Stormcockerel (3.5e Monster)

''The sky darkens with crackling storm clouds with lightning snapping between each other as the nimbus rolls in. You guard yourself, searching for the source of this supernatural weather, when the dry rolling cloud descends upon you... the source IS the cloud! From the black, a thousand black chickens drop upon you with thunderbolts on wing.''

The aerial bombers and recon of the demon lord Bookbakoook the Mother Clucker, stormcockerels are unique among the chicken-flavored demonfolk in that they are actually competent flyers, their short useless wings flapping and somehow managing to keep them afloat. They fly over the enemy, laying down suppressive fire without care of non-chicken creatures below (and sometimes, not even then). They are Bookbakoook's eyes and ears, spotting everything and gossiping, reporting it back to their infernal mistress.

Stormcockerels are dog-sized chickens, black as night, with glowing red eyes and the smell of ozone and fried chicken. As their feathers brush against each other, electrical sparks crackle over their terrible form, and their beak is slightly curved like a bird of prey. In spite of the "cockerel" name, they are actually hens like the rest of Bookbakoook's minions. They are arrogant and quick to change their emotions, all of which are dialed to 11 and stuck. Some have wondered why Pazuzu, the self-proclaimed lord of every fiendish avian, does not bother to claim ownership of these feathered fowls. Some suggest that the demon lord wants nothing to do with the ridiculous sight of evil chickens, but Bookbakoook would claim it as a show of her power to resist the demon lord's control. Pazuzu was not available for comment.

Stormcockerel speak Abyssal and Auran, and the language of chickens and other domesticated birds. Most don't hear it, most of their time spent clucking in furious anger.

Combat
For all their seeming recklessness, stormcockerel are unusually dedicated and wise in their actions. They pursue their goals to the bitter end, and in the chaos of their zeal, they learn and adapt to the best attack strategy. The typical combat starts off with one or more stormcockerels flying high overhead concealed, then commencing a surprise attack with a dive bombing, followed by rapid blitz attacks as they start to climb. This repeats until the enemies are dead, or a change of tactics is in order.

Death Throes : Stormcockerels hate their enemies so much, they kamikaze them as they die. As long as the stormcockerel's body has not been destroyed completely, the instant a stormcockerel dies, they transform their bodies into a screaming thunderbolt which crashes down on the earth in any direction other than upwards. Treat this as a lightning bolt, CL 11 and DC 20, in any non-upward line of fire. The DC is Constitution based.

Demon Fork : All minions of Bookbakoook possess a special trident called a demon fork. It has the damage and reach of a +2 Distance Instant Recall trident of a creature one size catagory larger, and is a finessable weapon. This, combined with its Far Shot feat, gives it a throwing range increment of 40 feet. In the hands of other creatures, they are simply medium sized tridents. Stormcockerels somehow manipulate these weapons with their wings in spite of lacking hands, and can tuck it away hidden with a +20 search check to find when sheathed.

Dive Bomb : As a full-round action a stormcockerel can move up to twice its movement range and make a single attack with extra damage, provided that it drops in altitude at least 20 feet during its flight. For every 10 feet the stormcockerel drops, it adds an additional +2d6 points of damage to the attack.

Egg Bomb : Stormcockerels are capable of laying eggs in mid air at a fantastic rate, dropping them on the ground below where they release a deadly cocktail of neurotoxins and 133% of your daily intake of saturated death. As a standard action every 1d4 rounds, a stormcockerel can make a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 40 feet. On impact, the egg explodes in a small fireball, dealing 1d6 electric damage per HD to the target. In addition, it has a splash effect, releasing a 10 ft. cube of deadly poison which acts like cloudkill, except it does not move and disperses naturally in 1 minute. Treat like an alchemical splash weapon for determining what occurs on a miss.

Headless : Stormcockerels are hard to keep dead. They can live without their head for 1d10 days, though they are blind and they become mindless creatures during this time (rending them immune to mind-affecting effects). This renders them partly immune to the vorpal weapon enhancement... at least for a short time.

Rapid Blitz : Stormcockerels can make a full attack as a standard action.

Stormcloud : Stormcockerels constantly emit a shadowy dark smoke which seems to have no substance but is cold to the touch, and electrifies the air around it. They constantly possess a 20% miss chance from concealment which is not bypassed by true seeing. In addition, any unarmed attacks, natural weapons, or non-reach melee attacks which impact the stormcockerel recieve a nasty shock for their troubles, dealing 5 points of electric damage each time they hit. When stormcockerels brush up against each other or even themselves, this effect often generates large electrical shocks between each other, giving them the appearance of a rolling storm cloud.