Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Dr. Gori Unleashes... THE MIGHTY MOONTHUNDER.


Moonthunder

No. Enc.:  1 (1d6)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  90' (30')
         —Fly:  360' (120')
Armor Class:  2
Hit Dice:  14
Attacks:  2 or 1 (2 claws, or 1 tailslap)
Damage:  2d8 / 2d8, or 2d6
Save:  L10
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  1d4 eggs (See Below)
XP:  8,700








Ahhh, Moonthunder...what a fortuitous discovery you were.  Just as I prepped my saucer's weapons to destroy the Apollo astronauts for treading in my cosmic domain, you erupted from the lunar surface and did the job for me.  How foolish they were for stealing your precious eggs!

And now, here on Earth, you wreak a savage vengeance.  Humanity's space programs and museums are in ruins!!!  Smash these troglodytes back to the Stone Age, mighty Moonthunder!!!


Moonthunders are powerful, dinosaur-sized bipeds with knobby hides, frilled necks, and leathery wingflaps.  Hatchet-shaped growths jut from their snouts.  Moonthunders rocket through the galaxy at incredible speeds (easily keeping pace with advanced spacecraft) and dig subterranean dens on barren planetoids, asteroids, and lunar bodies.  Each lair always contains 2d4 eggs, which frequently dislodge and scatter across the landscape.

Given their harsh habitats, moonthunders are utterly immune to adverse effects from temperature extremes, radiation, gasses (as they don't breathe), pressure, and vacuums. Crushing oceanic depths are accordingly no hindrance to the creatures.

Moonthunders can unerringly track their crystalline eggs over thousands of miles, and as the creatures close in, both their snout-growths and eggs pulsate with purple radioactivity.  This link proved problematic for The Ancients, for as they explored outer space, numerous "moon rocks" were returned to earth for study...rocks which happened to contain monstrous embryos.  Many Ancient spaceports, museums, planetariums, laboratories, and military installations were destroyed as surly moonthunders landed planetside to retrieve what was theirs in the most destructive of fashions. 

Moonthunder hatchlings are trainable as pets and allies—assuming their parents don't come calling, that is—and can theoretically be outfitted with specialized harnesses so as to make them "living airships".

Mutations:  Aberrant Form ("Deep Space Adaptations"), Increased Sense (Vision), Reflective Epidermis (Cold, Fire / Heat, Radiation), Optic Snoutic Emissions (Bright Snout, Gamma Snout), Unique Sense ("Moonrock Tracking")










[Moonthunder appears courtesy of Episodes 34-35 from the 1971 TV series, Spectreman.]