Looking upward I caught sight of one of the warriors being hauled upward into the trees above. A strange-appearing sinewy limb encircled him by the waist and was quickly pulling him upward. Before I could reach him, he was gone from sight, the foliage converging back into place covering the hole his body had made as it was dragged, struggling through it.“Moga, what was it?” I yelled. “The feared Qouri,” he replied in hushed tones.
Warlord of Ghandor is a fairly awful Burroughs Princess of Mars pastiche, complete with the mystical planetary travel, low-gravity superhuman strength, and incomparable princess in distress.
Even the worst Burroughs book, however, usually features some unique monsters.
QOURI
level 7 lurker
The qouri lives in a tree nest 40 feet from the forest floor. Its tail drops down to seize passers by.
Move action: move tail tip up to 8 sq away. If an opponent is grabbed, it moves with the tail tip.
Attack action: grab opponent adjacent to tail tip. The grab is released if the tail takes 15 damage in one attack.
Free action: release grabbed opponent: usually in 3×3 nest. The quori is fixed in one corner of the nest. Anyone in the nest has superior cover from the forest floor.
Attack action: Lunge and bite one opponent in close burst 2.
Surprise: Any PC with less than 15 passive Perception or Nature will be surprised.
The quori likes to grab a single creature and pull him into his nest. Since the nest is 8 squares up, it will take most allies 3 move actions to climb up there. Meanwhile, the captured PC will have to fight alone. This will provide a different fight environment from normal.
Notice that moving the tail is a move action. Therefore, the only way that a PC can be whisked away without the tentacle being attacked is if the tail moves adjacent in the surprise round; wins initiative; successfully Grabs and moves to the nest on its turn.
Qouri can be encountered alone, but can also be encountered in a hive of up to 5 qouri who can all reach roughly the same area.
Tags: everybook
