Description
The Thing has a hideous bloated body, kept permanently caged in Area 30. However his limbs (all 8 of them!) are variable in length, 'growing' longer rapidly to move into and explore new areas. Four of his limbs were made from
his original arms and legs. They now take the form of powerful tentacles ending in sharp rending claws. Two of his limbs were formed from his eyes. They are now on long thin stalks which can wander through the attics looking for prey. The remaining pair of limbs are formed from his ears. They are now on stalks like the eyes, and lurk in dark corners listening for prey.
The eye and ear stalks are capable of near-infinite extension (for game purposes they can reach to any part of the building they can extend or retract by up to 12 squares per move. The tentacles are slower, growing by up to 4 squares or retracting by up to 8 per move. They can reach up to a maximum length of 30 squares each, and the total extension of the four tentacles cannot exceed 80 squares. All his appendages move at the same speed regardless of what is in the squares (ie furniture, stair, and roof squares all cost one square of movement). The tentacles can fit through windows and arrow slits, but will not enter the chimneys. They can move along or up and down walls with equal ease, each level they ascend/descend costs 2 squares of movement (unless by stairs). Note that only one of his tentacles can fit down a 2½' wide passage or through an arrow slit, however any
number of the eye stalks can fit through such a gap, even if a tentacle is present. Similarly a maximum of 2 tentacles can fit through a 5' wide passage or doorway, although eye/ear stalks may also be present. Note that none of the Thing's limbs can pass through or open a closed door; the DM should therefore keep a careful note of which doors have been left open during play. (The Thing's limbs may of course enter an otherwise inaccesible room through a window or arrow slit).
Note that being formed from a Master Thief, the Thing has several abilities of a similar nature to that of the Thief. His new form prevents the Thing from performing any delicate operations, so he does not have the Open Locks, Find Traps or Remove Traps abilities (though he is aware of the positioning of all the traps and may avoid them). His limbs may freely climb without rolling, other abilities are as below:
Move Silently (+12 Stealth skill/DC15): The eye and ear stalks
always move silently (no roll required) and will thus not be heard by the Thief. The tentacles move only 2 squares when attempting to move silently (roll on the table below, success indicates that the Thief will not hear them regardless of distance).
Hide in Shadows (+13 Stealth skill/DC15): The eye and ear stalks can hide in shadows (ie the same areas as per the Thief abilities) if they make a successful roll. They will then be effectively invisible until they move again. The tentacles do not have this ability.
Hear Noise (+11 Perception skill/DC15): This ability is obviously restricted to the ear stalks, which must be stationary to use it.
Combat
If at the end of a move one or more of the Thing's tentacles have their end in a square next to the square currently occupied by the Thief, combat will occur. The Thief will also be able to attack with his sword unless the tentacle is in the square directly behind the Thief. When combat occurs proceed as follows:
The Thief always attacks first, the tentacle is AC7, if hit it will not attack back. The tentacle attacks as a 4+ HD monster (to hit Suzi as AC6, the Thing requires a 9), and will do the Thief 1 hp of damage if it hits.
Note that in order to strike at the Thief, the Thing's tentacles will need one of his sensory organs to guide them. If there is an eye stalk in the room use the procedure above, if there is only an ear stalk subtract 6 from the Thing's roll to hit, if neither is present the Thing may not attack.
If the Thief hits a tentacle roll a six sided die to see how much damage has been caused, then consult the following list:
- 1 or 2: The tentacle will not attack back this move, but rapidly regenerates the damage; it will move/attack as normal next move.
- 3 or 4: The tentacle will retract next move to regenerate the damage, but will pursue the Thief again on the following move.
- 5 or 6: The tentacle has been badly wounded, it will retract back next move and continue retracting until it has reached the Thing's body. It will then spend a move regenerating, after which it is free to pursue the Thief again.
Note that if the Thief is next to part of the length of a tentacle (ie not the end) at the end of a move, he may attack the tentacle which will not be able to attack back. The Thief should attack as above, but add two to his roll to hit and one to the damage he causes (7 damage will completely severe the tentacle which will then be useless for the rest of the scenario). The eye and ear stalks will always do their best to keep away from the Thief, but if he is next to part of their length he may attack them, rolling as above but adding 4 to the damage he causes.
Listening
At any time the Thief or Thing may listen for each other using their Hear Noise ability. They will not hear anything if the other player has successfully used a Move Silently ability, or is not moving at all this move, otherwise the effects depend on the range (in rooms) between them. I n the case of the Thing, the range is obviously taken from the end of his ear stalk!!
- Same Room: Both players will always hear the other in the same room without having to roll, unless they have used Move Silently.
- 1 or 2 Rooms: The Thief will be able to hear the sound of moving tentacles, but the slithering sounds will reverberate around and he will not be able to judge the direction or distance. The Thing however, when listening for the Thief, will be able to judge both of these as he is used to the acoustics.
- 3 or More Rooms: Neither party will hear the other unless extra noise is being made (eg falling, ringing a bell, combat etc).
Falling
This is described in each location.
Starting Positions
The Thief starts the scenario on the West battlement, Level A Area 1.
The Thing starts with all limbs retracted, and therefore they are in Level D, Area 30.
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