The rot-troll is (distastefully so) inter-fertile with other trolls. However, in addition to whatever offspring are produced, the breeding partner also is infected with the rot disease. Because of this the various subspecies of trolls all have their own rot variation. For game stats on those unfortunate, cursed creatures - treat them as a regular member of their parent species, but with the special effects of the rot (described below).
The disgusting leavings of a rot-troll are of such a nauture that several other creatures will frequently be found in the nearby environs. These include, primarily, carrion crawlers and a curious type of ghoul, known as the "Grave-Scourge" (see below). In addition, a type of vulture, known as a "Hellbroom", also is frequently spotted. An area that a group of rot-trolls has occupied as its lair, or hunting ground, is likely to feature these, and other creatures that live by eating carrion, and don't mind the source of the dead flesh.
Rot-TrollNum Appearing: 1d6 (hunting); 3d6 (lair)
Alignment: chaotic evil
Movement: Crawl 30'/Swim 120'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 6hd+6 (42hp)
Attacks: claw, claw, bite, flesh maggots (see below)
Damage: 1d4+4, claw; 2d6, bite
Save:F7
Morale:9
Treasure: Individual - 2d6 * 10gp; Lair - all individuals, plus 1d12 gems (random value), 20% chance of magic item.
Special: The rot-troll regenerates, 3hp per round, as per a standard troll. As with regular trolls, they can only truly be destroyed with fire and acid.
Each round of activity (such as combat) will mean that the rot-troll has sloughed off troll flesh and maggots in the area it is standing in. This covers a circular area 10' across, but the maggots will spread out 5' in each direction (as a cloud) each round that the rot-troll stands in the same place. The cloud of flesh maggots is deadly and infectious - anyone in the cloud, or moving through it, must make a save vs. poison, with a -2, or they are infected with the flesh maggots.
The flesh maggots will consume 1d3-1 hit points each round by burrowing, once they infect someone. The damage can be cured normally, but the maggots can only be removed by a cure disease, or they can be burned out with open flame or hot metal, in the first three rounds of infection, although this will cause 2d6 damage to the infected person (regardless of how many maggots are being burnt out, only 2d6 damage is scored). If the maggots are not burned out, after 2d6 rounds of burrowing, they will go dormant for 1d6 days. Then the maggots will burst out of the victim, as a black winged moth, that will seek a corpse, or rot troll to lay a new batch of maggots on. This process does an additional 1d6 of damage per maggot. The amount of dormant time should be rolled by the referee and kept secret.
Flames (multiple torches, or fire from a magical source) can clear an area of flesh-maggots once a rot-troll has been defeated, and also they concentration of flesh-maggots begins to go down as soon as the troll expires. At that point, they are not so potent (so the -2 to save is dropped). After about 8 hours, the area is clean (the maggots either die off, or are swept away).
In addition to the rot-trolls, the details of the other creatures that are frequently encountered in the area of a rot-troll lair, are presented here as well. The first, the Grave-Scourge, is often found near rot-troll lairs, and have a curious diet that consists of the usual Ghoul fare, but also collecting and eating the rotting troll flesh and the maggots that the rot-trolls leave behind. A Grave-Scourge may be encountered singly, or in a small family group (1d4+2). A number of family groups (1d6) will be found making their home in the area near the rot-troll lair.
The Grave-Scourge can be affected by, and turned by, good clerics and paladins. As a family group living near rot-trolls, they seek to gather up as much of the flesh and rotting matter, which is viewed as a delicacy. They try not to deal with the trolls directly (that ends badly for the Grave-Scourges), but they are addicted to the food source that they leave around. These are the very worst sort of scavenger, they will often work to lure powerful victims, or large parties, near to the rot-trolls.
Num Appearing: 1, or 1d4+2
Alignment: chaotic evil
Movement: Run 120'
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3hd (18hp)
Attacks: Claw/Claw/Bite
Damage: 1d4 Claw; 1d6+1 Bite (special damage, see below)
Save:F3
Morale:8
Treasure: Frequently there will be a random assortment of coins and gems, never more than 1d100 in value per Grave-Scourge.
Special: The Grave-Scourge is a special type of ghoul. In addition to living victims, it also thrives on the flesh-maggots left around by a rot-troll. As a ghoul, it's bite can cause paralysis (save vs. Petrification, or affected as standard ghoul). From a lifetime of consuming troll flesh (even if it is rotting), the Grave-Scourge will regenerated 1d3 per round. The claws and teeth of the Grave-Scourge are infected with the corrosive coating that the maggots use to burrow into living flesh. Because of this, in addition to the paralysis effect of the bite, each attack from a Grave Scourge must be saved against poison, or it will cause 1d3-1 damage per round, for 3 rounds.
The last creature that is commonly found near the lairs of a rot-troll, are the diabolical birds known as Hellbrooms. These are larger than normal sized ravens that have been changed from eating gobbets of rotting flesh off of the rot-trolls, and also eating the flesh maggots that drop from the same creatures. Hellbrooms fill an interesting niche in the ecology of all these rot-troll creatures, in that they have a high pitched cawing noise that they let out, as a flock, when attacking a victim. This can sometimes serve to scare off members of large parties that wander into the area of the rot-trolls, but it also serves as a warning and call sound for the trolls to come, even when there is a stealthy group trying to move through the area.
Num Appearing: 2d6, or swarm of 2d100
Alignment: neutral evil
Movement: Fly 120'
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 1hd+1 (7hp)
Attacks: 1 beak peck (special, see below)
Damage: 1d4
Save:F2
Morale:6
Treasure:Nests will have 1d12 gemstones, worth 1d6x10gp each
Special: From eating the rotting troll flesh, the Hellbrooms have developed a form of regeneration, of 1 point per round, and also can only be destroyed (finally) by acid or fire. If hacked apart in any other fashion, the body parts will eventually grow back (individually if they are separated), at the rate of 1 point per turn. If still alive, the normal regeneration rate holds (1 pt per round).
The beak of a hellbroom is a horribly infected weapon. If it strikes, and does a point of damage, it has the opportunity of infecting the victim with the flesh maggots of the rot-troll. The victim must make a save vs. poison. If not, then the victim is infected with the maggots, and they will begin burrowing and eventually hatch (as with the rot-troll's maggots). The Hellbroom's maggots, however, are not as mature as those from a live rot-troll. They will wait just under the surface of the skin, 1d12 hours, before burrowing. The victim will, in most cases, not be aware of this. Burning the maggots out before they begin burrowing will not be effective, as they tiny maggots don't leave enough of a trace of where they have entered the victim (in just about any open would, including the one from the Hellbroom's beak puncture).
Recall that in addition to these nearly unique creatures (they appear, at least in the setting of the Valley, only in conjunction with a rot-troll lair), the area around the lair is also likely to attract a number of carrion crawlers. The overall ecology of the rot-trolls, the grave-scourges that their rotting flesh and killed victims attrack, the swarming flocks of hellbrooms that feed on those victims, and serve to introduce the maggots into unsuspecting travellers who carry them to other locales, and the lure of all this rotting flesh to the carrion crawlers mean that a rot-troll lair is a very dangerous environ. The location of such a lair, which is often in a quiet, out of the way damp place, like a marshy hollow, or muddy river bank area, is likely to be known and shun by locals. Add to that, the fact that none of the creatures involved have very large sums of treasure, and you have a monster lair that will not, by itself, lure in a lot of adventurers. Paladins, questing knights, clerics and others who are out to perform good deeds will sometimes take on the task of clearing out a rot-troll lair, and it is always possible that a band of adventurers will be hired by some local authority to clear out the pestilence.
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