Mawg Escavador

Encontros Pendrake

An average burrow-mawg may be no bigger than a large house cat, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that if cats were even one-tenth as ferocious as a burrow-mawg, you would not find a feline in any city from Uldenfrost to Caspia. Burrow-mawgs sport massive claws, a maw full of serrated fangs, and glowing red eyes. These red-furred fiends are hunger incarnate. If you encounter them, keep plenty of explosives, have a warjack handy, or a very fast mount.
— Viktor Pendrake

The fortunes of war change daily. One day it is the blue and gold who find favor with the gods; another, the red. The terrible engines of conflict grind ever onward, fueled by the many and varied supply depots scattered over the landscape. Sometimes these depots are overrun and the materials carried away for use elsewhere. Occasionally, however, a supply depot is abandoned and forgotten, and something far more vicious takes up residence there.
Designed for four PCs of 4th level, this encounter takes place in and around an underground bunker. Although the exact location is unimportant, the party will be traveling in a moderately hilly area of forest.

Encounter Background

The party could be in the area near the depot for any number of reasons. This encounter could be random or could have more meaning to a group specifically looking for burrow-mawgs or other supernatural creatures. Some ideas include:

• The players have been tasked by the local military to locate the missing supply depot in hopes of finding some useful material. Records are incomplete. Only the general area is known. A more general search of the area will be required to find the supply depot.
• Several farmers have approached the players about recent savage attacks on their herds. The animals have been stripped clean, so the farmers are offering a silver piece bounty on each burrow-mawg corpse brought back.
• Several shepherds have reported hearing a woman crying out in the wilderness over the past several days. The players have been asked to explore the wilderness in that area to find any evidence of the woman.
• A bone-grinder (Monsternomicon Vol. 1, pp. 224–228) has heard from the local farmers that burrow-mawgs may be nesting nearby and has asked the players to gather some burrow-mawg corpses for him to use.

The Damsel in Distress (EL 1)

The party travels through a hilly area forested with thick pines, perhaps exploring the area for some reason, when they hear a woman’s voice crying out for help somewhere in the distance. Actually, there is no woman, but rather a very clever group of bogrin, one of whom is an excellent mimic. Presumably, the party will move to investigate and will discover a cave entrance in the side of a tree-covered hill.

Read Aloud
As you locate the source of the cries, you come across what look to be the signs of some recent struggle. A broken dagger, a discarded boot, and a few broken arrows litter the area surrounding a dark cave entrance. A flutter of cloth catches your eye and upon closer examination, you find a few scraps of light blue cloth — perhaps from a woman’s dress — caught in the brambles of a bush near the cave entrance. You see that, clearly, someone was recently dragged down into the cave, leaving two grooves from boot or shoe heels trailing into the darkness.As you locate the source of the cries, you come across what look to be the signs of some recent struggle. A broken dagger, a discarded boot, and a few broken arrows litter the area surrounding a dark cave entrance. A flutter of cloth catches your eye and upon closer examination, you find a few scraps of light blue cloth — perhaps from a woman’s dress — caught in the brambles of a bush near the cave entrance. You see that, clearly, someone was recently dragged down into the cave, leaving two grooves from boot or shoe heels trailing into the darkness.

Conditions

The party should hear the woman’s voice during early daylight. The bogrin have chosen this location for its nest of burrow-mawgs and lure unsuspecting adventurers here. A disguised stone slab falls into place over the cave entrance to trap the victims, and the bogrin wait for the burrow-mawgs to awaken at dusk to devour the trapped adventurers. The following day when the burrow-mawgs are asleep, the bogrin use a hidden pulley system to pull the stone block away from the entrance, then sneak into the cave to collect what loot survived the feeding frenzy.

Use Rolling Rock trap and Light and Darkness rules.

Read Aloud After Trap Is Sprung
As you follow the narrow tunnel deeper into the darkness, you hear a loud scraping noise behind you. A large stone slab slides down from above the cave entrance to land with a loud thud. You are plunged into darkness; not even a sliver of light shines around the slab that blocks your exit. Rank and cloying, like rotting meat, the smell from the tunnel’s deeper recesses finally reaches your noses. You are almost certain you hear small yips and growling coming from the darkness ahead.

A1 — Burrow-Mawg Den/Abandoned Supply Depot (EL 1)

The tunnel looks to have been dug out by some large burrowing creature and extends only about thirty feet from the entrance before opening into the main chamber. Once part of the supply depot/steamjack repair facility, the chamber measures at least a hundred feet across, with ceilings twenty feet high and braced with wooden slats. Placed throughout the room, large wooden pillars serve as supports for the roof. Chains that dangle from above, seemingly at random, were undoubtedly once used to move equipment. Four human-sized corpses lie side-by-side near the entrance.

A DC 10 Knowledge (nature) check reveals the bodies have been savaged by some sort of animal, which left little flesh on the gnawed bones. The cave-in likely happened a decade ago, but these remains are much fresher. Additionally, a Search check (DC 10) shows that the bodies seem to have been looted post-mortem and everything of value removed. Only a few scraps of clothing and ruined armor remain. Scattered around the rest of the room are various stacks of debris and equipment.

If the party can cast a light source far enough, they will see that the southern portion of the chamber has collapsed. Tons of earth and rock now bury whatever used to be there. On the western side of the chamber, another passage leads farther into the darkness.

The squares with burrow-mawgs are marked with a “B.” King Mawg, the alpha male, is noted with a “KM.” The half-buried crate containing the ten barrels of red powder is marked with an “RB.”

There is a 10% chance the burrow-mawg awakens each time a party member comes within 5´ of its square. If a party member enters a square inhabited by a burrow-mawg, it automatically awakens and attacks. If a burrow-mawg is engaged in combat, the party has two rounds to defeat it before its growling wakes other nearby burrow-mawgs.

Read Aloud If/When a Burrow-Mawg Is Disturbed
As you move forward, your feet brush against a small shape that suddenly moves. Two red glowing eyes appear and a low growl emanates from its throat as it attacks.

A2 — Cavewort Passage (EL 1)

The passage on the far side of the chamber measures only about twenty feet long. An aggressive plant species called cavewort covers the ceilings of the middle two 5´ x 5´ squares. A Spot check (DC15) reveals to the players that the bones of burrow-mawgs litter the floor. Whenever any living creature enters the square, the cavewort’s acidic tendrils will drop down in an attempt to snare the prey.

A3 — Shambler Room (EL 2)

Beyond the cavewort passage, five barrels clearly marked “Black Powder” line the left and right walls of a 20´ x 20´ room. Near a few of them, a human body lies slumped, the face hidden by stringy hair. If the party approaches the body, a shambler (see Creatures, pl. 77) rises up to kill anyone it can. After the shambler is defeated, you find a hastily scribbled note on the body. It will reveal him to be the final member of the military detachment at the depot, trapped here after the cave-in. He had planned to use a mixture of red and black powder to blast his way out, but his leg had been broken in the cave-in and the red powder partially buried out of reach. With no means of escape, he took his own life rather than become victim to the burrow-mawgs.

It is fairly well known in the Iron Kingdoms that red powder mixed with black powder causes an explosion. If the party can retrieve several barrels of red powder from the rubble (where the burrow-mawgs are sleeping) and set them up with several barrels of black powder, they can very likely blow open the cave entrance and escape before night falls and the burrow-mawgs awaken. A Craft (alchemy) or Knowledge (dungeoneering) check (DC 10) indicates that five barrels of each powder should be sufficient to blow open the entrance.

Use 10 burrow-mawg, three bogrin and cavewort for this encouter

Read Aloud Upon Escaping the Cave
The sound of a massive explosion washes back into the main chamber, followed suddenly by a cloud of dust and debris. Growls and snarls from the room behind you indicate the burrow-mawgs are not particularly happy to have been awakened. As you race down the tunnel toward freedom, you see daylight pouring in the entrance ahead. You have been trapped underground so long, you welcome the bright glare of the sun. You glance back at the entrance to see little shapes scurrying around, apparently unwilling to come into the light. As you glance around the clearing, you see three small figures flee the scene. They appear to have big ears and greenish skin.

Further Adventures

The events in this encounter can lead to other encounters or more detailed adventures. Some possibilities are:

• If the party does not manage to purge the cave of the burrow-mawgs, the local farmers might be willing to pay them to return and exterminate the nest.
• The local military might be highly motivated to reacquire the site as a supply depot or to simply get their hands on any salvageable equipment. The party might be able to make a fair bit of coin excavating the rest of the depot and selling the equipment they find there.
• If the party brings back the body of King Mawg for the bounty and it is not too badly mangled, the owner of a traveling circus wishes to buy the body of the monster.
• A cloaked man approaches the party. He offers them good money to escort him back to the burrow-mawg nest and help him harvest the beasts’ adrenal glands, a popular drug among the region’s bored nobility.

Mawgs-escavadores são criaturinhas desprezíveis, com um tremendo apetite por carne. Alguns chamam-nos de piranhas terrestres, pois atacam em bandos e consomem carne da mesma forma que os vorazes peixes. Pessoalmente, já testemunhei um bando descarnar um boi de tamanho considerável, e tremo
ao pensar no que essas feras podem fazer a um homem. Há histórias dessas criaturas pegando viajantes desprevenidos à noite, e deixando nada além de tecido rasgado e ossos, como os únicos restos do infeliz quando chega a manhã.

Em aparência, esses monstros lembram uma mistura de texugo e um grande morcego. São cobertos por uma camada de pêlos marrom-avermelhados, com quatro longas garras negras no extremo de cada membro poderoso. As garras têm o mesmo compri-mento dos dedos de um homem, e possuem duas finalidades: escavar a terra e rasgar carne. Os mawgs-escavadores têm dois olhos vermelhos que concede extraordinária visão noturna, focinhos virados para cima de onde pinga muco, e que podem farejar carne viva a meia légua
de distância, e orelhas pontudas, semelhantes às dos morcegos, que podem detectar sons mínimos ao longe. Contudo, sua característica mais assustadora são suas fortes e prodigiosas mandíbulas, repletas de dúzias de presas serrilha-das. Esses dentes curvados adaptam-se perfeitamente à função de serrar não apenas carne, mas também cartilagem e osso. Diz-se que um mawg pode cortar o antebraço de um homem em menos de dois segundos.

Pistas de mawgs-escavadores nas proximidades vêm da selvageria de seus movimentos e de seus hábitos de faro. Quando estão em caçada, esses monstros barulhentos fazem pequenos grunhidos suínos, e farejam
com grande barulho. Uma vez que a presa seja detectada, guincham muito alto, enquanto salti-tam para seu alvo. Dependem quase que exclusi-
vamente de seu extraordinário olfato e audição sempre que estão em aberto durante o dia, pois são quase cegos exceto à noite. Na escuridão, a visão de um mawg é bastante aguçada. De fato, quase sempre surgem à noite, preferindo esconder-se em suas tocas e dormir durante o dia. Uma maneira de mantê-los afastados é através de luz, mas caso não tenham comido há algum tempo, essas cria-turas vão superar suas prefe-rências, com ou sem luz, para saciar seus apetites vorazes.

Alguns usam essa fome con-tra os monstros, pois os mawgs lançam-se ao perigo sem medo algum por comida. De fato, presume-se que, em épocas de escassez, eles comem uns aos outros. Isto, junto com o fato de que os mawgs-escavadores são capazes de pular numa fornalha para perseguir carne, é o que provavelmente mantém a população dessas horríveis feras sob controle.

Combate

Mawgs-escavadores atacam imediatamente ao primeiro odor de comida, caso pareça que eles têm números suficientes para derrubar sua presa.
Cegueira Diurna: exposição abrupta a luz brilhante do dia o deixa cego.

Tesouro

Ocasionalmente, itens valiosos, como gemas, moedas e outros pequenos objetos, podem ser encontrados em covis de mawgs-escavadores ou em qualquer outro lugar onde as criaturas tenham defecado. A glândula adrenal, localizada na base do seu cérebro, é cheia do hormônio que dá às feras sua excepcional compleição.

Lendas & Fatos

COMUM: nenhum.
INCOMUM: mawgs-escavadores não toleram luz direta. Raramente são vistos durante o dia, e hibernam nas partes mais profundas de seus covis durante os meses do verão.
RARO: comer a glândula adrenal de um mawg-escavador aumen-ta a capacidade física de quem a come. Este órgão, contudo, é bastante viciante.
OBSCURO: as criaturas comunicam-se através de pequenos estalos no meio de seus grunhidos, embora sua “linguagem” não pareça ser muito complexa.

Ganchos

As glândulas adrenais de mawgs-escavadores tornaram-se a droga da moda entre a nobreza local. As glândulas são valorizadas entre a nobreza não apenas pelos benefícios obtidos em combate ao consumi-las, mas pelo “barato” que vem com as capacidades físicas ampliadas. Basta dizer que os nobres estão pagando bem por carcaças frescas de mawgs-escavadores.

“Aqueles mawgzinhos asquerosos têm uma fome tão terrível que só existem duas falhas que eu conheça que podem ajudar você a enganar um deles. Uma, eles ficam malucos quando sentem cheiro de sangue; comem até mesmo uns aos outros. Duas, depois que eles sentem um gostinho, perdem toda a noção de tudo o mais. São capazes de pular de um penhasco ou direto para a boca de um dracodilo para perseguir carne que já experimentaram.”
— Bors “Caminhante” Durant, batedor cygnarano

Fonte: Monsternomicon Vol.1