Jason Andresen (order #1578489) - Jump page for Jubei

Onkar
Medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 2d8+10 (19 hp)
Initiative: –1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), burrow 10 ft.
Armor Class: 17 (–1 Dex, +8 natural),
touch 9, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+4
Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (2d6+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Blindsense 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft., ore
eater, ore seeker, scent, tremorsense 60 ft.
It was during my visit to Rhul that I happened to bear
witness to one of Caen’s truly beneficial domestic creatures,
the peculiar onkar. A beast of singularly ugly
aspect, the onkar is a squat biped standing little shorter
than most men, but notably broader. My initial observations,
reinforced by numerous accounts from my dwarven hosts, also
suggests that the rotund creature is little more than a mobile
mouth and stomach, albeit ideally suited to burrowing and
devouring metals.
The onkar’s thick plated hide is almost white, but
is laced with trace elements of the metals the onkar
ingests, giving the hide great resiliency and a
metallic sheen, protecting the creature
from tunneling abrasion.
Although
the beasts
are considered
too valuable to kill,
dwarves do favor the
hide of the onkar in
the crafting of boots,
gloves, hide armor of
remarkable quality, and as
decorative rugs in their dwellings.
However, what makes the onkar so valuable to the dwarves
of Rhul, is its uncanny ability to detect metals of all varieties,
particularly large quantities of ore that the dwarves themselves
can exploit. Wild onkars subsist on trace elements of metal in
soil and the veins of ores they encounter, while domesticated
onkars subsist on the metal waste and slag of dwarven productivity,
as well as “treats” in the form of the odd metal coin.
Escorted to a mining operation, I proceeded to learn more
138
Saves: Fort +5, Ref –1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 8, Con 20,
Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 6
Skills: Survival +5
Feats: Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Any underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 2
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 3–4 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —
about this strange beast, watching as it waddled up to the tunnel
wall and unhinged its already cavernous maw to take truly
staggering bites out of rock and soil. Its small clawed forelimbs
moved surprisingly quickly to pass excess soil and stone along its
sides. Within moments, the onkar had tunneled a full 6 feet into
the rocky soil wall of the tunnel, eating all the while, as dwarven
miners worked quickly behind it to shovel out what can only
be described as the creature’s excrement, produced from the soil
ingested only moments earlier. To my amazement, several dwarves
then proceeded to load the excrement into waiting
mine carts. When I inquired what they intended to
do with the thick, smooth, odorless, mud-like substance,
they informed me that the onkar’s excrement
is in all ways like fine
clay, and therefore is used
as such. Apparently,
given a more
rocky diet,
the onkar’s
excrement is
more akin to
a sandy
cement and
proves very useful
in construction work.
Making my way along the onkar’s tunnel, I noticed that the
creature started to become excited, drooling large puddles of
saliva onto the floor, while hopping from foot to foot. Its handler
smiled and gave the onkar two handfuls of mixed coins
from a pouch at her belt; the creature had uncovered a vein of
iron, hence its sudden hunger and excitement, always a sure
sign that significant quantities of metal are nearby.
Jason Andresen (order #1578489) 9