"Guys, it doesn't even eat meat. What are you so afraid of?"
History[]
Crownlar is the second of the known members of The Brood, titanic behemoths unleashed upon the land by one of the spawn of Lamashtu herself. Stepping out into the world in the aftermath of the collapse of the Verk Empire, it has already begun to make a name for itself as a menace and a threat to food lines...
The beast itself is a long-legged, long-necked figure with a relatively small central body. It possesses a large rack of antlers, hooved feet, three tails, and four eyes that move around on stalks.
Behavior[]
Unlike the Vortex Moth, its older sibling, Crownlar rarely attacks humanoid settlements directly. Instead, it prefers to attack farms and other areas, where it consumes crops en masse before moving onward. With the extensive crowding in some areas and the need to replant crops in areas abandoned during the war, Crownlar is a noticeable threat to Etera's ability to feed its remaining population. However, it does seem easily persuaded by gifts of treasure, eating coins and magical items to who-knows-what-end and leaving places unmolested if placated with enough riches.
Offenses[]
Crownlar possesses a set of enormous antlers that rise out of its head. However, its mere presence is ultimately one of its greatest weapons, for just seeing it forces creatures to shrink (no saving throw). It seems capable of controlling this power at-will, and often restores creatures to normal size if they promise to bring treasures out to it. For that matter, it may even enlarge creatures rather than shrinking them if they seem to gain benefits from being dexterous, though it's never been seen to make a creature as large as it is.
Crownlar can also manipulate density somehow, which it often uses to make targets lighter and fling them vast distances for tremendous fall damage.
Defenses[]
Crownlar's eyes rise up on stalks out of its head, constantly swiveling around to gaze at its surroundings. It is known to be almost impossible to flank it properly, or even to surprise it by coming from a direction it isn't expecting. In addition, adventurers have reported that metallic weapons seem ineffective against it (including metal-tipped arrows) - such gear simply fails to break through and hurt its body, leading to the suspicion only magic or those who fight with their own bodies can bring it down. Experiments have found that even elemental enchantments fail to harm it if they're put on a metal weapon, and highly-enchanted metal weapons are no better at harming it than mundane ones.
Like all of the Brood, Crownlar possesses formidable regenerative properties and can soon return to full strength if not slain immediately.
Lairs[]
Crownlar is thought to have a lair deep in the forest, where it can subsist on plentiful greenery when not attacking civilized areas for their crops.