Monstrous Predators And Fabled Beasts

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Not every dangerous thing in Dort answers to a plane, a god, or a cult. A Chimera does not serve Buuna Moc. A Griffon has no theological grievance. A Bridge Troll wants a toll paid, not a soul claimed. These are the setting's inherited monster-manual stock: predators and fabled beasts that exist because a wilderness needs teeth in it, without needing a cosmology to justify the teeth.

That does not make them simple. A Bridge Troll runs its crossing like a business with centuries of precedent behind it. A Manticore hunts with more patience than its reputation suggests. What unites this chapter is only that none of them require a session of world-building lore before a GM can use them. Drop one in, reskin it freely, and let the encounter be about the fight and the terrain rather than the metaphysics.

At the table: this is the chapter to reach for when a region needs a dangerous animal and the campaign does not need another faction. Use these to fill the space between the plot-relevant threats.

Bridge Troll

Role: Nemesis Bruiser / Social Obstacle Where It Appears: Old bridges, ravines, ford roads, border crossings.

Bridge trolls are not giant-kind. They are old, ugly, territorial fae-adjacent brutes with a deep sense of payment. Some are barely verbal. Others keep ledgers more honestly than barons.

What It Is

A Bridge Troll is a territorial brute bound by habit, appetite, and a concept of payment that may be older than the bridge it guards. It is not giant-kind. It is not just a big bandit. The bridge, ford, or ravine is part of the creature's identity.

Ecology and Behavior

Bridge Trolls claim crossings because crossings create leverage. Food, coin, livestock, secrets, and safe passage all move through narrow places. A troll that holds one long enough becomes part of local economy, law, and folklore.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: toll ropes, bone charms, repaired bridge stones too large for humans to move, warning graffiti, fish bones under the span, ledgers wrapped in oilskin.

Lore or Adventuring Lore (Average): knows local toll customs and safe forms of address.

Negotiation (Hard): may reduce the demanded price without a fight.

Bureaucratic or legal context via Lore (Hard): may prove the troll's claimed toll is invalid, inherited, or already paid.

Tactics: The troll demands payment, blocks crossing, and knocks enemies into water or ravine if cheated. If badly burned, it retreats under the bridge and attacks supports, making the crossing itself the hostage.

Encounter Use: Make negotiation real. Fighting should be one possible bad answer. A good Bridge Troll scene has prices, loopholes, local witnesses, and a bridge the party may need intact.

Carrion Crawler

Role: Elite Dungeon Predator Where It Appears: Crypts, sewers, underground passages with accessible corpses.

A Carrion Crawler arrives after the fight. It is drawn to blood and the recently dead, and it paralyzes the living because the living are annoying rather than frightening.

Signs and Knowledge: Adventuring Lore (Average): identifies the pale chitinous trails and the smell of a Carrion Crawler's territory.

Variants

Pit Crawler: Nemesis, WND 25. Can paralyze three targets simultaneously; has learned which passages lead to fresh bodies.

Cave Fisher

Role: Elite Lurker Where It Appears: Caverns, sinkholes, bridge undersides, mine galleries.

What It Is

Cave fishers cast sticky filaments into paths below. The victim thinks they touched a rope until it tightens and the ceiling starts pulling. The creature itself resembles a pale crustacean folded into a crack, with claws braced against stone and a spinneret that can cast adhesive line across open air.

Cave fishers are classic dungeon predators because they turn the party's own formation against them. The front line passes beneath the filament. The second rank notices too late. The light-bearer looks up only after someone is already rising into darkness.

Ecology and Behavior

Cave fishers need ceiling cracks, ledges, and steady traffic. They live above animal trails, mine cart routes, underbridges, and tunnel junctions. A fisher's den is usually narrow enough that only one or two people can reach it at a time, which lets the creature defend its meal while the rest of the party struggles below.

Signs and Knowledge

Adventuring Lore (Average) identifies old empty shells. Perception (Hard) sees the filament.

Tactics

A cave fisher opens with Filament Snare from concealment, reels a target upward, then uses the victim's body and the ceiling angle as cover. If the line is cut, it retreats deeper into the crack and casts again only if it still has surprise or elevation.

Use the fisher to make equipment matter. Ropes, polearms, grapnels, thrown dust, shields raised overhead, and quick cutting tools should all help. The creature is unfair only if the party had no way to suspect a vertical threat.

Variants

• Bridge Fisher: Casts from bridge undersides and targets riders or pack animals.
• Crystal Fisher: Filament is harder to see and resonates when struck.
• Old Line-Caster: Larger specimen with several prepared anchor lines in one chamber.

Chimera

Role: Nemesis Bruiser / Controller Where It Appears: Broken highlands, cursed breeding pits, remote ruins, volcanic scrub.

A chimera is a living argument between three hungers. It is not smart in a human way, but each head watches, reacts, and remembers different threats. This makes it hard to distract and harder to flank.

What It Is

A chimera is a composite predator with three competing centers of appetite: lion, goat, and serpent. Each head watches a different part of the battlefield and responds with different instincts. The result is not intelligence so much as overlapping vigilance.

Ecology and Behavior

Chimeras claim broken highlands, ruined watchtowers, volcanic scrub, and cliffs where they can see prey from multiple angles. They are territorial and irritable because their own instincts do not fully agree. One head may want to feed, another to posture, another to strike at movement.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: mixed tracks from one body, scorched and poisoned carcasses, horn-scarred stone, three-direction watch marks near a lair, prey remains dragged to high ground.

Adventuring Lore (Average): identifies mixed tracks and knows the creature is hard to flank.

Natural Philosophy (Hard): knows which head controls which attack and which glands are valuable.

Survival (Hard): reads which head has been dominant recently from feeding remains and predicts opening behavior.

Tactics: The chimera opens with breath, gores armored targets, bites fallen prey, and serpent-strikes anyone trying to circle. It resists feints well but can be baited by presenting different threats to different heads.

Encounter Use: Use terrain that lets each head matter: ledges, broken walls, multiple approaches, and a reason the party cannot simply back away. Let players discover that blinding or distracting one head does not solve the whole creature.

Variants

Pit-Bred Chimera: Nemesis, WND 26, gains 1 Boon to attacks while in an arena, kennel, or enclosed ruin.

Old Three-Hunger: Nemesis, STR 16, Discordant Breath can choose both Burn 2 and Poison 2 by spending 2 Strain.

Dunemaw Pit

Role: Elite Ambusher Where It Appears: Deep dunes, dry basins, caravan grave routes. Source: Dort Monsters - Dunemaw Pit.

A Dunemaw Pit is the desert pretending to be empty. It is not a pit dug by another creature but a buried, sessile predator: a muscular throat, inward teeth, and tendrils lying just beneath the sand until weight and vibration wake it.

What It Is

The visible creature is usually only a circular depression, a ripple under sand, or a caravan animal suddenly dropping where the ground seemed solid. The main body remains buried and moves slowly through loose substrate between meals. A large Dunemaw can swallow a pack animal and leave behind only a collapsed bowl of stained sand.

Ecology and Behavior

Dunemaws feed rarely. One large meal can sustain a pit for months, which is why known territories can seem safe for long stretches before killing several travelers in one day. They detect vibration and prefer heavy targets: camels, wagons, armored people, and anyone running.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: circular depressions, absence of small animal tracks, wind-smoothed bowls, old cairns that seem misplaced, faint sand breathing, scattered cargo without bodies.

Survival or Adventuring Lore (Average): identifies likely Dunemaw ground and safe spacing for a caravan.

Survival (Hard): spots a buried Dunemaw before it opens, usually by reading track absence rather than the creature itself.

Natural Philosophy (Hard): identifies old feeding bowls and predicts relocation direction from sand collapse.

Tactics: The Dunemaw opens from concealment, grabs the heaviest target, and retreats below the surface rather than fighting the whole group. It targets rescue attempts with tendrils because moving bodies create more vibration.

Encounter Use: One Dunemaw is a rescue scene. Two are a disaster. Use spacing, pack animals, wagons, water skins, ropes, and the question of whether the party saves cargo or people first.

Variants

Brood Dunemaw: Minion version, WND 4 each, Group Size 2-4, no Pull Under suffocation.

Old Route Dunemaw: Elite, WND 15, Buried Predator adds 3 Banes to detection after a sandstorm, but it cannot relocate quickly after feeding.

Griffon

Role: Elite Harrier / Guardian Where It Appears: Mountain aeries, noble hunting ranges, high passes.

Griffons are proud, trainable only when raised from the shell, and violently possessive of nesting cliffs. Wild griffons target horses first; trained ones learn to target commanders.

What It Is

A griffon is an eagle-fronted, lion-bodied aerial predator with a particular hatred for vulnerable mounts. It is strong enough to carry a rider, proud enough to resist humiliation, and smart enough to remember the difference between a handler and a thief.

Ecology and Behavior

Griffons nest on cliffs overlooking grazing, roads, or high passes. They hunt by stoop, seize with talons, and retreat to ledges where ground-bound prey cannot easily follow. Their territories are often contested by nobles who want prestige beasts and shepherds who want their herds alive.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: plucked horse remains, lion-like scat with feathers, cliff nests lined with tack, claw marks on saddle leather, mounts refusing a pass.

Survival (Average): identifies griffon sign and nest direction.

Riding (Hard): keeps mounts from panicking at scent or overhead cries.

Lore or Riding (Hard): distinguishes wild, noble-trained, and military-trained behavior.

Tactics: A griffon scatters mounts, seizes isolated targets, and defends its nest before pursuing fleeing prey. Trained griffons target officers, banners, and exposed casters under rider command.

Encounter Use: Griffons are excellent for mounted travel complications, noble beast politics, stolen egg plots, and cliffside rescues. Make the horses matter.

Variants

Noble-Trained Griffon: Elite, gains Riding 4 when mounted and will withdraw to protect its rider.

Aerie Matron: Nemesis, WND 26, Horse Terror affects Medium range while defending eggs.

Harpy

Role: Elite Harrier / Controller Where It Appears: Coastal cliffs, mountain passes, ancient ruins, anywhere with good thermals and travelers below.

The song is not beautiful. It is specifically calibrated to make you think it is beautiful, which is a different thing.

What It Is

A Harpy is a winged humanoid predator with human upper body, avian wings and lower body, and a call that interferes with the listener's judgment. The song does not create love or loyalty; it creates a compulsive need to approach, which is sufficient for the harpy's purposes.

Ecology and Behavior

Harpies nest in small groups on inaccessible cliffs and hunt roads, ships, and coastal settlements. Their nests are dense with stolen objects — not hoarded for value, but accumulated because the harpy instinct is to carry things back. Food, trinkets, and occasionally survivors who got close enough.

Signs and Knowledge

Survival (Average): identifies harpy nesting sites by whitewash, debris, and the absence of other cliff birds.

Adventuring Lore (Average): knows about the compulsion song and the value of ears blocked before contact.

Tactics: One harpy sings; others dive on distracted targets. If prey blocks ears, they shift to direct aerial harassment, forcing people toward ledges.

Encounter Use: Give the party warning — harpy territory is known locally. The correct preparation (blocked ears, ranged weapons, staying off ledges) should be achievable.

Variants

Harpy Matron: Nemesis, WND 26, Luring Song affects two targets simultaneously, Charm 5.

Hippogriff

Role: Elite Harrier / Mount Where It Appears: Highland stables, courier orders, wild cliff meadows.

Hippogriffs are more social and less murderous than griffons, but they are still predators with hooves. A trained hippogriff is a strategic asset. A frightened one is a falling accident looking for a rider.

What It Is

A hippogriff is a horse-bodied, eagle-fronted flying beast prized as a courier mount and highland riding animal. Compared to griffons, hippogriffs are more social, more trainable, and less inclined to treat every horse as prey. That does not make them safe.

Ecology and Behavior

Wild hippogriffs graze and hunt in cliff meadows, highland valleys, and windy plateaus. They form loose herds with dominant breeding pairs and several young adults. They prefer flight to combat and usually flee unless cornered or defending young.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: mixed hoof and talon tracks, clipped high meadow grass, down feathers in saddle brush, cliff dung, circular landing marks.

Riding (Average): handles a trained animal in calm conditions.

Riding (Hard): controls panic climb after injury or thunder.

Survival (Hard): approaches a wild herd without triggering flight.

Tactics: Wild hippogriffs flee unless cornered. Trained ones strike and reposition under rider command. If injured, they climb first and think later.

Encounter Use: More useful as mount, prize, rescue target, courier asset, or aerial travel complication than as a pure enemy. The conflict is often ownership, trust, weather, or a bad landing.

Variants

Courier Hippogriff: Elite, Sure Wing grants 2 Boons for long-distance travel checks, but WND drops to 12.

Wild Cliff Stallion: Nemesis, WND 24, STR 11, Panic Climb may trigger twice per encounter and can carry a grabbed target upward.

Manticore

Role: Nemesis Lurker / Harrier Where It Appears: Badlands, canyon roads, ruined towers, dry mountain caves.

Manticores are intelligent enough to bargain and cruel enough that bargaining rarely helps. They prefer toll-taking ambushes, riddling threats, and slow pursuit of prey that wounded their pride.

What It Is

A manticore is a leonine predator with a barbed tail, a face too close to human comfort, and enough language to make cruelty deliberate. It is not a mastermind, but it understands fear, bargaining, and the value of a hostage on a canyon road.

Ecology and Behavior

Manticores claim badland caves, ruined towers, canyon ledges, and dry mountain shelves where tail spines can reach roads below. They hunt livestock, travelers, and rival predators. Some establish toll territories and learn local coinage, titles, and insults.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: tail-spine kills, bones below ledges, scratched riddles or threats, carcasses left as warnings, voices from above in empty canyons.

Adventuring Lore (Average): identifies tail-spine kills and likely firing perches.

Negotiation or Intimidation (Hard): can buy time if the manticore is not hungry or publicly insulted.

Survival (Hard): identifies whether the manticore is nesting, toll-taking, or stalking a specific target.

Tactics: The manticore opens from height with spines, taunts healers or archers, and lands only to finish isolated prey. If negotiations begin, it keeps a line of retreat and demands something humiliating as well as useful.

Encounter Use: Let it talk. A silent manticore is wasted. Use it when the encounter should include insults, delay, tolls, hostages, and the risk that the monster follows the party later.

Variants

Old Toll Manticore: Nemesis, Negotiation 4, Deception 4, and knows local names, debts, and road customs.

Spine-Sick Manticore: Elite, WND 14, fewer spines but Poison 3; erratic and harder to bargain with.

Marsh Troll

Role: Nemesis Lurker / Bruiser Where It Appears: Marshes, peat bogs, drowned roads, reed-choked ruins.

Marsh trolls are less talkative than bridge trolls and more patient. They preserve stolen goods under water and sometimes arrange bones as territory markers.

What It Is

A Marsh Troll is a wetland ambush brute with mossy hide, long arms, and the patience to wait under black water until a crossing becomes a drowning. It is related in table role to the bridge troll, but not in temperament. It bargains less and drags more.

Ecology and Behavior

Marsh Trolls claim drowned roads, peat bogs, reed-choked ruins, and old causeways where travelers cannot move quickly. They preserve stolen goods under water, wedge bones into territory markers, and learn which paths locals avoid.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: false reed beds, troll stink under peat gas, bones tied into mud markers, gear preserved under water, missing bridge planks near marsh crossings.

Survival (Hard): identifies false reed beds, troll stink, and safe footing.

Adventuring Lore (Hard): knows to use fire, acid, or salt before wounds close.

Negotiation or Intimidation (Hard): may redirect a fed troll, but a hungry one wants bodies more than words.

Tactics: The troll ambushes from water, grabs, submerges, and retreats through mud channels. It targets rescuers, torch bearers, and anyone carrying salt or acid.

Encounter Use: Use in poor visibility where rescue is difficult. The encounter should be about mud, water depth, line of sight, and whether the party can keep fire alive.

Variants

Peat-Bog Troll: Nemesis, Stealth 4 in bogs, Swamp Regrowth recovers 4 Wounds unless stopped.

Salt-Scarred Marsh Troll: Nemesis, WND 17, regrows only 2 Wounds but adds 1 Boon against anyone carrying salt.

Owlcat Brute

Role: Elite Ambusher Where It Appears: Old forests, moonlit ruins, silent hunting preserves.

The owlcat brute fills the same ecological fear as several tavern stories: something large enough to maul a horse and quiet enough to do it beside a campfire. It sees small motion in darkness and hates bells.

What It Is

An Owlcat Brute is a large feline predator with an owl-like facial disk, feathered shoulders, and silent paws. It is built to notice tiny movements in darkness and cross leaf litter without warning. The first obvious sign is often the absence of all smaller night sounds.

Ecology and Behavior

Owlcat Brutes haunt old forests, moonlit ruins, overgrown hunting preserves, and abandoned estates where stone and branch both offer high perches. They stalk from above, wait for repeated patterns, and pounce on movement at the edge of light.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: silent kill sites, no alarm calls from birds, talon-like claw marks on bark, feathered fur caught on stone, prey dragged upward before being eaten.

Survival (Hard): identifies owlcat kills and likely approach routes.

Perception (Hard): notices the absence of normal night sounds before the attack.

Adventuring Lore (Average): knows bells, pans, or other metallic noise can startle it briefly.

Tactics: The owlcat watches from above, pounces on the smallest moving target, and drags prey into brush or up broken stone. If startled by bells, it relocates rather than immediately fleeing.

Encounter Use: Use as a stalking encounter where the party knows something is nearby before it strikes. The warning should be atmospheric but concrete: missing sound, disturbed birds, or a pack animal staring upward.

Variants

Moon-Ruin Owlcat: Elite, Stealth 5 in ruins, Bell Startle affects it only once per scene.

Old Man-Eater Brute: Nemesis, WND 34, STR 12, gains Deception 2 for baiting camps with dragged gear or false sounds.

Roc

Role: Nemesis Apex Harrier Where It Appears: Remote mountain ranges, high desert cliffs, storm coasts.

A roc is a weather event with talons. It does not hate villages; it mistakes their largest animals, carts, and sometimes roofs for things worth carrying away.

What It Is

A roc is a colossal predatory bird large enough to turn a valley into a hunting ground. Its wings shadow roads. Its talons can take wagons, aurochs, siege beasts, and sections of roof if the shape reads as prey from above.

It is not malicious and does not need to be. Scale makes its mistakes catastrophic.

Ecology and Behavior

Rocs nest in remote heights with access to vast hunting territories. Their routes become part of local weather wisdom: certain passes go silent, shepherds move herds early, and villages build heavy shelters not for storms but for shadows.

A roc feeds infrequently but dramatically. It seizes large prey, climbs, and drops anything that fights too hard. Scavengers and smaller predators follow the aftermath of a roc kill for days.

Signs and Knowledge

Field signs: enormous shadow crossings, cliff nests visible as whole-tree structures, livestock vanished without blood trails, crushed roof beams, long wing-scrape marks in snow or sand.

Survival (Hard): identifies a roc hunting route and likely return window.

Adventuring Lore (Hard): knows that heavy cover and anchoring matter more than shooting upward.

Operate or Craft (Hard): can secure carts, siege gear, or roofs against being mistaken for portable prey.

Tactics: The roc seizes the largest visible prey, climbs, drops it if harmed, and returns from another angle. It uses Wingstorm when grounded or when too many small attackers cluster near its legs.

Encounter Use: A roc encounter is about shelter, panic, anchoring, and verticality. Give the party things to secure: children, pack animals, a bridge crew, a royal carriage, a siege engine, or themselves.

Variants

Young Roc: Elite, WND 11, cannot grab wagon-sized targets, Drop Prey max Damage 5.

Storm-Coast Roc: Nemesis, RDEF 4 in storms and Wingstorm also extinguishes mundane flames at Short range.

Ruin Basilisk

Role: Elite Controller Where It Appears: Ancient ruins, statue gardens, mineral springs.

What It Is

Ruin basilisks are smaller cousins of the Stone-Gaze Basilisk adapted to long-abandoned settlements. Their mineralization is slower but harder to notice until joints lock. They are mottled, low-bodied reptiles with stone-colored hides, mineral blooms along the spine, and patient eyes that look like wet pebbles.

Unlike the larger Stone-Gaze Basilisk, a ruin basilisk rarely dominates a whole region. It dominates a courtyard, bath complex, statue garden, or broken plaza where cover and false silhouettes make its gaze difficult to track.

Ecology and Behavior

Ruin basilisks favor places already full of stone shapes. They nest among statues, broken columns, mineral springs, and old civic monuments. Their prey becomes part of the camouflage over time: stiff birds on fountain rims, rats frozen in cracks, a thief crouched forever behind a plinth.

Signs and Knowledge

Survival or Adventuring Lore (Hard) identifies too many small statues with fear postures. Natural Philosophy (Average) recognizes fresh mineral blooms on old stone.

Tactics

A ruin basilisk hides among statues, uses Slow Gaze, retreats through rubble, and repeats once panic spreads. It avoids direct melee unless cornered or facing a target already slowed by mineralization. It uses broken sight lines well, stepping behind pillars and reappearing where the party expected a statue.

The encounter should reward observation. Covering eyes, using mirrors, knocking down false statues, tracking fresh dust, and forcing the basilisk into open ground are all meaningful responses.

Variants

• Fountain Basilisk: Lairs in mineral water and leaves victims crusted with white stone.
• Statue Garden Basilisk: Almost impossible to spot while still among carved figures.
• Civic Ruin Basilisk: Has learned patrol routes through plazas, arcades, and old courtrooms.

Stonehook Crawler

Role: Elite Ambusher / Controller Where It Appears: Caverns, tomb ceilings, mine shafts, underbridges.

What It Is

Stonehook crawlers hang where torchlight is worst. They hook prey, lift it off the ground, and wait for companions to make bad climbing choices. Their many legs end in hardened stone hooks that bite into ceilings, bridge undersides, and carved vault ribs.

Ecology and Behavior

Stonehook crawlers live in vertical territory: shafts, bell towers, sinkholes, cavern chimneys, and ruined bridges. They need rough overhead surfaces and retreat crevices. Their nests are piles of dropped belongings, cracked bones, and shed hooks cemented to stone with a chalky secretion.

Signs and Knowledge

Perception (Hard) notices claw scars overhead. Adventuring Lore (Hard) predicts drop zones.

Tactics

A stonehook crawler drops on a rear or isolated target, grabs, and climbs. Once above the floor, it uses height as a weapon: biting, threatening to drop prey, and forcing rescuers to climb under pressure. If badly hurt, it may release its victim to cover its retreat.

The encounter is strongest when the vertical space matters. Give the room beams, chains, ledges, hanging roots, or old scaffolds so players can respond without simply rolling attacks from below.

Variants

• Bridge Crawler: Hunts from bridge undersides and drops prey into water or ravines.

• Tomb Crawler: Smaller, quieter, and adapted to carved ceilings.

• Deep Hook Matriarch: Larger Elite or Nemesis specimen that controls a whole vertical shaft.

Thorn Cockatrice

Role: Minion Controller / Pest Where It Appears: Farms near old ruins, hedge mazes, abandoned orchards.

Thorn cockatrices are territorial pests whose peck carries a stiffening venom. They are less deadly than basilisks but far more likely to be encountered in numbers near people.

Signs and Knowledge: Survival (Average) identifies three-toed tracks and quill scratches. Medicine (Hard) knows how to counter the venom.

Troll

Role: Elite Bruiser / Regenerator Where It Appears: Wetland edges, ruined buildings, cave mouths, ravines, anywhere water is close and food comes through predictably.

A troll is not clever. It does not need to be. It heals.

What It Is

Trolls are large, long-limbed, and built around one biological fact: their tissue regenerates at a rate that makes most wounds temporary. Cut off a limb, it grows back. Bring it to zero Wounds, and if you walk away, it gets up again. The only reliable answer is fire or acid, both of which interrupt the regeneration cycle at the tissue level.

Ecology and Behavior

Trolls live near predictable food sources — wetlands with fish and waterfowl, ravines with road traffic, cave systems near animal trails. They eat large volumes and frequently. They are not territorial in the way a predator with a plan is territorial; they are territorial the way a fire is: whatever is nearby gets consumed first.

Signs and Knowledge

Survival (Average): identifies troll kills — multiple deep gashes, little blood left on the carcass, regenerated severed limbs left behind.

Adventuring Lore (Average): knows the fire/acid requirement; knows cutting attacks heal back.

Tactics: The troll charges, claws, and ignores most damage. It targets whoever is dealing the most damage. It does not run — it has no reason to believe anything can stop it. If fire appears, it flinches, which is the first sign it understands fear.

Encounter Use: Use a troll to punish parties that rely on attrition without a plan. The correct preparation — fire, acid, a torch, a bottle of oil — should feel rewarding. Discovery mid-fight that regeneration exists should feel terrifying.

Variants

River Troll: Elite, RES 5, gains Stealth 3 in water and Drown Pull (as Marsh Troll). Smaller than a standard troll but faster.

Cave Troll: Elite, WND 18, STR 16. Regeneration recovers 4 Wounds. Blind in daylight.

Ruin Basilisk

Component	Value	Use	Harvest
Eye lenses	600-1,400 gold Flargons	Petrification study, mineral sight charms	Medicine and Natural Philosophy (Hard)
Mineral spines	400-1,000 gold Flargons	Stonebinding reagents, sculptor's pigments	Survival or Craft (Average)
Gizzard stones	250-700 gold Flargons	Antidote research, masonry rituals	Medicine (Average)

Stonehook Crawler

Component	Value	Use	Harvest
Hook claws	200-500 gold Flargons	Climbing gear, pit traps, grapnels	Craft or Survival (Average)
Chalk secretion	150-450 gold Flargons	Stone adhesive and masonry repairs	Craft (Hard), dries quickly
Vibration plates	300-750 gold Flargons	Tremor alarms, sensitive locks	Natural Philosophy (Hard)

Troll

Harvest	Buyer	Check	Typical Value	Use	Complication
Regenerative Tissue	Battlefield surgeon, alchemist	Hard Medicine within one hour of acid/fire death	800–2,000 gold Flargons	Healing research, graft experiments	Still tries to regrow; must be acid-preserved
Troll Bile	Tanner, acid worker	Hard Medicine	400–1,200 gold Flargons	Preservation acid, anti-regrowth compounds	Burns through ordinary containers