Sand Gorgon
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Any |
| Frequency | Very rare |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | Unknown |
| Intelligence | Low (5-7) |
| Treasure | None |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| No. of Appearing | 1 |
| Armor Class | 0 |
| Move | 36 |
| Hit Dice | 12 |
| THAC0 | 9 |
| No. of Attacks | 1 or 2 |
| Damage/Attack | 2-24 (hug) or 1-12/1-12 |
| Special Attacks | See below |
| Special Defenses | See below |
| Magic Resistance | See below |
| Size | M |
| Morale | Fearless (19-20) |
| XP Value | 5,000 |
Description
I've tried to describe the Sand Gorgon as best I can from the Thomas Covenant Series by Steven R. Donaldson. They are the race of creatures trapped in an unending sandstorm by a group of magicians because of their destructive abilities. Each has a unique name and when this name is spoken, the creature is released from the sandstorm and immediately makes its way to to the speaker of the name. It's sole purpose is to kill the speaker and return to the sandstorm.
The Sand Gorgon will appear very quickly after the utterance of its name. Whether they do so by some means of teleportation or anticipation is unknown. The Sand Gorgon looks like a small version of a Tyranasaurus Rex with front hands that end in flat ended clubs. The top of their heads is also flat and very hard. Swords, missiles, and clubs simply bounce off without doing any noticable damage. Each of the clubed fists do 1-12 points of damage per hit and if both hands successfully hit in one round, the victim is caught up in a hug. This hug does 2-24 points of damage every round until the victim is dead. When the Sand Gorgon has killed once, it will return to the sandstorm as quickly as it appeared.
If some barrier prevents the Sand Gorgon from reaching its intended victim. It will batter it down. A charging Sand Gorgon does 4 structural points of damage. After the initial charge, the creature will stand at the barrier and batter it with successive blows from its clubbed hands. No stone door, or wall of less than 10 feet in thickness can withstand this battering because the creature will set up a destructive resonance with its blows that will eventually shatter the structure. If there is some impassible barrier between it and its intended victim. The Sand Gorgon will kill the nearest, intelligent living creature and return to the sandstorm.
It is unlikely that the Sand Gorgon can be killed. Weapons do not seem to injure it (even the most highly magicked ones). Magic has little or no effect on them. Lightning bounces harmlessly off them, heat and cold do not discomfort the creature in the slightest. One has never been successfully trapped (other than in the sandstorm). It is said that Gandalf GreyStone, Lord of the Diamond and Shandorn True-Heart tried to capture one of these creatures for experimental purposes only to succeed in the total destruction of Gandalf's tower. Gandalf and Shandorn found that even a wall of force is not a serious barrier to one of these creatures and a raise dead spell was required to correct that misconception. It's unknown how many Sand Gorgons actually reside in the sandstorm (its exact location is a mystery as well) but the names of three of the creatures have been discovered through the extensive use of several arcane magicks. Those names are 'Nom', 'Tonham', and 'Ravodnas'.