Valkarthi

Text and artwork by Chris Tan

Description

"Fearsome creatures of unspeakable horrors. They swimming through the plane of Dust, searching for their lost mother."

-- Extract from the journal of Stromwing

The valkarthi have always remained a mystery. As time goes by, more and more reports of the legends arise from distraught planewalkers, living and dying. There were always many speculations of what these monstrous horrors of the dust really were. The most notable was that they were distant cousins of the astral dreadnoughts, due to their resemblance in shape. And on and on, the rumours continued until a young wizard, named Jarvest, set off into the plane of Dust in order to discover the truth. A week later, he returned with a huge dying creature that looked like it came out of a power's nightmare.

The creature was about nine feet in length, from head to tail, it's head resembled something like a disfigured Abyssal lobster. From its great torso sprouted two arms that ended in giant claws. There were no openings on the head of the creature for a use of a mouth, yet there were many tentacles.

But the creature was dying, and the young wizard did bring it to the planes to find out about it's origins. So soon after he got a psionicist to tap into the creature's mind to discover the monster's secrets.

Combat

The Valkarthi are vicious hunters. They have acquired much knowledge in the ways of hunting and killing. A notable form of attack is by using a single valkarthi as bait, leading a careless victim into the pack's ambush range. Another form of attack is by superior numbers; this is a rare occasion, as valkarthi don't always work together well.

But a valkarthi is just as deadly on its own. It attacks its prey by use of its sharp claws which do 1d8 damage each.

As the valkarthi have lived in the dust for many centuries, they have adapted ways to use it to their advantage. A valkarthi can charge at its victim for 3d10 points of damage. The valkarthi has to be at least 60 feet from its victim to charge.

One of the deadliest attacks of this creature though, is through the tentacles on its head. On a successful attack with both its claws, a valkarthi can hold its victim and make an attack with its tentacles. If successful, it can drain 1d6 hit points from its victim and add it to its own. These affects are temporary. For the victim to be able to pry himself free, he has to make a successful bend bars/lift gate roll.

Although they have no visible organs (apart from a hidden set of eyes), a valkarthi is still very hard to surprise. They therefore receive a +3 to surprise rolls. Usually it is the valkarthi that surprises its victim.

Habitat/Society

Although valkarthi in large groups tend to be hostile to each other, they still do follow the orders of a supreme being.

A much larger being is believe to have spawned or created these monsters. And about a decade ago, she had disappeared from her lair in the dust. That is why valkarthi have became more frequent, they are searching for their lost leader.

Valkarthi usually hunt in packs of 1-4, but they can also roam in larger parties of 1-10. There are also the occasional ones that move around on their own, these are supposedly loners who have decided to not to search for their queen. The valkarthi that was captured by Jarvest was also by itself, yet the psionicist was unable to find about more about it before it died.

Ecology

Planewalkers are still searching the dust for more information on these creatures, yet all attempt have ended in failure. Jarvest was never able to capture another valkarthi, let alone see one. Just recently, rumours have aroused that Jarvest has actually been killed on the plane of dust. Whether or not this is true, planewalkers still hunt the dust for the hunter.

Also in this section of the source

Limbo

The Swirling Soup. The EverChange. Bolim. Olbmi. I'm sure you can imagine, the Plane of Pure Chaos has more than a few names. Some sages count its layers as five, but since there's nothing to tell 'em apart, it seems a rather futile gesture. On a plane with this many names, it's not going to be too much of a shock to learn that there are many, many creatures a berk can rub shoulders with. Too many. Limbo has a dangerous habit of opening gates and portals spontaneously to other planes and pulling creatures through. More often than not, they're fried or drowned or crushed or zapped, or if the slaad get hold of them first, eaten. Therefore, many of the encounters with off-planar creatures will be with being terrified by the chaotic soup, and probably very close to meeting their end in one of the aforementioned manners. Or another, if they're unlucky. Three types of creature are capable of surviving on Limbo: real natives of the plane; visitors with enough magic or willpower to hold the plane's swirling chaos at bay; and truly lucky berks who've landed in a stable spot. The latter type don't usually last more than a few minutes longer than their bubble of stability, though...

Native Sons (and Daughters)

• Boggle (MCA2 22)
• Chaos Beast (PoXMC 8)
• Darkweaver (PSMC2 20)
• Doppleganger (MM 60)
• Elemental, Composite - Tempest (MM 105)
• Gibberling (MM 148)
• Githzerai (PSMC1 48)
• Gremlin, any (MM 174)
• Hakeashar (MCA2 69)
• Halfling of Barnstable
• Imp, Chaos (MCA3 63 and PoXMC 10)
• Khaasta (PSMC2 58)
• Lillend (PoXMC 16)
• Mimic (MM 250)
• Mimic, Greater (MCA2 87)
• Minion of Chaos (MMC)
• Peltast (MCA2 94)
• Petitioner
• Phileet (MMC)
• Raggamoffyn (MCA2 100)
• Slaad, any (PSMC1 88)
• Slaad, Rogue (MMC)

[NB: These creatures aren't necessarily natives -- nobody really knows if anything could come from Limbo's churning chaos -- but they're certainly encountered more than other creatures there.]

Encounters

So, okay, you've seen the list below. No, I ain't a tout known for copping out, and I resent you thinking that. Trouble is, without listing every creature that's ever been known, it ain't going to be a complete list. You really can meet anything on Limbo. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Like I said above, there's an environment to support any kind of life here; the trouble is it usually doesn't last long unless the inhabitant has figured out the dark of concentrating to keep it safe for 'em. So, on Limbo you really can find unicorns, medusa, will o' wisps, orcs and efreet. Anything smart will try and leave pretty sharpish, though, before their luck runs out...

• Anything and Everything
• Expect the Unexpected