The Colorless Wasteland (Obol Desert)

        I'll repeat a few things here from the Bazaar of the Memorable, just for ease of reference. That post dealt with caravan management; money, trade goods, and camels. This one focuses more on the journey itself.

Travel Times

    Oases tend to be about a hundred miles from each other. Camels travel 30/20/10 miles a day carrying up to 8/10/12 sacks; humans travel 30/20/10 miles per day carrying 3 slots/1 sack/2 sacks. This means that heavily loaded caravans require about ten days to travel from one oasis to the next, moderately loaded caravans require five, and lightly loaded caravans (or hikers) arrive before lunch on the fourth day. Shortcuts may cut distance from the main route, or get you killed.

Food, Water

    Humans can go 30 miles in a day carrying three slots or less, 20 miles in a day carrying up to one sack, or 10 miles a day carrying up to two. A three-liter waterskin occupies one slot. In the desert, humans require two liters of water per day, plus one liter per 5 miles walked. At a three-liter water deficit, a human has disadvantage on all checks. At a six-liter water deficit, humans fail all checks automatically and begin to vividly hallucinate. When a human is in debt 10 liters, they die in extreme agony.

Weather

    There are two weather flowers for mainland travel in the Obol Desert. You'd have a different one if you were sailing, or if you headed far inland.
   

    Travel is particularly dangerous during the summer. A few days of roasting might wipe out a caravan, even on a well-traveled route. Monsoons are terrifyingly lethal to unprepared parties; expect the water-level in low-lying areas or dry riverbeds to rise an inch a minute, and to effortlessly sweep away even the most heavily-loaded of camels, let alone a tiny and pathetic human.

    Most traveling is done during the winter, when the heat is more bearable

Seasons

    The Obol Desert is a cold, coastal desert — a "desert" in its extreme lack of vegetation, not in its extreme dryness per se. In the rainy season (three months out of the year), great monsoons can roll a hundred miles inland and flood the dry riverbeds and fill the ancient corpses of lakes. Daytime temperatures frequently exceed 40 degrees celsius (that's "bloody hot" in fahrenheit), while nighttime temperatures drop to the frost point. In the dry season, the Obol Desert's nine-month winter, there is no rain. Daytime temperatures sit stubbornly at around 25 degrees, and nights may hit 10 below freezing. In the depths of winter, deep inland, your frozen fingers and toes may only begin to thaw around noon.

Where Do You Find Yourself?

(roll when you have an encounter, when the rain starts, or when anything happens with your caravan during your hundred-mile trek between oases)

Coast,

1. Ankle-deep in saltwater, crossing a mangrove
2. Among tall rocks thrown ashore by an ancient storm
3. By an ancient fallen tower
4. In a tiny fishing village, unworthy of mapping
5. In the ruins of a tiny fishing village, nothing but bones and driftwood now
6. On a floodplain, dry except for two days of leap tide a year
7. On a barren field, nothing on the horizon all around
8. On a winding road up a low rise, objects of interest above
9. On a winding road down a low rise, objects of interest below
10. Upon the beach, in the spray of crashing waves, picking among dead fish

Inland,

1. On the main road, other caravans in the distance in either direction
2. On the main road, all alone for the past hour
3. On a "shortcut", navigating uneven rocks that have twisted a few ankles
4. On a "shortcut", hopping an inexplicable waist-high drystone wall
5. On a "shortcut", passing a lovely little village of desert nomads who might share their tea and cookfires
6. In a gully, stone walls looming sixty feet above your heads
7. Ankle-deep in dust that must have buried the waystones in some sandstorm days or decades ago
8. In a depression that was once a lake, and will be again come monsoon season
9. Near a well-fortified but unmarked inn
10. Near the burnt-out ruins of an impressive country estate

Far Inland,

1. Passing an enormous stone dragged for hundreds of miles. The bedouins, curiously, have carved it in the shape of a (1. fruit tree 2. four-legged table 3. high-backed chair 4. ugly parody of a Hillman's head 5. hideous unnameable monster 6. bedouin tent??)
2. Passing a necropolis of unimaginable antiquity. Speed your steps, pilgrim
3. Walking through a boneyard. Dead whales, dead ships, the petrified remains of weapons in the hard earth
4. Lost in a maze of ravines and broken earth, a hundred feet deep in some places
5. In the shadow of a high, volcanic hill, smoke spewing from its top
6. On a perfectly flat field of black glass with embedded flecks of some glowing material
7. Approaching some tower with no entrance, and no windows. Religious purposes...?
8. On a high hill, with sheer cliffs and sixty-foot drops
9. Within a half-buried outskirts of a forgotten city
10. Carefully creeping through a field filled with the entrances of underground dens

Beasts

Stockwhip Asp
0.5HD (1HP), AC as unarmored, 5 morale
Long wiry tails, which they swing in circles to produce an irritating whir like a brewing storm. Not aggressive but will bite the shit out of you if startled. Tradition holds that assassins know how to delicately trick these snakes into biting fruit, injecting them with deadly venom.
No. Appearing: 2d6
Movement: faster than walking pace
Code: Desert (2 sins average)
Intelligence: animalistic
Attacks: -2, two bites (1 damage, HRTS or take 1d8 poison)

Mirror-Finish Tortoise
1HD (6HP), AC as leather, 11 morale
Reflective shell camouflages as black sand when partially buried, and as a little piece of sky when walking the surface. Hillmen trap the tortoises to make soup and sell the shells to Foreigners; this is considered extremely bad luck in other cultures, even notoriously cynical and pragmatic Andona. Everyone knows that when a Mirror-Finish Tortoise reaches 70 years of age it attains wisdom greater than any human sage.
No. Appearing: 1d6 (a result of 1 indicates this is actually a 4HD Ancient Tortoise)
Movement: very slow, but can dig
Code: Desert (0 sins)
Intelligence: smarter than a trained monkey
Attacks: +1, bite (1d4)
Psionics: sinful characters must save vs. fear when presented with their reflection in the tortoise's mirror-finish shell
Hide In Shell — when limbs and head are retracted, mirror-finish tortoises have AC as plate.

Blood-Red Scavenger Worm Long as Your Arm
0.5HD (1HP), AC as unarmored, too stupid to check morale
Foul creatures, the bane of caravans. Color of fresh blood. Any bedouin or hermit will pay 1sp per dead worm; for one thing, destroying scavenger worms is worth a bounty, and for another, they are delicious when smoked thoroughly over a low fire.
No. Appearing: 3d6 (a result of 1 indicates an encounter with a 2HD blood-red scavenger worm long as your whole body)
Movement: pathetic hopping and flopping, but can burrow through sand faster than a man can crawl
Code: Monster
Intelligence: deterministic and easily manipulated
Attacks: +1, toothy bite (1 damage, anticoagulant venom reduces CON and STR by 1 as the torn flesh bleeds)
Powerful Nose — scavenger worms can smell flesh (living or dead) in contact with sand at a distance of two miles. They preferentially target intelligent creatures, but will eat the hooves off of a camel if nothing else presents itself.

Scorpigan, Green
1HD (4HP), AC as chain, 7 morale
Muscular arachnids as big as wolves. Green scorpigans are known to travel in harems, not fear fire, and to rot in hours when slain.
No. Appearing: 1d6 males and one Alpha Female (1HD, 6HP)
Movement: quiet creeping, or camel-speed galloping
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: pack-hunting predator
Attacks: +1, two pinches (1 damage). If both hit, one strike from bewareful stinger-tail (1d6 poison, check HRTS or unable to benefit from food or rest for 24 hours)
Rending Charge — in combat, a scorpigan can charge a target slower than itself and automatically hit with both pinches. Only one scorpigan can charge a target per turn, and they require 30' of runup.
Alpha Female — the larger female scorpigans have larger pinchers, dealing 2 damage, and more venom, dealing 1d10 damage and applying 48 hours of debuffs on a failed HRTS.

Scorpigan, Blue
1HD (6HP), AC as chain, 7 morale
Muscular arachnids as big as wolves. Blue scorpigans are known to ambush by night, prey on other scorpigans, and hate Golden Ones with near-human levels of spite
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: quiet creeping, or 20' leaps
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: apex predator
Attacks: +1, two pinches (1 damage). If both hit, one strike from bewareful stinger-tail (1d6 poison, check HRTS or a random limb is disabled for a number of days equal to damage rolled)
Rending Leap — when attacking from surprise (which they do every chance they get), blue scorpigans automatically hit a target with both pinches. If the stinger disables a limb, the scorpigan will attempt to drag the target off into the dunes to be eaten.
Grappler — blue scorpigans have +4 to MOVE when grappling a target affected by their venom.

Baby Black Moth
Winged insects larger than your outspread hands. Suicidally attracted to light-sources. Often believed to herald death. Can be harvested for one dose of flashpowder, if you are patient and have a good comb.
1HD (2HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
No. Appearing: 2d6
Movement: flight as graceful as a fat seagull
Code: Desert (0 sins)
Intelligence: bugge
Attacks: no
Psionics: those who mean black moths harm save vs. charm to approach within melee range. If failed, suffer one minute of disgusting wracking ugly-sobs: drip snot, produce a lot of racket, and apply a -2 to any checks that require un-teary vision.
Black Dust Wings — when a black moth takes fire damage, they detonate in a 10' fireball. Save or take 1d6 fire damage.

Swarm of Tiny Jumping Lizards Who Sing at Sunrise and Sunset
1HD (4HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
Dozens of tiny lizards in a puddle five-foot-square. Sing at sunrise and sunset. Delicious when eaten raw, but it's good luck to leave them be.
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: as tiny jumping lizard, can squeeze through gaps a single lizard could
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: negligible
Attacks: +0, vicious bites (1 damage)
Psionics: feeding a ration to the swarm grants the gift-giver a desert blessing, +2 to their next save. Swarms can only eat one ration at a time. Eating a tiny jumping lizard who sings at sunrise and sunset prevents one from obtaining this blessing until the offender makes an offering at a Lizard shrine.
Swarm — receives 1 damage from attacks, max damage from AoEs.

Neanderthal Brave
Young Neanderthal men, before marriage and full integration into society, live in the desert in a koryos. These bands live at a level only a little above the beasts they wear the skins of, and prey on travelers and small outlying communities of non-Neanderthals or of enemy clans. The koryos exists outside of usual Neanderthal rules of hospitality, weregild, &c — they do not follow laws and do not expect to be treated with lawfully.
1HD (4HP), AC as equipped (typically nude with shield, but may wear looted armor), 7 morale
No. Appearing: 4d6 (1s and 6s indicate the presence of a berserk) plus a captain
Movement: as human
Code: Monster
Intelligence: human
Attacks: +2, with weapon (typically light flint axes, but may carry looted weapons)
Psionics: neanderthal berserks can enter a rage once per day, taking half damage from weapons and attacking each round if able.
Tally Marks — in combat, neanderthal braves who have not struck at least one target have 11 morale. They are content to count hits on corpses, or 1-damage blows with the hilts of their weapons on cowering targets.
Skin Mask — when encountered, on a 1-in-4 chance a koryos of neanderthal braves have their animal totem masks drawn over their faces. They attack immediately with no warning or parley, and check morale only once before fighting to the death.
Captain — one member of a koryos is the captain, chosen by consulting a mirror-finish tortoise at the formation of the warband. The captain does not roll morale under any circumstances. captains have a 2-in-6 chance of ignoring mortal blows until they have struck at least one target in combat. When their captain falls, the koryos as a whole flees, even if wearing their animal masks.

Shitty Bandit
1HD (3HP), AC as leather and shield, 7 morale
The highways and hills of the Obol Desert are infested with desperate and violent criminals. Communities suffering particularly heavily may offer bounties, but it's in everyone's best interest to root out bandits wherever they hide; the worst monsters begin as men.
No. Appearing: 2d6 (results of 1 or 6 indicate the presence of a bandit heavy, 6HP and AC as chain and shield)
Movement: as human
Code: any, but many sins
Intelligence: human
Attacks: +1, with weapon (typically medium weapons of low quality)

Black Dust Moth
2HD (4HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
Winged insects larger than any bird. Suicidally attracted to light-sources. Can be harvested for three doses of gunpowder, if you are patient and have a good comb. As a totemic symbol the moths represent cultivation and inner peace. Black dust moths never eat, and yet never stop growing; it's said that the terrible sandstorms that roll from the desert out to the coast are stirred up by the wings of black dust titans deep in the heart of the continent.
No. Appearing: 2d6
Movement: swift, silent flight
Code: Desert (0 sins)
Intelligence: bugge
Attacks: +2, vicious sting (1 poison damage to HP and 1d6 to DEX with a pins and needles paralysis)
Psionics: those who mean black moths ill save vs. charm to approach within melee range. They are unable to take hostile action against black dust moths, black things, dusty things or moth-shaped things for 1 hour upon a failure.
Black Dust Wings — when a full-grown black moth takes fire damage, they detonate in a 20' fireball. Save or take 1d10 fire damage.
Silver Eggs — black dust moths lay their eggs in the carcasses of large animals or in paralyzed targets. Within 24 hours, these eggs hatch into blood red scavenger worms long as your thumb, and devour their host from the inside.

Blood-Red Scavenger Worm Long as Your Whole Body
2HD (4HP), AC as unarmored, too stupid to check morale
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: pathetic hopping and flopping, but can burrow through sand faster than a man can run
Code: Monster
Intelligence: deterministic and easily manipulated
Attacks: +2, toothy bite (1d6 damage, anticoagulant venom reduces CON and STR by the damage rolled as the torn flesh bleeds)
Powerful Nose — scavenger worms can smell flesh (living or dead) in contact with sand at a distance of two miles. they preferentially target intelligent creatures, but will eat the hooves off of a camel if nothing else presents itself.
Silver Chrysalis — once a blood-red scavenger worm is about as long as your whole body, its ravening hunger turns in on itself, literally. Following some inscrutable cycle of moon and stars and wandering planets, it flips itself inside out from the mouth, revealing its mirror-coat innards, and lays mostly buried in the desert sand like a mylar sack of rice for two weeks before bursting into 3d6 baby black moths. If captured at this stage (or immediately before this stage and fed a camel or a couple of slaves), the chrysalis can be boiled in liquid lead to produce silk-steel, a substance light as fabric but durable as metal. One chrysalis makes one set of Silk-Steel Armor, typically taking the form of a thobe, long turban and a heavy undyed bisht. Silk-Steel Armor encumbers like clothing, but protects like mail, and grants an extra save against rays or harmful radiation.

Scorpigan, Black
2HD (8HP), AC as chain, 7 morale
Muscular arachnids as big as wolves. Black scorpigans are known to eat poison, avenge the deaths of their mates, and have truck with monsters.
No. Appearing: lone adolescent (1HD, 4HP) or mated pair
Movement: quiet creeping, or camel-speed galloping
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: pack-hunting predator
Attacks: +2, two pinches (2 damage). If both hit, one strike from bewareful stinger-tail (1d10 poison, check HRTS or the venomous wound permanently reduces max hitpoints until treated with colloidal silver)
Rending Charge — in combat, a scorpigan can charge a target slower than itself and automatically hit with both pinches. Only one scorpigan can charge a target per turn, and they require 30' of runup.

Swarm of Shadow Bugs
2HD (8HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
Strange, crawling masses of shadows, as if a swarm of bugges walketh where no bugges be. Infested hosts have noticeable "boiling" effect at the edge of their own shadows.
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: insect creeping when not parasitized, as fast as their host otherwise
Code: Monster
Intelligence: quite stupid
Attacks: none
Swarm — receives 1 damage from attacks, max damage from AoEs
Shadow Sucker — swarms of shadow bugs lie waiting in small burrows in sand, or in the shadows of ruined temples of evil. Intelligent creatures who unknowingly allow their shadows to fall on the swarms must SAVE or become infested. Infested hosts require double water rations, as the shadow bugs suck moisture from their body. Infestations quickly multiply and spread throughout groups. The most readily available cure is to deal fire damage to the host; The swarm takes an equivalent amount of damage, and the light prevents them from rapidly healing. For large infestations this process may require several days to avoid killing the host.

Albino Camelroo
2HD (6HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
Ghostly-white creatures, with long powerful limbs and two large humps of fat protecting the spine. Well-adapted to life in the desert, eating cacti and stomping scorpigans flat. Quality pelts may fetch as much as 10sp.
No. Appearing: 2d6 females, 1d6 adolescents (1HD, 3HP), 1 Alpha Male (10HP, does not check morale when protecting wives)
Movement: bounds and leaps as fast as a horse
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: pack animal
Attacks: +2, pair of ferocious punches (1d6 damage) or a tremendous double-barreled kick (1d6+2 damage, fly 20' back, take impact damage as if falling)
Psionics: alpha males will challenge large or ostentatiously dressed combatants, filling them with injured pride. Save vs. charm or make attacks against other targets with disadvantage.

Coyote-Mouth Cattle
3HD (12HP), AC as leather, 7 morale
Built like stone towers, with steely hooves and sharp fangs for tearing carrion or gnawing trees. Domesticated herds live in symbiosis with the Reaver culture. Wild herds live in oasis-rich regions, along the banks of the Neilos, or on the shores of the ocean, with each population being slightly different in size and hide pattern. Outside of mating season the cows travel in large related clans protected by a single massive Grandmother who may mass as much as 1000kg. Desert folklore holds that coyote-mouth cattle speak a language that they never use in the presence of bipeds, even in extreme need.
No. Appearing: 2d6 bulls (3HD, 16HP), or 5d6 cows with 5d6 juveniles (1HD, 3HP) and a Grandmother Cow (4HD, 20HP)
Movement: like a bigass cow
Code: Charnel God (1 sin)
Intelligence: cowlike in many ways
Attacks: +3, a charge at a distance (1d6+3, target checks MOVE or falls prone) or a powerful kick from the rear legs when close (2d6+3, target falls prone). Bulls with at least 20' of runup always hit slower targets with their charge.
Psionics: receptive to telepathic communication. In combat, Grandmother Cows may force an intelligent target to check SKLL or become overwhelmed with brainfog and lose their turn.
Grandmother Cow — intelligent as an old woman. Directs other cows with powerful telepathic broadcasts.

Coyote-Mouth Cattle 🙂‍

Scorpigan, Red
3HD (12HP), AC as plate, 7 morale
Muscular arachnids as big as wolves. Red scorpigans are known to be attracted to light, debate theology with desert hermits, and to hunt psions by sniffing out their dreams.
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: quiet creeping, or explosive 40' leaps
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: smarter than some people
Attacks: +3, two pinches (3 damage). If both hit, one strike from bewareful stinger-tail (1d6 poison fire, take an additional 1d6 poison fire damage every round until you pass a difficult HRTS check)
Psionics: Red scorpigans cause any esper to save vs. fear on sight, or flee their presence in blind panic. Those who pass the save may commune with the scorpigan telepathically; these arachnids live for many decades, and can speak long on the art of slaying psions and star-demons.
Whirlwind Leap — red scorpigans can strike at two targets with their tails as they pass over them.
Grappler — red scorpigans are expert martial artists, and have +6 to MOVE.

Sandstorm Thief
3HD (6HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
Strange characters from campfire tales. Taller than a man, fur like strips of ribbon, long strangling fingers. The bedouins say they were summoned by Andona's wizards centuries ago; Andonans say they are the ghosts of bedouins whose greed killed them; Foreigners say they are local superstition to explain away inefficient camel-packing protocols. Whatever you believe, keep a tight grip on your belongings and a close on your friends when the sandstorms roll in.
No. Appearing: 1d6
Movement: Careful, silent creeping
Code: Monster
Intelligence: Smarter than a human, surely?
Attacks: does not strike, but may strangle. Opposed MOVE checks until one of the two parties wins three times: if the victims wins they break free and can scream for help, if the thief wins the victim is silently throttled to death.
Psionics: invisible to the eye, and undetectable to psionics. Always surprises
Sticky Fingers — sandstorm thieves attempt to pocket 1 sack of the most valuable goods available before disappearing into the night. They are terrified of fighting-men, but will strangle lone guards if doing so gives them access to particularly shiny or tasty loot.

Flaming Wheel
3HD (9HP), AC as plate, too stupid to check morale
A ball of fire, about four foot in diameter, which rapidly expands to a ring twenty feet in diameter and a few inches wide. Said to be the vengeful spirits of murdered women, or perhaps ghastly pets summoned by star-watching wizards, or some relic of an ancient civilization unburied by the wind.
No. Appearing: 1d6
Movement: rapid roll outpacing a horse
Code: Monster
Intelligence: None?
Attacks: expands 20', dealing 1d6 fire damage to creatures in its path, then contracts around a single target, dealing 1d6 fire damage to creatures in its path and 2d6 fire damage to one target, save for half.
Immaterial Body — takes 1 damage from conventional weapon attacks.
Inscrutable Motivation — does not roll reaction; attacks on a 2-in-6, otherwise passes overhead with a great and terrible roaring. May be provoked by various metal objects and artifacts, or fended off by the same.

Succulent Mongoose
4HD (16HP), AC as leather, 7 morale
A bear-sized blue rodent, with green tendrils around its face resembling succulent leaves. Uses its enormous back legs and atrophied forelegs to burrow up to its lips in the sand, where it waits for unwary creatures to step in its fanged mouth. Can live for weeks without food, water, or any movement — barely even breathing.
No. Appearing: 1, underground
Movement: awkward stumbling
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: apex predator
Attacks: +4, a nasty bite (1d8+4). If attacking from surprise, 12 damage outright.

Succulent Mongoose 🙂‍

Flying Brittle Star
4HD (16HP), AC as unarmored, too stupid to check morale
A hideous mess of limbs and stingers, hopefully found boiling up beneath your feet ready to tear you to shreds, but unfortunately-often found whipping across the Obol Desert like a car door in a tornado right at the level of your head. They want to eat tortoises but they're happy to spill your blood.
No. Appearing: 1, or 1d4+1 in a sandstorm
Movement: slow writhing across the sand, or flying fast as a kite in a sandstorm. Can burrow 5' underground in the blink of an eye.
Code: Monster
Intelligence: vicious but not cunning
Attacks: +4, makes as many stings (1 poison, 1d6 to STR or check HRTS for 1) as it has hitpoints remaining. May make no more than four attacks per target per round. Despite its size and many limbs, is not particularly good at grappling creatures smaller than camels.
Psionics: detects dreamers and/or mystics at half a mile.

Ancient Tortoise
4HD (24HP), AC as plate, 13 morale
Ponderous reptiles, none younger than 70 years or lighter than 40 stone, prone to spending months in uffish underground thought. Powerful mystics and dispensers of wisdom. Not fond of the Stars, sympathetic to but disagreeing with the Greens, and aggressively opposed all things Albino.
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: Slooooooooow
Code: Desert (0 sins)
Intelligence: Brain-ormous
Attacks: +4, a single bite from steely beak (2d6+4)
Psionics: master of all Nomad styles, with 30 psi and a Limit of 5. Knows all Generic and Nomad Disciplines, and all Talents.
Wanderer — at the beginning of autumn, when they wake, ancient tortoises may select two skills, languages or weapon proficiencies to have for the next year.
Footprints — once per dawn, when something would hurt them, ancient tortoises may teleport backwards to any location they have occupied in the last minute.
Far-Reaching — when they use a Nomad Discipline to teleport, ancient tortoises teleport twice as far.
Effortless Journey — once per minute, if a tortoise hasn't moved from place, they may teleport 120' feet.

Flaming Skull
5HD (15HP), AC as plate, never checks morale
Giant glowing heads rocketing around the desert by night, fleeing the sunrise. Insanely hostile to everything that lives. Constantly babbling in a language no one understands.
No. Appearing: 1d6
Movement: faster than an arrow
Code: Monster
Intelligence: none apparent? But it speaks in something like language
Attacks: +0, headbutt passing through the target (1d12 radiant)
Psionics: belches hallucinatory flames in a 30' cone. All creatures caught in the cone save: the lowest result(s) glow brilliantly for one round, then are struck by a bolt of light from heaven (4d6 radiant, save for half)
Meaningful Babble — a scholar familiar with the Ancient's language may check SKLL once. On success, they identify a passphrase in a flaming skull's babbling nonsense. Any given passphrase has a 2-in-6 chance of opening an Ancient door or disabling an Ancient war-machine; passphrases only work on one target.
Fake Head — flaming skulls are immune to non-laser weapons and all psionics.

Scorpigan, Mirror-Finish
5HD (20HP), AC as plate, 10 morale
Muscular arachnids as big as bears. Mirror-finish scorpigans are known to worship the dying sun, project beams from their double-eyes, and command lesser creatures like kings.
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: silent creeping, or camel-speed sprinting
Code: Desert (0 sins)
Intelligence: as human
Attacks: +4, two pinches (4 damage). If both hit, one strike from bewareful stinger-tail (1d10+4 damage from the halberd blade, plus 1d6 poison and equivalent to every stat)
Psionics: in lieu of attacking, may speak a one-word non-suicidal command. All who hear it save vs. charm or obey. Scorpigans obey its psionic transmissions without it needing to spend a turn commanding them.
Eye Beams — in lieu of attacking, may shoot up to four crackling energy beams at up to four different targets within 300'. Each target saves or takes 1d10 damage of a random type (1. fire 2. lightning 3. radiant 4. blunt force).
Valuable Parts — the plates of a mirror-finish scorpigan's exoskeleton can make eight mirror shields (as shield +1) or two sets of mirror plate (as heavy armor +1 — it's a real kind of armor, google it). Its tail can be made into a heavy halberd +1. If eyes are immediately pickled, they can be turned into a psionic wand that shoots beams for 2 psi.

Naked Mole Bear
6HD (24HP), AC as leather, 5 morale
Blind, shuddering pink things three or four times the size of a man. Their faces are constructed bizarrely, with teeth outside the lips, such that they can chew through earth without filling their mouths with soil. Their colonies may have hundreds of miles of tunnels while occupying only a few square miles of surface space. Aerated tunnels promote the growth of mirror-finish bamboo, whose extensive system of salt-sequestering tubers feed the bears.
No. Appearing: 2d6 workers and 1d6 larger soldiers (30HP). If all 18 appear, then a queen bear (10HD, 60HP) is establishing a new hive.
Movement: scuttling, equally fast in any direction
Code: Desert (1 sin)
Intelligence: as bear
Attacks: +4, two ferocious nibbles (1d6+4)
Psionics: queens can communicate by telepathy, and are willing to trade. Naked mole bears value concrete, vitamin pills, and mercenary service against other colonies.
Darkvision — naked mole bears have darkvision, and their delicate skin is easily burned by sunlight.
Eusociality — most naked mole bears are infertile. They form hives as bees and ants do. Their blind tunnel wars reach scales and levels of ferocity unseen on the surface in these blasted latter days; this is why mystics do not throw their third eyes beneath the sand of the Obol Desert.
Painproof — naked mole bears are immune to agony effects, and damage never makes them check morale. Their cold skin is invisible to infravision.
Scent Marking — may forgo attacking to spray identifying chemicals (and piss) on a target within 30'. other naked mole bears preferentially attack marked targets. the smell lingers for 24 hours; a bottle of scent (and piss) harvested from a corpse lasts for a year.

Eight-Legged Crocodilian
6HD (30HP), AC as plate, 7 morale
Once a year all eight-legged crocodilians (technically several related species of gigantistic amphibious catadromous rhynchocephalia, but who gives a fuck) of a certain age float down the river Neilos to breed, spawn and die just past the delta. Their eggs, buried among pebbly beaches for miles of Obol coastline and on every island, hatch into vicious, fast-growing predators with a biological imperative to reach the headwaters of the Neilos. They are always hungry.
No. Appearing: 2d6
Movement: lumbering on land, lightning-quick in the water
Code: Charnel God (0 sins)
Intelligence: Apex predator
Attacks: +4, a bite (1d10+4, grapples target) and a tail lash (2d6+4)
Death Roll — in lieu of attacking, an eight-legged crocodilian can force a grappled target to save vs. instant death.
Predator — two crocodilians will not share prey. If two do attempt to target the same creature, they will square off and check reaction; while the two are fighting, it may be possible to escape.

Black Dragon, From D&D
7HD (35HP), AC as chain, 8 morale
Like, uh, you know, like, uh
No. Appearing: 1d4, one adult and possibly its children (7-1d4HD)
Movement: rapid flight
Code: Ancestors (0 sins)
Intelligence: as human
Attacks: +6, two claws (1d6) and a bite (1d10+4)
Dragon Breath — may forgo attacking to spray a line of acid 60', dealing 4d6 acid damage to all creatures in the line (save for half) and half that much to any who pass through (save for none). The line lingers for 1d6 turns, which is also how long until the dragon can use the breath attack again.

Flash Flood Elemental
8HD, AC as unarmored, doesn't check morale
A moving wall of storm overflow faintly resembling a human form crackling with cosmic energy. Another good reason not to get caught in one of the Obol Desert's summer monsoons.
No. Appearing: 1, only in water
Movement: rapid but imprecise, like a pickup truck
Code: Monster
Intelligence: utterly alien
Attacks: +4, two massive fists (2d6+4)
Water Bound — cannot move more than 60' from water
Flash Flood — automatically deals 6 damage to all creatures it passes through or engages in melee
Lightning Breath — may forgo attacking to blast a line of lightning 60', dealing 4d6 lightning damage to all creatures in the line (save for half). Targets standing in water may not save, and all creatures within 30' of them not already in the line take 2d6 lightning damage, save for half.

The Rancor, From Star War
I'm going to be honest with you I'm losing steam on these monsters. You know how to do a The Rancor, From Star War. Why do I have to write it out?

Demon from the Stars
Go read some Clark Ashton Smith stories and come up with something, smart guy.

Quartermaster Role

    One member of the caravan (that is to say, one real-life player) is to be elected quartermaster. The quartermaster handles the supplies of the caravan. They track how many merchants, PCs, tourists, hirelings, mercenaries, adopted goblins, pets, camels, giant spiders, escorted nobles, &c &c are eating the caravan's food and drinking the caravan's water. They track how much food and water the caravan carries, and who's doing the carrying. In short, one player handles a bit of the paperwork and math so the DM doesn't have to. That player earns an extra 10 XP per session. If the DM checks the supplies and discovers a discrepancy, then the caravan's supplies are spoiled. You have 48 hours to reach an oasis before people start dying, and the quartermaster doesn't get bonus XP this session