Behold the BAROMETZ!

BAROMETZ (#22/30, #266/365) [TTHA]

Appearance: This is a large-leaved bushy creeper, with a series of thick vines erupting from a central stalk. Each vine ends in either a dark green melon-like gourd on the shorter vines, or a lamb on the longer ones; a woolly sheep that eyes its surroundings nervously, while gnawing on grass, moss and lichen, and occasionally going 'Baaa!'

Distribution: Caves, dungeons, hills, mountains, plains and wilderness across Titan

Effects: When encountered this strange plant will have 2-12 connected lambs and 1-6 gourds. While the lambs can be ‘harvested’ using conventional methods of animal husbandry to provide both soft wool and mutton-like meat, the gourds require two successful Herb Lore Special Skill rolls to be picked and prepared. If successful, a Barometz gourd can be thrown in combat, exploding into a Vegetable Lamb on impact, which, although not particularly terrifying or lethal, may prove to have distracting capabilities.

 

Cost: City 10gp, Town 20gp, Village 30gp (per gourd)

 

Availability: Rare

BAROMETZ (#23/30, #267/365) [OOTP IV] 

                        Lamb     Stalk

SKILL:             4          0

STAMINA:        4         10

ATTACKS: 1

WEAPON:

Lamb – Head Butt

Stalk – None

ARMOUR:

Lamb – None

Stalk – Light

DAMAGE MODIFIER: 1 Damage

HABITAT: Caves, Dungeons, Hills, Mountains, Plains, Wilderness

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 2-12

TYPE: Plant/Animal

REACTION: Neutral

INTELLIGENCE: Low

 

The BAROMETZ or Vegetable Lamb, is another bizarre symbiotic hybrid of animal and plant peculiar to Titan, and similar to the Tree Goose Tree. In this case, the zoophyte is a large-leaved bushy creeper, with a series of thick vines erupting from a central stalk. Each vine ends in either a dark green melon-like gourd, or a lamb; a woolly sheep that eyes its surroundings nervously, while gnawing on grass, moss and lichen, and occasionally going 'Baaa!'

 

Valuable to shepherds for their fine wool and delicious meat, the life-cycle of the Barometz is poorly understood. It is known that overgrazing by the lamb symbiotes kills both them and the plant through starvation, but it is not known if the pods can be harvested to germinate new plants. Regardless, they are often favoured prey of Firefoxes and Jackals due to their immobile nature; the plant itself cannot move and the lambs simply wander about as far as their umbilical-vine tethers will allow.

 

In combat the lambs defend themselves via head butts; anyone wounded, must Test their Skill or be knocked down and spend the next Attack Round staggering to their feet. The central stalk cannot defend itself and if destroyed, any lambs currently alive also die.