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Potential Monsters in Quests from the Infinite Staircase Adventures
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<blockquote data-quote="Echohawk" data-source="post: 9323229" data-attributes="member: 9849"><p style="text-align: justify"><strong>UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave</strong> (March 1983)</p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/qwU83WCry8wQAm2Ix1SIng-xWqMA5EfoXyzKO0UShSltA8TM9mtEXXjKjOmGh9y8c0nuuOlAdzdq6HAeZvcpXCgMFwat7Doj12B7v_kmMns-phxpzP_Kiq56NAee_N8Y9s0dEbcWEx49pljDlOYALeA" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 143px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">The next adventure doesn’t offer quite as many possibilities for fifth edition monster updates as its companion from the UK series, but there are still several creatures to consider. <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em> has three entries in its <em>New Monsters</em> appendix: the barkburr, the mud-man and the Green Man.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><u>New monsters</u></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/XWGo-uxQB-IcUzTbgXAlOnIRePXeuqnLLEXB28QpaM5oJyBkhPNGJMevOXaQVPOdpuH9nBIBCT6JGLHrpCbofOUyx79792WHAmPNH42bK49EJWmjdumPJ7FZxz-m_7AnoDId_YoFYBHteIVSYByU_TU" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 161px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">The <strong>barkburr</strong> (and its evil cousin, the direburr) are small animated plants. They look exactly like knots or burrs in oddly-shaped trees, and cling to their host trees like limpets. If someone who has harmed the forest passes by, the barkburr will launch itself at the evil-doer and try to inject them with a poison causing lignification and transformation into a small tree. Some of the victims eventually transform again into forest creatures, but many remain trees. The barkburr was reprinted in the first edition <em>Monster Manual II</em> (1983), and appeared in the fourth edition version of <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em> (2011). A fifth edition version seems likely.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/toZ5eRtNWcc1DIhHJUbO2zw1ltlmrTdeh2FiPyHmUxa6mJcuA7jnD3AWwTwa_nxwX7mpy9SfXBMTN9IPnTjqGOPWhbB5husABQ6Hr_4AQ6VPUCZ0ANkPKL_ELjhmwTpkYyfLCFUpUU-wQEjhD7B_IUc" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 129px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Mud-men</strong> form where enchanted water pools. Usually dormant below the surface of the water, they can rapidly coalesce into a stocky humanoid form to deal with intruders. They attack by throwing mud at opponents, which hardens, preventing movement and then suffocating the target. The mud-men would go on to appear in the first edition <em>Monster Manual II</em> (1983), the second edition <em>Monstrous Manual</em> (1993), and in the fourth edition version of <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em> (2011) where they also had a mud man grasper variation. It will be interesting to see if they are renamed as mudfolk (or something similar) in a fifth edition update.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/2QujGj0ljqffdTlb25X3Ul6fP4taCJIiIQZbXG6VlzX-sRY7VXkpaVQsflNhuaJ-8o0opdMzXezF1d-NBL6xIFQlA83zcOlf8J82OWmewK5pfRoqwVOOaZZvKGqAGKa42m98ttB1fL_XWfAKSyxhBeo" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 138px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">Although he is encountered in the module, the <strong>Green Man</strong> isn’t really a monster, but a legendary figure from the Old English Mythos, with the title of “god of growth and abundance”. The <em>Everything You Need To Know</em> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxR8RkzpQUQ&t=31s" target="_blank">promotional video</a> confirms an Archfey statblock in <em>Quests from the Infinite Staircase</em>, which most likely belongs to the Green Man.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><u>Other monsters</u></p> <p style="text-align: justify">Most of the creatures encountered in <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em> are found in the fifth edition <em>Monster Manual</em>, including: badger, black bear, centaur, dryad, giant badger, giant frog, ochre jelly, pixie, poltergeist, satyr, treant and unicorn. There are some additional animals and giant animals in the adventure that don’t yet have fifth edition updates: the <strong>giant otter</strong>, <strong>giant porcupine</strong>, <strong>giant skunk</strong> and <strong>stag</strong>. (Does the deer in the <em>Monster Manual </em>count as a stag?) Abbreviated stat blocks for these in the text of the adventure seem more likely than full monster entries.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Rx0UoXKsEtl_cP8Qgq4B-KCdNRO_Fw1FoLtYfTEp6GW5xajJtyhgCesLnsCL-ABxPL6M6pSwLV7fU9QvFuQdzgF58rI0VvmdA-MD2XEoRTTlwcBA4e1eb63LqbhlBRN4r36pwnucrPLCnS4Wltl-TsA" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 147px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">There are four more unusual creatures lurking in the adventure. The <strong>caryatid column</strong> is a first edition <em>Fiend Folio</em> (1981) denizen. It is a column, carved in the shape of a sword-carrying humanoid, that comes to life to protect a location or a treasure. There are some caryatids in <em>Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage</em> (2018), but not ones that can attack opponents. There are also caryatids in <em>Mythic Odysseys of Theros</em> (2020), but those are trees that can animate themselves. An update of the original stone column Fiend Folio version is certainly a possibility for <em>Quests from the Infinite Staircase</em>.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Cmmarbqj3K_wizQ1stkMWSsnZrKxyrpGm9WMUkgXtFfcg6qjEkGQs-bcMQyZnFYPkS9Z5BRzMdlrX6ImjsxtMCIDkiecx1zuCdJpDrPqQIrdKG7qJYttP5fe1Lap0iceVFRgI0wjHDRE3rADyMvvfh0" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 134px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">Also from the first edition <em>Fiend Folio</em> are the <strong>firedrakes</strong>, which are basically miniature (four-foot long) red dragons. Fifth edition doesn’t yet have a firedrake, but it does have ambush, eye, fume, and lion drakes as well as five colors of guard drakes. Substituting the firedrakes with red dragon wyrmlings or red guard drakes seems more likely than an updated firedrake.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/6w88UR76S2XwjRNvYZmnSEQYFCmzc80X6GWJo8eodVHprUOi-O4vj2WpEB8qmWwrzfGf-RJUsWkGomi5IaoJ8d9ku9xMlqYtCyoHH9oOuLa72gD26jSHzeidI-UxG2UmIaUoe_aen4XQVruz7jg_NPU" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 162px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">Surprisingly, we don’t seem to have a fifth edition <strong>leprechaun</strong>, even though it was a core monster in the original <em>Monster Manual</em> (1977). There are leprechauns in <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em>, so we might see them reappear. Another possibility is the approach taken in <em>Lost Laboratory of Kwalish</em> (2018) where the leprechaun simply uses the stats of a quickling.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/KhSwNlixhbJQWRrXjvBVTZy4dUK4M-_pzSLa53Ohfowkjoq_YbwQ2zSARNPw0ihyiJ6smiN5o7Wy7Budsfxd_0PNfHU8Hv7idDe4c7_6AL7tzPHevnS0qTAvIp94pQZam8cZKpfWUJGwKYktvqrWISw" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 133px" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify">There is a shy yu lung living in the Endless River. Also known as a <strong>carp dragon</strong>, this is one of the oriental dragons from the original <em>Fiend Folio</em>. It doesn’t seem to have appeared in fifth edition yet, but an abbreviated stat block or a substitution seems more likely than an updated monster entry.</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify">So what’s the verdict for <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em>?</p> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><p style="text-align: justify">Very likely to get a full update: barkburr, mud-men,</p> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><p style="text-align: justify">Quite likely to get a full update: Green Man</p> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><p style="text-align: justify">Likely to be updated but not get a full write-up: carp dragon, caryatid column, leprechaun.</p> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><p style="text-align: justify">Small possibility of an update: giant otter, giant porcupine, giant skunk, stag.</p> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><p style="text-align: justify">Unlikely to be updated: firedrake.</p> </li> </ul> <p style="text-align: justify">In the next installment, we will be turning our attention to <em>I3: Pharaoh</em>…</p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><em>What do you think of the monsters in </em>Beyond the Crystal Cave<em>?</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><em>Do you have any fond memories of encounters with these monsters?</em></p> <p style="text-align: justify"><em>Do you have a favorite creature you’d like to see updated for fifth edition?</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Echohawk, post: 9323229, member: 9849"] [JUSTIFY][B]UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave[/B] (March 1983) [IMG width="143px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/qwU83WCry8wQAm2Ix1SIng-xWqMA5EfoXyzKO0UShSltA8TM9mtEXXjKjOmGh9y8c0nuuOlAdzdq6HAeZvcpXCgMFwat7Doj12B7v_kmMns-phxpzP_Kiq56NAee_N8Y9s0dEbcWEx49pljDlOYALeA[/IMG] The next adventure doesn’t offer quite as many possibilities for fifth edition monster updates as its companion from the UK series, but there are still several creatures to consider. [I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I] has three entries in its [I]New Monsters[/I] appendix: the barkburr, the mud-man and the Green Man. [U]New monsters[/U] [IMG width="161px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/XWGo-uxQB-IcUzTbgXAlOnIRePXeuqnLLEXB28QpaM5oJyBkhPNGJMevOXaQVPOdpuH9nBIBCT6JGLHrpCbofOUyx79792WHAmPNH42bK49EJWmjdumPJ7FZxz-m_7AnoDId_YoFYBHteIVSYByU_TU[/IMG] The [B]barkburr[/B] (and its evil cousin, the direburr) are small animated plants. They look exactly like knots or burrs in oddly-shaped trees, and cling to their host trees like limpets. If someone who has harmed the forest passes by, the barkburr will launch itself at the evil-doer and try to inject them with a poison causing lignification and transformation into a small tree. Some of the victims eventually transform again into forest creatures, but many remain trees. The barkburr was reprinted in the first edition [I]Monster Manual II[/I] (1983), and appeared in the fourth edition version of [I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I] (2011). A fifth edition version seems likely. [IMG width="129px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/toZ5eRtNWcc1DIhHJUbO2zw1ltlmrTdeh2FiPyHmUxa6mJcuA7jnD3AWwTwa_nxwX7mpy9SfXBMTN9IPnTjqGOPWhbB5husABQ6Hr_4AQ6VPUCZ0ANkPKL_ELjhmwTpkYyfLCFUpUU-wQEjhD7B_IUc[/IMG] [B]Mud-men[/B] form where enchanted water pools. Usually dormant below the surface of the water, they can rapidly coalesce into a stocky humanoid form to deal with intruders. They attack by throwing mud at opponents, which hardens, preventing movement and then suffocating the target. The mud-men would go on to appear in the first edition [I]Monster Manual II[/I] (1983), the second edition [I]Monstrous Manual[/I] (1993), and in the fourth edition version of [I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I] (2011) where they also had a mud man grasper variation. It will be interesting to see if they are renamed as mudfolk (or something similar) in a fifth edition update. [IMG width="138px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/2QujGj0ljqffdTlb25X3Ul6fP4taCJIiIQZbXG6VlzX-sRY7VXkpaVQsflNhuaJ-8o0opdMzXezF1d-NBL6xIFQlA83zcOlf8J82OWmewK5pfRoqwVOOaZZvKGqAGKa42m98ttB1fL_XWfAKSyxhBeo[/IMG] Although he is encountered in the module, the [B]Green Man[/B] isn’t really a monster, but a legendary figure from the Old English Mythos, with the title of “god of growth and abundance”. The [I]Everything You Need To Know[/I] [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxR8RkzpQUQ&t=31s']promotional video[/URL] confirms an Archfey statblock in [I]Quests from the Infinite Staircase[/I], which most likely belongs to the Green Man. [U]Other monsters[/U] Most of the creatures encountered in [I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I] are found in the fifth edition [I]Monster Manual[/I], including: badger, black bear, centaur, dryad, giant badger, giant frog, ochre jelly, pixie, poltergeist, satyr, treant and unicorn. There are some additional animals and giant animals in the adventure that don’t yet have fifth edition updates: the [B]giant otter[/B], [B]giant porcupine[/B], [B]giant skunk[/B] and [B]stag[/B]. (Does the deer in the [I]Monster Manual [/I]count as a stag?) Abbreviated stat blocks for these in the text of the adventure seem more likely than full monster entries. [IMG width="147px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Rx0UoXKsEtl_cP8Qgq4B-KCdNRO_Fw1FoLtYfTEp6GW5xajJtyhgCesLnsCL-ABxPL6M6pSwLV7fU9QvFuQdzgF58rI0VvmdA-MD2XEoRTTlwcBA4e1eb63LqbhlBRN4r36pwnucrPLCnS4Wltl-TsA[/IMG] There are four more unusual creatures lurking in the adventure. The [B]caryatid column[/B] is a first edition [I]Fiend Folio[/I] (1981) denizen. It is a column, carved in the shape of a sword-carrying humanoid, that comes to life to protect a location or a treasure. There are some caryatids in [I]Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage[/I] (2018), but not ones that can attack opponents. There are also caryatids in [I]Mythic Odysseys of Theros[/I] (2020), but those are trees that can animate themselves. An update of the original stone column Fiend Folio version is certainly a possibility for [I]Quests from the Infinite Staircase[/I]. [IMG width="134px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Cmmarbqj3K_wizQ1stkMWSsnZrKxyrpGm9WMUkgXtFfcg6qjEkGQs-bcMQyZnFYPkS9Z5BRzMdlrX6ImjsxtMCIDkiecx1zuCdJpDrPqQIrdKG7qJYttP5fe1Lap0iceVFRgI0wjHDRE3rADyMvvfh0[/IMG] Also from the first edition [I]Fiend Folio[/I] are the [B]firedrakes[/B], which are basically miniature (four-foot long) red dragons. Fifth edition doesn’t yet have a firedrake, but it does have ambush, eye, fume, and lion drakes as well as five colors of guard drakes. Substituting the firedrakes with red dragon wyrmlings or red guard drakes seems more likely than an updated firedrake. [IMG width="162px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/6w88UR76S2XwjRNvYZmnSEQYFCmzc80X6GWJo8eodVHprUOi-O4vj2WpEB8qmWwrzfGf-RJUsWkGomi5IaoJ8d9ku9xMlqYtCyoHH9oOuLa72gD26jSHzeidI-UxG2UmIaUoe_aen4XQVruz7jg_NPU[/IMG] Surprisingly, we don’t seem to have a fifth edition [B]leprechaun[/B], even though it was a core monster in the original [I]Monster Manual[/I] (1977). There are leprechauns in [I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I], so we might see them reappear. Another possibility is the approach taken in [I]Lost Laboratory of Kwalish[/I] (2018) where the leprechaun simply uses the stats of a quickling. [IMG width="133px"]https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/KhSwNlixhbJQWRrXjvBVTZy4dUK4M-_pzSLa53Ohfowkjoq_YbwQ2zSARNPw0ihyiJ6smiN5o7Wy7Budsfxd_0PNfHU8Hv7idDe4c7_6AL7tzPHevnS0qTAvIp94pQZam8cZKpfWUJGwKYktvqrWISw[/IMG] There is a shy yu lung living in the Endless River. Also known as a [B]carp dragon[/B], this is one of the oriental dragons from the original [I]Fiend Folio[/I]. It doesn’t seem to have appeared in fifth edition yet, but an abbreviated stat block or a substitution seems more likely than an updated monster entry. So what’s the verdict for [I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/I]?[/JUSTIFY] [LIST] [*][JUSTIFY]Very likely to get a full update: barkburr, mud-men,[/JUSTIFY] [*][JUSTIFY]Quite likely to get a full update: Green Man[/JUSTIFY] [*][JUSTIFY]Likely to be updated but not get a full write-up: carp dragon, caryatid column, leprechaun.[/JUSTIFY] [*][JUSTIFY]Small possibility of an update: giant otter, giant porcupine, giant skunk, stag.[/JUSTIFY] [*][JUSTIFY]Unlikely to be updated: firedrake.[/JUSTIFY] [/LIST] [JUSTIFY]In the next installment, we will be turning our attention to [I]I3: Pharaoh[/I]… [I]What do you think of the monsters in [/I]Beyond the Crystal Cave[I]? Do you have any fond memories of encounters with these monsters? Do you have a favorite creature you’d like to see updated for fifth edition?[/I][/JUSTIFY] [/QUOTE]
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