Swamp creature stops road construction in New Zealand

[Krug]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2397707.stm

Runaway balrog, perhaps...

 

[CCamfield]

Or an illithid?

Cue the lyrics of "Dirty Creature" by Split Enz (and old NZ band):

"Dirty Creature come my way, from the bottom of a big black lake
Shuffles up to my window, making sure I'm awake
S'probably gonna pick my brain
Got me in a vice-like grip...

Tentacles on the brain, keep me from falling asleep
I'm rooted to the spot
The beast don't know when to stop
Sneaking up from behind
Binds and gags my wits
Dirty Creature got my head exactly where he wants it"

 

[Buttercup]

Oooookaaaaaay.

It sounds like these spirit creatures are multiplying lately. I wonder if there is any substance that could be used for birth control? Other than constructing a highway, I mean.

 

[Mark]

Kind of annoying when a prestogious news service like the BBC can't even include a statblock...

 

[Tonguez]

Personally I use a green dragon with either half-fiend or half-celestial applied.

Taniwha usually have the form of giant lizards, eels or whales (as well as combinations of such) however they also have Polymorph abilities and can appear as anything from floating logs to whirlpools to strangely coloured rocks.

Our local Taniwha is described as having frog-like legs a humanoid body and an eagles head with a fiery crest/mane

Taniwha are important guardian spirits (similar to totems) in my culture and basically occupy the role that dragons do/did in other cultures

PS I use them extensively...

 

[s/LaSH]

Heheh... the BBC took notice, huh? It was buried halfway through the A section of the Dominion Post here. (The Dom is Wellington's paper, Wellington being the capital of New Zealand.) I don't know what that says about our local culture...

I notice the article also talks about delayed construction on a prison. That got me thinking... what would happen if the prison were actually constructed? (Purely as a fictional setting, of course.)

And that got me thinking about another tangent... has anyone here read the original Call Of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft? Dread Cthulhu lies sleeping in the sunken city of R'lyeh, but according to the story R'lyeh is just a moderate journey off New Zealand's eastern shore into the Pacific. Food for thought...

PS: Hey, Tonguez! Fellow Kiwi here.

 

[La Bete]

isn't the waikato river supposed to have 'a taniwha at every bend'?

 

[Tonguez]

isn't the waikato river supposed to have 'a taniwha at every bend'?

Yeah although that was more a reference to the number of fortified Pa along the Waikato (most pa having a resident Taniwha nearby) you'd actually be suprised at just how many Taniwha might still live in NZ

Hi s/Lash (and La Bete) good to see more kiwi gamers here

and on a related note - have either of you been watching Matuku? (Thurs 9.30pm) and got any ideas...

 

[Happy Monkey]

The jury is still out on Matuku.

Oh, and hi, another kiwi here.

 

[Olive]

you think that we could find a taniwha to stop the wellington bypass? must email people back home and ask them to look into this...