Clockwork Pigeon

Description:

Clockwork pigeons are wind-up or engine-powered machines seemingly designed and constructed to carry messages between two fixed locations. Whever a clockwork pigeon is in flight, it will always be travelling between these two locations, and it is not capable of 'free roaming' flight.

It is unclear whether clockwork pigeons are magical or purely mechanical in nature, but their metal bodies make them extremely durable, and their lack of biological function make them tireless and almost unstoppable. A captured clockwork pigeon that could be 'reconfigured' to carry messages between two specified places would be priceless treasure.

Special:

Essentially machines, clockwork pigeons are immune to most magical effects including any spells or skills that affect the mind or the emotions, or any magic that drains or buffs Stats, Attributes or Derivatives. They take half damage from Shock or Frost, and are immune to Fire as well as poison, disease or any other physiological effects. They can see perfectly in total darkness.

An attack with the acid of an Iron Ant, or the Decay spell (if not resisted using Stability) will always disable a clockwork pigeon, turning it into a pile of rust in one shot. Depending on whether the Director defines the creature as magical or purely mechanical, it may or may not be possible to disable it using the Dispel spell.

A clockwork pigeon can travel over 300km in a day, with a top airspeed of over 100km/h. They can only fly between two fixed points. Changing these two points would require making a 21C using the Engineering skill to understand how the automaton is configured, and then a 21C using the Mechanics skill to successfully set each of the two new fixed destinations. Failure to set these detinations correctly means the bird will fly to an unknown destination and wait there for further instructions - forever.