Castle of the Winds/Monsters

Castle of the Winds includes 90 types of monsters, plus several bosses.

Animals
Wild animals have always been a danger to travelers. This is especially true In the depths of the dungeon, where fierce competition and the occasional intervention of foul magic have caused some creatures to grow to enormous size.

Bears
There are several varieties of bears that roam the hills and caves of the land, and all are considered dangerous foes. The fiercest of these is the monstrous cave bear, a giant omnivore that stands 8-10 feet tall on its hind legs. The brown bear, while smaller in stature, is still a mighty opponent, and both these creatures can do substantial damage with both claw and bite.

Giant Ant
Ant: dog-sized giant insect. Ants will range a great distance from their nest in search of food to claim. They are formidable foes, with a crushing bite and stiffly armored body, and a potent sting used in defense. An ant will fight to the death.

Strategy: Don't be fooled by its size! Ants are not only very heavily armored and difficult to damage, but they cause high damage with their bites. It's recommended to hurl a few magic arrows spells at them before engaging them in melee. Make sure you're reasonably armed with a good weapon (i.e. not a Dagger) and a decent Armor Value (30+).

Giant Bat
Overgrown versions of the common cave bat, these creatures haunt deserted ruins and dark caverns below ground. While their bite does little damage, their speed and maneuverability makes them difficult to hit, and their tendency to flit in and out of range makes them dangerous opponents for beginning adventurers.

Strategy: As their description outlines, the bats don't hit for very much damage. However, they are much faster than you and tend to move haphazardly. However, once you manage to land a hit, they go down very easily. If you're a low level, then use Magic Arrow to take them down in one shot. Otherwise, attack them in melee.

Giant Rat
Inhabitants of the seedy underbelly of mankind's civilization, rats have scavenged our leavings for millennia. The rats in the caves and dungeons below the castle, however, are larger and more intelligent than their city cousins, and when found in numbers can be much more deadly.

Strategy: These guys should be no problem to handle in melee. You can also use one or two Magic Arrows to take them down, but why waste the Mana? Just be careful when you encounter them in large groups. Occasionally the random dungeon generator puts several of these beasts in a single room.

Giant Scorpion
These creatures are rarely found on the surface, for they cannot take the cold. Once a curiosity in the king's court, where the High Wizard had brought them from the south, they escaped after the destruction of the castle and fled into the caves below. Volcanic heat from deep in the earth provided a climate warm enough for them to survive, and in some cases thrive. Beware the poison sting of their tail!

Giant Trapdoor Spider
Spider: overgrown cousin of the eight-legged predator of house and field, ranging in size from large cat to draft horse. Many carry a venomous bite, quickly lethal to warm-blooded prey. All are swift runners and dangerous.

Huge Lizard
Like the scorpions in the castle, this creature started out as a part of the High Wizard's animal collection, and has since adapted to life in the caves beneath the castle. These large saurians live underground to escape the cold above. When not mating, these lizards are solitary, prowling their territory in search of food. They are slow moving, but their scaly hide provides armor against most attacks, and their bite can do much damage.

Large Snake
Snake: a strangling sea monster, adapted to land. Since longships first met the waves, Vikings and sailors have feared the great snakes of the sea, which can break a ship's hull in their powerful coils. Recently, travelers have brought reports of similar (though mercifully smaller) snakes on land, hiding in dense forests or ruins.

Viper
Viper: large serpent with a venomous bite. While poisonous snakes are not common in the land, a sufficiently ruthless householder may plant a few as guardians to deter thieves and other intruders. Of course, it will bite friends as well as foes, and so is most useful when you have but few friends.

Wild Dog
Ages past, mankind bred domesticated canines from their wild cousins. Not all dogs were tamed, however, and some that were have gone back to the wilds. While still less dangerous than wolves, beware the claws and bite of these hunters, especially if found in packs.

Strategy: These enemies appear in the 2nd level of the Mine. Though too tough to handle for very low level characters (CL less than 3), they can be taken down relatively easily in melee combat.

Wolves
Wolves and men have been enemies for centuries, despite our successful attempts to breed domestic canines millennia ago. Although most fearsome in packs, even a single gray wolf can be deadly to an unprepared adventurer. But even more dangerous is the rare white wolf, whose chill breath can freeze the blood in a man's veins.

Dragons
Dragon (or Wyrm): any one of a number of magical, serpentine monsters. Dragons are among the most feared monsters of ballad and legend. Even the smallest are mighty foes, so it is fortunate that they are slow in attaining their full growth. Most are quite intelligent, and there are rumors of spell use among the older dragons, although this has never been confirmed. Even without magic, however, a dragon is a virtual whirlwind of destruction. Besides the deadly attacks of its claws and bite, all dragons have breath weapons of colossal power. The type of breath weapon varies with the color of the dragon, and the damage it does varies with the age of the dragon, but in all cases it can be fatal to the unprepared!

Red Dragons
Red dragons are the most feared of the dragons, and thus figure prominently in many ballads and legends. This scourge is found in many places, but especially in mountainous terrain and great underground caves. In battle, red dragons can belch forth enormous gouts of flame, capable of roasting even powerful opponents in seconds.

Blue Dragons
Blue dragons are typically found in arid, desert regions, but on some occasions they have been found deep in caves, living on the creatures that they find there. Their scales are a metallic blue in color, and frequently the air around them is charged with static electricity. The breath weapon of a blue dragon is a bolt of electricity, the charge for which is built up over time in the dragons body.

White Dragons
White dragons are the scourge of the frozen north. Their coloration makes them difficult to see against a snowy background, and they use this to great advantage when they emerge from their caves to hunt. The breath weapon is an icy blast, capable of freezing an opponent solid if they are not adequately protected.

Green Dragons
Green dragons are probably the least dangerous of the dragons, for while their breath is a potent poison, the effects are not immediate. This means that if the dragon can be defeated soon enough, and the means for curing the poison is at hand, it is possible to survive the breath of a green dragon with few aftereffects. They are least deadly if the Neutralize Poison spell is known.

Devils
Devil: any evil monster from the underworld. The realms of chill Niflheim and fiery Muspelheim contain many evil creatures other than jotuns. Hideous and incomprehensible, they resemble monstrously misshapen men and women, distorted with various spines, barbs, horns, and tusks bristling from their colorful plated or scaled bodies. All are fearsome in battle, and resistant to many forms of attack. Most dangerous of all is their ability to open gates to their home planes and summon brethren to their aid.

Spiked Devils
Spiked devils are the least powerful of those commonly encountered, but they are fearsome opponents nonetheless. They use no weapons, for their natural armament is more than sufficient. Their bodies are covered with a tough scaly hide and vicious spikes protruding from all the joints. They are also equipped with a spiked tail, with which they can lash their enemies in battle.

Horned Devils
Horned devils are the errand runners of Surtur's realm. To them falls the task of spreading evil among mankind, and delivering orders to the legions of devils and giants that do his bidding. Horned devils are much larger than man sized, with great bat-like wings and large, curved horns. While not as equipped with weaponry as the spiked devils, horned devils are harder to hit and have some magic powers as well. In battle they can summon gouts of fire to burn their opponents, and have the power to gate in other horned devils to aid them.

Ice Devils
Ice devils are creatures of chill Niflheim, sent to Midgard to spread fear in the cold wastes of the North. They have the ability to summon blasts of cold and ice, which makes them deadly in battle. While totally immune to the deepest cold, they are affected by fire, unlike most of the spawn of Muspelheim.

Abyss Fiends
Abyss fiends are the greatest of the devils, with the exception of Surtur himself. They are his lieutenants and guards, trusted with all the most crucial tasks. Abyss fiends have great strength and are immune to many attacks. Like horned devils they have the ability to summon fire at will, and can gate in other devils to aid them.

Elementals
The creatures that live on the elemental planes are strange and fearsome to behold. Their origin gives them great power on this plane, where the elements have been mixed and diluted with lesser materials. In addition to the better known Air, Earth, Fire and Water Elementals, rumors have been whispered in mystic circles of interbreeding near the boundaries between the elemental planes, the offspring of these pairings resulting in new creatures of unknown aspect.

Air Elementals
Air elementals appear on this plane as a tornado-shaped whirlwind, from 5 to 10 cubits high. They can buffet their opponents in battle, slamming them into walls and columns and doing great damage. On occasion, they have been known to pick up an opponent and flee, dropping them in another location.

Earth Elementals
Mighty denizens of the plane of earth, these creatures are slow but difficult to stop. They attack with blows of their enormous fists, each of which strikes with the force of a battering ram. They can break through doors with ease, and their earthy origin also allows them to pass through rock.

Fire Elementals
When summoned to this plane, these elementals appear as huge bonfires, although no fuel is visible at the base. Great favorites of Surtur, they are often used as messengers between his home in Muspelheim and his contacts on the plane of fire. They attempt to envelop their opponents in battle, using their fiery core to burn and consume them.

Water Elementals
Water elementals appear on this plane as a cresting wave, and anyone who has felt the unstoppable force of the boundless ocean can vouch for the power of their attack. In battle, they will both slam their opponents against whatever is available, and attempt to drown them by enveloping them.

Humans and Humanoids
This section details the various types of men and manlike creatures that are likely to be encountered.

Goblins and Goblin Fighters
Goblins: predatory humanoid warrior tribe. These bandits roam craggy and mountainous areas, preying on lone travelers, small caravans, and small outlying townships. Vigorous military action has cleansed much of the land from their scourge; most of the survivors have fled deep into the mountains, or taken refuge in ruins and caves. Goblins range from three to four cubits in height, with the larger individuals ("fighters") bullying and leading the smaller; they have little other apparent organization, traveling in familial bands. Some tribes of goblins may enlist the protection of a larger monster, yielding to it a large share of any booty collected in exchange for its handling any outsized foes.

Strategy: Goblins are reasonably non-threatening. It's possible for a Character Level (CL) 1 player to actually melee goblins without coming to significant harm. However, in larger (3+) groups, they can be significantly threatening, unless the player is well equipped.

Goblin Fighters on the other hand are much more dangerous. They can easily kill characters below CL 3. Hence, if you encounter one, it's best to shoot a couple of magic arrows to soften them up before going toe-to-toe. Make sure you have a healing spell handy if you do decide to enter melee with them. Goblin Fighters tend to first appear in Mine Level 2 or 3. Both goblins and goblin fighters tend to drop 50-200 pieces of copper after defeat.

Hobgoblins
Hobgoblin: large, solitary goblin. Physically, a hobgoblin resembles a goblin fighter suffering from malnutrition, which is exactly what it is: the occasional survivor of an intra-tribal conflict, exiled from the tribe by the victorious chieftain. Hobgoblins wear armor stolen from humans or goblins, and wield any weapon that comes to hand. They hold no allegiance to their former tribe, but will usually avoid it in the interest of self-preservation. All other weaker creatures are possible game to a desperate hobgoblin. Occasionally hobgoblins will locate one another, and may form a small band of their own, though such bands are usually short-lived.

Strategy: Think of Hobgoblins as just slightly tougher Goblins (but not as tough as the Goblin Fighters). It's possible to go into melee with them at even low character levels as long as you're reasonably equipped. Hobgoblins on average tend to drop 50-150 copper pieces upon defeat.

Kobolds
Kobolds: diminutive race of miners. Originally from Svartalfheim, the kobolds live their lives entirely underground, mining for precious metals and stones; they are highly territorial, and will defend a rich lode against intruders. Occasionally they will band together and poach the mines of men, killing any miners they encounter. They need no light source, being used to moving through lightless tunnels, and can fight well in complete darkness; however, as a kobold stands less than two cubits tall, a single specimen stands but little chance against an armed and armored warrior of any skill. Kobolds fight with sundry bent knives and cleavers, or else with their mining picks and small sledges if at hand.

Strategy: Kobolds are likely the first foe that the player will encounter. Alone, they are almost no threat to a reasonably equipped player, even at character level 1. However, they can be dangerous when fought in large groups.

Ogres
Ogre: huge, man-eating humanoid monster. Ogres superficially resemble gigantic humans of bestial aspect; they stand approximately six cubits tall, and weigh some thirty stone, or more for well-fed individuals. The face is broad and ruddy, with a mouth filled with jutting tusks; the skin is leathery and varies in color from ochre to brick red. An ogre will wield any sufficiently large weapon, and will wear patchwork or cap-and-pie armor when it can find such; typically, however, it carries but a crude club or spear. Ogres love gold and silver; indeed, the promise of lucre sometimes leads a more intelligent ogre to adopt the veneer of civilization and consort with humans, though its cruel hungers will eventually tell true.

Strategy: Ogres begin to appear at the lowest level of the mine, but are relatively more common in the fortress level. They are very dangerous to low level characters, causing heavy damage and hitting quite often. The best strategy is to weaken them with cold bolts and if you're a sufficient level (CL 5+) then go into melee. They tend to leave 10-50 silver pieces when defeated.

Thieves
As long as men have coveted the possessions of their fellows, there have been thieves in the world, and many a man or woman has been turned to evil through Loki's temptation. Beware these ruthless ones, for despite the smirk they often show the world, they will rob you of your possessions and vanish before your eyes!

Strategy: Thieves don't hit hard but they hit often. In addition, each hit has a chance of taking some of the pieces in your purse (You feel a slight tugging sensation in your purse). At random, they will vanish (has the same effects of a teleport spell but targeted on the Thief). With relatively high endurance, the best strategy is to use a couple of fire bolts to bite into their hit points and then quickly strike them down before they're able to vanish. More of an annoyance than a deadly enemy. They first appear around the 5th level of the Fortress. If you manage to track down the Thief and kill him after he steals from you, you'll recover your possessions.

Trolls
Troll: large, vicious, omnivorous humanoid with near-supernatural regenerative powers. Tall as an ogre, a troll appears all arms, legs, ribs, and jaws. Its slouch bends its gaunt, ribbed body halfway back to the ground; its olive-green skin, studded with warts, glistens with slime, while its black hair writhes like living snakes over large, wet black eyes. Each long, knotty limb is tipped with enormous claws. While a troll, ever hungry, will eat anything it can rend and swallow, it prefers warm flesh, which it can track with its keen sense of smell and dog-like intelligence. Life burns brightly within the troll, which can recover from a mortal wound within minutes. A troll fears fire.

Wizards
Mankind's curiosity is one of our greatest assets, but also one of our greatest weaknesses. Many have undertaken to explore the mysterious realm of power that surrounds our world, and not all have been wise or good men. Creatures such as manticores and carrion creepers, living statues and walking corpses, the results of their foul experiments, have become nightmares to the rest of us. Beware should you encounter any of these men or women, for they wield mighty magics with which to oppose you. Be especially careful of the dreaded Necromancers, who can summon undead from the nether regions to their aid.

Undead
The world would be a simpler place if what was killed stayed dead. Alas, the gods have willed that it not always be so. Various creatures, whose rightful place is in the world beyond, still walk the plane of Midgard, much to the woe of those they meet. Some have been created by the work of evil priests and mages, others are the result of improper burials or tragic deaths, and some are minions from Hela's realm, which walk the earth seeking to cause pain and death.

Ghosts
Ghosts are the remains of people who died in great pain of some sort, not understanding why they suffered. Their anguish lives on as a ghost, which feeds on the pain and fear of the living. The sight of a ghost is enough to strike fear into the heart of those who face it, and the attack of a ghost is so terrifying as to drain the strength and dexterity of the victim. Ghosts have no body, and so are difficult to see and very difficult to hit with normal weapons. They also have the ability to pass through anything, so doors and even rock are no use in stopping their attacks.

Shadows, Shades and Spectres
These creatures, of varying strength, are the incorporeal remains of evil humans cursed to walk the earth for a time beyond death, until some condition is fulfilled. Humans of great evil will become shades instead of shadows, and the greatest will become spectres. These creatures aren't especially strong or smart, but they remember being alive and have a strong hatred for those who still are. In battle they will typically animate some weapon, since they are intangible themselves. While this weapon is real and can be blocked, the creatures themselves are difficult to destroy with mortal weapons.

Skeletons and Walking Corpses
For skeletons, the bones of a long dead creature are reunited using enchanted sinews and given a gruesome second life. Mindless and soulless, they are used as terrifying guards or just let loose to harass mankind.

A freshly dead corpse, if not properly buried, may be taken by an evil wizard or priest to create a walking corpse. While slower than a skeleton, due to the rotting flesh that still clings to the bones, a walking corpse is harder to kill than a skeleton, for the flesh also provides some protection. Like a skeleton, a walking corpse has no memory of its former life, and exists only to destroy whatever it finds.

Wights
Wights are the spirits that rise from improperly consecrated burials. There are several varieties of different strengths, including Tunnel, Barrow, and Castle Wights. Wights are occasionally mistaken for zombies at a distance, for they still have some corporeal body, but at close range their eyes burn with intelligence and hunger. The touch of a wight allows it to feed on the life essence of the victim, draining strength, constitution, and dexterity.

Wraiths
Wraiths are disembodied evil spirits, released from Hela's realm to plague the living. They roam the night hours, seeking pain and suffering among mankind, on which they can feed. If none can be found, they will drain the magical powers of men they encounter, or if that fails as well, drain the intelligence from their minds!

Vampires
One of the most feared of the undead is the blood sucking vampire. Unknown in the north until the rise of Surtur's influence in the land, these creatures recently have been sighted in growing numbers. Vampires feed on both the blood and life energy of their victims. It drains hit points in such a manner that the victim will not recover without the aid of special enchantment.

Jotuns (Giants)
Jotuns: the enormous manlike denizens of Jotunheim and associated realms, including Niflheim and Muspelheim. The smallest jotuns each stand over eight cubits tall, with near-human proportions, though tending toward short bowed legs. Most are cruel to smaller creatures; all are avaricious, and jealously guard their possessions from other creatures and each other, carrying as much on their person as is practical. Jotuns wear armor and wield weapons, all crafted to their great scale. They are fond of hurling boulders at their opponents, killing from a distance.

The different lands of Jotunheim have spawned different races of jotuns (commonly called Giants); these races coexist, but tend to avoid one another. Four of the jotun races are pictured below; other, rarer, varieties are certainly possible.

Hill Giant
Hill Giants are the jotuns most commonly found on Midgard; fortunately, they are the smallest and weakest of all the jotun races, the most similar to humans. They wear enormous smocks of homespun, or leather armor when they can get it made in their size, and wield great wooden clubs. Very rarely an individual will show a talent for magic.

Stone Giant
Stone Giants are jotuns which have lived in the great mountains of Midgard for ages. Taller and duller than Hill Giants, they are fairly reclusive as jotuns go, emerging from the impassable peaks at rare intervals for reasons known only to them. Little is known of their life in the mountains and crevasses of Jotunheim. They wield great clubs hewn of stone, and hurl especially large boulders with great accuracy. Stone Giants spurn armor, trusting their gray stony hides to protect them from harm.

Frost Giant
Frost Giants are jotuns from the icy underworld of Niflheim, crossing into Midgard only during the deadliest winters; very rarely will they will remain, should they find a lonely glacier or ice cave. They are even taller than most giants, with weird pink or gray eyes and ulcerated, ivory-colored skin. Frost Giants wear enormous animal hides and chain-link or metal-scale armor, and wield huge axes, spears, and broadswords; rather than boulders, they hurl great blocks of ice.

Fire Giant
Fire Giants are jotuns from the hot hells of Muspelheim. They are squat and huge, with disproportionately long arms, stumpy short legs, a broad barrel-like torso, and filthy, bristly black beards covering their broad, brick-colored faces. Fire Giants wear metal armor, forged in the heat of their hellish home, and carry huge swords and morningstars.

Other Creatures
In addition to the monsters listed above, the following are found in CoTW: These creatures have no better category, either due to their origin (such as the manticore), or because no one has quite discovered what it is (such as slime).

Carrion Creeper
Another creation of wizardry run wild, this monster resembles a giant green cutworm, with a set of tentacles sprouting from its head. It roams the caves seeking carrion for food, but has no qualms about attacking a living creature if carrion is scarce. Its many attacks make it a feared opponent.

Strategy: It's individual hits don't do significant damage. But it can hit you up to 6 times in a single round and the damage does add up. By the time you encounter them in the mid-levels of the Fortress (levels 4-6), you should have the Fire Bolt spell. Cast one or two to weaken the Carrion Crawler and then finish it off in melee.

Gelatinous Glob
Gelatinous Glob: eerie subterranean scavenger, resembling nothing so much as an enormous lump of near-transparent aspic. Gelatinous Globs measure roughly seven cubits in each direction. Oozing slowly about, they surround any object, living or dead, that they encounter; organic objects they paralyze and digest, while inorganic objects they encase and retain, excreting them at rare intervals. Their strange structure, or perhaps their strange lack of structure, renders them immune to many forms of magical attack.

Manticore
Manticore: monstrous guardian, originally created by sorcery. The manticore has the body and claws of a great lion, feathered vulture-like wings, the face of a cruel, bearded man, but with tusks in the wide mouth, and a long, rather insectile tail behind. The many-jointed tail is tipped with a pinecone of barbed quills, which it can fling with the accuracy and effect of a company of crossbowmen; with this, a manticore will try to slay lesser opponents at a distance, or cripple stronger opponents before closing with claws and jaws. Too, as a crossbowman can empty a case of quarrels, so can a manticore exhaust the spines on its tail, though it will usually cease fire before such exhaustion and so hazard a few quills against emergency. While manticores are intelligent, their bestial, angry nature overrides most subtlety. They talk, and will mock their prey during combat.

Strategy: Appearing regularly in the last levels of the Fortress and regularly in the Castle of the Winds, they will use their tail-spikes to attack you from a range. Up to 6 spikes can hit your character. A reasonably high CL (7+) is needed to handle a Manticore in melee combat. Otherwise, cast Slow Monster to reduce its rate of attack and cast some ranged spells or enter melee if you have a reasonable Armor Value (80+).

Slime
Slime: sessile, cancerous underground growth. In unclean places beneath the earth there grows a thick, gray-green, gluey stuff which clings in great sheets to walls, ceilings, and floors. Vibrations draw it; it is sufficiently motile to slop itself in the direction of felt motion. Where it touches flesh, it clings and grows, rapidly devouring the victim in a fit of fungal gluttony. Even a hit from a small blob of slime will burn and chew, and if left unchecked will eventually grow over the rest of the victim. All other creatures hate and fear slime. It is difficult to destroy without magical means.

Strategy: By difficult to destroy, they mean impossible. The slime is immune to physical attacks from your weapons. Instead you have no choice but to use magic. Two or three Magic Arrows (or one or two Cold Bolts) can kill the Slime. Luckily for you, Slime doesn't move. Hence it is only dangerous if you happen to be adjacent to it.

Additional Enemies

 * The Rat-Man, Wolf-Man, Bear-Man and Bull-Man
 * Animated Statues in wood, bronze, iron and marble.
 * The Ochre Jelly Similar to the Gelatinous Glob, but more powerful.

Bosses
In addition to the regular monsters, several bosses exist.


 * In the second dungeon: Hrugnir (throws boulders)