About the only small monster I hated more than those things were Rot Grubs.
Scaling Up
- Thread starter Kryslin
- Start date
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
Since you mentioned beholders. David is about halfway down this list, and he's fairly popular with my players. I figure if anyone could throw him in as background, what you're doing in Scaling Up would probably handle it. Enjoy. Or if you're playing D&D just throw him at them at some point just for the "wtf" factor.
Fall 04
Kryslin
[Has Delusions of Authorship]
- Location
- Mythic Iowa
Taylor – or more accurately Naurelin, as despite not being in costume she was acting in her recently acquired role as ENE Wards Team Leader – looked over the table that had all the remaining Wards seated around it. Clockblocker had moved on to the Protectorate, as had Dean. Both were still in high school, but both would be graduating in June when the school year ended. Seated around the table in no particular order were Missy, Chris, Takara, Dinah and two kobolds, Tere and Vito (who were both very nervous, Vito more than Tere).
"I'd like to welcome our part-time members Tere and Vito," Naurelin said. "We'll be working with them in Power usage and some training, though Tucker has done some of the physical training on his end."
"So what can they do?" Chris asked.
"I'm a Master," Tere said. "I can control a whole bunch of rodents and related critters, see through their eyes and listen through their ears."
Vito looked nervously around. "I'm a trap Tinker," he finally said.
"Chris, you'll be working with him on basic skills, and how to document what he builds," Taylor stated. "As much as Tere wants to, neither of them will be patrolling with us on the surface. They'll be helping Tucker in the tunnels they've claimed. So Vito, you can stop worrying about being up on the surface too much. A couple hours a week here, indoors unless more room is needed, plus whatever Tucker has for you in the warrens."
The nervous and possibly agoraphobic kobold relaxed. "Thank you," he said. "Do I get a real workshop?"
"At the moment, no." Taylor responded. "That will probably have to be arranged in or near the warrens. However, we will give you a toolkit you can carry with you, which will have some basic materials to work with in it. That's yours to keep.
"No patrols or appearances this afternoon, though we do have a patrol slated for this evening," Taylor continued. "We're also asked to keep an eye out for more creatures like the ones we've already encountered. These include stirges, gibbering mouthers, owlbears, and any other creature that's not friendly."
"How do I report something like that?" Tere inquired. "We've had some green slime show up in some of the damper parts of the tunnels."
"I'll help you with the reporting form," Taylor answered. "Otherwise, report it through Tucker's chain of command."
"What, exactly, is green slime?" Missy asked. "Sounds unpleasant."
"It's sticky and green and grows on almost anything," Tere said. "And it can fall on you, and then it starts eating its way through your clothes and skin."
"Usually first appears on old corpses, but spreads randomly. Sticking a torch into it will kill a patch," Vito added. "Kashak finally got to use his homemade flamethrower on some. He enjoys burning things too much for my liking."
"At least it's not Hagnar casting Fireball in the tunnels," Tere quipped back.
"Tucker was ready to shoot him when he did that," Vito stated. "But I think we're interrupting Lady Naurelin."
"Oops, sorry!"
"Not a problem," Taylor reassured the two. "Anyway, you two will have Power testing done this afternoon, and Tucker will be bringing your mother, Tere, so she can sign as your parent. Vito, I'm told, is technically an adult and Tucker will be here as well."
Dinah looked at both kobolds. "You have my most profound sympathies and condolences," she said.
"Bad Weaver, bad!" Takara said, imitating a spray bottle with her Powers. It went without saying that the water that hit the floor made its way over to the sink, via hydrokinesis.
"Dinah, how's Faevras' socialization coming along?" Taylor asked.
"She's doing better," Dinah admitted, wiping the water off her face with a napkin. "She doesn't just stand there in the middle of the night staring at me – which was really freaky – anymore. And she doesn't grovel when she's told she did something wrong. She's almost ready for the world."
"But is the world ready for her?" Takara asked.
"Maybe," Dinah allowed. "Her English is improving, and she's learning to read. Maddy's been a help with that. It also helps that whatever this 'Common' language is, it's very close to English in a lot of ways. She's been helping Mom around the house a bit, and now that she knows she's not going to get beaten for asking questions, she's asking a lot of them. She's far from stupid, she's just learning to live here after making some poor decisions in the recent past."
"You could say that again," Chris said. "She tries to kill you, gets cursed by whoever this Lolth is, and then gets dumped on your doorstep to deal with."
"Please don't remind me," Dinah chided her teammate. "What I've been told about Lolth, from both sides, is that she's capricious and cruel, and enjoys the suffering of her followers. She pokes at me in subtle ways, a little bit here, a bit there. Fae's just the latest in a string of little bits of pain and suffering. For me, that is; what happened to Fae sounds more like what Lolth usually does."
"Sorry," Chris apologized. "At least you don't flinch every time someone grabs their kids and pulls them away from you."
"Still hurts, though."
"Happens to some Case 53s, too, I've heard," said Missy.
"For our kobold counterparts," Taylor explained, "Fae, or Faevras, is a drider. Similar to Dinah, except that she used to be Drow and got cursed by Lolth, so not nearly as cute. I would say she's harmless, but I'd also say be wary around her."
Vito nodded. "Tucker's warned us about her," he said. "Until we get a better idea of what she's like, we should only approach her if either you or Lady Weaver is present, or several of Tucker's men."
"Sounds like a plan," Taylor said. "And our last bit for our meeting before we split up: Takara – the PRT and Protectorate's policy regarding your father is strictly hands-off, as it was before. As he appears to be much calmer, we're hoping this means much less of the fiery violence he's known for."
"Hai," Takara answered. "He's still catching up on things, but he's been satisfied that your hands-off handling of things has worked well enough. I don't think he'll be a problem, but as you well know, someone's gonna poke the dragon."
"All too well, I'm afraid," Taylor answered. "Anything else?"
Takara looked nervous. "Some people have claimed to see an Oni in various places around our neighborhood. He's there one minute, gone the next. The local police station has had a couple of idiots left hanging from a lightpost, with a note saying what they'd done, sometimes with a picture."
"Any explosions?"
Takara scratched her head. "Uh-uh, no explosions. From what I've heard, he's too big to be Oni Lee."
"I'll pass that on to the Protectorate," Taylor said. "In my next meeting. Of which I now have far too many."
The woman wandered down the back streets of Brockton Bay, muttering about the chill in the air. The few people here didn't bother her. Around this part of town, few would. Most people in the area gave her a wide berth, sensing something odd about the woman.
She was of Central African extraction, with a mix of features denoting her mixed heritage. Her brown eyes roved over her surroundings, always watching for hunters real and imagined. Her black hair was long and braided. She was wearing slightly heavier outerwear than most of the natives to the region, still complaining about the chill in the air.
Moving here had several advantages, despite the adverse environment. She didn't have a blue dragon hunting and exterminating her kind here, so that's one plus. She also didn't have various warlords fighting in her area all the time. She was as vulnerable to bullets and RPGs as any other being.
On the downside, there were numerous dragons running around this frigid insane asylum, and she was hoping to not be noticed by any of them. To make matters worse, there was Tucker's Kobolds as well; she'd heard of them and kept well away. There was an active heroic – ugh – presence in the area. And, of course, the climate, which never let her forget it liked her as little as she liked it.
Still, there were many places she could claim as a lair in this city, though for how long was up in the air as the city seemed to be demolishing the abandoned, decrepit buildings that were easiest to use. She was fluent in many tongues besides her native languages of French and Arabic, so had no problems gathering information by reading, listening and watching.
It was then she noticed she had someone observing her. "What do you want?" she snarled at the individual.
"Ah, so the little kitten has some fight in her," the man who was dressed in rather nondescript clothes that were predominately different shades of green said. "I was curious why a lamia was so far from the deserts they're normally found in."
"What are you?" she hissed at the man. "Not human, I can smell that much. Lizardfolk? Yuan-Ti?"
"Ah, kitten, you wound me with such uneducated guesses. I am far more than that, and far more dangerous than you can imagine," the man said. "My name is Vinius, and I am on the lookout for potential problems. Are you one of those?"
"Problems for whom?" she asked. "And you can call me Nahia."
"Problems for my queen, Nahia."
Wheels began turning in Nahia's head, going over what she remembered about lizard-like creatures who served a queen… Those mental wheels came to such an abrupt stop one could imagine they heard the actual brake noise. "Oh bloody hell," she whispered.
"Ah, I see you've figured it out," Vinius said, grinning. That grin had far too many teeth for a human mouth. "Again, are you a problem I need to know about?"
Nahia shook her head. "No, I'm not," she stated.
"You show more wisdom than most. I don't suppose you'd like to make a deal?" At the disguised lamia's shake of her head, he continued. "Pity. Again, you show more wisdom than most. A piece of advice: Keep your predation to a minimum. There are several parties in this town who wouldn't tolerate it at all." The last bit was said as Vinius stared into her eyes at close range. "Even better, learn to like the taste of beef, pork, poultry and fish. Much easier to obtain without drawing attention to yourself."
Nahia closed her eyes and sighed. When she reopened them, Vinius was gone.
Hurriedly, she made her way back to the abandoned house that she'd made her current lair. It was in good condition, and was easily sealed against the weather. A few days fiddling, and she had electricity. Which meant lights and heat, plus the use of a radio and TV she'd recovered from a van whose occupants were currently sitting in a freezer.
She let her disguise drop, revealing her leonine lower half for the world to see. Not that they could, since she blacked out the windows and used her abilities to make the house look like the most bland and uninteresting thing in the area, something plain, bland and undesirable. She had a pile of cushions and blankets, some of them reminding her of her homeland. Again, removed from the same van that had provided the TV, radio and microwave. The freezer had already been here, abandoned in place because it was too big to get easily up the stairs.
"If only it were so easy," she muttered as she walked over to the freezer, taking out a frozen cut of meat that looked a lot like a small ham. "I'd like to be able to stomach normal meat." She placed the meat in the microwave and set it to defrost. "But no, only the flesh of humans will do."
Back in Africa, she tried to eat fish and game. The results had been several days of pain, vomiting and intestinal distress. She'd tried to go as long as possible without consuming human flesh, and that had led to the point where the draconic African warlord Naaji had come looking for her, since, in her hunger fueled rampage, she'd killed and eaten some of his people, whom he valued. That precipitated her leaving the area with alacrity.
She eventually found her way to North America, smuggled into the country by human traffickers who didn't survive long enough to enjoy the money received from their cargo. That had been painful, but at least one of the cargo had treated her wound from a bullet graze, despite her being covered in the gore of her victims. "Merci," the woman had said at the time, and then pointed in a direction.
Nahia had simply nodded. After washing off the blood she set off in the direction the woman had pointed. If the others had been smart, they went the other way. Which was likely, as she'd never seen any of them again.
Normally, she'd go nude, sometimes wearing a light shirt and a decorative lafai (a kind of scarf). Here in the US, that would make her stand out more. And it could get cold. So, she exchanged some of her Krugerrand, 'found' in a cache in South Africa as she'd made her way off the continent, for some clothes more suited for the area, and had even managed to find some horse turnout blankets that she could adapt for her feline half at one of the agricultural supply stores on the outskirts of town.
She'd marveled at the concept of public transit, allowing her easy access to most parts of the city. The microwave dinged, meaning her food was defrosted. With that, she turned on the TV, settled in to watch the local news, and began eating the thigh of one of the three she'd killed after they'd fenced some goods from local thieves.
"I'd like to welcome our part-time members Tere and Vito," Naurelin said. "We'll be working with them in Power usage and some training, though Tucker has done some of the physical training on his end."
"So what can they do?" Chris asked.
"I'm a Master," Tere said. "I can control a whole bunch of rodents and related critters, see through their eyes and listen through their ears."
Vito looked nervously around. "I'm a trap Tinker," he finally said.
"Chris, you'll be working with him on basic skills, and how to document what he builds," Taylor stated. "As much as Tere wants to, neither of them will be patrolling with us on the surface. They'll be helping Tucker in the tunnels they've claimed. So Vito, you can stop worrying about being up on the surface too much. A couple hours a week here, indoors unless more room is needed, plus whatever Tucker has for you in the warrens."
The nervous and possibly agoraphobic kobold relaxed. "Thank you," he said. "Do I get a real workshop?"
"At the moment, no." Taylor responded. "That will probably have to be arranged in or near the warrens. However, we will give you a toolkit you can carry with you, which will have some basic materials to work with in it. That's yours to keep.
"No patrols or appearances this afternoon, though we do have a patrol slated for this evening," Taylor continued. "We're also asked to keep an eye out for more creatures like the ones we've already encountered. These include stirges, gibbering mouthers, owlbears, and any other creature that's not friendly."
"How do I report something like that?" Tere inquired. "We've had some green slime show up in some of the damper parts of the tunnels."
"I'll help you with the reporting form," Taylor answered. "Otherwise, report it through Tucker's chain of command."
"What, exactly, is green slime?" Missy asked. "Sounds unpleasant."
"It's sticky and green and grows on almost anything," Tere said. "And it can fall on you, and then it starts eating its way through your clothes and skin."
"Usually first appears on old corpses, but spreads randomly. Sticking a torch into it will kill a patch," Vito added. "Kashak finally got to use his homemade flamethrower on some. He enjoys burning things too much for my liking."
"At least it's not Hagnar casting Fireball in the tunnels," Tere quipped back.
"Tucker was ready to shoot him when he did that," Vito stated. "But I think we're interrupting Lady Naurelin."
"Oops, sorry!"
"Not a problem," Taylor reassured the two. "Anyway, you two will have Power testing done this afternoon, and Tucker will be bringing your mother, Tere, so she can sign as your parent. Vito, I'm told, is technically an adult and Tucker will be here as well."
Dinah looked at both kobolds. "You have my most profound sympathies and condolences," she said.
"Bad Weaver, bad!" Takara said, imitating a spray bottle with her Powers. It went without saying that the water that hit the floor made its way over to the sink, via hydrokinesis.
"Dinah, how's Faevras' socialization coming along?" Taylor asked.
"She's doing better," Dinah admitted, wiping the water off her face with a napkin. "She doesn't just stand there in the middle of the night staring at me – which was really freaky – anymore. And she doesn't grovel when she's told she did something wrong. She's almost ready for the world."
"But is the world ready for her?" Takara asked.
"Maybe," Dinah allowed. "Her English is improving, and she's learning to read. Maddy's been a help with that. It also helps that whatever this 'Common' language is, it's very close to English in a lot of ways. She's been helping Mom around the house a bit, and now that she knows she's not going to get beaten for asking questions, she's asking a lot of them. She's far from stupid, she's just learning to live here after making some poor decisions in the recent past."
"You could say that again," Chris said. "She tries to kill you, gets cursed by whoever this Lolth is, and then gets dumped on your doorstep to deal with."
"Please don't remind me," Dinah chided her teammate. "What I've been told about Lolth, from both sides, is that she's capricious and cruel, and enjoys the suffering of her followers. She pokes at me in subtle ways, a little bit here, a bit there. Fae's just the latest in a string of little bits of pain and suffering. For me, that is; what happened to Fae sounds more like what Lolth usually does."
"Sorry," Chris apologized. "At least you don't flinch every time someone grabs their kids and pulls them away from you."
"Still hurts, though."
"Happens to some Case 53s, too, I've heard," said Missy.
"For our kobold counterparts," Taylor explained, "Fae, or Faevras, is a drider. Similar to Dinah, except that she used to be Drow and got cursed by Lolth, so not nearly as cute. I would say she's harmless, but I'd also say be wary around her."
Vito nodded. "Tucker's warned us about her," he said. "Until we get a better idea of what she's like, we should only approach her if either you or Lady Weaver is present, or several of Tucker's men."
"Sounds like a plan," Taylor said. "And our last bit for our meeting before we split up: Takara – the PRT and Protectorate's policy regarding your father is strictly hands-off, as it was before. As he appears to be much calmer, we're hoping this means much less of the fiery violence he's known for."
"Hai," Takara answered. "He's still catching up on things, but he's been satisfied that your hands-off handling of things has worked well enough. I don't think he'll be a problem, but as you well know, someone's gonna poke the dragon."
"All too well, I'm afraid," Taylor answered. "Anything else?"
Takara looked nervous. "Some people have claimed to see an Oni in various places around our neighborhood. He's there one minute, gone the next. The local police station has had a couple of idiots left hanging from a lightpost, with a note saying what they'd done, sometimes with a picture."
"Any explosions?"
Takara scratched her head. "Uh-uh, no explosions. From what I've heard, he's too big to be Oni Lee."
"I'll pass that on to the Protectorate," Taylor said. "In my next meeting. Of which I now have far too many."
= = = = = = = = = =
The woman wandered down the back streets of Brockton Bay, muttering about the chill in the air. The few people here didn't bother her. Around this part of town, few would. Most people in the area gave her a wide berth, sensing something odd about the woman.
She was of Central African extraction, with a mix of features denoting her mixed heritage. Her brown eyes roved over her surroundings, always watching for hunters real and imagined. Her black hair was long and braided. She was wearing slightly heavier outerwear than most of the natives to the region, still complaining about the chill in the air.
Moving here had several advantages, despite the adverse environment. She didn't have a blue dragon hunting and exterminating her kind here, so that's one plus. She also didn't have various warlords fighting in her area all the time. She was as vulnerable to bullets and RPGs as any other being.
On the downside, there were numerous dragons running around this frigid insane asylum, and she was hoping to not be noticed by any of them. To make matters worse, there was Tucker's Kobolds as well; she'd heard of them and kept well away. There was an active heroic – ugh – presence in the area. And, of course, the climate, which never let her forget it liked her as little as she liked it.
Still, there were many places she could claim as a lair in this city, though for how long was up in the air as the city seemed to be demolishing the abandoned, decrepit buildings that were easiest to use. She was fluent in many tongues besides her native languages of French and Arabic, so had no problems gathering information by reading, listening and watching.
It was then she noticed she had someone observing her. "What do you want?" she snarled at the individual.
"Ah, so the little kitten has some fight in her," the man who was dressed in rather nondescript clothes that were predominately different shades of green said. "I was curious why a lamia was so far from the deserts they're normally found in."
"What are you?" she hissed at the man. "Not human, I can smell that much. Lizardfolk? Yuan-Ti?"
"Ah, kitten, you wound me with such uneducated guesses. I am far more than that, and far more dangerous than you can imagine," the man said. "My name is Vinius, and I am on the lookout for potential problems. Are you one of those?"
"Problems for whom?" she asked. "And you can call me Nahia."
"Problems for my queen, Nahia."
Wheels began turning in Nahia's head, going over what she remembered about lizard-like creatures who served a queen… Those mental wheels came to such an abrupt stop one could imagine they heard the actual brake noise. "Oh bloody hell," she whispered.
"Ah, I see you've figured it out," Vinius said, grinning. That grin had far too many teeth for a human mouth. "Again, are you a problem I need to know about?"
Nahia shook her head. "No, I'm not," she stated.
"You show more wisdom than most. I don't suppose you'd like to make a deal?" At the disguised lamia's shake of her head, he continued. "Pity. Again, you show more wisdom than most. A piece of advice: Keep your predation to a minimum. There are several parties in this town who wouldn't tolerate it at all." The last bit was said as Vinius stared into her eyes at close range. "Even better, learn to like the taste of beef, pork, poultry and fish. Much easier to obtain without drawing attention to yourself."
Nahia closed her eyes and sighed. When she reopened them, Vinius was gone.
Hurriedly, she made her way back to the abandoned house that she'd made her current lair. It was in good condition, and was easily sealed against the weather. A few days fiddling, and she had electricity. Which meant lights and heat, plus the use of a radio and TV she'd recovered from a van whose occupants were currently sitting in a freezer.
She let her disguise drop, revealing her leonine lower half for the world to see. Not that they could, since she blacked out the windows and used her abilities to make the house look like the most bland and uninteresting thing in the area, something plain, bland and undesirable. She had a pile of cushions and blankets, some of them reminding her of her homeland. Again, removed from the same van that had provided the TV, radio and microwave. The freezer had already been here, abandoned in place because it was too big to get easily up the stairs.
"If only it were so easy," she muttered as she walked over to the freezer, taking out a frozen cut of meat that looked a lot like a small ham. "I'd like to be able to stomach normal meat." She placed the meat in the microwave and set it to defrost. "But no, only the flesh of humans will do."
Back in Africa, she tried to eat fish and game. The results had been several days of pain, vomiting and intestinal distress. She'd tried to go as long as possible without consuming human flesh, and that had led to the point where the draconic African warlord Naaji had come looking for her, since, in her hunger fueled rampage, she'd killed and eaten some of his people, whom he valued. That precipitated her leaving the area with alacrity.
She eventually found her way to North America, smuggled into the country by human traffickers who didn't survive long enough to enjoy the money received from their cargo. That had been painful, but at least one of the cargo had treated her wound from a bullet graze, despite her being covered in the gore of her victims. "Merci," the woman had said at the time, and then pointed in a direction.
Nahia had simply nodded. After washing off the blood she set off in the direction the woman had pointed. If the others had been smart, they went the other way. Which was likely, as she'd never seen any of them again.
Normally, she'd go nude, sometimes wearing a light shirt and a decorative lafai (a kind of scarf). Here in the US, that would make her stand out more. And it could get cold. So, she exchanged some of her Krugerrand, 'found' in a cache in South Africa as she'd made her way off the continent, for some clothes more suited for the area, and had even managed to find some horse turnout blankets that she could adapt for her feline half at one of the agricultural supply stores on the outskirts of town.
She'd marveled at the concept of public transit, allowing her easy access to most parts of the city. The microwave dinged, meaning her food was defrosted. With that, she turned on the TV, settled in to watch the local news, and began eating the thigh of one of the three she'd killed after they'd fenced some goods from local thieves.
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- Location
- The State of Denial
Huh. There are lamia cat-taurs. The... supplementary lore I usually read just has them have snake bottoms. I have learned things today.
Always nice to have someone Wordz™️.
View: https://youtube.com/shorts/xpIvlC4V_wE?si=BT7qL0Rj8jqL2ujH
View: https://youtube.com/shorts/xpIvlC4V_wE?si=BT7qL0Rj8jqL2ujH
D&D specific thing I am afraid as are the bull monsters called gorgons instead of the medusa being called their mythological species name. Basically D&D has a tendency to take actual mythological names and use them on D&D original creatures even when they could more easily apply an original name or at least one that won't cause creature confusion. However there is some degree of merit to the D&D Lamia being named that as the mythological Lamia was a women turned into a snake person and given an insatiable appetite for human flesh... whilst in the midst of her kids and with no ability to recognize them as such until it was too late. So yeah they at least chose a mythological creature known for its maneating as the name for their Cat-taur maneater.
Is there a back story in the mythos for why D&D Lamia are FORCED to eat human flesh? This almost seems like a god level curse on a whole species. They're automatically forced to be the worst of villains without being given any choice. It grates on me.
- Location
- SoCal
extra "i"
incomplete word
Okay, this part had me thinking it was just a demeaning expression until I saw
I've never heard of anything but snakelike lamia. Is this a quirk of this source material?
- Location
- Wherever I feel like being
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmmm, there's probably some kind of job that could allow for her to sate her hunger without killing innocents. Mortician or something where she can get a bit to eat without people noticing? It's also possible that Amy could adjust her digestive system to handle the other kinds of meats.
IIRC, D&D/Pathfinder has 3 or 4 different subspecies of Lamia. The cat-taur ones are Medium size (like humans, a single 5'x5' space), the serpentine ones (Large sized, 10'x10' space), and a Huge (15'x15') sized one that I seem to recall was a quadraped but I forget what kind of animal.
- Location
- Russia
The Lamia isn't actually a case of D&D just randomly changing up an existing folklore creature.
Them being consistently sneeple is a relatively recent thing, there are a lot of older sources that instead portrayed Lamias as lions covered in reptilian scales with the faces and boobs of women alongside the more expected sneeple.
Them being consistently sneeple is a relatively recent thing, there are a lot of older sources that instead portrayed Lamias as lions covered in reptilian scales with the faces and boobs of women alongside the more expected sneeple.
- Location
- The Old Dominion
From what I gathered concept of Lamias being half snake is admittedly fairly ancient going back to the classical roman period, the depictions before that seemed to be vaguer and more varied as far as I can tell and later there was apparently a fair bit of crossover between Lamias, Sirens and Mermaids in late antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Of course, said crossovers late antiquity and the Middle Ages also caused sirens to be depicted as more Lamia or mermaid like rather than birdlike from what I gathered.
Of course, said crossovers late antiquity and the Middle Ages also caused sirens to be depicted as more Lamia or mermaid like rather than birdlike from what I gathered.
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Lamia 101
Kryslin
[Has Delusions of Authorship]
- Location
- Mythic Iowa
Lamia was a queen of Ancient Libya; Zeus screwed around with her and Hera found out. Hera cursed Lamia, and she went insane, killing and eating her own children. Zeus mitigated things, somewhat (she could remove her eyes so she could have some peace, and the gift of prophecy. She eventually turned into the scale covered lion with a woman's head who desired the blood of children that medieval books portayed.
Lamia as half snake/human seems to be a mashup of Naga (because Rome had contact with India via the trade routes) and Mermaids/Sirens legends. Them always being snake people is a relatively modern thing.
Prior to the 1st Ed. Monster Manual, going to the library and researching would've brought up the story of Lamia, and some of the Roman myths. Basically of a woman who was half beast who desired the blood of children / flesh of men and was bug-nuts insane, and who would sometimes utter some prophecy of DOOM.
I needed a monster that was 1) Intelligent, 2) a man-eater, and 3) of a relatively low CR (for story reasons). Sure I could have dropped a Rakshasa (CR13) on Brockton Bay, but very few of them would stay around where Bahamut, Tamara, Lendys, Hlal, Bahamut's Champion and Herald, plus five other good aligned dragons and three neutral ones lair. Also, all but two of the main characters don't have spells higher than 6th level (Taylor being one, Dennis being the other - he doesn't know any yet, though, so that leave's Taylor with a 7th level spell slot).
Lamia as half snake/human seems to be a mashup of Naga (because Rome had contact with India via the trade routes) and Mermaids/Sirens legends. Them always being snake people is a relatively modern thing.
Prior to the 1st Ed. Monster Manual, going to the library and researching would've brought up the story of Lamia, and some of the Roman myths. Basically of a woman who was half beast who desired the blood of children / flesh of men and was bug-nuts insane, and who would sometimes utter some prophecy of DOOM.
I needed a monster that was 1) Intelligent, 2) a man-eater, and 3) of a relatively low CR (for story reasons). Sure I could have dropped a Rakshasa (CR13) on Brockton Bay, but very few of them would stay around where Bahamut, Tamara, Lendys, Hlal, Bahamut's Champion and Herald, plus five other good aligned dragons and three neutral ones lair. Also, all but two of the main characters don't have spells higher than 6th level (Taylor being one, Dennis being the other - he doesn't know any yet, though, so that leave's Taylor with a 7th level spell slot).
- Location
- The Old Dominion
As I recall there was apparently an entire fable genre of Libyan myths in the roman empire of which almost nothing survives outside of reverences to its existence though one of which survives in fragments by Dio Chrysostom from the first century AD called A Libyan Myth was a stoic morality tale that involved multiple Lamia of the snake woman monster variety.
Also, Hercules because well the classical world just seemed to love having Hercules go around fighting monsters.
As I recall there were a number of andromorphic Snake goddesses in North Africa and Egypt so that I'd imagine would be another influence on the classical myths beyond any trade connections with India.
Also, Hercules because well the classical world just seemed to love having Hercules go around fighting monsters.
As I recall there were a number of andromorphic Snake goddesses in North Africa and Egypt so that I'd imagine would be another influence on the classical myths beyond any trade connections with India.
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- Location
- Sydney
Problem is that most corpses have someone who would complain if they went missing or had bits nibbled off them. Plus any other staff in such a business are going to ask questions. Which again could easily lead to police involvement. Which would force her to escape or starve to death.
As for Panacea fixing the issue. Well from my admittedly limited knowledge of biology there should not reason she can only eat human meat and nothing else if it was merely a digestive issue. Meat just isn't distinct enough for it to be the cause. No this sounds like some sort of mystical curse.
Frankly I feel sorry for Nahia. She apparently tried to avoid eating humans only to fall into a starvation rampage forcing her from her homeland. Perhaps if she's lucky a divine boon could save her but otherwise I doubt she will living much longer or be remembered as anything except a villain.
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Actually how long has Nahia been a Lamia? She doesn't seem like a hardened killer considering her attempt to avoid it or particularly familiar with her biology. Did she get turned into a lamia recently due to the rising magic?
EDIT On the other hand she seems familiar with the dragons and demons so maybe someone from elsewhere? Who just didn't want to draw attention from the local dragon rather than actual concerned about killing?
She does not seem familiar with modern connivences which could just be due to her life in Africa. But if the blue dragon was hunting her kind then how long could she have actually live there?
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I feel sorry for Nahia, too. 
Yeah, most Rakshasha are smart enough to say, "Nope. Nope, nope, nope, I'm outta here." Cue badger gif.
I honestly hope to see this end with Tiamat stepping in. Because if _anyone_ can understand, it's her.
Jadesteele
Out of my Mind - Back in 5 Minutes
- Location
- half-way between 'Crazy' And 'Eccentric'
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSALqHCWK7M&ab_channel=JilouC.
just had to...
anyway, on a more practical note, do you think that cloned tissue would be enough to deal with a lamia's dietary needs?
- Location
- Deep in the Badlands of Equestria
I'd say it'll depend on the source of her dietary restrictions. I had the hallmarks of some form of magical base, so those generally carry penalties for the affected person if they don't stick to the dictates pretty closely. That being said, she probably hasn't been able to test a reaction to something like synthetic human proteins before now, so it's at least worth a test run if she can find someone to get her a potentially sustainable supply to work with.
BlazeStryker
<Confirmed Contradiction>
- Location
- Roanoke, VA
- Pronouns
- Him/He/Dude
Yes, all of that. Others at TSR noted the source legends and set the leotaur man-eaters up as Greater Lamia in the second Monster Manual to the best of my knowledge. Later takes on D&D shifted the serpentine mindjobber role over to the yuan-ti.