Terror: Sarok Meynas

"We thought the Sarok making their roost in the wastes was dangerous, but preferable to closer to our town.  Though our city defenses kept the Sarok out for a decade, we still had need of trade and travel, so the mayor offered outsiders land if they would help to extend the city's borders and to create new defenses while means of travel were devised beyond relying on speed when using the highways and low roads.  Everything seemed to be working well...  The Sarok fed on the local wildlife for the most part, attacking those who were too slow on the roads when they had the opportunity, and occasionally attacking the city proper in order to try weaken its defenses.  Thankfully, the militia and repair crews were able to keep them at bay each time but...  One day, they brought something we had never seen before with them to our walls.  It seemed to be a hybrid of some sort.  Not a Sarok Gorna, as some of adventurers had encountered when trying to thin the Sarok numbers a few summers before.  No, this was something new to us.  One of the outsiders looked at it and shuddered, weeping about one of their number we had all thought dead.  She was one of the Sarok now, this...  New abomination.

She hissed as the militia tried to fire upon her, muttering something and with a wave of her hand flung Sarok venom at them, petrifying them on the spot before her other hand was waved, flames encircling their stone forms before they turned on their neighbors and kin as if mere stone golems.  The adventurers and militia covered our retreat as the Sarok clambered over the walls, their new creation wielding arcane arts and ingenuity far beyond anything even the Sarok Gorna had seemed capable of.  One of the adventurer's had shouted for our mayor to tell the governor to send his armies to combat this Sarok Meynas, before casting a spell to send him far from the battle.  Those that could manage took flight through the transportation arch as the mage kept working to recharge it for each group.  Finally the last group was set to leave when the Sarok Meynas cast a spell which destroyed the gate, trapping us in the city with it and its new family.  Those of us still alive watched in horror as the Sarok Hasora and Sitera moved to join her, but she hissed and made a trilling call that made them stop and wait, even the Hasora obeying.  And...  And then she spoke.

Her voice was...  Haunting but beautiful.  She offered us a bargain.  We few would survive as her agents...  Negotiators to the outside world.  The Sarok would feast upon every living creature that approached their dens, but would accept...  Tribute.  A chosen sacrifice every spring, to be sent to them to 'slay' them without the knowledge of what truly awaited them...  And a steady supply of livestock every month.  She had made the same bargain with all the cities within range of their territory...  And brutally slaughtered the adventurers who tried to decline her offer, even though she had once been one of them.  She welcomed us to direct the army toward them though.

I...  I watched weeks later as the army passed us by while seeking to destroy the Sarok infestation.  Even with the knowledge of this Sarok Meynas...  They were no match for the traps she and her new family had laid...  Not the surprise of finding that the Hasora had been deterred from slaughtering new Bayerga that had been maturing since the Sarok Meynas had taken rule.  Gazing at our city, she rubbed her now swollen belly and a cold satisfaction before taking leave of the battlefield, the army destroyed and her family dragging off two survivors for every Sarok that had been slain, killing the rest and dragging them into their dens to store for the oncoming winter.

Lacking the arcane means to reconstruct the transportation arch, we have been prisoners of our own city with her as our cruel queen.  My eldest daughter was chosen last spring.  This spring...  She stood with the Sarok Meynas queen among the others who she had...  Twisted into her image.  Please...  Our numbers have thinned while their family has grown, and we have run out of adventurer's naive enough to fool.  She has sent word to all the neighboring cities as well as ours.  Her territory will soon expand, and we must embark to join new cities, to await her commands.  We must have passage far from these lands...  And a force this island has never seen must be raised to slaughter every last one of the Sarok.  It is too late for my daughter...  If we do not leave, it will be too late for us all."  Eyewitness report from Fordun Linmoth at the height of the Sarok Queen War during the settlement of Tesaria, as recorded by Banorm Darkcutter.
 
Terror: Sarok Meynas: During thankfully rare conditions, a Sarok Gorna will be exposed to a mutagen strong enough to blend their own genetics with that of the young Sarok infesting their body.  Rather than devolving into pure insanity and being further enslaved by the Sarok, or becoming violent to the point of being put down by them, however, this particular mutation imbues enough Sarok genetics for the Sarok Gorna to produce calming pheromones that affect that particular den, as well as giving back a partial clarity to their mind.  Now, some Sarok Meynas may at this point attempt to flee the den and try to return to what they once were, and with the help of advanced healing techniques over time they may have some semblance of a more normal life, but still produce the same pheromones, some even going back to slay their former captors.  Others may seek a nomadic or hermit lifestyle, sometimes taking another Sarok Gorna or a Sarok Bayerga with them and creating a small den of their own, producing more Sarok Meynas.  As seen in the above record, however, some revel in their newfound abilities and power over their former captors.  A male Sarok Meynas will typically attempt to slay the Sarok Hasora while its guard is down in order to take on its role, and if successful will be accepted as such.  If not, it will be slaughtered or driven out.  A female or intersex Sarok Meynas, while rarer than male, are even more dangerous.

A Sarok Meynas is the mutation that has not gone insane or been put down, and before attempts to heal it is considered sixty-five to eighty-five percent Sarok after their mutation.  Any less, and they are further enslaved, and any more and they become irreversibly insane.  Due to that margin of mutation, the Sarok in the den the female or intersex Sarok Meynas was transformed in tend to at first see it like another Sarok Sitera...  But due to the higher (typically) intellect and knowledge of concepts of the civilized world unknown to the Sarok, they will quickly prove their value as being beyond their 'sisters'.  They will in come the preferred mate of the Sarok Hasora, which will in turn allow the Sarok Meynas to better understand and manipulate the Hasora, even to the point of not killing off new Bayerga competition within its den.  Instead, it will lead them into any rival Sarok dens if any are to be found, allowing them to slaughter other Hasora and Bayerga to consume enough hormones to themselves become Hasora as well.  In addition, the Sarok Sitera of that den will be brought back to the main den, as well any Sarok Gorna.  By adding to the gene pool in this manner, the Sarok Meynas has the potential to build up an army capable of swarming whole cities.  Those who attack the Sarok in these raids are typically slaughtered and those that survive are evaluated by the Sarok Meynas to determine how best to utilize them to further her control of the region...  Many being dragged off to become Sarok Gorna, and if possible, mutated to become another Sarok Meynas.  Once the first Sarok Meynas has ensured this new one is loyal, it will send it to stake a claim either in a previously Sarok-free territory...  Or send them with a large number of Sarok Bayerga or Sarok Hasora to take over the den of another infestation.  Unlike many mutations  decreasing the effeciveness of the individual, a Sarok Meynas retains 5-50% of its original capabilities and abilities, before its cunning curiosity  drives it to learn more based on what it previously knew and its new biology and the ecology of its territory,  The information below is, as such, incomplete generalities that most seem to exhibit, in addition to 1/2 of their previous statistics and attributes.  Adventurers who hear about the rumor even of the existance of any Sarok Meynas in a region would do well to seek further information about who they used to be to have a fraction of what other capabilities they may now have.



HP: 52 /  EP: 26 / LP: 3 / SP: 9 / FP: 25
Reaction: 13 / Finesse: 12 / Intelligence: 16 Wisdom: 13 / Willpower: 17 / Strength: 24
Speed: 25 on land, 20 in water, 20 while climbing: Elemental Strengths: Water, Stone, Blood, Toxin
Elemental Weaknesses: Fire, Ice, Slime, Spectral
Common Drops:  Victim's Bones, Victim's Rags, Sarok Meynas Cadaver, Unfinished Victim, Victim's Other Belongings, Sarok Spawn.

Arm Block II (0 FP Each): +2 defense on success. -1 EP per use until EP is gone or recovered by rest or other means.

Barbed Hold III (1 FP Each):  Attempts to hold an opponent or a part of their opponent so as to prevent offensive attack from that part while it is held.  While held, unless an opponent is able to stalemate the hold or break free, additional attacks may be dealt afterward either by the one holding or by fellow companions and allies of the one holding.  Reflexes vs. reflexes to see if hold succeeds.  Strength vs. Sarok Strength + 3 for resisting and breaking free of hold if succeeds.  Deals 3 damage on the turn the hold is successful and any future holds if broken free.  Will often attempt to follow up with other attacks while held. 

Beheading Bite IV (3 FP):  12 damage on success against armor-less targets.  Deals 7 crushing and 7 penetration damage if target is still armored or has other natural defenses still.

Bite VI (0 FP Each): 6 damage on success against armor-less targets.  Will also soak the wound in Sarok Toxin.  [Toxin: Sarok Toxin (Liquid)]
 
Dig IV (1 FP Each):  Digs its body height in a single turn.


Hypnotic Call VI (2 FP Each): Attempts to put any creatures, terrors or characters within range of hearing into a hypnotic and defenseless trance.  Some species may then attempt to further manipulate the entranced to perform other actions.  Check Willpower of opponent when used, if less than 20, -1 SP, and foe enters trance.  May only be used once per combat per Sarok Meynas: to affect sanity, subsequent hypnotic call does not affect  sanity further from the same Sarok, but will still require a resistance attempt to prevent entering a trance again.  If any opponents have been injured, it will boost +1 to their attempt, and if any have been killed, +3 to their attempts. 

Hypnotic Lull IV (2 FP Each): Attempts to put any creatures, terrors or characters within range of hearing into a hypnotic and defenseless trance.  Some species may then attempt to further manipulate the entranced to perform other actions.  [Sarok Meynas will focus their attempts on lowering the defense and sanity of their prey often in the attempt to hold them still during their evaluations of them,  creating a WIL check to be needed every turn after the initial WIL check failure.  Utilizing LP may be necessary if failing the first time unless extenuating circumstances such as outside aid or delayed WIL boosts take effect.]  Check Willpower of opponent when used, if less than 16, -1 SP, and foe enters trance.  May only be used once per combat per Sarok to affect sanity, subsequent hypnotic call does not affect  sanity further from the same Sarok if the trance has been broken, however, additional uses from other Sarok of other genders or maturation levels may still have a chance to affect the individual.  If any opponents have been injured, it will boost +1 to their own attempt, and if any others have been killed, +1 to their attempts per one killed.

Roar VI (0 FP Each): Roars to intimidate and call for reinforcements.  If any are within 4 miles and sound is not dampened, more Sarok will come to the aid of the one roaring.  Check Willpower of opponent when used, if less than 10, -1 SP.  May only be used once per combat per Sarok Meynas to affect sanity, subsequent roaring does not affect sanity further.

Run (1 FP Each):  Moving at a character's current max speed for a duration equal to six movement spaces before further focus is needed.

Slash V (0 FP Each):  10 damage on success against armor-less targets.

Sprint II (2 FP Each):  Moving at a character's current max speed + 2 (including any other temporary boosts), for a duration equal to three movement spaces.

Sting III (1 FP): Stabs its tail or other applicable appendage into its foe, injecting any toxin or venom it may have within it.  Deals one dose per sting, penetrating up to 6 EP worth of armor or natural defense.  [Toxin: Sarok Toxin (Liquid)]

Swim III (1 FP): Any species that lives in water as an aquatic or amphibious culture does not need to use focus to swim.  Moves 120% its land speed while in water.

Tackle and Choke III (0 FP):  6 damage on success against armor-less targets.  Attempts to knock an opponent down and choke the life out of them.

Toxic Spit (1 FP): Spits any toxin or venom it may have within it.  Deals one dose per spit, penetrating up to 2 EP worth of armor or natural defense.  [Toxin: Sarok Toxin (Gaseous)]

Walk (0 FP Each):  Moving at half a character's current max speed, rounded up.