Crocosaurus

Crocosaurus
skill	14 (Adult); 7 (Young)
stamina	18 (Adult); 16 (Young)
Attacks	3
Weapon Used	Large Bite, Large Claws, Tail (as per Large Claws)
Habitat	Lakes, Marshes, Rivers
Number Encountered	1
Type	Reptile
Reaction	Hostile
Intelligence	Low

The Crocosaurus is a carnivorous semi-aquatic Dinosaur found in the rivers and marshes of northern Allansia.

Description

The Crocosaurus is best described as a monstrous purple beast resembling a Crocodile-headed bipedal Dinosaur. It has powerful tooth-lined jaws with a prehensile tongue, clawed forearms, and a long tail. Its head would appear to be well over a metre long, and its total length is somewhere in the vicinity of ten metres.

It is unknown why the Crocosaurus is purple in colour.

Origins and Distribution

The only known record of a Crocosaurus in canon was an individual beast trained by a Gumar Hunter and working for Baron Sukumvit in the vicinity of Fang and the River Kok. It is therefore possible that Gumar hunters and their Crocosaurus companions can be found along the reaches of this river. Another potential habitat for these creatures would be the Marshes of Kok estuary.

We know the Crocosaurus is a Dinosaur and not a Crocodile, due to its three-clawed forelimbs and lack of heavily armoured scales. Both of these are non-Crocodile characteristics. The name element -saurus is also indicative of this. It seems likely that the Crocosaurus is a kind of Spinosaurid and, as a result, is closely related to the Spinosaurus.

Interestingly, in a cave system ruled by the evil wizard Anakendis, near the village of Kokbridge (which is on the River Kok and close to Fang), we have a record of an unnamed type of Dinosaur. Its location, stats (skill: 7 stamina: 16), and lack of any conflicting description, mean that it is almost certainly a young Crocosaurus.

Special Abilities

The Crocosaurus has an excellent sense of smell, and can be trained to follow the scent of Essence of Jankel Root.

The Crocosaurus has a telepathic mind-link with its Gumar hunter-handler, and can be directed to attack its prey without speech or a rider. In addition, if its handler is slain, the Crocosaurus will go berserk with grief, doing an extra 1 stamina point of damage with every successful attack. However, this frenzy is so taxing that the Crocosaurus will lose 1 point of stamina every Attack Round.

Further Notes

A Crocosaurus from The Green Hydra gamebook

• Interestingly, in the Hero's Challenge: Sagard the Barbarian gamebook entitled The Green Hydra, we also find a Crocosaurus! Although this one does not appear to be purple in colour, it is otherwise identical to its Titan counterpart.
• The Crocosaurus appears superficially similar to the Swamp Mutant of southern Allansia. However, they are not thought to be related as we know the Crocosaurus is clearly a Dinosaur with a Crocodile-like head, whereas the Swamp Mutant is a mutated Alligator acting in a Dinosaur-like manner.
• One of the reasons for this sudden minor proliferation of Crocodile-headed Dinosaur-type creatures could be that this time marked the discovery and formal naming of Baryonyx, the first-known real Crocodile-like Dinosaur.
• The Crocosaurus is mortally afraid of fire.
• The climate around Fang is much colder than the hot southern regions where Dinosaurs usually live in Allansia. This means the Crocosaurus is likely to be endothermic or "warm-blooded".
• The Crocosaurus is a likely competitor of other great predators of the northern Allansian wetlands such as the Mudgrinder and the Chaos Slime Beast.

Further Information in Canon

More information can be found at:^Source
Warlock Issue 7 (pg22*, pg23#, pg24)

Notes

# - denotes a reference with statistics
* - denotes a picture

See Also

• Dinosaur
• Spinosaurus
• Swamp Mutant

References