Sharp-Billed Stork

We played yesterday, but I don't have the log ready yet. (I'm feeling lazy. I have an outline in Evernote, however.) Meanwhile, I was fleshing out a dungeon I had rolled, and came to "stork-like minions." (I think it came from the Tome of Adventure Design. I don't see it on the table from Zak S. that I first used.) Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it was best to use axebeaks, since I had them already converted, and they were about as tough as Dire Storks. Nor were they as bizarre, but I figured I could come up with making them Terrible Storks. And, of course, I violated a couple of the rules +Peter V. Dell'Orto and +Douglas Cole wrote in Pyramid #3/76, since it was more fun that way. I had the idea for a game for these guys, which is more fun to tell and might be helpful to the players as something to exploit … after the storks beheaded their henchmen, of course. They have to be playing the game first.

I had half a mind to give them some kind of bomb, delivered like storks deliver babies. (Or so my parents told me.) I couldn't think of a good way to do it without making it way too silly. They could deliver sever heads or something.

Sharp-Billed Stork

ST: 11	HP: 11	Speed: 7.00
DX: 16	Will: 10	Move: 6
IQ: 3	Per: 12	Weight: 30 lbs.
HT: 12	FP: 12	SM: 0
Dodge: 10	Parry: N/A	DR: 3

Bill (18): 4d+4(5) cutting. Reach C. Can target the Neck at only -2.

Claws (18): 1d-2 crushing. Reach C, 1.

Traits: Acute Hearing 4; Amphibious (Water Move 7); Bad Temper (12); Bloodlust (9); Compulsive Behavior (Capita uolantia game) (9); Enhanced Move 1 (Air; Air Move 28); Flight (Cannot Hover; Winged; Air Move 14); Gregarious; Odious Racial Habit (Man-killer); Quadruped; Peripheral Vision; Proud; Run-and-Hit (Brawling); Slayer Training (Bill/Neck); Striking ST 4 (Bill only); Wild Animal.

Skills: Aerobatics-18; Brawling-18; Games (Capita uolantia)-5.

Class: Terrible Animal.

Combat Effectiveness Rating: 86 (OR 76 and PR 10).

Notes: Sharp-billed storks play what sages call their capita uolantia game, which involves cutting the heads off of humanoids, bearing them in their mouths, and dropping them into a hole of some kind. The rules vary from flock to flock, and the storks enforce them by cutting off the heads of storks who break whatever the rules may be. They're not smart enough to negotiate, nor truly understand the rules of their game, which is a byproduct of the magic that made them.