A-to-Z Challenge, N: Nightmander (New Oe/BX/1E Monster)

Some of the monsters I've been creating for this A-to-Z challenge have come from folklore or mythology first, and were then illustrated. Others, like today's, started with an illustration and the description followed. For some reason, I got to thinking the other day about one of my favorite OSR illustrations... Dave Billman's "cosmic girl" illustration from Tom Moldvay's Lords of Creation. Then the name "nightmander" popped into my head, and voilà! (Plus, I just liked the idea of a character getting "swallowed" by a creature before re-emerging from it's rear end.)

Nightmander

DESCRIPTION A nightmander is strange extra-dimensional creature originating from the astral plane. It has the form as a giant salamander (approximately 20’ long) and appears almost as a shiny liquid or glass form that peers into the cosmos. +1 or better weapons are required to hit a nightmander, but they are affected by magical attacks as normal. A nightmander attacks with an energy draining bite that on a natural “to hit” roll of 20 results in the nightmander “swallowing” any creature human size or smaller. Any creature swallowed by a nightmander will be lost on the astral plane for 1-4 turns before returning to the prime material plane by emerging from the nightmander’s tail end. When a nightmander is killed, the remains of the nightmander will disappear from the prime material plane. Furthermore, any creature that was swallowed by that nightmander, and was lost in the astral plane when the nightmander died, will remain in the astral plane until that creature manages its own return, or is brought back by some other means.

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Very Rare NO. APPEARING: 1-2 ARMOR CLASS: 2 MOVE: 18” HIT DICE: 7 % IN LAIR: Nil TREASURE TYPE: Nil NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard INTELLIGENCE: Animal ALIGNMENT: Neutral SIZE: L (20’ long) PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 2 HIT DICE: 7 MOVE: 180’ ATTACKS: 1 bite DAMAGE: 2-12 + special NO. APPEARING: 1-2 SAVE AS: Fighter: 7 MORALE: 8 TREASURE TYPE: Nil ALIGNMENT: Neutral