fear the Solymi

By: Unknown on 04:59

So over the past week or so I've been reading the Iliad as translated into English prose by 19th century poet Samuel Butler. I spent a fair amount of time back in college with Richmond Lattimore's poetic translation, as I minored in Classic Civilizations. But I've been meaning to get around to re-reading the Iliad ever since I bought a set of the Britannica Great Books series over a decade ago. Those babies ain't gonna read themselves.

Anyway, book VI mentions in passing the three great deeds of the hero Bellerophon, who got a write-up in the original Deities & Demigods.  Bellerophon's deeds include defeating the Amazons, slaying the Chimera (which Butler describes as a fire-breathing 'goddess' with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent) and fighting the "far-famed Solymi".  No explanation is given for what the heck a Solymi is.  A quick googling suggests 'Solymi' was the name given to a tribe of people, but I decided it needed to be a variant chimera.

SOLYMUS

# Encountered: d2 (d4)
Align: Chaos
Mv: 120' (40')
AC: 4 [15]
HD: 9
Attacks: 2 claws (d4+1/d4+1), bite (d10), gore (2d4)
Save as: Fighter 9
Morale: 9
Treasure: XVII - F

The solymus (pl. solymi) is a magical hybrid creature with the body of a lion, the head and tail of a great serpent and the horns of a wild goat or ibex.  Thrice per day a solymus may vomit forth a glob of poison 5' in diameter, which may be directed at one foe or two standing side-by-side up to 50' away.  Those attacked by the poison glob may save versus breath attack to dodge it, otherwise they suffer 3d6 poison damage.