An Adventure for Every Monster - Crayfish, Giant

Crayfish, Giant

Frequency Uncommon
No. appearing 1-4
Armour class 4
Move 6"/12"
Hit Dice 4+4
Percentage in lair Nil (but in this case, the pool is their lair)
Treasure type Nil (but see below)
No. of attacks 2
Damage per attack 2-12/2-12
Special attack Nil
Special Defences Nil
Magic Resistance Standard
Intelligence Non-
Alignment Neutral
Size L (8+ feet long)
 THAC0 15
XP value 90 + 5/hp

The adventure will probably be best suited to a party of five adventurers of 2/3rd level, who may nevertheless find it a tough one.

The party is travelling through lightly-forested terrain, halfway between forest and scrubland. There are some overgrown ruins in the area and if they are attentive, they will hear the sound of a disturbance from those ruins. Approaching them with stealth, they are able to observe a pool amidst the ruins, into which a hill giant is throwing rocks pulled from the wall of a ruined building.

The giant’s name is Ogi and he believes that a pack of giant crayfish who live in the pool have pulled his brother Bogi to his death. He is determined to even the score, particularly with Old Whitey, the biggest and oldest of the pack.

If the party is sufficiently attentive and alert, they may notice that the wall from which Ogi is pulling the rocks has a faded carved mural of ancient priests using the pool as a sacrificial well. If he manages to pull the wall down in its entirety, this clue as to the true nature of the pool will be lost.

Whatever treasure is at the bottom would still be there but the crayfish (a gang of four) must be fought off first before it can be recovered. This assumes that Ogi can be stopped from destroying the wall before the party can read the inscriptions.

Amongst the silt and muck at the bottom of the pool is the following treasure:

Javelin of Piercing (250xp)
Pearl of Wisdom (500xp)
69gp
82 ep (40gp)
880sp (44gp)
6975cp (35gp)
55gp worth of silver plate
Deep purple amethyst, 120gp
Platinum candlestick, ornate, with gems 45pp (225gp)

If the DM wants to put any more in a more inaccessible area of the well, that’s fine. Bear in mind that there may well be items that have been ruined by immersion in the water for so long, and very probably skeletal remains of unfortunates who have braved the pool and perished in the attempt.

Once the party have got themselves firmly enmeshed in the adventure, a die roll will determine what happens next

1. Bogi is really at the bottom of the pool, drowned and partially eaten
2. Bogi has wandered off and will return soon, feeling hungry because he hasn’t had lunch.
3. Ogi and Bogi’s father will turn up soon, wondering where his good-fer-nothing sons have got to
4. Two giants from the neighbouring family have heard the noise and will wander over to see what’s going on. They are rivals of Ogi and Bogi, named Onka and Bonka.
5. Nothing of consequence will happen.
6. All the noise will have attracted other wandering monsters in the area; roll twice on the relevant encounter table

 Plenty of opportunity for the party to use their wits to outsmart Ogi; if they are brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to take him on, they will need some lucky dice to get out of it without some damage.

In case you were wondering what an 8' long giant crayfish would look like in real life