Terror: Sarok Bayerga

"The sound of pipes and laughter echoed out from the forest to the neighboring villages, my own included.  Large shapes were seen in the shadows, dancing about, and some of the teen and young adult villagers felt compelled to join them, though the elders heard nothing.  I was lucky enough to have been tied up during the last spring when they had come before, to have seen the aftermath of the dance, but my brother had been off visiting our mother at the time.  Seeing him running off to join the dance, I gave chase, pulling him away from the circle and covering his mouth despite his attempts to bite me.  Last time I had only seen the aftermath, but this time...  Three Bayerga pranced around on their rear legs, calling out with the imitation of pipes and laughter, glancing at one another as they circled around the dancing villagers, letting new ones join the dance until no more came to join.  Then...  Then they descended.  Their call took another tone and my brother and I, though hidden, were as frozen by it as the others.  The Bayerga sniffed and licked the villagers, testing them...  Before pulling the women and and a few of the men toward a pit, carefully lowering them into it for some later purpose.  One of the men still outside the pit snapped out of his trance and looked about frantically before one of the Bayerga spit on him and skewered his heart with its tail.  As the man's body began to turn to stone and crumble, the Bayerga that had killed him tossed his heart into the pit.  Still, the pit remained silent.  As did it as the Bayerga each went to the remaining six men, unhinging their jaws and snapping off the men's heads, swallowing them before dragging their hardening bodies to the pit.  My brother began to squirm as we came out of the trance, but I held him still...  And we watched as the Bayerga and their kills descend into the pit.  Fearful as we were, we still checked the pit for any hope that the others might still be alive.  However, as we looked over the edge, we saw only a myriad of tunnels, with neither the chosen villagers or Bayerga in sight.  I heard that the other villagers sent out a rescue party, but my brother and I were in too much shock to join them.  Weeks later, when we finally went to see the pit again, sixteen broken statues encircled it.  Some claimed to have seen the women again by the cliffs, swollen with child and lost in a trance...  But my brother and I have stayed away from the pit and the cliffs ever since.  The elders have charged us with a greater responsibility than an ill-fated attempt at rescue.  Every spring through summer, we ensure all the teenagers and young adults are properly secured in their homes.  We have tried to encourage the other villages to do likewise, but every year they send more men to their deaths to try to recover their lost...  They say they have slain at least one of the Bayerga that call our island home...  But given the calls coming from the cliffs, and the inhuman strength that must have slain the Bayerga corpse they showed...  I fear we have only traded one danger for one far worse." -Tattered remains of a journal found in but one abandoned village on an island full of them.  Its author remains unknown, though if its record is to be believed, a Sarok infestation is responsible for at least a hundred petrifications, and the disappearance of over four hundred souls.
 
Terror: Sarok Bayerga: The Sarok Bayerga is the mature male of the Sarok species.  Fairly territorial once mature, the Bayerga will still hunt in trios until fully mature, when one will kill the other two and become the Hasora of their territory.  Their seven-meter wide wingspan makes them even more frightening than their female counterparts, but they are still intriguingly beautiful like them and utilize similar hunting methods in the water.  However, once outside of the water they will not only inject their toxin with their tail, which typically strikes at the heart of their prey, but also will spit their toxin out at others as well, allowing them to petrify foes more easily.  The Bayerga tend to make dens deep underground, creating pits and offshooting tunnels to confuse those that may seek to hunt them down, and every spring will call out a hypnotic song to potential prey in their territory.  Sounding like a pipe flute and laughter, their call is within a range that teenagers and young teens of most species can hear, while the elders of most species can no longer hear it.  While it is easier to resist once one has heard it before and survived, those that fall prey to it rarely resist even as their friend and even they are eaten, headfirst.  Unlike the Sitera, Bayerga will overhunt their territory if left alone, though until one is a Hasora, they will also abduct males and females of their prey to have them mate underground to provide them food long after their hunting season.  Due to their amphibious nature, all Sarok are capable of hibernating if frozen for a period of time, though decreasing temperatures to near freezing will cause them to slow their speed by 10% per turn in those temperatures.

HP: 64 /  EP: 16 / LP: 2 / SP: 2 / FP: 23
Reaction: 15 / Finesse: 17 / Intelligence: 13 Wisdom: 17 / Willpower: 16 / Strength: 40
Speed: 27 on land, 30 in water, 32 in air, 20 while climbing<10 10="" ft="" per="" square="" x="">
Elemental Strengths: Water, Stone, Blood, Toxin
Elemental Weaknesses: Fire, Ice, Slime, Spectral
Common Drops:  Victim's Bones, Victim's Rags, Sarok Bayerga Cadaver, Unfinished Victim, Victim's Other Belongings.

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

Barbed Hold II (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 + 2 for resisting and breaking free of hold if succeeds.  Deals 2 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 VI (3 FP):  18 damage on success against armor-less targets.  Deals 8 crushing and 8 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.
 
Dig IV (1 FP Each):  Digs its body height in a single turn.

Flight IV (1 FP):  Any species that able to fly.  Moves 140% its land speed while in flying.

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 Bayerga will focus their attempts on lowering the defense and sanity of their prey, 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 3 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 16, -1 SP.  May only be used once per combat per Sarok 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 IV (0 FP Each):  8 damage on success against armor-less targets.

Sprint (2 FP Each):  Moving at a character's current max speed + 1 (including any other temporary boosts), for a duration equal to three movement spaces.

Sting II (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 4 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.

Terror: Sarok Sitera:

"Such soft sweet melodies carried through and over the ocean waves, bringing such bliss to all but the scarred mariner and the captain.  I too was lost in a haze of wonder, unresponsive to their struggle to drag us all away from the railing, while those enraptured kept trying to return to it.  I slowly tried to push my way toward the rails to lean over and hear that song more clearly...  That is, until the screaming started.  Snapped by the piercing, all too human cries, the haze lifted and I saw Javill's body rended into chum.  Realizing in horror that he was neither the first nor last of the crew to be savagely torn apart, I retreated back to the captain's side, while the mariner ransacked the bunks in desperation.  Drawing out our cutlasses, the crew that had managed to retreat already stood firm against our foe, water dripping off the back of her body.  Her call echoed forth again and a few sailors staggered, but regained their senses in time to duck under her slashing claws.  One poor soul was not so lucky, his entrails spilling out onto the deck.  Alone against twenty men and women, the beast was being kept at bay without further fatality, while those nearest the rails kept watch for the beast's kin.  But they were looking at the sea, when they should have been looking at the skies.  A song like hers carried forth from the cliffs we had left naught by an hour ago, as dark shapes passed the setting sun. Thinking her kind only swam the ocean, her sisters' calls seemed more distant, but the knowledge dawned that the darkness approaching was not a young dragon, but rather reinforcements for our foe.  They descended upon us and tore heads and limbs alike.  At the moment one lunged at me and knocked me down, a piercing whistle caught their attention.  The scarred mariner held aloft the bundle Javill had brought back from the last port, unfurling the cloth that concealed his prize.  A basket with wriggling shapes inside.  The melodic sisters hissed and surged forth, snatching up the bundle and taking off to the air and to the waves.  For days, sharks would follow us, and of our crew of two hundred souls I was but one of twelve to survive...  But I have heard the call of the Sarok Sitera and lived to tell the tale.  No...  That is not correct.  I know not how the captain and mariner had survived an encounter with them before and lived, but I and the others of that voyage died as their song did.  As terrifying as that day was...  It was like Ves had called us to her arms.  And now...  Now that I have finally recorded the truth of that day...  I can finally seek her embrace once more.  I can hear the Sitera calling once more, now that I have returned to this wretched isle.  Should any find this last will and testament, and not yet hear their call...  Again, I implore you: Better to plug your ears immediately.  As for I...  I shall walk in shadows and moonlight toward their spawn, and either be found worth and elevated to their service...  Or serve as nutrition to they and their young."  -A note left in the inn room of Tarok Cardill, sailor.

Terror: Sarok Sitera: The Sarok Sitera is the mature female of the Sarok species.  While the male Sarok Bayerga may be fairly territorial once mature, the Sitera prefer to hunt and guard their nests en mass.  Their five-meter wide wingspan is a terrifying sight to behold descending upon their prey, but from a distance or when properly satiated, their wings and entire physiology is quite beautiful.  The back of their wings are covered in scales and feathers, while the underside is covered in small feeler antennae.  In the water, they tend to propel themselves much like rays, but if any potential prey brushes their antennae, their  barbed underside and claw tips to their wings will curl around their prey with enormous strength as their other wing will take hold of part of their catch and rip it to pieces over and over until it is unable to put up a proper struggle, though still alive.  Only then, will they start to feast upon their latest meal.  Should anything put up a struggle after the first four attempts to subdue it, then its tail will swing around and attempt to inject its paralytic toxin into them, which also spreads a bacteria to which the Sarok is immune, which causes rapid calciphylaxis and petrification.  In the sea, the Sitera's call may be a hypnotic lure to most species to draw them close enough to the water to feast, but those protecting cliff-side spawning grounds or otherwise injured and unable to return to the sea will also utilize the call to trick prey into following them off the side of a cliff, or straight into the den of the Bayerga.  While the Sitera may be opportunistic enough to sing their songs in the water to put many species into a trance and take advantage of sailors ripe for the picking, they are not particularly fond of difficult prey, as most intelligent species tend to be after a death or two nearby shocks them out of their trance.  However, they are relentless when it comes to retrieving their eggs, some Sitera circles have been recorded traveling hundreds of miles to retrieve a singular egg, with the youngest third of their numbers on the search and retrieval mission.  Additionally, while the alpha Bayerga known as the Hasora may carry its eggs with it, it will destroy the eggs of any other Bayerga in the territory it has chosen for its own.  Other Bayerga may either be killed or left alone as long as they pay tribute depending on the particular aggression and cunning of the Hasora, but the Sitera will also provide tribute while hiding the eggs of other Bayerga if they hear its call on the horizon.  Unfortunately for the Sitera, if the Hasora finds any Bayerga eggs and can smell a particular Sitera has handled them, if will butcher her and it and use their remains as food for itself and the hatching offspring.  Unlike the Bayerga, by the time the Sitera have become of breeding age, the gland in their mouth that allows them to spit out the same toxin in their tail has withered.  As a result, the Sitera end up needing to be far more cunning then the Bayerga, and often hunt in groups.  Left alone, the Sitera are intelligent enough to not over-hunt their territory, though the Bayerga and other predators might not be, so they will try to slay and eat the other predatory species in the area first, if they are capable.  Due to their amphibious nature, all Sarok are capable of hibernating if frozen for a period of time, though decreasing temperatures to near freezing will cause them to slow their speed by 10% per turn in those temperatures. 

HP: 60 /  EP: 15 / LP: 2 / SP: 3 / FP: 24
Reaction: 16 / Finesse: 18 / Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 18 / Willpower: 17 / Strength: 35
Speed: 27 on land, 30 in water, 32 in air, 20 while climbing<10 10="" ft="" per="" square="" x="">
Elemental Strengths: Water, Stone, Blood, Toxin
Elemental Weaknesses: Fire, Ice, Slime, Spectral
Common Drops:  Victim's Bones, Victim's Rags, Sarok Sitera Cadaver, Unfinished Victim, Victim's Other Belongings.

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

Barbed Hold II (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 + 2 for resisting and breaking free of hold if succeeds.  Deals 2 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. Bite VI (0 FP Each): 6 damage on success against armor-less targets.
 
Dig III (1 FP Each):  Digs two-thirds its body height in a single turn.

Flight IV (1 FP): Any species that is able to fly.  Moves 140% its land speed while in flying.


Hypnotic Call V (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 Sitera will only utilize other manipulation attempts on those near their spawning grounds, otherwise relying on their call to lower the defense of their prey.]  Check Willpower of opponent when used, if less than 18, -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, 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. 

Roar V (0 FP Each): Roars to intimidate and call for reinforcements.  If any are within 2 1/2 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 15, -1 SP.  May only be used once per combat per Sarok 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 IV (0 FP Each):  8 damage on success against armor-less targets.
 
Sprint (2 FP Each):  Moving at a character's current max speed + 1 (including any other temporary boosts), for a duration equal to three movement spaces.

Sting II (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 4 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.
 
Walk (0 FP Each):  Moving at half a character's current max speed, rounded up.

Region: The Temple of Strength:

Southwest of Mellstova, The Temple of Strength stands.  Constructed out of the remains of ancient weapons and skeletons of mythical beasts, the temple is a small commune that has lasted since the end of the first great draconis dragon-kin war.  Studying the failings of magic and technology, The Temple of Strength is primarily populated by monks who teach the means an average individual may use to tap into their inner potential and defeat foes more powerful than them through the use of physical strength and strategy.  The monks teach that magic and technology have their uses, but they are but tools for the individual and larger whole.  Those that seek to join the temple's population or learn from its teachers must first pass a series of trials to reach the temple itself, as well as fight against one or more of the monks to prove their determination.  Even those that have been mercifully paired with the weakest of these monks who has additionally been given a further handicap have still found themselves with several broken bones before being turned away...  So those that wish to be honored with their tutelage, let alone that of a greater master, would do well to both be respectful of the trials and have enough training and drive to at least pass the trials without any shortcuts or cheating.  Though the monks have never been known to kill those disrespectful or otherwise undeserving...  It is rather remarkable the proof they provide of what people are capable of surviving.