Friday, October 12, 2012

Monstrous Monday Addendum: Charnel Ape of Pit-bottom

CHARNEL-APE OF PIT-BOTTOM


Hit Dice: 2
Armor Class: 11
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4 each), 1 bite (1d6 + poison)
Saving Throw:  16
Special: Poisonous bite, blindsight, phosphorescent glow
Movement:  12, Climb 15
Challenge Level/XP:  4/170

Deep at the bottom of the Shaft of Spiderspire (that great vertical shaft that connects the temple at the peak of the mountain to the pits below where the Elder Spider dwells) live a degenerate race of beings that are much like apes, but can operate in the blackness of the pit.  They subsist on the garbage and sacrificial remains tossed into the Central Shaft by the Spider Cult and the denizens of the Spire, but only those which are uneaten by the Elder Spider and her brood.  They can see perfectly in total darkness, requiring no light, working much like bats with echolocation.  Truly, their heads resemble more a bat's than an ape's.  They can jump up to 20 feet, across chasms, from wall to wall, and to a floor or ceiling, and still cling to sheer surfaces without any effort at all.

They can climb with frightening ease and speed, even up sheer surfaces.  They can be found on nearly every level of the complex, as they work their ways up the shaft and into the recesses of all regions of the Temple Below.  They do not hide well, however, as they are limned in a phosphorescent glow as a result of the consumption of garbage containing magical energies and their close proximity to the demon-god that is the Elder Spider.  This glow grants them no benefit, but is rather a hindrance, granting enemies +1 to attack them if there is no more light than just a torch.  

One other side effect of the charnel-apes' subsistence on refuse is their highly poisonous bite, made so by the necrotic detritus they eat.  If a character is bitten by a charnel-ape, he must make a saving throw.  If the saving throw fails, he is poisoned, and the poison will start affecting him in 1d10 minutes, during which time he has the nauseated condition.  When this time is up the character immediately takes 1d6 damage for the next 1d6 rounds.  If the character's saving throw was successful he is merely nauseated for 1d6 rounds.

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