Crimson Fury!

The Crimson Fury (#30/365; #120/365)

Terror stalks the dunes of the Desert of Skulls. As if serpent people and Giant Sandworms were not bad enough, from dusk until dawn, the Crimson Fury thunders on flaming hooves across the darkened landscape, attacking unrepentant sinners (which is almost everybody really), and dragging their screaming souls back to the Pit.

The Crimson Fury is a giant red-furred camel, wreathed in flames, and carrying a howling armoured Skeleton Warrior, usually armed with a spear or scimitar and shield, on its back. Inexperienced or terror-stricken travelers think the skeletal rider is the more dangerous of the duo and neglect the camel at their peril! For the camel is actually the Crimson Fury, while the skeleton is simply the remains of one of its last victims, animated into an undead companion.

This flaming camel-demon of vengeance gallops out from a dimensional gateway on the vermilion sands of the Demonic Plane of Rust every dusk, hunting across the wastelands for sinners to slay. When the first rays of the sun rise at dawn, it returns back to the Pit, the severed heads of its victims dangling from its harness, their souls trapped in its magical saddlebags. 

The desert nomads know it as 'Gadab Ahmar', the Red Anger; the Caarth call it 'Q'sithran'll', the 'Flames of Death', and both are vexed by its eternal presence. A Desert Elf child, Elspethiel, dedicated to Galana herself, is the only known recent survivor of a Crimson Fury attack; she is thought to live with her tribe on the borderlands of Arantis.

The Crimson Fury is immune to damage from regular weapons, and only wounded by those made from silver, or those that are blessed or magical. They are immune to all kinds of fire, including magical fires, but other magic spells may harm them. Regular water has no impact, though a vial of holy water will do 1-6 STAMINA points of damage if thrown. The skeleton rider is also immune to all fire damage, and takes only half damage from bladed or pointed regular weaponry; crushing and smashing weapons will do normal damage. Some have speculated that sunlight may destroy the Crimson Fury but so far no-one has managed to restrain the creature for long enough to test this hypothesis.

In battle the Crimson Fury attacks with its flaming hooves, while breathing out a continuous stream of fire from its mouth and nostrils. Roll a die every Attack Round; on a 1 or 2, all enemy combatants suffer 2 STAMINA points from the fire. In addition, the smoke and flames force any enemy to subtract 1 from their Attack Strength; those that do successfully hit must themselves deduct 1 STAMINA point of damage due to the immense heat given off by the creature. The fires of the Crimson Fury can of course cause flammable objects to ignite; woe betide the simpleton who attacks the beast with several full oilskins or a pouch of firepowder in their backpack!

THE CRIMSON FURY, FLAMING CAMEL DEMON OF VENGEANCE 

SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 14 (Attacks: 2)
WEAPON: Flaming Hooves (as per Very Large Claws; +2 to the Damage Roll)
ARMOUR: Medium
NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1
REACTION: Hostile

SKELETON WARRIOR-RIDER
SKILL: 8
STAMINA: 6
WEAPON: Spear or Scimitar
ARMOUR: Medium (mail scraps) and Large Shield
NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1
REACTION: Hostile