[General rules for fighting aggressive fish underwater, would be to reduce a land-dweller's Attack Strength by 2. In addition, there is also the danger of drowning. Unless an opponent can defeat the fish(es) in less Attack Rounds than their current SKILL, they will drown and become a meal for the fish anyway.]
AMPHIBIOUS SPINEFISH (#7/31, #220/365) [OOTP IV]
STAMINA: 6
ATTACKS: 1
WEAPON: Venomous Spines (as per Small Claw and see below)
ARMOUR: Medium
DAMAGE MODIFIER: None
HABITAT: Sea, Sea-shore
NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 2-7
TYPE: Fish
REACTION: Unfriendly-Hostile
INTELLIGENCE: Low
Fish that dwell within the waters of Titan have evolved into a multitude of forms, including those that decide to leave their aquatic home behind, either permanently or just on a temporary basis, and colonize the land. Such an example is the AMPHIBIOUS SPINEFISH, a highly aggressive territorial piscine that leads a bizarre split life-style. One moment it is swimming in small shoals in coastal waters, the next, inflating itself full of air and bouncing ashore to attack any intruders into its perceived shore-domain. In its sea or estuarine water habitat the Amphibious Spinefish is a boxy fish at least a metre long, with short powerful fins, but when agitated and on land, it inflates itself full of air and resembles a bouncing spherical creature, covered in venomous spines, hence its other epithet, the Venomous Blowfish.
If an Amphibious Spinefish lands a hit on a victim, they suffer Small Claw damage and roll one die; if they roll a 5 or a 6, then the attack will cause them to lose 2 additional STAMINA points, as the Spinefish's spines are coated with a toxic secretion. In addition, the random, bouncing nature of the creature's attack out of the water has the potential to send combatants flying. Literally anyone in combat can be knocked over - roll a die per adversary, highest decides which one. An Amphibious Spinefish in such a situation can knock an opponent over every Attack Round. Anyone knocked over takes incidental damage of 1 STAMINA from the fish's spines (with the same chance as venomous damage as above). They must spend the next Attack Round getting up, during which they may not fight, so an enemy will score a free hit on them unless someone steps in to help. Within the water however, fluid physics slows this attack somewhat and these special knock-over attack rules are not applicable. Should they be defeated by their assailants, the Amphibious Spinefish will deflate with a sad squeaky noise if on land, or a long trail of bubbles if under the water.
The venom of the Amphibious Spinefish is used by Sea Elves who make it more potent to apply on the projectiles for their
underwater crossbows. These hand-crossbow darts do regular damage plus the loss of +4 extra
STAMINA points from the strong venom. Amphibious Spinefish are scavengers and easy to feed and tame, but are also not above
carnivory however, and if their land attack slays an incautious intruder, then
the fish are quite happy to roll the corpse into the water and consume it with
their bony tooth-plates! Some nations
such as Hachiman and the Isles of the Dawn consider the flesh of this weird spherical creature a priceless delicacy. It is potentially highly poisonous however, so only the most skillful chefs and cooks, after at least a decade of practice, are capable of preparing a meal from Amphibious Spinefish without poisoning all of the unfortunate diners!
BLOOD SHARK (#8/31, #221/365) [OOTP IV]
STAMINA: 6
ATTACKS: 1
WEAPON: Large Bite
ARMOUR: None
DAMAGE MODIFIER: +1 to Damage Roll
HABITAT: Sea
NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1-3
TYPE: Fish
REACTION: Hostile
INTELLIGENCE: Low
With desperate strokes he headed for the finger of rock. But he was too slow, and looked up, surprised, as he felt the awful sensation of shark teeth ripping into his legs. Without even time to scream, he was dragged under in a flurry of blood-flecked spume.
- Death of a Pirate, Khlosta of Anghelm
Also known as the Silver Shark, for its prevalence among the waters of the Sea of Silver, off the coast of northern Khul, the BLOOD SHARK is an extremely fast, voracious predator. Resembling a smaller, lither version of a Great White Shark, the Blood Shark is a large grey shark up to four metres long with an unmistakable sharp triangular red tipped dorsal fin. The Blood Shark is a fish of the open ocean, often found following the shipping routes and eating anything that falls overboard. They are also equally capable hunters attracted to struggles or blood from potential prey in the water, and the sight of their triangular dorsal fin cutting through the water straight towards their prey is often the last sight the victim will see.
Certainly, the vicious Blood Shark has heightened senses of detection and appears drawn to blood in the water faster than other Sharks except the Hammerhead. For every wound inflicted, either on a Shark or its opponent, there is a 2 in 6 chance that another Blood Shark will arrive and attack the creature that was just injured. A typical gambit of the pirates who sail the Western Ocean, is to cut a prisoner's leg so they bleed and then make them walk the plank and jump into the sea, betting on how long it will take for the Blood Sharks to appear (usually within ten minutes!), and move in at speed for a feeding frenzy.
DEATH FISH (#9/31, #222/365) [OOTP IV]
STAMINA: 4
ATTACKS: 1
WEAPON: Small Bite (and see below)
ARMOUR: None
DAMAGE MODIFIER: -1 to Damage Roll
HABITAT: Lakes, Rivers
NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 3-18
TYPE: Fish
REACTION: Hostile
INTELLIGENCE: Low
The DEATH FISH gains its name from its deadly venomous bite, and in turn gives its name to the shallow but nefarious Lake of Death, in the valley of the River Scamder in northern Khul, as yet the only location in which it is currently known to be found. Thought to be related to similar piscines such as the Rockfish and the Scorpion-Fish, the Death Fish has two fearsome special abilities. Firstly, it is completely invisible at all times, and thus is -6 to hit for all combatants (although Death Fish can still 'see' other Death Fish, they cannot detect other invisible creatures or objects). Secondly it is highly carnivorous and its bite is deadly poisonous; anyone who loses at least 1 STAMINA point to an individual Death Fish bite must Test their Luck or die!
If a Death Fish is slain, its invisibility fades within 1-6 minutes, revealing an ugly slate-grey fish up to a metre in length, with big eyes, ridged scales, spiked fins and a heavy jaw full of teeth. Despite its terrible reputation and remote location (it must be said at this point that the Lake of Death is also inhabited by a particularly villainous band of puntmen), the Death Fish is much sought-after by alchemists and enchanters for both its virulent toxin and invisibility glands. Expeditions of these scholars are sometimes encountered upon the shores of the Lake of Death, attempting to catch the lethal Death Fish while also defending themselves against bothersome puntmen!
DOGFISH (#10-15/31, #223-228/365) [OOTP IV]
STAMINA: 4
ATTACKS: 1
WEAPON: Small Bite
ARMOUR: Light
DAMAGE MODIFIER: None
HABITAT: Sea, Sea-shore
NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1-6
TYPE: Fish
REACTION: Neutral
INTELLIGENCE: Low
DOGFISH is the name given to smallish brown-grey sharks with large eyes, and two dorsal fins each tipped with a single spine. They grow up to and over a metre in length and are so-called for their habit of hunting prey in small packs. Dogfish usually eat smaller fish and squid, but are also scavengers and known to take a bite out of anything in the water, often in curiosity rather than hunger. Unlike regular Sharks, Dogfish are not instantly attracted to blood in the water, though they will still investigate if in the immediate area.
There are a lot of different kinds of Dogfish that inhabit the seas of Titan. If encountered, roll or choose from the table below to determine what type is present:
1 GIANT DOGFISH: Also known as Sleeper Sharks, these enormous fish grow up to six metres long or more. Their scores are SKILL 8 STAMINA 10, Attacks 1, Large Bite, +1 to Damage Roll. Giant Dogfish tend to live in the deepest darkest parts of the ocean, scavenging on anything they find, from live prey to decaying whale carcasses.
2 BRAMBLE SHARK: These large mottled sharks grow up to four metres long, and are covered in spines. Their scores are SKILL 7 STAMINA 9, Attacks 1, Large Bite, +1 Damage Roll. Anyone who successfully hits a Bramble Shark in combat must themselves lose 1 STAMINA damage due to the fish's spines. Bramble Sharks prefer deeper weedy or rocky areas on the seabed in which to dwell, where they are usually one of the larger predators alongside Groupers and Lionfish.
3 LANTERN SHARK: These are small black sharks with glowing green bioluminescent organs dotted across their body. Their scores are SKILL 3 STAMINA 2, Attacks 1, Small Bite, -2 to Damage Roll. Lantern Sharks give off the same amount of light as a Glowfish (see Beyond the Pit, pp. 145-146), which is equivalent to a Light spell. They are found in all waters, in the deepest trenches, but especially in colder northern seas where they are used by the Deep Ones as mobile underwater light-sources.
4 DOGFISH: This is a regular Dogfish, as per the original scores given above.
5 VAMPIRE SHARK: This is a small but fast-swimming black shark, that gets its name from its saw-toothed circular jaws that excise a large plug of flesh when biting and cause savage and messy wounds. Their scores are SKILL 8 STAMINA 2, Attacks 1, Small Bite, +2 to Damage Roll. If a victim in the water is bitten by a Vampire Shark, so much blood is released there is a 1-in-6 chance a regular Shark will instantly appear, and attack the wounded victim as well. Vampire Sharks are found across Titan in every ocean, preying on anything bigger than them. Large marine creatures often bear scores of circular scars upon their hide, souvenirs of numerous encounters with the nuisance-like Vampire Shark!
6 ICE SHARK: These are identical to the Giant Dogfish above, except that they prefer colder waters, and hunt for seals and walrus among the polar ice floes.
Regular Dogfish are edible, though more as by-catch than in preference to other fish such as hake, cod and herring. Still, there are plenty of them in the Western Ocean - there is a Dogfish Island off the coast of northwestern Allansia - and more than a few fishing scams run in Port Blacksand have involved passing off Dogfish as more expensive types of eating fish instead, and of which, the fishmongers of the Merchants' Guild, led by Silas Whitebait, know absolutely nothing, of course!
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