BASH Monster File - The Tarantula-Hawk!
The Tarantula-Hawk is the most recent in a series of reports of bizarre and aggressive hybrid monsters combining aspects of insects and other animals. This latest combines the avian ferocity of a raptor with the predatory talents and robustness of one of the largest of the arachnids - the Tarantula.
The Tarantula-Hawk is by far the most massive of the recent hybrids, being as large as an elephant, though no doubt of considerably less mass, since the Tarantula-Hawk can FLY! Iindeed, thus far, it has been seen only as a living transport for warrior Tarantula-Hawkmen, who cling to special harnesses and hurl javelins and stone downs on unwary travelers, then leap off when their mount dives and smashes into the earth, smearing any points of resistance under its bulk. A number of caravans are feared lost in this way. The merchants most affected are currently hiring monster hunters to remove the problem.
Few have come forward for the job.
Where this, or indeed, the other hybrids, come from is still an open question. Local authorities fear a mad sorcerer with intent to rule, or at least terrorize, the region. But there is little evidence to go on. One survivor of a caravan claims that the massive beast of burden carried its troops and cargo to the northwest before disappearing in the distance.
