                                   THE SHRIKE

                                       by

                                David Kilpatrick
                             <stflaem@bellsouth.net>


(Based on The Shrike appearing in the hyperion novels by Dan Simmons.)

CLIMATE/TERRAIN:         Any
FREQUENCY:               Unique
ORGANIZATION:            Solitary
ACTIVE TIME:             Any
DIET:                    None
INTELLIGENCE:            20
TREASURE:                Nil
ALIGNMENT:               Chaotic Neutral
NO. APPEARING:           1
ARMOR CLASS:             0
MOVEMENT:                16
HIT DICE:                20
THAC0:                   6
NO. OF ATTACKS:          4
DAMAGE/ATTACK:           Special
SPECIAL ATTACKS:         Special
SPECIAL DEFENSES:        Special
MAGIC RESISTANCE:        Special
SIZE:                    L (8' tall)
MORALE:                  Fearless (20)
XP VALUE:                20,000

The Shrike is the creation of a dark god long dead.  This god was bossed with forbidden lore and knowledge of things such as machines, soul manipulation, and time travel.  From the experiments of the god's followers in these areas came the Shrike.  The Shrike was intended to be the perfect killing machine, standing 8 feet tall, its adamantite carapace resembled a suit of four-armed full plate armor with every square inch covered with razor sharp spikes.  However, they made one fatal mistake--they gave this living clock-work creation a soul.  This was not just any soul either, it was the soul of a humble paladin of the then god of time, this paladin had been captured by evil chronomancers and used as the soul which would give this abomination life.  It freed itself from the bonds of its creators shortly after the bonding of the paladins soul to the metal body, it turned on them killing them all and went forth to serve its own interests.  No one knows what motivates it now, it can travel to any plane by means of gates it can produce at will. It does not eat or sleep, it simply exists to wander.

COMBAT:  When the Shrike engages in combat it is not shy about using the powers it was bestowed.  It can dimension door at will, normally using this ability to get up close and personal with the most dangerous opponent in a group and then try to hug this opponent.  This hugging causes 1d6 points of damage per round and all the blades on The Shrike's body act as per a sword of wounding.  A bend bars/lift grates roll is required to break the Shrike's grasp.  When hugging is unsuccessful it will employ its 4-bladed fists as weapons, each doing 1d8+3 points of damage.  In addition, wounds from its fists are treated the same as damage from a sword of wounding.  The Shrike may additional use the following powers at will:  Blink (as per spell), and haste as per spell (self only).  It also may preform the following 3 times a day:  Timestop (as per spell), become ethereal as per plate mail of etherealness, and teleport without error.  The Shrike also has several defenses.  First it is immune to all time based spells, second it has a base MR of 50% with an additional percentage based on the spell school: Abjuration + 0%, Alteration +5%, Conjuration/Summoning +10%, Enchantment/Charm +40%, Illusion/Phantasm +10%, Invocation/Evocation +10%, Divination +0%, Necromancy +30%, Wild Magic +0%.  Edged weapons do 1/2 damage to the Shrike, piercing do 1/4, and bludgeoning does normal damage.

HABITAT/SOCIETY:  Yeah, right.

ECOLOGY:  The Shrike may be found anywhere at any time, there is no rhyme or reason to its actions.  If the Shrike is ever killed it will slowly reform on the astral plane after a period of 1 year and then resume its wanderings.
