Yrthaks (pronounced: /ˈjɪərθɑːks/ YEER-thaks) were flying predators who hunted using their "sonic lances".[1][2] They were considered lizards by the Scaled Ones.[3]
Description[]
The yrthak was generally described as appearing akin to a winged crocodile, or some sort of sickly dragon. Its eyeless head featured a disproportionately large mouth, filled with yellow teeth, as well as a distinctive twisting horn.[1][4]
Yrthaks had a yellow-green color, though their leathery wings and large back-fin were noticeably more yellow than the relatively green body and head. Their tough hide and cartilaginous barbs granted them a hardiness in contrast with their frail-looking physique.[1][4]
The unusual body features of yrthaks made them of particular interest to anatomists.[5]
Behavior[]
They would establish their lairs high in the mountains, near where natural soothing noises emanated, such as the woosh of a waterfall, or the bubbling cauldron of a volcano. High in the mountains they would listen to the brewing thunderheads that so often formed there.[6]
Crafty and devious beings, the yrthaks would hunt for prey far from their lairs, often travelling for days while in search of food, as to obfuscate where they nested,[1] and to protect their own eggs from the power of their sonic lances.[5] Every third year, during autumn, the mating season of the yrthak would arrive, and pairs would form up by creating pleasing sounds from their sonic lances, bonding together by mutual joy of a certain harmonic. Once paired, they would return to the males lair and spend several weeks in notably silent mating. Between one and four eggs would be produced, each weighing some 25 lb (11 kg), and be around 2 feet (0.61 meters) in diameter. For four months the pair would stay together until the eggs hatched, whereupon the male would be chased off, and the female claim their former mates territory.[7]
As noise soothed them, so did music stimulate. The wildly changing notes of music would result in a sort of tonal ecstasy, and while in the wilds these often only came as a result of storms or rare natural disasters, they were far more common in the civilized lands. Thus musicians could attract yrthaks from many miles away. Intelligent enough to shy away from cities and larger groups of humanoids, they would follow, and if able, abduct those who produced the music, bringing them back to their lairs.[7]
Abilities[]
With their specialized tongues they could taste sound and sense prey from around 30 miles (48 kilometers) or more away. One drawback of using their tongues to sense, however were that whenever their mouths were closed they were effectively blind.[4]
Combat[]
They would use their sonic lances to either hit foes directly, or cause an explosion in the ground, or from rock formations, causing a mass of fragments to hit be flung around the area.[1]
Ecology[]
Although omnivorous, yrthaks had a preference for meat.[1]
Habitats[]
Yrthaks lived in many of Faerûn's mountains, ranging all the way from the Spine of the World[8] to the Sunrise Mountains;[9][10] specifically, they had been recorded living in the Dragonjaw Mountains,[11] Dragonsword Mountains,[12][13] Dustwall Mountains,[14] Firward Mountains,[9] Giant's Belt Mountains,[14] Gnollwatch Mountains,[15] Ice Mountains,[8] Icerim Mountains,[9] Nether Mountains,[8] Rauvin Mountains,[8] Thar,[16] Thesk Mountains,[11] and the Walls of Halruaa.[17]
Subterranean varieties of yrthaks were also found in the wildernesses of the Middledark and Lowerdark.[18]
Outside of the Prime Material Plane, fiendish yrthaks were known to live in the Gaping Maw.[19]
Uses[]
Gulgars used yrthaks as mounts and beasts of burden.[20] Particularly adept Zhentarim skymages were sometimes mounted on yrthaks, as well.[21]
History[]
One origin myth held that the first yrthak was once a renowned bard named Brannius of Apollo. According to this story, Brannius sang a seven-day hymn devoted to any deity that would hear his wish to play music for the entire world. Upon his song's completion, a trumpet archon from Mount Celestia and a succubus from the Abyss arrived in front of the bard simultaneously. The archon offered Brannius her trumpet, promising him a rich legacy for ages to come, his songs eventually becoming known the whole world in a distant future. The fiend, on the other hand, guaranteed that her bone horn would enable the bard to reach his goal within his own lifetime. Although the decision was difficult, Brannius eventually accepted the succubus' offer. Before he could reach out and touch the horn, however, the fiend pulled him closer and jammed the horn into his forehead, fracturing his skull. Instead of dying, the bard's body warped into a strange new shape, eventually becoming the first yrthak.[22]
Shortly after the gulgars fled a genie incursion into their territory on the Elemental Plane of Earth for the Prime Material and settled in the Ramparts of Night, they started exploiting the native yrthaks' susceptibility to their sonic attacks in order to shape them into more domestic creatures.[20]
In the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, while en route from Gracklstugh to Menzoberranzan, a duergar army led by Horgar Steelshadow IV and Nimor Imphraezl lost 5 soldiers and a pack lizard to an attack by a flight of ythraks.[23] Around that same year, one could find ythraks stabled by the Zhentarim as mounts within the Temple in the Sky.[24]
In Alturiak of the next year, in the Land of Stormweather,[25] three yrthaks hidden on the forested back of a skwalos ambushed the Sorcerer as he attempted to drag the great animal down to Castle Stormweather in order to flense and butcher it.[26]
Notable Yrthaks[]
A clutch of subterranean yrthaks lived in a cavern about 40 miles (64 kilometers) away from the Wailing Cliff, subsisting off of the cohabitating deep rothé. By Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, the mated pair and their young adult twin offspring had overhunted the rothé, so their primary food source was dwindling.[27]
As of Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR, the beholder cult in the Temple in the Sky kept 4 yrthaks in their stables.[28]
Appendix[]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Adventures
- City of the Spider Queen
- Novels
- Lord of Stormweather • Condemnation
Connections[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual v.3.5. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 262. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.
- ↑ Erik Roelofs (February 2007). “The Ecology of the Yrthak”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #352 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), pp. 64–68.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, Darrin Drader (July 2004). Serpent Kingdoms. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 5. ISBN 0-7869-3277-5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Erik Roelofs (February 2007). “The Ecology of the Yrthak”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #352 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 66.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Erik Roelofs (February 2007). “The Ecology of the Yrthak”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #352 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 65.
- ↑ Erik Roelofs (February 2007). “The Ecology of the Yrthak”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #352 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), pp. 65–66.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Erik Roelofs (February 2007). “The Ecology of the Yrthak”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #352 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 67.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Ed Greenwood and Jason Carl (July 2002). Silver Marches. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 46. ISBN 0-7869-2835-2.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 91. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 93. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 90. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 184. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- ↑ Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 178. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 84. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
- ↑ Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 85. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 165. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- ↑ Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 91. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
- ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick (October 2003). Underdark. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 115–116. ISBN 0-7869-3053-5.
- ↑ Ed Stark, James Jacobs, Erik Mona (June 13, 2006). Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 141. ISBN 0-7869-3919-2.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Andrew Finch, Gwendolyn Kestrel, Chris Perkins (August 2004). Monster Manual III. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 78–79. ISBN 0-7869-3430-1.
- ↑ Jason Carl, Sean K. Reynolds (October 2001). Lords of Darkness. Edited by Michele Carter. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 103. ISBN 07-8691-989-2.
- ↑ Erik Roelofs (February 2007). “The Ecology of the Yrthak”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #352 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), pp. 64–65.
- ↑ Richard Baker (May 2003). Condemnation. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 10, p. ?. ISBN 0-7869-2824-7.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd (March 2006). Power of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 38. ISBN 0-7869-3910-9.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 153. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Dave Gross (February 2003). Lord of Stormweather. (Wizards of the Coast), chap. 16, pp. 169–171. ISBN 0-7869-2932-4.
- ↑ James Wyatt (September 2002). City of the Spider Queen. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 60. ISBN 0-7869-1212-X.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd (March 2006). Power of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 38. ISBN 0-7869-3910-9.