| The Willow Sourcebook |
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In a land of magic, no creature ever really becomes extinct. Or, more accurately, one can become extinct over and over again. Witness the Eborsisk, a two-headed dragon (the name itself is a corruption of a dead language's words for "twin skulls"). Petrified skeletons, thrusting from eroded hillsides, testify that Eborsisks once roamed the earth, long before recorded history began. No doubt they went unchallenged. Other skeletons of comparable size have been found, but they lack pointed teeth, indicating a diet of plants. These giants could offer no threat to a dragon. Eborsisks were predators, meat eaters, and (as shown from charcoal deposits near each skeleton) fire breathers. This last point may provide a clue to their extinction - their first extinction, that is. The only fire breathers seen today are small lizards in arid parts of Cashmere, and the birds of the northern wastes that humans call "spark spitters." Both examples show that fire-breathing creatures, more than others, require enormous amounts of food in proportion to body weight. The extra food goes to produce the gases they burn. A predator of the Eborsisk's size must have required whole herds of prey to sustain it. (Great numbers of petrified bones are found spread around each dragon skeleton.) Eborsisks may have been too successful as predators, wiping out or greatly reducting the population of prey, thereby causing their own extinction. Other scholars sensibly observe that a creature who breathes fire is not the ideal resident of a forest. Since much of the Eborsisk's likely prey lived in primeval forests, fiery destruction of their habitat would kill the prey or force migration away from the dragons' domain. Again, without a food supply, they simply died out. Whether or not fire-breathing dragons were originally created by magic is the province of myth. But certainly it was due to magic that one appeared at Tir Asleen. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR The recent reappearance of an Eborsisk prompted unusual interest, to say the least. Scholars, led astray by the confused accounts of survivors ("Four heads at least, I swear!" "Breathed flame, and ice, and meteor storms!" "It was blasted big, that's all I know!"), have sometimes drawn incorrect conclusions about that appearance. When Willow and his friends barricaded themselves in Tir Asleen Castle while the Nockmaar army approached, they saw no signs of an Eborsisk. When Willow struck an attacking troll with Cherlindrea's wand, the creature turned into a repulsive thing much like an embryo, then fell into the castle moat. Moments later, the Eborsisk emerged. Not even the foggiest scholar has gone so far as to wish he had been present at the scene, but some express disappointment that the re-created Eborsisk died before its habits could be studied. Now, its only known habit is berserk blood thirst. Eborsisk skeletons did not indicate the peculiar mass growing on each head. This extrusion, called a "casque," is made of hard cartilage, and is also seen in some flightless birds of the southern jungles. The birds strike with the casque as a bludgeon. The Eborsisk did not survive long enough for observers to tell whether it too used the casque as a weapon. One would think the dragon needed no more weapons than it had already demonstrated. With its size, withering flame, lashing tail, and stamping feet, the Eborsisk was probably a match for the combined armies of Nockmaar and Galladoorn. The only successful tactic they might have used was a sneak attack on the heads, and no one but a foolhardy madman would conceive of such a thing. How fortunate, then, that Madmartigan was on the scene. The swordsman leaped from the castle's bridge onto one head, drove his sword deep into the skull, and leaped away. The freakish luck and matchless skill that have kept Madmartigan alive so far continued to work: the blade blocked the dragon's throat, just as it was preparing to breathe another blast of flame. The gas pressure built within seconds, and the head exploded. The creature died in agony and a gory muddle. This was the Eborsisk's second extinction. DID IT HAVE COMPANY? Scholars assume that the Eborsisk was the last of the dragons - at least until someone else misusing a wand calls up another one. Though other dragons have figured prominently in history, both for good and ill, they seemed to vanish when Bavmorda ascended the throne, decades ago. Do other dragons survive in the world? Few topics are more controversial. Many, many sightings are reported, but always in unreliable circumstances (often after the viewer has partaken of the liquor Cashmerans distill from wine dregs). On one hand, it seems unlikely something as large as a dragon can remain unseen. On the other, some were clearly intelligent enough to hide well, and history says they often hibernated for decades at a time. If they still exist, no one has explained why they should want to sleep through these interesting times. Unless, of course, this "interest" is reason enough to curl up and hibernate. GAMING NOTES Armor Class: 0 Each of an Eborsisk's heads can breathe fire. The fire does 10d6 damage to everything in a cone-shaped area extending 50' from the mouth, reaching a maximum width of 30'. Only one head can breathe fire each turn. The head that does not breathe on a turn can strike a single target with its casque, doing 5d6 damage. The creature can also lash with its tail in the same turn it breathes fire. The tail inflicts 4d6 damage on all targets within 30' of the rear half of its body. Madmartigan's killing thrust is the kind of foolhardy stunt that makes for memorable roleplaying. (Kids, don't try this at home.) A character can leap on the Eborsisk's head or neck with a successful dexterity check (modified as the gamemaster likes). The character must succeed in a strength check to cling there long enough to strike a blow. Failure means the character is thrown off, stunned, and is likely to be the Eborsisk's special interest for a turn or two. If the strength check succeeds, the character may roll to hit at +4, because he's at point-blank range. A successful strike automatically inflicts the character's maximum damage to the head. If this exceeds one third of the Eborsisk's remaining hit points, the blow is a critical hit, the head will explode, and the character has mere moments to leap away (another dexterity check). A character who can't get away in time takes 2d6 damage from the explosion and will end up a real mess. The Eborsisk gets one more round of attacks at a -4 penalty to hit, then dies. |
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