Squigglenoggs
by Thorfinn Tait
"The Isle of the Squigglenoggs. From Branwys' Guide to the Islands of the Sea of Dread.
"This small island has three active volcanoes and, obviously, is where the Squigglenoggs live in their native habitat. No other creatures of interest live on the island, probably due to the Squigglenoggs' amazing ability to explode their gas when creatures get too near. Luckily, it seems the Squigglenoggs themselves are immune to the effects of their gas and indeed the explosions caused by its ignition."
The Squigglenoggs were an invention of my brother Magnus during one of Branwys Skyratchett's adventures under his DM-ship. It should be made clear at this point that, yes, the Squigglenoggs are a joke.
However, I am not objectionable to jokes such as this in a campaign world, and so the Squigglenoggs stand in my campaigns. Of course, they only inhabit their tiny island south of Ierendi anyway, so they're not very intrusive. Plus, thus far none of my PCs have found them yet.
In any case, the Squigglenoggs were found during an exploration voyage undertaken by Branwys to explore the various small islands dotted around the Sea of Dread. Theirs was the first island he came to, and on the Known World map it is the island directly south of Aloysius Island in Ierendi waters.
Enjoy!
Squigglenogg
| Armour Class: | 5 |
| Hit Dice: | 1/2* |
| Hit Points: | 1-4 |
| Move: | 150' (50') |
| Attacks: | 1 minor explosion (3' radius) |
| Damage: | 1d20 plus resultant fire damage |
| Number Appearing: | 0 (10-100) |
| Terrain: | Special (Sguigglenogg Island only) |
| Save As: | F1 |
| Morale: | 3 |
| Treasure Type: | Nil |
| Alignment: | Neutral |
| THAC0: | 19 |
| XP Value: | 2 |
Squigglenogs are small, furry, tennis-ball sized animals, with four stubby legs, two eyes, a nose, a snout and two ear cavities. They live in the Thanegioth Archipelago and on the few small islands in the Sea of Dread where there are wild grapes growing - probably a maximum of three sites. The main habitat is the Isle of the Squigglenoggs south of Aloysius Island.
They come out during the day. They dig burrows down to wine reserves which are created when volcanic ash falls from volcanic eruptions on the islands, crushing the grape vines into wine. This is then covered by sand and silt and more wild grapes grow on the top. This process is not wholly natural, being enhanced by some as yet unknown magical force.
The Squgglenoggs drink this wine, and it is their only food source. They cannot digest anything else.
They later excrete a highly explosive gas, which they can ignite by snapping their claws together. It would seem that they have learned to use this innate ability to deal with predators, and by all accounts it has worked - there are very few predators on the islands, and those there are seem mortally afraid of the gentle-looking Squigglenoggs.
Squigglenoggs are immune to the nauseating and explosive effects of their gas.
The only other known information on Squigglenoggs is that Branwys Skyratchett managed to befriend a small tribe. He found them to be reasonably intelligent, and driven to find more and more wine to live on. Indeed it seems to be their only drive in life.
Thus, Branwys has invited a number of Squigglenoggs into his service, mostly to be employed as alternatives to elementals in drive mechanisms (noticably in the Skyrocopter). The payment for these services is simple - large quantities of wine.
The chief of the Squigglenoggs employed by Branwys is named Wibbleplub.