Editing Hook Horror (section)

==In The Beginning...==
[[File:Hook horror 1e.jpg|right|300px]]

Hook Horrors first debuted in [[White Dwarf]] #12; they were invented by none other than [[Ian Livingstone]], the magazine's editor and a co-founder of [[Games Workshop]]. Here, they were described as large, powerful humanoids with a hard, mottled grey exoskeleton and vulture-like heads. They have sharp, hooked talons on the end of each arm. They have poor vision but acute hearing, which makes them difficult to surprise. They cannot speak, and communicate by making clacking noises with their exoskeleton. The sounds of hook horrors clacking can be an eerie and alarming noise to those exploring the deep underground caverns where they dwell. Found in groups of up to a dozen, they are 5 Hit Dice monsters, with relatively good armour (AC 3). They have two simple talon attacks (1-8 damage each), and low intelligence. They may have silver or electrum coins as treasure.

Six issues later, [[White Dwarf]] #18 would run a "top 10 Fiend Factory Monsters" list, and Hook Horrors would make #5 on that list - beating out [[Githyanki]]! They'd already been slated for the [[Fiend Folio]], which - when it came out - made some slight changes to the description. Instead of "humanoids", hook horrors are now just "bipeds". They live in "deep underground corridors and chambers" instead of "deep underground caverns", perhaps hinting of a less natural origin. The statistics block format in the ''Fiend Folio'' has more information than the one in ''White Dwarf'', so we learn that hook horrors are rare, spend 20% of their time in their lair, and are 9' tall.

The "Ecology of the Hook Horror" article would ultimately follow in [[Dragon Magazine]] #131. The article is a series of observations made by the scholar Ferba to the Guild of Naturalists of Quardolf City. Ferba bases his analysis on a single dead specimen, said to be in an "excellently preserved state". This particular hook horror is fully grown at 9'2" tall. Around the neck of the hook horror is a crest of red feathers, and where each metallic-grey talon meets its upper limb are two more tufts of distinctive red feathers. We learn that the chitinous protective exoskeleton is strongest over the chest and back, and less so over the limbs. It derives its strength, compared here to dwarven steel, from the buildup of calcium deposits.

We discover more about the hook horror's senses. They have weak eyes and limited vision, and lack the infravision common to many underground beasts. Hook horrors make up for this with olfactory senses that rival those of bloodhounds, excellent hearing, and a limited form of echolocation which allows them to sense the environment within 120' even in total darkness. For some reason the illustration accompanying the article omits the bat-like ears shown in most other depictions. Hook horrors are capable of detecting invisible wizards and silently moving rogues. In the footnotes, the article expands on the Fiend Folio's simplistic "10% chance of surprising a hook horror", by noting that efforts to use magical silence to sneak past also incur a penalty.

Hook horrors are said to be herbivores, primarily fungivores, consuming subterranean mushrooms, lichen and mosses. They have abrasive tongues to assist in stripping foods from rocky surfaces. Despite their large size, hook horrors consume only three quarters of the food mass of an adult human. This is because they spend half of each day in a sloth-like sluggish torpor, moving very little, and conserving energy. Hook horrors tend to migrate to caverns with a fresh supply of food once supplies in one area dwindle. In rare cases, more intelligent specimens cultivate fungi in their lairs, with garden chambers devoted to farming. Presumably, at least some of the fungi ingested by the horrors are high in calcium, which they need to form their exoskeleton.

Amusingly, the Ecology article provides a gastronomic explanation for the hook horror's Treasure Type P entry (silver and electrum coin). These coins serve the same functions as pebbles in the crop of a chicken, grinding up the creature's food to aid digestion. Silver and electrum coins are specifically sought out because unlike other metals, they do not irritate the hook horror's stomach lining. Adventurers collecting treasure from these creatures' lairs might notice the peculiar, sour odour of the coins recovered, but being adventurers, probably won't care where the coins have been previously.

Hook horrors reproduce by laying eggs, with females laying up to four eggs once each year. The eggs are about three inches in diameter, and shaped and coloured to blend in with stones. Hook horrors scatter these eggs around their lairs, and this camouflage is effective. Few eggs are lost to predators, and almost all of them hatch after six months. Newly hatched hook horrors are vulnerable and must be protected. Mortality rates for young are high.

Only a foot in size (and ½ HD) when hatched, a hook horror grows to two feet in three months, and five feet within a year. After this, growth steadies and the juvenile hook horror eventually reaches nine feet tall by its 17th birthday. Because its exoskeleton does not grow with it, a hook horror must moult several times before it reaches adulthood. Old plates begin to flake off like old scabs over the course of two days, to reveal a much softer replacement exoskeleton beneath. The hook horror is vulnerable to physical attack during the few days it takes the new shell to harden.

Hook horrors rarely live past the age of 40, with death usually caused by disease or parasitic infections, to which the creature seems to be particularly vulnerable. It is not clear in the Ecology article exactly how they contract these parasites, just that they usually become infected while young from sources other than fungi. So commonly are hook horrors diseased, that the footnotes suggest a 10% chance of a disease, and a further 10% chance of 2-5 additional diseases.

Hook horrors are happy to dwell in any subterranean surroundings, whether those are natural cavern complexes or worked areas such as abandoned mines. The article speculates that hook horrors must occasionally venture above ground, but notes also that there are no reports of encounters with them outside.

They prefer the company of small groups, no greater than a dozen in size. Young hook horrors become independent at an early age, remaining with their parents for only a year before beginning to set off on excursions during their second year. By their third year, they become entirely independent. When they reach the age of about six, hook horrors search out a mate to complete the cycle.

Only rarely are hook horrors found outside this small tribe structure, with tales of huge herds forming on occasions. Travellers have been known to briefly befriend hook horrors by offering them food. Efforts to domesticate them for guard or sentry duty have proved risky, as their behaviour is animalistic when threatened. For those considering a career in breeding these unusual creatures, a later Dragon article (Treasure of the Wilds in Dragon #137) sets the price of an egg at 300 gp, and that of a young hook horror as 500 gp.

Hook horrors are able to communicate with one another by means of clacking noises made by flexing parts of their exoskeletons. To an outsider, these sounds are mere noise, but there is a pattern in the tone and pitch of the clacks which conveys meaning. A steady high-pitch indicates excitement, while a low-pitched, unsteady sound means anger or alarm. Soft, steady tones signal friendship. The sound of a hook horror conversation is similar in volume to that between humans.

A hook horror tends to behave instinctively under stress, shying away from fire and loud noises. It is not naturally aggressive, but is capable of fighting furiously if confronted. In battle a hook horror relies on the foot-long swordlike talons, which it wields with exceptional strength. It is usually too sluggish to coordinate two simultaneous hook attacks, and suffers a penalty, so only does so in desperation. A hook horror can use its sharp beak to make a weak attack, but since an injured beak frequently renders the creature unable to eat, and is thus eventually fatal, this is something it tries to avoid.

The Ecology article records several alternative names for the hook horror: vulture beak, hacker, cave dweller, and clacker.