The Plains of the Grand and High Mesa are a wild space largely devoid of human settlement and untouched for an age at least. Many hooved creatures graze and stalk the grasslands and high jungle a few of which are detailed here.
Dwyvohr
From a distance the beasts would hardly cause alarm. Hooved, short furred, and traveling on four legs, the Dwyvohr would not seem a miss at first glance upon the plain.
A close inspection reveals endless horrors. These creatures stand 8 feet tall at the shoulder and in total as they have no heads. Their strange appearance is unnatural and surely the result of eldritch meddling. Each end of the creature is dominated by a large sphincter lined with low rows of dull flatt stone like grinding teeth. The creature’s sensory organs dangle on udderlike eye stalks present on one end. The distended pseudo-mammary actually houses the creature’s brain and well placed shots to this area are instantly fatal
The Dwhyvohr consume meat whole by first coating and lubricating it with a deep red slime that oozes from its sphincters and can be shot from its eyes and then sliding its body over its prey to encase them in their constricting stomachs. The Dhyvohr ferments the corpse and regularly regurgitates pieces into its teeth lined orifices to be ground down. The fermented gore takes on a strong lactic acid smell that is not wholly unpleasant to those raised on cured meat or bold cheese and is the main ingredient of slime that drips and oozes from the beast.
This effluence is hard to stand in or walk through and if concentrated on a victim can cause them to drop weaponry or other items. A soul sucked inside the beast will find they can not easily move their arms to effect a blow without an enormous feat of strength and will suffocate in con+str-3d6 rounds. Death is sometimes instant due to a broken neck. Fortunately a conscious and unwilling target will avoid this fate on a 4 in 6 chance modified by dex even after a successful attack roll.
The Dwyvohr dwells in grassland and can be tracked by the slippery trails they often leave behind. Their own spiked hooves prevent them being affected by their own grease. They travel in small packs of 2d6-1 members. If a lone Dwyvor is rolled it will be a lone buck with an extra Hit Die. 1 in 6 has a Canker Stone in their gut appearing like a reverse geode that will be worth 3d4x10 gp.
Mesa Steeds
The Mustangs of the mesa ride free of horsemen. They seldom look different from a riding horse at first glance but their coats are generally gray and adorned with nearly imperceptible stripes and patterns hidden in their undercoat.
The Steeds are highly intelligent, speak the local common tongue fluently, and travel in groups they refer to with the collective known “thunders.” They will not under any circumstances accept riders.
Each Thunder consists of around a dozen horses led by a religious teacher, A shamen of 3rd to 6th level. They are known to worship the old world god Grome, the sire of forest groves, blood and bones, lost graves, lonely hunters and grim poets).
They revere graves and tombs of all races and pass down verbal lore of ancient and modern practice. They are known to protect the graves of all intelligent races regardless of alignment.
A thunder will likely have 1d6-3 regular goats and 1d12-5 small birds that travel with them as companions and under their protection. They favor goats greatly and regularly liberate them from outskirt farms. While they feel strong kinship and love for all members of their Thunder, they are not monogamous and reproduction is highly strategic but always consensual.
Gimladee
The Giladee are very large giraffe-like creatures. Their necks and tails are thicker and longer than their savannah cousins and their profile could easily be mistaken for a plainswalking, quadrupedal, dinosaur. They have dark, nearly black, ashen coats.
It is thought that the Gimladee were survivors of the destruction of the Great Northwood (now known as The Dead Forest) in the Northeastern lowlands. Through likely magical or artificial means they evolved longer necks and dark color to survive in that sparse, barren, and charred environment.
They now take to the shadows of the high jungles and woods. They are skittish and cunning survivors and often set ambushes for predators. While they do not eat meat they can often be observed feigning injury and luring a wolf or great cat to a choke point so that the herd can set an ambush and eliminate the threat.
Their meat is tough and sinewy for humanoid consumption and is best in long and low stews, but in truth is eaten by few unless need forces the issue.
The low and wide ears on top of head are supported by half circles of bone and their skulls are often used by beast men as masks. By utilizing the ear supports for eye holes and hiding them under a brimmed helm or hat the mask creates a startling, and bestial face; low-hanging, shadow, and thin.
Plague buffalo
While buffalo herds are sparse but not uncommon on the plane, a far more common site today is the Plague Buffalo. While not technically a different species, the be plagued creatures have a vastly different life cycle than their healthy predecessors.
The plague of decay that infests these poor souls is not contagious to humans, but will affect birds and small mammals similarly. The infection attacks the gut and eats through the stomach and intestinal lining creating openings in the flesh. The Bacteria keep the decay and rot sufficiently in check to provide a suitable habitat for continued living while not killing the host. A constant high fever causes the infected to be lethargic and steam rising from them is easy to spot on even a mildly cold day.
At times creatures will be devoured to a point that the entire back half drags behind them. Others may drag their stomach, intestines and contents along the ground. The dim and affected creatures do not understand their situation and continue to hungrily eat, causing outsized damage to grass lands and crops. Only a small amount of food eaten is actually converted to energy.
The smell of a Plague Buffalo is intolerable. Most will be sickened by it without appropriate saves and must save again every minute until rolling their save number exactly and gaining temporary immunity for a handful of turns. The smell is supernaturally persistent and efforts to block nostrils, bottle the odor, or similar endeavors will ultimately fail regardless of careful and calculated precautions taken.
Plague herds of 3 to 10 creatures are common and outnumber healthy hurds 5 to 1. Due to breeding difficulties the infection presents, it is suspected that all Mesa Buffalo will be extinct in a few decades.
Tilocarp (Dark Elk)
Tilocarp, or Dark Elk, are a highly intelligent and dangerous race of large Elk that travel in groups of five called a Lustrum. They speak many languages including the common tongue and the languages of many forest animals and other humanoids that live in their domain.
Each Lustrum has a unique name and each member is numbered by the rank of their birth. The oldest being the first and youngest the fifth. A Tilocarp would introduce itself as Fifth of Egricees or First of Hurgmire, however they usually prefer to speak as the collective, “we.” Members of a Lustrum are not necessarily or even usually related. They keep their numbers consistent via bargain, pact, and sacrifice.
Dark Elk are accomplished magicians and cast dark and cunning spells handed down by word of mouth only. A lustrum will usually include a caster of each level up to 5th. They lust after magical items that can be used or worn without hands and will bargain for this assistance in procuring and or adorning themselves with such implements.
They are known to worship Camrok, the elder god of bargains, games, deals; warlocks and merchants, and make a study of the summoning of demons and the channeling of distant forces.
If one group gains significant knowledge over others they will become a target of attack and eventually torture until their advanced spell knowledge is ripped from them and shared wide.
In combat, they are deadly and resourceful, but will always retreat if one member of the Lustrum is lost, as they are highly superstitious that their power and strength is derived from their number.
Treasure may include a few magical adornments, however spells are not carried in books and must be leached from their minds.
A note: stat blocks are not provided as these creatures are largely deviations of basic animals and can be easily modified from basic stats of these creatures to fit your game of choice. If you would rather have full stat blocks in the future, drop me a line and let me know.
