Cairn Toads are oddly flat amphibians native to the scrubland and foothills of central Idari. Adults range from roughly fist-sized to the size of a medium paving stone. Cairn toads are highly social animals and become stressed when isolated.
Cairn toads are named for their unique social behavior. At night, they sleep half-buried, disguised as a patch of rocky soil. When the sun rises, the toads will start to climb on top of each other, forming a vertical stack similar to a stone cairn. Once the stack is balanced, they remain completely still until the sun sets, only moving to catch passing insects with their long, sticky tongues. If the stack is disturbed by a predator or toppled, the toads will chase away the threat (they are hard as rocks, though less heavy, but one launching itself at you is painful), then return to the stack. A toad cairn can consist of as few as 3 and as many as 50 individual cairn toads.
The purpose of this stacking behavior is unknown; theories include it being a mating display, camouflage, deterring predators by suggesting human activity, or a symbiotic relationship with nearby predators to lure travellers into their dens.
The call of a cairn toad sounds like stones rubbing together. Incidentally, the sound of two cairn toads mating also sounds like stones rubbing together. They lay their eggs in shallow streams and puddles, where they blend in with pebbles.
Fun fact: the domestic gargoyle was bred from cairn toads a few centuries ago.
(both images described in alt text)
CAIRN TOAD (skill 5, stamina 8, initiative 1, light armor)
Damage as club/thrown rock (if you have made a damage table for throwing rocks, which you might if you’re playing Troika!)
MIEN:
disguised as paving stone
stacked
climbing toad stack
toppled
defensive
catapulting
