Blossomkiller

Terrain: Forest

Description: Any member of the party can roll for surprise if that member has knowledge of the forest (halfling or forest survival proficient). If the party does notinclude a member that fits that description or fail the surprise roll, they wander into a grove with a carnivorous plant. This plant occupies an area with a radius of about 20 feet. The roots and tendrils of this plant stretch across the entire area, including nearby plants. The central stalk of the plant is the size of a large tree trunk, but grows low to the ground, where it spreads out in all directions.

Every five to ten feet, there is a group of four tendrils which sprout out from one of the plant’s roots.The tendrils are two or three inches thick, from five to ten feet in length, and green in color. The Blossomkiller attacks when someone steps on one of its tendrils.

The flowers of the blossomkiller are large and bright yellow, with dark green leafy stems. There are seven flowers spread out evenly throughout the area. The stamen of a flower looks like a pin cushion, and for good reason; it is from the stamen that this plant shoots quills that damage its target.

If a victim steps on any of the plant’s root tendrils, the flowers shoot a spray of quills in all directions, entirely covering the area occupied by the plant. Quills can easily hit creatures 20 feet away, but have been known to strike targets up to 100 feet from a flower. This first attack gains +1 to the attack roll for a surprise bonus unless a character with forest experience wins another surprise roll preceding the attack and warns the others. A set of quills will be fired every round thereafter that they are hit or stepped on. These quills carry on them a natural paralysis poison, and anyone hit must make a save vs. paralysis. Those who succeed take 1d6 hp of damage. Those who fail take 1d6 hp of damage and are paralyzed for 2 turns while the tendrils wrap around them. Each of the seven flowers has 3hp, while the three root stems have 8hp each.

Blossomkiller (9 HD/N) {saves: 8 13 12 13 14} AC 9; MV Nil; HD 9; hp 37; THAC0 11; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6 (quills); SA paralytic poison; SD none; SZ H (23’ radius area); Int Non (0); ML Nil Psionics Summary: Nil, MAC 5 XP: 2,000

Kirre Lair

Terrain: Forest

Description: Read the following aloud to the players: “*In the morning you rise, more soaked than you were the night before. It has never occurred to you in your life that although it is true that sleeping on dry sand is rough, sleeping on a layer of wet moss might be even worse. A fire is built and some small attempt is made to dry some of your clothes and equipment, but it’s soon obvious that this task would take days. So, you shoulder your belongings and head deeper into the forest. *

*“The rising sun pushes its way between the leafy canopy in tiny sunbeams, causing the humidity to rise and making it harder to breathe. You cut a path through the bamboo growths, every inch of you drenched in sweat and water. You hear a rustle in the bush, half expecting to catch sight of a child-sized being wearing fearsome warpaint out of the corner of your eye. Instead, one of your group stops, clutching their head and reeling.”

This encounter can happen anytime during daylight hours, as that is when the kirre is most active. The scene above is written as an example. Note that the party will likely be surprised completely and, in fact, the DM should not indicate that they are being overtly attacked until they figure it out for themselves (through Wisdom checks, specifically looking around the area, etc). This should take a good three rounds or so (see “—Description:” below). When one or more of them do see the great cat, read the following:

“What you imagined to be a feral halfling ambush turns out to be the attack of a large predatory cat resting in a tree-top several dozen yards ahead and above you. Rather than resting languidly in the shade, however, the great tiger’s teeth are bared in a vicious snarl, its fur is standing on end and its legs are coiled and ready to spring. This last detail seems strange to you, as the large tiger is several dozen feet in the air and appears ready to leap straight at you rather than down to the ground. The distance it would fall is large enough that it most assuredly would hurt itself. There is also something strange about the way its legs are coiled. In addition, the color of its fur is wrong, being striped in brown and gray rather than black and orange.”

Kirre (6+6 HD/N) {saves: 10 12 10 12 13} AC 7; MV 15; HD 6+6; hp 27; THAC0 13; #AT 7; Dmg 1d4/1d4/1d6/1d8/ 1d4/1d4/1d6 (claw/claw/bite/horn/claw/claw/tail)[3]; SA psionics, initiative bonuses -1; SZ L (8’long); ML 13 Treasure:If the PCs search the area thoroughly, they will find the Kirre’s lair (a cave with small shrubs growing over and into the entrance). Near the bones of eight deceased travelers that the Kirre dragged back to it’s lair is the following treasure: 52 bits, 187 ceramic and 17 silver. The rest of the merchants’ equipment is useless. Psionics Summary: Dis 2/Sci 3/Dev 10; PSPs 100 Att: PB, II, PsC; Def: TS, IF, TW #AT 1, MTHAC0 16, MAC 4 Psychokinesis: Sciences: project force (MAC 6, cost 10/4), telekinesis (8, 3+/1+); Devotions: animate object (7, 5/2), control wind (5, 12/5), inertial barrier (6, 6/2), levitation (8, 5/2), molecular agitation (10, 7/3), soften (8, 3/1) Telepathy: Sciences: mindlink (8, 7+/3+); Devotions: attraction (7, 8/3), awe (6, 4+/2+), life detection (7, 3/1), plant mind (6, 4/2)

Tactics:The kirre will activate his levitate (MV 6) and inertial barrier two rounds before attacking the PCs’ with soften (equipment) and molecular agitation (skin). The kirre will be using these powers from the tree top at their maximum range. The party will continue to not see the kirre until they pass a surprise check allowed once each round after the first or until someone starts looking up into the trees. If the PCs haven’t found it yet, the kirre will use project force and animate object during the next few rounds to cause more harm.

When the PCs notice the large cat perched on a high tree branch, they must either climb up to it or use missile weapons. If they begin to do either, the kirre wastes no time to jump the large distance to the ground, using levitate to slow the fall and project force to turn falling into flying. From a few feet off the ground, the kirre will bounce from tree trunk to tree trunk, attacking the PCs with each pass like a bouncing pinball. Once discovered, the kirre will use its psionic attacks only if attacked psionically by a member of the party.

XP: 650