Tastle

CLIMATE/TERRAIN:        asteroids
FREQUENCY:              common
ORGANIZATION:           solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE:         any
DIET:                   see below
INTELLIGENCE:           non (0)
TREASURE:               nil
ALIGNMENT:              n/a

NO. APPEARING:          d10
ARMOR CLASS:            9
MOVEMENT:               1
HIT DICE:               1
THAC0:                  18
NO. OF ATTACKS:         1
DAMAGE/ATTACK:          d4
SPECIAL ATTACKS:        spores
SPECIAL DEFENSES:       nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE:       nil
SIZE:                   T (2')
MORALE:                 n/a
XP VALUE:               10

This is a strange creature, part animal and part plant. They live in asteroid belts, grazing on whatever they can find. Tastles are flattened domelike creatures, about two feet in diameter, with a dark green leathery skin. Underneath the body are four stubby feet which propel the creature across the surface of the asteroid, and a mollusclike grazing maw. On top of the dome there is a cluster of organs: a small fernlike structure, two fishlike mouths, and a 3" diameter fisheye.

Combat: The Tastle has two modes of defence. The first is to emit a cloud of spores from one of its dorsal mouths; this spreads out in a ten yard radius, causing all within to make a save versus poison or stagger about choking. This response is often elicited if the creature is just startled, not only if it is attacked. The second, generally used only in extremis, is to fire a seed pod from the other dorsal mouth. This is limited to a 60 degree cone above the Tastle.

Habitat/Society: Entirely unintelligent, Tastles have no society.

Tastles are omnivores. They roam the asteroid eating lichen, moss, fungus, bits of wood, or whatever else cannot run away. They also eat earth and rock, and possess limited photosynthetic ability. These really are subsistance dwellers.

They breed hermaphroditically, dispersing spores into the air envelope of the asteroid, and picking up other spores with the fernlike structure on their back. The most remarkable fact about them is their method of seeding entire ateroid belts: They have remarkable long distance eyesight, and can spit their seed pods from one asteroid to the next. Upon landing, the pods split open, and a 2" Tastle crawls out to start grazing anew.

Ecology: These creatures live in very marginally habitable areas. They are predated upon by almost anything that isn't too fussy about eating something leathery and revolting, so they tend not to last long in more viable environment where they are out-competed by less specialised creatures. Nevertheless, it just goes to show that you can find something living almost anywhere.