Austrech

Austrech

The austrech is one of the largest predators in the Southeastern deserts — the average specimen stands just over nine feet tall, and bears talons that put fine knives to shame. Though well-adapted to their arid home, these flightless birds are equally comfortable in plains, scrublands, and forests. Relatives of the desert austrech are common along the southern coast of the Inland Sea, even ranging as far as An-Teng. In addition to hunting their own prey, they’ve been known to squabble with lions and claw striders over kills. Wherever they’re found, these territorial beasts are an important natural resource for neighboring human tribes. They make an abundant source of food or leather for tribes that can feasibly hunt them, while any hero brave enough to tame the so-called “terror bird” earns a fiercely loyal mount.

Essence: 1; Willpower: 4; Join Battle: 4 dice
Health Levels: −0/−1x2/−2x2/−4/Incap.
Speed Bonus: +2
Actions: Endure Arid Conditions: 7 dice; Feats of Strength: 5 dice (may attempt Strength 3 feats); Find Water: 5 dice; Senses: 5 dice
Resolve 2, Guile 1

COMBAT
Attack (Peck): 6 dice (Damage 14)
Attack (Talon kick): 8 dice (Damage 10)
Attack (Grapple): 6 dice (6 dice to control) (Iron Talon Stomp only)
Combat Movement: 8 dice
Evasion 3, Parry 2
Soak/Hardness: 4/0

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Brutal Kick: Enemies smaller than human size that take 5+ damage from the austrech’s withering talon kicks are knocked back one range band and fall prone.
Swift Advance: Whenever the austrech reflexively pursues an enemy after a successful rush, it may pay a Willpower to reflexively make a decisive attack against him.
Flesh-Rending Beak (Latent): An austrech hunts large prey animals, such as camels and wild dogs, by kicking them savagely with taloned feet to weaken them, before finishing them with its huge beak. If the austrech crashes an enemy with a withering talon attack, add two automatic successes on decisive peck attacks it makes against him until he recovers from crash.
Aspect of the Garda (Magical, 5m): The austrech’s master imbues it with the fiery-winged aspect of the garda, turning its feathers to dancing sprays of flame. The austrech may use its movement action to fly, and its fiery glory adds one automatic success to all attacks and one bonus die to all damage rolls. These benefits last for one round. If the austrech does not end its movement on the ground, it falls unless its master activates Aspect of the Garda again on her next turn.
Iron Talon Stomp (Magical, 6m): The austrech’s Brutal Kick attack works against enemies of human size. If it successfully knocks an enemy prone, it may reflexively move one range band closer to him and initiate a grapple gambit against him. The austrech can only restrain or savage a clinched enemy, and cannot move without ending the grapple.

MERITS
Desert Endurance: An austrech is suited to survival in deserts where water is scarce, allowing it to survive for a week without water. Even in its final hours, it ignores the usual −3 penalty for dehydration, giving it one last chance to make it to a water source.
Oasis Rider (Latent): An austrech whose master succumbs to dehydration takes her to the nearest source of water it can find — carrying her on its back if she fainted in the saddle, or dragging her with its beak if not.

Storyteller Tactics
In the wild, austreches mainly travel in pairs or alone. When hunting, they lay down on the ground and stretch their heads and necks out flat, appearing to their quarry as nothing more dangerous than an earthen mound.

Austreches who hunt in pairs often settle several dozen yards apart, wait for their quarry to pass between them, and charge forward in a pincer movement.

They focus their swift, sharp attacks on their victims’ soft spots: eyes, throats, bellies. When faced with an armored opponent, clever austreches learn to focus on gaps in the plates. Some even slash at leather straps and other fasteners. They use gambits to perform these feats. An austrech flees after taking damage in its last −2 health level.