Tuesday 17 May 2011

An Adventure for Every Monster - Blink Dogs

BLINK DOGS

Frequency Rare
No appearing 4-16
AC 5
Move 12”
HD 4
% in lair 20%
Treasure type C
No of attacks 1
Damage per attack 1-6
Special attacks From rear 75% of time
Special defences Teleporting
Magic resistance Standard
Intelligence Average
Alignment Lawful Good
Size M (3’ at shoulder)
THAC0 15
XP value 170 + 5/hp

The party are travelling through either an area of the dungeon or an area of wilderness when they are suddenly surrounded by blink dogs. The actions of the dogs indicate that no harm is intended and the dogs make every effort to persuade the party to come with them to see their leader, the Lord of the Blink Dogs, who is concerned at a new development in the area.

The Lord of the Blink Dogs uses a human interpreter to speak for him, although the basic telepathic ability of these creatures may enable them to project emotions and sensations towards even those who are not psionically sensitive.

It seems that recent intense blink and displacement action between the Blink Dogs and their arch-enemies, the Displacer Beasts has caused fractures in space-time, leading to strange effects at various points. The party may have already encountered such phenomena without being aware of their nature or cause.

He wants the Displacer Beasts destroyed or defeated but warns that use of magic may well cause temporal ruptures so spells are to be kept firmly in their books. Magic items may well cause similar effects.

It may also be that a precious mineral can be found in the area which can be used to make a device for sealing space-time fractures. The mineral has a particular resonance which Displacer Beasts find arousing and like to be around.

The mineral can be forged into a device by a skilled smith or alchemist. It needs several other precious components, e.g. diamonds, platinum, all of which will be consumed when the device is triggered.

The party will face several dangers, including the Displacer Beasts and of course the effects of the rifts, which may produce duplicates of the party from other dimensions, other timelines and other times, past and future, which they will need to avoid in order not to encounter paradoxes. (It is up to the DM to come up with suitable temporal effects that will really mess with the players' minds)

The blink dogs can accompany them but cannot use their blink powers in case they cause space-time to rip completely in the area and plunge the party into a randomly determined universe or time zone. The Displacer Beasts, being only semi-intelligent may not have noticed this new effect or may not care particularly. Displacement activity by itself will only cause the effects to continue, not deteriorate.

Displacer Beasts

Frequency Very rare
No appearing 2-5
AC 4
Move 15”
HD 6
% in lair 25%
Treasure type D
No of attacks 2
Damage per attack 2-8/2-8
Special attacks Nil
Special defences -2 on opponent’s attack dice
Magic resistance Save as 12th level fighter +2 on die
Intelligence Semi-
Alignment Neutral
Size L
THAC0 13
XP value 475 + 8/hp

6 comments:

  1. Cool. I like all the temporal wonkiness. Adds a nice twist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh very nice! I've got these in an upcoming adventure, where they're being used as clever teleporting guard dogs, but it's nowhere as clever as this. I love the idea of the dogs and beasts wearing reality thin as a result of all their chasing about.

    It's probably just the classic cartoon fan in me, but I've often thought there should be a third teleporting animal to fill out the trio. Something along the lines of a "phase mouse" perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks. I really enjoy your adventure-for-every-monster posts.

    ReplyDelete
  4. And this would also make a fine Doctor Who adventure.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've always liked blink dogs. This post puts the F in fantasy loud and clear.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Any adventure that allows for temporal paradoxes is cool in my books.

    ReplyDelete