Kech

Kech (NaN undefineds) was a species of evil carnivorous forest monkey-like creatures sometimes referred to as "forest fiends". "While studying these creatures, our party witnessed the death of one of our retainers, who fell into a covered pit when he rushed to aid another retainer whom he believed was screaming in distress. The crier turned out to be one of a pair of keches. While I cannot urge that cries for help be ignored, travelers must use the utmost caution when these creatures are known to be about an area."

- An exerpt from a lecture by sage Oparin of Oerth.

Description
Keches were monkey-like humanoids that had lean, muscular, and wiry bodies. They were covered in leathery skin with green protrusions that looked like tree leaves. Like other monkeys, they had arms longer than their legs and prehensile tails, allowing them to move with lightning speed across the canopies. They also had elongated prehensile toes that allowed them sturdier grasps and easy swinging. A kech's face was reminiscent of a human's but with protruding jaws that housed large fangs, and malicious eyes of blue or sometimes red color. The individuals with red eyes generally did not have visible pupils. Compared to those of humans, a kech's nose was diminutive, and the green-leafed skin hid their ears. Unlike other mammals, keches' bodies were almost completely hairless.

Their physique made keches comfortable in the trees and on the ground. When they ran through the forest beds, they did so like baboons, making springy movements using their knuckles and back legs.

Keches' sexual dimorphism was minimal, with the only difference between sexes being their bulk. Adult males usually reached tall and  in weight, while females were around  tall and weighed around.

Behavior
It seemed that keches' main drive was luring unwitting humans to their dooms in the deepest forests, ensnaring them in traps, and consuming their flesh. Keches lived in thick forests and thrived in any climate. However, these were not mindless beasts. They were capable of setting pitfall traps, snares, and deadfalls. Some kech groups were even known to organize raids on humanoids living in or close to forests. These fiends captured and fled with their living prey only to devour them later in the privacy of deep woodlands. Possibly the most devious of keches' traps was their ability to imitate screams of distress and pleas for help that often lured prey to become a bloody feast.

Keches were intelligent enough to have developed their own language, speak clear Common, and have a passing knowledge of local languages spoken within their hunting territory. The kech language sounded like squirrel chatter and whistles. However, scholars largely failed to translate their tongue apart from a couple of words. Other languages were used to fake cries for help and lure travelers into traps and ambushes. Their camouflage and knowledge of the woods made it hard to track keches even by an experienced ranger. Keches were not known to use tools apart from utilizing traps.

These monkey-like humanoids enjoyed terrorizing villages and torturing their living prey before devouring them. Bigger groups of keches were known to rampage through villages in the darkest moonless nights, leaving none alive. However, there was a very small chance of encountering a neutral-aligned group of keches in the wild.

Combat
Keches used trapmaking and cunning as their main weapons and their powerful camouflage as their main defense. When forced into direct confrontation, they attacked with claw rends and bites. The most common battle tactics for them were ambushing prey, picking and attacking one or two targets, trying to slay them as quickly as possible, and then retreating with the corpses into the woods.

Keches preferred to attack lone targets but did not shy away from attacking a group of well-armored adventurers at night, trying to ambush and quickly slay creatures standing guard.

Ecology
Keches usually traveled and hunted in bands of two to four adults and between one and three youths. Keches often built nests in the vicinity of their hunting grounds (between three to five miles), which usually meant humanoid settlements in or close to a forest's edge. Nightly kech males set traps in the forests in hopes of snaring and dragging away strays from their target villages. Most of their prey ended up being stray children, traveling workers, older folk, and lovers on late-night trysts.

Smart hunters, ketches moved on from one hunting ground to another after devouring several villagers, usually around five unlucky individuals. That way, they avoided armed hunters and vengeful townsfolk. They moved along roads and paths hoping they would eventually reach another hunting ground, lush with ripe humanoids. If a band of keches grew too big, above four adults, it split into two bands to match the food availability in their area. A kech band was led by a single creature, usually the biggest male in the group. The leader always controlled the trap placements and which victims to prey on first. Other than the male leader, the bands consisted of an equal number of males and females.

Keches had a few mating rituals that happened every three years. The individuals got together in the spring for copulation but did not form couples. The average litter consisted of one or rarely two newborns after the gestation period of a year. A band's females took care of the young as a community while males provided only security. Kech young usually traveled clinging to the backs of the adults. The babes never hunted with adults and at night stayed hidden inside the nests. A kech reached adulthood and full size in twenty to twenty-five years.

A regular kech diet included humans, elves, and half-elves. They preferred not to eat orc meat but did so during times of food scarcity. Especially evil-aligned keches gladly hunted monkeys, gorillas, carnivorous apes, and other keches. They had almost no natural predators thanks to their camouflage and evasiveness; however, they were occasionally hunted by humanoids for their unique leathery skin.

Keches rarely mingled with other creatures. As a matter of fact, their only known partners, albeit very temporary ones, were su-monsters. Keches were known to join forces with su-monsters for a series of raids on settlements, but that so-called alliance never lasted thanks to keches' nature.

These creatures did not value treasure apart from items that could be used in trap-making or as a lure.

Habitats
Keches were known to hunt in the deepest and darkest parts of the High Forest in the Savage Frontier, along with other rarely seen creatures such as forlarren, perytons, and mongrel men.

In the lands of Kara-Tur, keches could be found stalking towns on the edges of tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate forests.

Usages
If captured alive, kech young could be sold for around 550 gold pieces.

Kech skin was valued for its thickness and durability. It was hard to work with, but if tanned skillfully, it could be crafted into exceptional leather armor.

Rumors and Legends
Some sages theorized that keches were descendants of early humans that adapted to living and hunting in thick forests. Keches felt special hatred towards humans, which was another topic of scholarly speculation. Some claimed that it was due to humans mistreating and abusing forests, while others said that the attitude was born out of some ancient feud.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Dungeon #27, "Bride For A Fox"
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards