Mutant communal burrow-beast with an alarming talent for coughing fire.

MONSTER STAT BLOCK

Description:
These oversized, soot-furred prairie dogs stand nearly a meter tall at the shoulder and move in skittish bursts. Their eyes glow ember-orange from generations of mutation. They live in sprawling mound-complexes beneath waist-high dead prairie grass, popping up to forage… or incinerate intruders. Highly social, they chirp warnings that build into a rumbling bass growl moments before a coordinated fire-belch. Omnivorous, opportunistic, and fiercely territorial.

Resistance: Fire
Ferocity: 2
Size: Small (but beefy for a prairie dog)
Movement: 12 (Can burrow into soil or loose rocks at half speed.)
Armor: 1 (Thick hide)
HP: 10

MONSTER ATTACKS

D6 Attacks:
1. Sonic Chirp Blast: A sudden shriek reverberates from its throat. The prairie pyre-dog emits a concussive chirp at a target within 4 meters. The victim must succeed on a WIL roll or take d8 damage from the disorienting shock. Only helmets are effective against this damage.

2. Biting Swarm Snap: Quick, panicked bites. The prairie dog lunges in a flurry of gnawing. Deals d6 damage piercing damage.

3. Grassfire Belch: It huffs, cheeks puffing, then fwwoosh. A short flame-burst in a 4-meter cone. Deals d8 fire damage and ignites flammable material. Successful Evade puts the target on the nearest unoccupied outside edge of the blast.

4. Burrow Ambush: It erupts from beneath a PC. The prairie dog bursts upward from hidden tunnels. The target takes d6 damage and be knocked prone from surprise. Evade and Parry rolls are made with a Bane.

5: Summoning Yip Yurp: The prairie dog emits a wahoo! It sounds a little more like, “uh oh.” Up to 1d4 more of its cousins are summoned to its location within 1d4 turns and act on the original one’s initiative and all turns following.

6. Fire Spasm Cough – Unstable mutation bursts out dangerously. A wider, uncontrolled spray of sparks in a 2-meter radius around itself. Deals d6 fire damage to all creatures nearby (except allies).

NOTES FOR THE GM

Communal Alarm Web:
If one spots the PCs, consider the entire mound alerted within a round or two. Treat chirped warnings as narrative justification for reinforcements popping up from the grass like demonic Whac-a-Moles.

Terrain Feature – Waist-High Scorched Grass:
• Provides partial cover when sneaking
• Highly flammable. Grassfire Belch can ignite it
• Makes tracking very difficult unless PCs have Awareness or Hunting & Fishing skills

Behavior:
Prairie pyre-dogs prefer drive-off tactics over fighting to the death. If two are slain, the rest scatter down into the mound unless defending young.

Treasure?
Not much. But tunnels may hide things they dragged home:
odd bones, a few coins, small metal objects, the occasional scorched backpack.