Dornbeast Images: (A) / (B)

DORNBEAST

Smart adventurers run the other way when they hear "Hurumph," the ear-splitting battle cry of the deadly dornbeast. This monster should be avoided at all costs - its 69 sensitive eyes can paralyze an unwary explorer with a single glare, and fry brains with its hypnotic gaze (Range: about three feet for young beastling to about 20 feet for full-grown dorns.) Once immobile, captured victims quickly lose their strength and are plastered with round, sticky secretions that are notoriously difficult to escape and never come off. Prisoners quickly covered by secreted digestive juicies, while being gnawed. They usually live in crags and shadows near cliff bases. Dorns are gray and purple and black and gray and white.

One of the most popular methods to immobilize a dorn is to wreak havoc on its sensitive eyes by the cutting of the onion--the larger the better. Its multiple eyes will instantly turn red and watery under their pungent influence, causing many tears, but most importantly blindness. Though only temporary, this time of helpless bawling will give an opporunity for a carelessly brave adventurer to fight the beast, or for the common one to flee.

Although the exact origins of the name dornbeast are unknown, it is thought that they originated with early adventurers who would swear after being captured by the beast. However, early adventurers were notoriously polite, and would often exclaim "gosh dorn it..." as their jaws locked up and the paralysis set in.

Known dorn lairs during the mid-tenth century included the cliffs near Egreth (The Glass Maze), and a lighthouse near Grubbo-by-the-Sea. During the Great Monster Uprising of the Second Age of Magic, these beasts were reported in the following regions: Fenshire, Aragain Falls, Flathead Fjord, Gurth Woodland Trail, Discipline Beach, Crab Island, Kovalli Desert, Egreth Castle, The Glass Maze, The Lonely Mountain, and the G.U.E. Tech Training Grounds in the Ethereal Plane of Atrii.


TRIVIA:

1. The ancient breathtaking marble temples and magnificent coliseums of the Borphee Province were constructed out of dornbeast tusks.
2. Dornbeasts are the subject of the popular Christmas carol, "Dornbeasts Roasting on an Open Fire."

SOURCE(S): Sorcerer (game, Field Guide to the Creatures of Frobozz), Beyond Zork (game, Lore and Legends of Quendor), Legends of Zork (game, Zorkpedia)