Dragon magazine	-	Monster Manual III	-	Dragon #84
-	-	Notes	-	-

?Yes, I can tell ye ?bout the Crushing
Death ? oh, I may not look like anything
much now, boy, but in my day I was a
fierce and bold sword-swinger, afore that
beholder took off my arm, here . . . oh, yes,
big it was, and strong, and we who went up
against it just as foolish and headstrong and
stuck-up-nosed as you and your friends are
now.  .  . Ah, it?s gold ye have fer me?
Good, good . . .  . a respectable sum ? and
fer that ye?ll have a respectable tale. Listen,
then ? and mind ye, this is as true as I
know.

?The Crushing Death in yonder hole is
nothing more than a gigantic trapper ?
yes, I see ye?ve heard of  that  name. Mind
ye, this one is old, and big; it?s been there
fer twenty winters at least now, to my cer-
tain knowledge, and a lot I?ve seen go and
try to kill it ? but I?ve not seen ?em come
out again. But never mind that fer now. I
must be earnin? me gold, so listen:

<(1) is missing from the article>

?A trapper is a thin, flattish critter, big
enough to cover the floor of a good-sized
roomy. Its top, the part ye?ll see first, looks
and feels like stone, as though lots o? flags
was laid down, with little ridges and lines
just like the real thing.? It?s tough an? horny,
not real brittle like rock, an? some ?
dwarves ?n? stonecutters, mostly ? can tell
it?s not stone when they hit it or try to take
out a chip. (2)

Under its top layer it?s a soft thing, so-
methin? like a jelly-fish, that can change
shape and slide around to fill holes and lay
on top o? rough ground, bones or such, so
the top of the trapper seems to be flat and 
level, like the floor ? until it?s too late.

?Yep, they slide around, and that?s how
they move from place to place, but ye?ll
never see one move like that when it knows
ye?re  around ? they can feel when ye walk
on ?em, but sometimes I think they know
when ye?re comin?, too. (3) Your trapper will 
lay still, jus? like a part of the floor, mebbe
with a special little hump in the middle that
looks like a box, or somethin? else it thinks
you?d like, and when ye reach fer the box,
it?ll close up around ye an? squeeze ye jus?
like yer hand squeezes a piece o? ripe fruit.
So, keep a few staves and bars in hand, or
ye?ll have no room to use your weapons.
(4)

?What?s that? . . . Well, I never heard o?
someone findin? it in time ? it can spread
itself out almost as thin as parchment at the
edges, so ye can?t tell where the trapper
stops and the real stone starts, unless ye get
down an? take to chippin? an? pryin? at the
edges, but then the thing?d jus? roll up
around ye, an? it?d be all over . . .

?When it takes victims, the trapper
crushes ?em to death, twistin? around so?s
they can?t move an? squeezin? the breath
right out of ?em. Then somehow (5)
 it gets the body an? other stuff from its topside to its
underside, an? it eats what it wants an?
keeps or leaves the stuff it can?t eat. The
thing forms its body around the stuff ?neath
it, but stays flat an? hard on top, so ye can?t
tell the stuff is there by lookin? or walkin?
across the trapper. (6) If ye think ye?re stan-
din? on one, an? it hasn?t made a move fer
ye yet, stamp down hard an? jump about ?
the floor won?t give, but ye might hear 
snappin? an? crackin? from underneath if
the bones ?n? other stuff give way. Then ye
better jump quick, or ye?ve had it!

?The trapper eats what it catches by
oozin? out some kind o? burnin? fluid it
makes inside itself, but this fluid only comes
from the underside, so?s when yer trapped
at least ye don?t have to worry ?bout that,
too. If it gets on top o? ye, alive or dead, the
fluid won?t hurt right away, but don?t let it
in yer eyes ? it can blind ye fer days if a lot
gets in there. Back when I had me two good
arms, I pulled a feller out from under the
edge of one just in time.? He was wet, but
he had his eyes closed from bein? knocked
out, and the fluid didn?t have time to burn
?im. Don?t try to save the stuff if ye manage
to get some ? when the thing?s dead or
when the fluid?s taken out of it, somethin?
goes with it, and no matter how ye mix it,
or what ye pay your alchemist, the killer
juice is just so much sewer-water.

?I seen somethin? more, too ? somethin?
ye don?t hardly ever see, how a trapper
makes little trappers. It don?t mate, it just
eats an? grows an? eats an? grows till it?s too
big. Then it splits into a lot of little trappers
? I said I seen it, and I seen it, I tell ye! ?
and they all go off their different ways, to
find new huntin? grounds.
(8) They kin hide,
changin? color to match the ground they?re on (9)
, till they find a good place . . . so, ye
won?t see one just comin? down the street,
but if ye go in there, over yonder, an? poke
around a bit inside that cavern, ye might
not find the big one ye?re lookin? for ? but
if ye see a little one, be sharp, ?cause there?s 
bound to be three or four more jus? like it
creepin? around hereabouts, an? not a cave
or ruined hall?ll be safe till they?re all dead.

?Good luck to ye all ? ye?ll be needin? it
soon, I think! And if ye do come back,
wander in here an? tell these old ears how
ye killed it ? an? I?ll give ye this gold right
back as payment for the tale! ?(10)

Notes
1. The top surface of a trapper is dense,
horny (not brittle), and effectively as hard
as stone. It is shaped in irregular, flagstone-
like plates or lumps. The trapper absorbs
heat and vibration, and thus suffers only
half damage, at most, from actual fire; it
won?t be harmed by normal pressure from
being walked upon or prodded, nor does it
give appreciably underfoot. It is also resist-
ant (half or no damage) to cold and cold-
based attacks; its metabolism does not need
a particular body temperature to function,
and chilly underground environments are
its normal habitat.

2. Small parts of a trapper?s rocky surface
can be chipped away without the creature 
being harmed noticeably (no visible wound
occurs, just an apparent cavity in the rock);
the stony substance grates or rings, like
actual rock, when it is struck. Characters
who are very familiar with stone (dwarves,
gnomes, miners, stonemasons, and sculp-
tors) can usually tell immediately that some-
thing is not right when they test the surface
? by chipping or striking it, but not merely
walking upon it. Characters not familiar 
with stone may (5% chance) sometimes
realize that they have attacked something
alive, but trappers are not easy to detect,
even when they are being looked for.
 

Infravision will clearly detect the under-
side of a trapper if the creature is viewed
from beneath (through a hole, for instance),
rolled up around something, or when the
underside is revealed around its edges when
it moves. (When it is stationary, the hard
top surface covers all of the edges.) The
heat-absorbing top surface of a trapper is
not revealed by infravision; it always
matches the temperature of its surround-
ings, absorbing excess heat (or reflecting  
most of it, in the case of flame or extreme
heat used as an attack form) and simultane-
ously transferring it, along a one-way path,
to the underside. In its reaction to extreme
heat or cold, the top layer acts as a barrier
and a permeable membrane at the same
time.

3. A trapper can sense ? and, because of
its high intelligence, usually interpret ?
even the slightest vibrations, such as a
mouse running across its surface; the hard
top surface transmits these vibrations to
sensory organs in the actual body of the
creature before the vibrations are dissipated
or absorbed. The trapper is apparently not
sensitive to sound waves or odors, but it can
sense light up to 4? (40 feet) distant. Light-
sensitive patches on the top of a trapper
report the presence of light to the trapper?s
brain, which acts in conjunction with these
patches to govern the shifts in color that a
trapper?s body is capable of (see note #9).
The patches can detect very small amounts
of light ? flickering torchlight or narrow
lantern beams, for example ? in an area
that is otherwise dark, but cannot sense the
presence or location of prey by this means if
the entire vicinity is illuminated, such as in
daylight or when a  light  spell is in use. Also,
full illumination makes it more difficult
a trapper to quickly shift color without for
being noticed as it moves onto new surfaces.
For these reasons principally, trappers pre-
fer to dwell in dark places, and almost
always underground.

4. Iron bars or even stout staves will
provide a precious few rounds of ?safety?
from a trapper?s attack, if at least one of
them is close at hand so it can be used to
obstruct the creature?s attempt to close
around a victim (as a piece of wood might
be jammed into a creature?s mouth to keep
it from closing its jaws). While this bar or
staff is in place, the character(s) it protects
can still wield weapons against the trapper.
Thrusting and piercing weapons are the
most useful in this case, since they are used
along the axis described by the bar or staff.
Weapons that slash or smash are not as
effective (-2 on damage, but a minimum of
1 point of damage per hit) because the
wielder doesn?t have room to swing the
weapon with full force. In some cases,
common sense must prevail in determining
whether a weapon is wholly or partially 
effective; long pole arms, for instance,
would probably be useless.

A bar or staff used as an obstruction
(DM?s decision as to what is suitable) will
automatically afford one round of safety for
the character(s) it is protecting. Thereafter,
the object must save vs. crushing blow once
per round (as ?hard metal? or ?thick
wood,? as appropriate), with a cumulative
penalty of -3 per round to the die roll begin-
ning with the second save. Thus, a staff of
thick wood will ?survive? for as long as five
rounds before the pressure of the trapper?s
muscles on its ends will cause it to snap or
slip out of position. (The first round of
protection is ?free?; thereafter, the staff
must make saves of 10, 13, 16, and 19 to
remain intact and in place for the next four
rounds. On the following round it will need
to save with a 22, which is impossible unless
the save is made at a bonus.) 

5. Apparently our grizzled old adventurer
has never seen exactly what a trapper does
with the prey it captures. When a trapper?s
victim is suffocated, or when the victim
takes enough damage to be rendered uncon-
scious or killed, the creature relaxes its hold
on the prey and then flexes and moves in
such a manner as to slide out from under-
neath the body. Then the creature reverses
direction and moves back on top of the
victim, loosely encasing it in the more pliant
undersurface of its body. This underside is
subject to attack by characters outside the
trappper whenever the creature is wrapped
-- around someone or something. However,
the underside is just as hard to damage as
the top side; lying just beneath the tough,
leathery ?skin? covering the underside is a
network of strong muscles which, when they
are tensed, are just as difficult to penetrate
with a weapon (AC 3) as the top side is.

6. When a trapper moves on top of an
object, it can use its pliancy and its amor-
phous nature to ?flow? over and around the
object, varying the thickness of its body (if
desired) to keep the hard top surface even
and level. The top surface will not give way
under the force of foot-stomping or jump-
ing, but in places where objects lie beneath
it and relatively close to the top surface,
some of the force of those blows will be
transmitted through its body to the objects
below, and those objects will crack or shat-
ter if they are fragile enough. As noted by
the old adventurer (and the Monster Man-
ual), the trapper can also exercise the ability
to form its body into shapes that appear to
be lying on its top surface. Sometimes, the
creature uses an object it is concealing as a
foundation for one of these ?sculptures? ?
for instance, using a broken pillar or a log
as the basis for an extension that looks like a
stone bench.

7. The trapper consumes its prey by
moving on top of a victim (see note #5) and
then exuding an acid-like enzyme that
breaks down organic matter. The chemical
reaction caused by the fluid does not begin
until after a victim is exposed to it for five 
rounds (which is why our hero was able to
rescue someone ?just in time?); then it
begins to burn and corrode, doing 6 points
of damage per round to any victim that is
not already dead. A single man-sized crea-
ture can be entirely consumed in this man-
ner in 2-4 turns; one L-sized creature or a
small group of M-sized victims will take 6-9
turns to be consumed.

When it ?eats,? the trapper re-absorbs
the digestive enzyme along with the sub-
stance it has acted upon, and then the nutri-
ents and the enzyme are separated during
its digestive process. The fluid finds its way
back into the sacs in which it is contained,
until more prey is to be consumed. The
enzyme loses its potency within seconds
when it is exposed to air, which is why a
victim can be rescued without suffering
damage from the acid, provided the chemi-
cal reaction has not already begun. The
enzyme has an immediate effect only if it
gets into a victim?s eyes, in which case the
victim (if he survives) is totally blinded for
1-4 days thereafter; a  cure blindness or heal
spell, or similar magic, will offset this effect. 

Again, note that a trapper is highly intel-
ligent and will act accordingly ? it will not
attempt to ?eat? anything but motionless
(unconscious or dead) victims; it will not try
to trap something in its top surface and
consume something else beneath it at the
same time, because the digestive enzyme
loses its ?power? when the underside is
exposed to the air. The creature is never 
ravenous (it can survive for days or even
weeks without a single ?square meal?), but
neither is it ever satisfied; as soon as one
meal is finished, it is ready and quite able to
consume another.

8. The activities of a trapper are con-
trolled through its network of nerves, which
gather together into three or more centers
or nodes. One of these, the dominant,
sentient directive center, is the creature?s
brain. This brain is highly developed, par-
ticularly in mature trappers ? able to re-
ceive and interpret sensory input, and
capable of decision-making. (If a trapper
senses the presence of a large party of ad-
venturers, it can and often will choose to lie
quietly to avoid the possibility of being
slain, rather than attacking.) As a trapper
grows larger and older, its secondary nerve
centers grow and develop until they also
achieve sentience ? whereupon the trapper
splits into three or more little trappers.
These instinctively move away from each
other to establish their own territories; one
will not knowingly locate next to another
trapper. It is not known if trappers fight
over territory or prey, but they seem to
avoid each other whenever possible.

9. A trapper can alter the color of its top
surface (the underside is always a sickly
mottled pinkish and greenish-white) by
producing pigmented liquid that it stores in
bag-like organs within its body and forces
by muscular action to and from its ?stone?
surface. Unlike the digestive enzyme (see
note #7), this liquid does not lose its special
properties when exposed to the air, so it can
be salvaged and used (see note #10). The
trapper?s natural, unaltered top-side color is
that of its underside, only slightly more
brown-grey. It can shift hues through
browns (sometimes with traces of dark
green) to greys, all the way to jet black ?
but it cannot make its top surface glossy or
smooth. It can never be white, translucent,
or transparent as a result of pigment shifts.
Trappers can exist under water, and are
known to lie inches deep in partially flooded
rooms or caverns; in such cases, they are
virtually impossible to detect.

10. Speaking of gold pieces, adventurers
who are victorious over a trapper will be
rewarded if they think to recover some of its
pigmentation liquid. It will fetch a hand-
some price (about 6 gp per pint) in quarters
where it is known as an ingredient in the
making of a  robe of blending, and as an
alternative ingredient in the manufacture of
various spell inks (such as that for Bigby’s
crushing hand). Any portion of trapper
flesh (the underside) can be used in the
making of a  rug of smothering, rug of wel-
come,  or  net of entrapment.  Some magical
practitioners have claimed, in writing, that
intact trapper brains (preserved in vessels of
nutrient liquids) can be linked to doors, pit
traps, deadfalls, treasure niches, and the
like so as to control their operation, but
details of such arrangements and the proc-
ess of establishing them (if they do indeed
exist) are unknown to most magic-users at
the present time.