Ecology Of The Bloody,Bloody, Arduin Octorilla For Your Old School Campaigns - Updated

 'There are strange and dangerous predators among the stars my friends and the octorilla is a fine example of an invasive and dangerous species of monster from the dimensional nexuses and gateways of Arduin'

'Behold the octorilla gentlemen, one the most dangerous and heinous of the mutant pseudo gorillaoids out in the wilds of the planes. But where did they come from and why do their numbers seemingly increase every year? And are such creatures naturally prone to violence and depravity when other species of gorillas are not?"  Marcus Flavous The Elder waited for the collective terrorized  sigh of the crowd to die down. As the  tentacles of the monster whipped the sides of the cage but the force field easily held its place. The royal xeno-biologist had made that mistake and had extra nuclear batteries in place to give the force field generator the required power. His party of loyal friends paid with their lives in the swamp world of Eldrad III. The force cage moisturized the horrid monsters and the filmy slime of the thing's tentacles left a smear down the side of the containment cage.


Marcus held his cybernetic hands up for silence in the great hall. 'There is no need for alarm my friends this speicimen was captured at great expense for the royal zoo of Atlantica.' 'Now we may proceed, the Octogrilla is a predator of enormous appetite and consumes at least twice his weight per week.' 'The monster seems an unholy combination of great ape and an octopoid life form. In point of fact these horrors are not simply carnivores but omnivores of the highest caliber' 

'These monsters are incredibly strong and are capable of splitting metal, wood, bone, and flesh with easy with their powerful tentacle attacks'  He indicated an array of broken and twisted samples on the table before him. There was a large glass jar with some sort of twisting slime covered muck inside of it held in place by a powerful metal screw top. Marcus regarded it for a moment seemingly locked in a distant and unpleasant memory of some past horror with the monsters. 

'These monsters feed on anything or anyone that they can get their tentacles on' 'They use a combination of powerful and intelligent eyes, ultra sensitive hearing, and sense organs that line the entire body of the monsters just below the fur,skin, and back of the tentacles'  'We estimate that the prey can be felt with fifty feet of the beast before the eyes ever lay sight of it. This gives these predators superior hunting skills'. 'And they are relentless sometimes tracking prey for fifty miles or more' 

"They dwell in both fresh water and salt water equally well. The Octorilla first subdues its prey with a series of powerful attacks by the tentacles and then wraps its prey in these tentacles constricting the victim. Only then is the powerful acidic ooze that the monster creates released upon the prey enabling the horrors predigest the poor fool for later consummation.' 'These tactic's are also one of the reasons why little treasure and relics are found within the bowels of the lairs of these beasts.'  

"The Octogrilla is amphibious as well and capable of dwelling in a wide variety of environments and is considered an invasive species by many planetary authorities' 'For they are found in alien rain forests, hot jungle worlds, and other plant based ecological environments often near alien building ruins. Often this is right next to a large body of water as a river or a lake."" But why esteemed lords and ladies?!"  "Because my friends they have always been there"  A great murmurer rode its way through the crowd as  lords and lady scientists from across the empire began to question. Marcus held up his hands again. 

'My friends the reason why the Octorilla continues to flourish as an interstellar invasive species is very simple. The monster simply put is us.' 'I will have silence and you will listen to my findings!'

'We all know that throughout Earth's history there have been incursions by alien super scientists' 'These alien interlopers settled via time warp upon the Martian landscape. Starting in the pre dawn era of early mankind they began to mutate the DNA of early man, seeding the Earth with several strains of mutating viruses. These viruses were charged with certain types of mystical and very dangerous magick energies. A similar process was done upon Mars as well in its prehistoric era as well.' 'The results of these experiments upon early Martian kind were the creation of several species and strains of tool using, multiple -armed semi intelligent monsteroid creatures. The Great White Apes of Barsoom and Mars have appeared numerous times and are still a menace to any adventurers doing time prospecting'
'In 1841 a series of murders occurred in old Earth this was done by what was wrongly assumed to be a trained great ape. Time diving revealed a completely different story'
'It was in fact a mutated man which exhibited mutations similar to those found in the octorilla. Namely the immunity to paralysis,radiation, and toxicity from minerals such as lead or uranium.' 'These mutations were the result of rapid specialized Khoas virus overwriting of existing genetic code and forced mutational physical and mental changes' 'The type of change that we see with magical or super science tampering in native Earthlings' 'You know that this has been going on for centuries my brothers and sisters, it is only now that we have reached the stars that the evidence is overwhelming to you all!'



" There are further connections between the Martians of the 1898 invasion of Old Earth and the Octorilla.


The Octorilla can sustain itself upon only a few kills a month and slow down it's metabolism going into a fugue or hibernative state an adaption shared by many of the gorilla like mutant monsters that have plagued mankind throughout its history and prehistory. The Octorilla has many of the characteristics of the invasive Martian species tentacles, blood lust, extra senses adapted for hunting prey in swampy conditions, and a capacity for variations of mutated species. They kill by constriction and the slow dissolving of prey as well as feeding upon the blood of their prey. There is evidence that some variation of these monsters may have been seen within the various crystal eggs that were used by the Martian invaders more proof right over HERE

'Octorillas  are  be able to supplement its diet with plants, including fruit, roots, tubers, as well as insects, small animals and pretty much anything that might look like it can be eaten between meals. There have been incidents of other varieties of these monsters being found as well.' One of which is right over HERE.

In point of fact there have been several varieties of these monsters recovered from the interior of the Inner Earth from several Derro eco-vaults with evidence of Invasive  Martian technology intact. These showed several species of  mutated gorilloid monsters in various states of specialized mutations keyed for their environments  

Mutated Gorilloid  Monsters

           

Num. Enc: 2-5

Align: Chaotic Evil 

Move: 180' (60') swimming, swinging and climbing

AC: 3

HD: 7

Attacks: 2 claws  or 1 bite 

D/Att: 1d10/1d10/1d8

Save: F7

Morale: 10

Hoard Class: C 

XP: 1,400
There is strong evidence that super science processes and magickal arcane rites and secrets that continue to produce these monsters have circulated among cults, wizards, and other dubious super scientists of evil intent have been used for centuries. This is trend that shall continue my friends 

In conclusion the octorilla species will continue to be a plague upon us all, some of us have paid the price for this continuing problem of invasive magick from outside our normal space time continuum and the legacy of Arduin will haunt us for decades to come.

The octorilla has been taken from the Arduin Eternal Bestiary and Treasures book available right HERE. All ecology & supposition is by me and the items and monsters belong to respective owners.