Aivnec

Aivnec is a fairly young and inexperienced Dragon. Yet, he is no less a formidable foe. He has bright red scales, a golden-orange underneath and scarlet on his crest. From the tip of his snout to the end of his tail is 90 feet, and he stands 18' at the shoulder. His legs are more powerful than those of many Dragons since he has no wings and therefore moves everywhere on his feet. Aivnec can speak but knows no magic. He has fiery breath capable of being used in two ways, as a ball or bolt, and can breathe once every 6 rounds (once a minute), a maximum of 5 times in any one hour and 12 times in a day. Detailed Description

Practically the only way to kill Aivnec is through a lucky critical strike. He can dish out massive amounts of damage to anyone who comes near him. PCs should only think of approaching him when they have a large amount of protection from his breath weapon and a powerful offense, such as the Gaisaheru. When the characters first meet him, stress Aivnec's massive size, his armor-plated scales and the destruction he has already wreaked, so that if PCs do get themselves killed by him, at least they had fair warning. The mere appearance of the Dragon in an aroused state forces all viewers to make a 10th level RR (use Presence bonus). Failure by 1-50 means they will run in terror; failure by 51-100 results in either fainting or being frozen in place for 1-10 rounds; failure by 101 + results in a heart attack.

NOTE: In order to determine the effects of the heart attack, roll another RR (modified by Co bonus). Failure of this RR results in death. A successful RR results in the victim merely being completely immobilized for 1-50 weeks.

Remember that like all Dragons, Aivnec possesses very delicate senses and can smell an invisible person and hear anyone creeping up behind him (+100 to such Perception rolls). He will not hesitate to do his utmost to slay and devour anyone approaching him. If he is attacked, his initial response will be to rear up on his hind legs and breathe a fireball (or bolt if there is but a single opponent). He will then crash mightily down from 40 or 50 feet, his impact causing a +59 Unbalancing attack (roll on Table AT-6 and give Unbalancing criticals) on everything within 100'. Anyone who takes damage from this must also make a Hard (-10) MM roll to avoid falling over. Those unaffected by the UB attack have one free round to attack Aivnec before the Drake himself recovers — or, if they have any sense, to flee clear away! Normally in melee, each round Aivnec can use:

* 1) his breath and (a claw or his tail) or   * 2) his bite and a claw and his tail or    * 3) both claws and his tail

If more than one attack (possibly against a single opponent) occurs, each attack is a -15 per extra attack. He will also breathe as much as possible. Aivnec's only weak points are his eyes and his initial attack: should someone know what his strategy is (having seen him in action before), they will realize there are two possibilities. First, someone prepared for the shock of his impact could arrange to avoid it and get in a useful strike in the round that Aivnec falls, a very hard Moving Maneuver. Second, a clever person might try to set a heavy spear or sword under him when he crashes down, as his own weight would almost certainly mean that the weapon would pierce his hide and perhaps reach some internal organ, as long as it didn't break or slip.

NOTE: To determine the results of such an attack first roll (1-100, open-ended) and add the holder's Presence bonus: the weapon slips if the result is less than 20; then add double the weapon's bonus, the weapon breaks if the second result is less than 40 (the weapon can both slip and break). If the weapon did not slip or break, make a normal attack roll with an additional +100 to its OB, and add an additional +20 to any resulting critical roll. However, anyone holding such a weapon (even if it slips or breaks) is subject to one to three + 250 Huge Crush attacks from the falling colossus!