Stinkhorn 8 (24)

Gunslinger Knights

These huge monstrosities are giants whose thunderous footfalls cause minor tremors with each step. Bulky, two-legged, many-armed, and without an obvious head, these 40-foot (12 m) tall hunchbacked creatures seem to be composed of equal parts quarried stone and fungal flesh. They're striated with polyps, gilled with fluttering frills, prone to oozing, and, from time to time, produce a reddish mist of tiny spores that smells ghastly.

Their feet are akin to hooves, while their arms end in paws tipped with obsidian claws, useful for climbing plateau sides or swiping through an entire group of Knights.

Motive: Destruction

Environment: In, near, and after Fundament Storms; alone or as part of a Veen armada

Health: 60

Damage Inflicted: Major wound (8 points)

Armor: 4

Movement: Short; short when climbing

Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size

Combat: Stinkhorns claw. They also have the following abilities.

• Acidic Spores: As its action usable once an hour, the stinkhorn releases a bloom of acidic spores. All creatures within short range that fail a Might defense roll take damage (ignores Armor).
• Deluge: As its action, the stinkhorn releases a deluge of stinking slime that hinders all tasks of those that fail a Speed defense roll to evade it for about a minute.
• Swipe: The stinkhorn attacks every creature in an adjacent immediate area.
• Trample: As its action, the stinkhorn moves a long distance, attacking all creatures along the generally straight line of its charge. Those that take damage must also succeed on a Might defense roll or be partly embedded in the ground until they can escape with a successful difficulty 4 Might-based task.

Interaction: A stinkhorn is usually an unreasoning force of destruction, but it will carry Veen and Veen-crewed howdahs.

Use: A series of quakes in an outlying Sancaran province might be evidence of an active stinkhorn. A dead stinkhorn is sighted in a ravine—checking it out might reveal Veen secrets.

Loot: A stinkhorn bearing a Veen howdah might contain one or two cyst cyphers.

GM Intrusion: The character has an allergic reaction to the passively floating spores around the stinkhorn and can do nothing but gasp for breath and choke until they succeed on a Might-based task as their action.