridge's Bestiary please contact me through the dreamscape. I hope that this bestiary can serve as an ever evolving source of knowledge for anyone interested in its content, and one that can remain always available even as adventures come and go from Foxbridge in much the same way as the spirits that reside in the tavern serve as a source of history and knowledge to those willing to listen.

-Edarius Olmarin
 
This is an excellent idea. Information sharing is of the utmost import. This should get you started:

"Plaguetouched" Races:

Wilderkyn - Barghasts - Look like bat-creatures now. Purple and red varieties. Purple will completely heal from a Prison spell. Red can swing for very heavy blows that are unblockable and unparryable (massive). Use claws.
Dwarves - Torn - Dwarves with beards that look to have been torn off. Smart, use small unit tactics. Channel destruction through their claws.
Elves - Eblor - Elves with black lines on their faces. Are casters, though not very proficient (at least the ones we have seen so far, except for Lumos who is extraordinarily talented in the realm of Celestial casting.)
Biata - "Vultures" - This name is what the Griffon called them, we have not yet encountered any.
Mystic Wood Elves - Wildings - Regenerate very, very quickly (30ish seconds), must be killed with a Killing Blow. Guaranteed to have a Vengeance, though the damage caused by it is middling. The ones we have seen so far do not seem martial or magically proficient and are mainly an annoyance. Use claws.
Stone Elves - Golden - Golden-faced elves. I had heard reports that one of them had made their way through Foxbridge a couple of gathers ago. They were non-aggressive. We know little else about them.
Dark Elves - Not Yet Seen
Saar - Not Yet Seen
Dryads - None were awake at the time of the Celestial Fires, so it is unlikely that we will encounter any transformed Dryads.
Gypsies - Not Yet Seen
Barbarians - Not Yet Seen
High Ogres - People postulate that the Honor Bears might be transformed Ogres
High Orcs - Not Yet Seen
Hoblings - Not Yet Seen
 
I very much support this effort. I will contribute what I can.

When dark elves transformed, they turned into shadow which simply dissipated. I do not know if any were ever able to reconstitute themselves into some form after that.

Honor Bears: Bear-like, very furry, large horns. Have been seen at odds with Wildings. Cannot speak, but will communicate with gestures. Prefers to engage in single combat, and will become enraged if somebody else joins the fray. Seems to have spell guards and resist bindings, but not more than a few of each. If it believes its opponent fought well, the Honor Bear will offer some kind of tribute, regardless of outcome, and allow the fallen combatant to be healed. The one I fought would have required at least 5 Cure Mortal Wounds spells to heal to full, but I'm sure that varies with age, and it is willing to start a combat when partially wounded. I do not entirely understand its rules of fair combat, but neither offensive nor defensive spells were taboo, and it chose not to strike the blow that would have finished me off when I was down and in a corner, retreating to the fighting area in the center of the cave and (perhaps unintentionally) allowing me to heal myself.

I know among Lumos' minions, there were those that would cleave through shields, those that would kill you instantly if it passed your armor, and those that would merely nauseate you if they did so. There were also those with reverse thresholds. They all had different markings, but I did not take good note of the differences when we fought. The massive ones and Lumos himself had several spell guards.

~Ardryk
 
Transformed Races?

That sounds like a familiar story...

If you need a suggestion about identifying races, you could do what we did out here, when we were trying to identify the Corrupt, Skree, and so-forth...

An Earth Caster can Spellcraft low-strength Race Reaver, and a Celestial Caster can Spellcraft a Monster Slayer. Lady Kiarra and Sir Daylynn did this with a few weapons, just to identify what was what.

-Zeth
 
I too would like a better understanding of the threats to Foxbridge. Most important...how to best defeat them. I will be assembling my own armory so that I can better serve the area.
For now, I've only faced a few creatures in the area. The Volig seem squishy and hate earth weapons and the are undead and smell bad. A barghasts exploded once when I tried to kill it. I later found out that I should carry silver weapons so that I don't die from that. Bandits are always drunk, so just hit them until they fall. The nightmare creatures were strange and annoying, but I killed them with my hands. If they touch you, you can't roar or make sounds for a while.
Everything else I may face, my companions tell me to fight. I hope this helps?


Leonin Maahes
 
Volig are not undead, even though they look like their flesh is falling off. They are transformed humans and they have a metabolism as alchemy also works on them. Earth Auras have no effect on them, just as they wouldn't on you or me. Human Reavers do work, however.

None of the transformed races are undead.

There are void creatures and they do not take magic damage but do take damage from normal and silver blades. The magical slayer for Extraplanar Creature works against the void creatures.
 
Late Saturday afternoon I encountered green warty creatures with giant red smiles that may or may not have been the plague touched High Orcs. I have little information on them as they were very quickly gassed and dispatched by the crew I was traveling with.
 
Jacob confirmed that the green warty creatures with giant red smiles were around before the Lumos Affliction took hold, and that at least at that time they had the ability to engulf a person whole, but were not very intelligent.

~Ardryk
 
I was under the impression that those who had been changed by the plague were no longer effected by the Race Reaver or Monster Slayer for their original race, so a Volig would not be harmed by a Human Race Reaver, etc. Has that been proven incorrect?
 
Sita said:
I was under the impression that those who had been changed by the plague were no longer effected by the Race Reaver or Monster Slayer for their original race, so a Volig would not be harmed by a Human Race Reaver, etc. Has that been proven incorrect?
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They are absolutely harmed by the appropriate Race Reaver.

MaxIrons said:
Late Saturday afternoon I encountered green warty creatures with giant red smiles that may or may not have been the plague touched High Orcs. I have little information on them as they were very quickly gassed and dispatched by the crew I was traveling with.
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Ardryk is correct. Jacob let us know that they have been around for a while. The term around then was "Cave Gobber". Jacob said they may or may not be related to goblins but they are definitely not a plaguetouched race.
 
Thank you, Friend Durnic. That is very good to know.

As is the rest of the information here, a bestiary was a fantastic idea.
 
Agreed.

*Shuffles through his notes*

Would anyone be interested in documenting Sedovian creatures in this format?

These creatures are frequently encountered in Sedovia (OOG: Oregon)

Creature name:
Volig

Land/Kingdom found (OOG: What Chapter):
Sedovia (OOG: Oregon)

Creature type:
Plague Touched Human

Creature appearance:
They are highly deformed and disease ridden humanoids, typically a pale grey in color.

Creature disposition:
They are aggressive tribal sapient beings. They come together to form war parties under a tribally chosen leader. Of note is that they have absolutely no inhibitions to using necromancy.

Creature ecology:
They live and breed as any tribal sapient beings do.

Creature strengths:
Aside from being necromancers, they are sturdier than other races, or have inherent armor, as I have seen them take blows that would fell all but the sturdiest warrior. More research is needed here. They are also monstrously strong, able to rip free from most bindings.

Creature weaknesses:
For all their use of necromancy, they are humans, albeit diseased ones. Approach as per any other living humanoid.
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I have been compiling a personal bestiary and would love the assistance.
 
What's this plague you refer to?

Has Sedovia been struck by necromancy?
 
Friend Zeth,

I am not the most knowledgeable on the plague, but can shed a little light on its nature. It is not a plague caused by necromancy, but careless research. Or, at least, research that went awry or too far. It effects a person's body and spirit, causing it to draw in large quantities of mana until they... well... spontaneously combust and mana explodes from them. In most cases, the plague is fatal, and whomever the mana touches from the time the person contracts the plague until the final release of mana is infected. The plague was thought to have run it's course some 200 years ago. If you visit Sedovia, you may hear someone speak of the great fires. As far as I am aware, there is not a full cure, just ways to... sort of... stop... the plague. Not even resurrection can cure someone infected. However, there are those who who managed to survive the original onslaught of the plague. The transformed people, the Eblor, Volig, Barghasts, etc. are descendants of those who survived and had been changed by the plague.

Those who are more knowledgeable will most likely have more information, or be able to correct where I am mistaken. My apologies for derailing the conversation on the Bestiary further, but perhaps information on the cause is relevant to those effected by the plague.
 
A question in regards to the transformed.

I have attempted to speak to the Volig and the Barghasts, but they have been either unwilling or unable to respond with anything outside of violence. Has anyone had any luck reasoning with any of the transformed races aside from the Honor Bears?
 
Sita said:
A question in regards to the transformed.

I have attempted to speak to the Volig and the Barghasts, but they have been either unwilling or unable to respond with anything outside of violence. Has anyone had any luck reasoning with any of the transformed races aside from the Honor Bears?
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I, for one, did not get any opportunity as the only times I saw them where when we were either engaged in intelligence gathering or engaged in combat. Perhaps others were more fortunate.
 
I am interested as well in the historical facets of our foes. Perhaps by understanding their history we may better find solutions in the present and future. In my entries for each creature I would like to include a brief history so I welcome any knowledge on the historical aspects of our foes that folk are willing to share.

As for Amory's question I have never seen Volig or Barghasts to be linguistically inclined. My only experience with these races is unrelenting aggression with no concern for self preservation. I am not a diplomat so the only answer I know is to cut them down for the safety of everyone, paying mind to end Barghasts with silver lest one suffer a vengeful response. I do not know the strength of their vengeance, only that I have been warned by others to strike true with silver or get someone who can.
 
Durnic said:
They are absolutely harmed by the appropriate Race Reaver.
Click to expand...

This is confirmed true for Volig, but I have been told that at least some Barghests don't take Kyn Reavers, so it is worth confirming for each race individually.
 
Sita said:
A question in regards to the transformed.

I have attempted to speak to the Volig and the Barghasts, but they have been either unwilling or unable to respond with anything outside of violence. Has anyone had any luck reasoning with any of the transformed races aside from the Honor Bears?
Click to expand...

I spent several weeks studying a group of imprisoned Volig. They do not speak the common tongue (uncertain whether that is due to biology or choice), but can communicate with each other, similar to wolves or other pack animals. They are aggressive against other races, but even when placed in situations of great stress did not turn on each other. Ehvarion, if you wish to have access to my notes on Volig for this bestiary, I can transcribe them for you and send them to you privately.
 
I appreciate any information folk are willing to give me Ashok. I haven't started writing the bestiary yet (been really busy OOG wrapping up a college course and preparing for Alliance Seattle this weekend) but intend to start working on it very soon. If there are other beasts aside from the plague touched races that folk would like added to the bestiary I will happily accept information on foes that aren't presently making their presence known around Foxbridge. While I am in Ceriopolis I will seek out the master of their bestiary (if anyone has any information on who that might be I would greatly appreciate it) and see how they are going about notating each creature before I proceed to write the Foxbridge Bestiary.

(On an OOG note is there any recommendations people have for creating the physical book for the bestiary? Keeping an online doc is easy enough but I would like to have a physical bestiary that players can access in the tavern of Foxbridge that will be periodically updated as new enemies are discovered. I am not very skilled in the way of prop making. I would like for the design to allow for the easy addition of new entries as new enemies are discovered, identified, and documented. If people want I can write it up in a google doc that I can share with interested members so that others can add in entries as they come up)
 
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