Windemere Monsters: The Trolls

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

DnD Dire Troll

What would a fantasy world be without trolls to drive terror into the hearts of adventures at least once?  Obviously, you can do this, but I was picking from the classics early on and trolls were top of the list.  I wanted them to be one of the biggest threats that my heroes can run into.  Nothing on the scale of dragons or demons, but they certainly take the top spot among the less magical beasts.  For this, I went wild with the description and kept writing until I ran out of steam.  Easiest to give an excerpt from Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower when they debuted:

“The forest tracker moves ahead of the other warriors to examine the troll and a lump forms in his throat as soon as he sets eyes on the monster. Standing over twelve feet tall with long, heavy arms that drag along the ground, the beast is a two-headed nightmare come to life. Luke notices that the troll’s eyes are nothing more than dark holes with pinpricks of yellow in their center. Rigid, twisted hairs stick out of its heads in every direction, resembling dead branches. The beast sniffs the air with its long, mosquito-like noses before walking on wide feet that give it a pounding stride. Sunlight glints off the curved claws that sparkle like diamonds.”

I later showed that there were “subtle vapors wafting off its lime skin”, which is a sign that they are weak against fire.  I haven’t always kept the color consistent or mentioned, but I try to maintain this hulking, long-limbed beast consistent.  There can be variations depending on the environment.  The one above is found in forests, but you can have slight deviations when the trolls live in jungles, mountains, or deserts.  The excerpt doesn’t mention that they can blend into their surrounding, but they typically materialize when they pounce.  Burrowing, regeneration, and a numbing effect when they cut skin round out the alpha predator’s powers.

Trolls are incredibly hard to kill with magic since even regular fire can be put out before it kills.  There are ways to weaken them though.  Glands behind the eyes allow their chameleon abilities to work when they are moving.  Destroying those will mean that the troll resembles heat haze similar to The Predator when it moves.  A deep cut through the face can also limit their regeneration since the front of the brain is what controls the rapid rate.  It could be beheaded while it repairs the brain damage, which is the only way it can get back to its full strength.  The challenge is delivering the killing blow since trolls will retreat for a bit if they are severely injured.  Due to not having any natural predators, they don’t realize when they are outmatched until they have been hurt.  This is something that many adventurers use to their advantage because a shot through the eye can give them a chance to escape.

You rarely see trolls in groups since they are territorial.  Mating pairs will stay together for a few months until the female gives birth.  Then, the male leaves before she uses him as a regenerating food source.  He isn’t killed, but he is repeatedly ‘harvested’ until the child is strong enough to fend for itself.  There are some trolls that allow this to happen, but that is only in areas where food tends to be scarce.  On islands, you can find troll colonies since there isn’t enough space for them to divide the area.  Travelers avoid these places because any new type of food is attacked immediately by the swarm, which will become so frenzied that a quarter of the population will be eaten in the fray.  You will find that the tropical species are more feral and primal.

I have toyed with some specialties too.  The Sjotroll in Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks is supposed to the first attempt at making a troll.  This is a legendary monster that is said to have been forged from the gods’ nightmares.  There are supposed to be only 4 in existence with one on each of the mortal continents (Canst’s Fields, Ralian, Cerascent, and Shayde), but there could be more.  There is a big ritual involving sacrifices and shamans to wake them, but not many know of it.  All I will say is that this monster is gigantic and considered legendary for a reason.  In the future, I’m hoping to introduce a species that is intelligent and tame, but it hasn’t worked out yet.  Never seems to fit the series.  I’ll keep trying though.

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African Penguin Day

Posted on October 11, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Today is ‘African Penguin Day’, which brings attention to the plight of a species found in South Africa.  They are critically endangered due to overfishing, climate change, and habit destruction such as oil spills.  In fact, their populations have been declining steadily since the 1800’s when there were millions of them.  Now, there are less than 20,000 mature African Penguins with only 9,900 breeding pairs.  Let’s look at some facts to understand these animals that need our attention and protection:

  • They are also called Cape Penguins, black-footed penguins, and Jackass Penguins.  The last name is due to their braying call, which resembles a donkey.
  • They live on the coastlines of South Africa and Namibia.
  • Aside from their braying call, these penguins are distinguished from other species by the pink patches above their eyes.  When the temperature gets hot, blood is pumped to these patches and heat is released from the body.  This acts as natural air conditioning.
  • Every penguin has a unique black dot pattern on their chest.  This is similar to human fingerprints and tiger stripes.
  • African penguins will hunt in groups to herd small fish to the surface.
  • They can hold their breath for over two minutes and dive around 400 feet.
  • Both parents are involved in keeping eggs warm and raising the chicks for the first 30 days.  Once they are 30 days old, the chicks are left in groups with adults while the parents go hunting.  These are called nursery groups.
  • 80-90% of African penguins mate for life.
  • As stated, a cause of their decline is overfishing of their food sources like sardines.  This makes them an indicator species, which means their decline shows a disruption in the environment.
  • Their main predator are the cape seals, but humans have caused them to interact more with land predators such as caracals and dogs.
  • Penguins have flattened corneas, which prevents light from bending when underwater.  This gives them hazy vision when submerged, but they also have a third eyelid that protects their eyes from saltwater.
  • Penguins can see ultraviolet light.
  • They drink saltwater and sneeze out the salt instead of drinking fresh water.

Let’s look at some pictures and videos:

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Goal Post: Some Progress In A Few Areas

Posted on October 10, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Well, there is a sliver lining to be sick and exhausted for a day.  That would be getting a chapter section of Darwin & the Deadland Queen completed.  It was a small one that I had no real notes on.  So, I went with the flow when I was trying to sleep off what knocked me on my rear by Wednesday.  That would be stress combined with eating some stuff that didn’t agree with me the night before.  Best way to describe myself would be the spitting dinosaur from ‘Jurassic Park’ until I got some antacids.  Anyway, I got a chapter section done in spite of the mess.

I’m hoping to get more writing done this weekend, but a few things are up in the air.  I know I won’t get any done today because we have a bunch planned.  Tomorrow is a stronger possibility even with me having to cook dinner.  Of course, it could be a guarantee if other things change, but that’s not looking possible.  I did all I could to get these things to happen, but it didn’t work out.  At this point, no skin off my nose, which is a phrase I don’t understand.  I’ll be happy if I get 2 more sections of Darwin & the Deadland Queen completed.

In lieu of that, I’m going to try to schedule the November and December posts.  At least for November, I’m grabbing some old posts to revisit.  I’m hoping to avoid that for December, but I don’t have many new writing topics.  Looked around the Internet for anything author or writing-related, but everything was either covered or I didn’t understand.  Feel free to suggest any current writing trends or ideas that might be a fun topic.  Always open to new ideas.  The poetry, holidays, Sundays, and Teaser Tuesdays have been set up though.  Makes the rest easier.

The life event is still going and wasn’t as big a factor this week.  To be honest, that might not be a good thing.  It means next week may be even crazier.  Already have a few appointments and meetings to get through on top of this.  Probably should look into getting more antacids to be safe.  Not going to be any writing time because of all this, which is why the blog prep might be the ‘go to’ activity.  Really hoping the life event settles eventually, but it could be months at this rate.  While it’s going on, other areas are chaotic due to the machinations of outside entities.  Makes me feel like I have little control over my own existence.

Been doing a lot of cooking this week too.  Fanciest thing this week was honey glazed chicken due to time.  The rest was air-fried quesadillas and a store-bought pizza that I had for an emergency.  This weekend is going to be more interesting.  Air-fried ravioli and homemade garlic bread, classic penne with homemade vodka sauce, and I’m going to try a sweet garlic chicken recipe from years ago.  The upcoming week is going to be a mix of major dishes (taco pie, pepperoni lasagna rolls) and bringing in.  Funny how my evenings either give me enough time to cook a nice meal or barely time to breathe.  Can’t wait for life to settle down and allow me to cook much more often.  Not that groceries are cheaper than bringing in.  Both make my wallet cry.

My life is really boring, huh?  Well, I can’t talk about the ‘exciting’ stuff out loud.  All I can mention is my attempts at writing, Lego, cooking, and bare existence.  My son is busy, but it’s basic teenager stuff.  He might be starting some form of social media to show his art, which I’ll showcase here if he wants.  That’s not for a while since he is seeing if it will help him with college or getting commissions for something.  Not sure he understands what a commission is since he doesn’t have the time to do those.  His idea was to make personalized phone backgrounds for people, but we aren’t sure if there’s a market or how he could do it without his creations being shared across the Internet without his permission.  Feel like this is going to be a project for after college applications and everything else is settled.

So, goals of the week?

  1. Cook dinners.
  2. Work on Darwin & the Deadland Queen.
  3. Set up November and December blog posts.
  4. Lego.
  5. Buy more antacids.
  6. Meetings!
  7. Appointments!
  8. Remain standing unless sleep is needed.
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Windemere Monsters: The Doppelganger

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz
Doppelganger for D&D

Doppelganger for D&D

Who really knows how many Doppelgangers have appeared in the Legends of Windemere series?  Not many because revealing several main characters have been copies of the originals for most of the adventure is stupid.  I mean, could you imagine being invested in something for so long and then find that the characters you love are not really them?  (Any comic fans know what ‘big event’ I’m poking fun at here?)

These creatures might be in the wild, but nobody really knows.  There have been times when a hunter kills an animal only to see it transform.  Doppelgangers have bluish green skin that is slick to the touch and no facial expressions.  Yet it does have a mouth, which appears to bite a ‘victim’ and absorb their form and memories.  It is never a perfect change due to the mental aspect.  Many times a Doppelganger will take on the ‘idealized’ version of a person until they have a day to adjust.  Not to mention they need to learn the person’s behavior to make it a believable copy.  The change is done with the help of a colony of parasites that help them maintain and erase the forms.  Fritz goes into a long description in Prodigy of Rainbow Tower.

The role of doppelgangers tend to be decoys for the wealthy and powerful.  It is not a safe job and they are practically slaves.  Some are used as bodyguards though because they are very strong in their natural form.  Limbs can be stretch very far and reattach rather easily if severed.  They some regenerative powers too.  Many times a kidnapped decoy will revert to its normal form and kill the criminals, which makes these creatures assassins as well as spies.

One big part of the shape-changing ability is that they need to ‘taste’ the target and lose everything once they revert.  Another ‘taste’ is needed to regain the form, which is why some doppelgangers are given a lock of hair, fingernail clipping, or something to regain the form if need be.  This hasn’t always been the case.  Every once in a while, a doppelganger will be born that doesn’t need the ‘taste’ or even physical contact.  This is a prehistoric throwback since it can’t copy memories, but it has a superior transformation power.  When people come across one of these types, they either hire it as an assassin or try to give it a psychic item to give it the memory stealing ability.  This rarely works because doppelgangers have an aversion to magical items, which cause issues with their natural abilities.

As for out of story origin, the doppelgangers are a pre-existing creature.  Not only in D&D, but old legends where see your copy is a death omen.  I toyed around with including that aspect, but couldn’t get it to work.  The closest thing is that people would call seeing one in its natural form as a death omen.  Probably a criminal-only legend since they’d be most likely to fear such a thing.

Want to see a doppelganger in action?  Click below:

I do plan on having a doppelganger be a major character in at least one other story.  Have plans to play around with their role in the world.

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Poetry Day: Amalgam (Revisit)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Monster Hunter the Game

(Here’s another monster-based poem.  Sure you’ve figured out the theme.  Nice to revisit some of the old ones again.)

It shrieks from the depths
Darkest corners of my mind
Which I have never cleaned

*

A beast composed of parts
Harvested from fallen dreams
And crammed into a form

*

Limbs strewn about the mass
Some moving and some still
No two ever alike

*

Thirty mouths or more
Crying for release
From the pain of endless misery

*

Scales and fur and feathers
Patchwork coverings of the flesh
Always shedding to the floor

*

The greatest feature is an eye
Prismatic orb without a lid
It has never seen the light

*

I do not know whose mind it has
So many dreams have died
And rotted to this form

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Windemere Monsters: Roc

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

(I keep wanting to make some variants of the roc. I feel like there’s a lot of variation that can be done with giant eagles in general. Though, going too far would lose the point.)

Roc

Rocs are incredibly common fantasy creatures because they’re simplistic.  I’ve read two different origins of these beasts.  One is Sinbad the Sailor and the 1001 Arabian Nights where he runs into a giant eagle, which people assume is a roc.  This gets thrown around, but I think the more common vision comes from India.  This is a myth about an eagle so large that it can carry an elephant.  Sometimes, it’s said they can carry one elephant in each claw.  So, the real description of a roc is that it’s a gigantic eagle.  Nothing really flashy about it.

It’s that lack of flashiness that makes it fall behind phoenixes and thunderbirds when people imagine bird-like monsters.  Still, the roc gets a lot of love fantasy because they are connected to Tolkien’s eagles.  Only real rocs don’t talk and I genuinely think the Middle Earth eagles are smaller than rocs.  Splitting hairs there, but that’s just me.  It also explains why I went the way I did with rocs.

Initially, I created the Windemere rocs with the intention of them being the natural rivals of griffins.  I wanted something in the sky that didn’t have range attacks like dragons and were simply huge.  Going through old notes from high school, I found that I used the roc a lot whenever I needed an aerial monster.  So, I flushed it out without change the appearance of it being a giant eagle.  The key strengths I was focusing on was silent flight and enormous power, which would counter the speed of a griffin.  Sure a roc has to catch a griffin, but even a glancing blow is enough to shatter bones.  This was done in the span of a few minutes, but the simplicity is why I go back to them at times.

Rocs show up a few times in Legends of Windemere, but they make an impact.  I don’t believe I ever had them actually fight a griffin even though I wanted that to happen.  (Added note: I actually think I did have it happen. Hard to remember every event in a 15 book series.)  This resulted in the rocs becoming large beasts encountered for various reasons.  The two big ones were showing how the Dark Wind curse was hurting even the most powerful of air creatures.  Another was introducing a flock of rocs that protected a mountain and actually lived inside it.  This explained why a certain plot point was possible.  There were other types of large birds, but I’m not sure I can count them as rocs unless they’re eagles.  Still on the fence about that.

Both times involved Luke Callindor too.  His affinity for animals helped me show how these aren’t savage beasts.  I was able to demonstrate that they cared for their young and territory.  They could also be territorial without being intrusively aggressive.  Many stories will have a territorial animal that gets in the way of the plot because it’s impossible to neatly get around it.  This typically ends with the animal being killed, but I’m not always a fan of that.

With the rocs, I wanted them to be protective without making it necessary for Luke to wipe them out.  It forced me to develop habits for the rocs such as patrolling and how big a creature has to be for them to consider it a threat.  This meant, they were fairly intelligent, which changed my use of them a bit more.  If they’re smart enough to differentiate between threats and harmless animals then I couldn’t make them the rampaging, temperamental beast I originally considered.  This is probably why I don’t use them as often as I used to.  Now, I need to come up with a reason for a roc to be there.  At least, I still have the berserker perytons and territorial harpies.

That’s really it on the rocs.  I do try to change up the look of some flocks, so I might be branching the out to be regional species.  We’ll see what the future holds.

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Teaser Tuesday: A Dark Request

Posted on October 6, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

This is an excerpt from The Mercenary Prince.  All I can say is that it involves Mab and a minor character.

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Continue reading →

Posted in Legends of Windemere, Teaser Tuesday, The Mercenary Prince | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Windemere Monsters: The Wyvern

Posted on October 5, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz
From Final Fantasy

From Final Fantasy

The Wyvern gets mistaken for a dragon a lot, but it’s not really the same.  No breath weapon and they come in two species.  Both have very powerful rear legs and leathery wings.  One has a barbed tail and no arms while the other has a clubbed tail and very tiny, almost vestigial arms.  Another difference between them and dragons is a Wyvern cannot talk or understand speech.  They’re very territorial too, but have keen senses that pick up on another animal’s strength.  So it might be willing to attack someone like Luke Callindor or Sari, but Nyx and Timoran Wrath would make it cautious.

Fizzle calls them ‘First Dragons’ and that’s a good description of their origins.  The Wyverns were here before the dragons.  Kind of a test run by the gods, which most people don’t realize.  The Windemere Creation Mythos has it that Angels (Good), Demons (Evil), and Dragons (Neutral) were the first things put on the planet.  The Demons wiped out the Angels while the Dragons stayed out of the fight then the Demons were locked away in the Chaos Void.  This is the religious and bedtime story version since a lot of animals were created first.  Those three species are really the beginning of complex-thinking life on Windemere.  So the Wyverns were around, but not really a global factor.  Kind of like the early versions of the dinosaurs that people only vaguely recognize.

It is interesting that these creatures have survived all of the global disasters and found niches in different terrains.  They are mostly found in forests or near mountains, but Wyverns are extremely adaptable.  Many have stated that there is an aquatic version that lingers around whirlpools, but nobody has ever proven this.  Only the Club Wyvern and Barbed Wyvern have been confirmed to exist.  Though that’s really it because only a handful of people have managed to tame a Wyvern and use it as a mount.  So there’s not a lot of in-depth understanding until I use them more.  Definitely solitary predators that only gather for mating season.

Adding the Wyvern into the bestiary was something I wanted to do for a while.  I’ve actually had it in places in each book, but cut it out because it never mixed.  Didn’t even make it into the outline because I couldn’t get it to work until Curse of the Dark Wind, which had an impressive debut.  Be nice to use them more and I’m keeping an eye out for it.  Maybe I will create a character who is able to ride one . . . Perhaps I’ve discovered what ‘Beardy’ from Ichabod Brooks & the City of Beasts is.

Want more Wyvern?  Click below.

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Posted in Legends of Windemere | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

World Animal Day: Animal Welfare Celebration

Posted on October 4, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

I keep stumbling onto these types of days that celebrate animals.  All of them involve learning about animals and trying to take action to improve their lives.  This one is interesting because it’s connected to Saint Francis of Assisi, who is in charge of animals . . . Not sure what that means.   Anyway, I’m going to share some animal encounters I’ve had over the years:

  • Seeing a wolf or coyote down the road while walking in a forest.  Thought it was a dog until I saw more showing up.  I was a kid, so I was curious, but knew better than to do anything other than go back to the house.
  • Feeling homesick when I went to Israel after high school graduation.  It was an art trip that was a gift from my grandparents, but the writers bailed during the flight over.  So, I was feeling isolated even with so many people around.  The place we were staying at for that section had a lot of cats, who would gather around me whenever I went off to be alone.  Guess they sensed I wasn’t happy.
  • Visiting relatives with a big backyard always had some kind of animal encounter.  The big one was when skunks came by.  I was really little and watched a lot of animal shows, so I figured I could crawl over to watch.  They didn’t pay any attention to me, so I got within a few feet and just sat there.  My dad freaked out when he realized where I went and rushed over to get me away.  Nobody was sprayed, but the skunks ran away.
  • In Florida, I was writing at a picnic table the apartment complex had by the pond.  It usually had lizards and frogs around, so I didn’t pay much attention to the noise.  This day, I heard a loud thump to my left and looked over to find the resident red-tailed hawk standing near by baby name book.  It was just looking at me for a bit before taking back to the air.
  • In college, I had a weird habit of noticing or running into animals, which amused a few of my Wiccan friends.  One instance was me sitting down and a small skunk wandering by soon after.  The big one was noticing an animal in the distance one night and saying it was a gray fox.  A local friend said that was impossible until the gray fox stopped under a light, looked at us, and ran off.  I do miss hanging around that area and seeing what would turn up.
  • There’s a group of squirrels in the local park that always approach me for food.  I’m sure someone feeds them, but they always come up to me when I’m playing Pokemon in their area.  We have conversations about how I don’t have any food and then they leave.  Last year, one of the squirrels kept within a few inches of me even when I walked out of its usual area.  Apparently, a hawk was in the trees and I was being used as a deterrent because the squirrel ran off as soon as the coast was clear.

There’s probably more because I seen to always pick up on animals being around.  It can be a deer in the distance or a turkey vulture flying around while I’m driving upstate.  I always stop to watch the ospreys hunt if they happen to be in the park.  Come to think of it, I tend to talk to animals a lot.  There’s a large flock of small geese in one park I go to and I always have to walk through their numbers.  I’ve seen them go after people, but they tend to leave me alone as I apologize while going through.

Have you ever had a cool encounter with a wild or unfamiliar animal?

Posted in Animal Posts | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Goal Post: Writing On The Backburner

Posted on October 3, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

Unfortunately, the title is going to be what it is for a week or so.  Darwin & the Deadland Queen requires a level of focus and positivity.  I don’t want to start writing and wreck Darwin’s happy personality because I’m stressed.  If I can fit in some time then I will, but at least this weekend is out.  Next weekend is going to be just as busy, but I might have a shot since it’s a 3-day.

My hope is to switch focus to ‘Coven of the Gray’ solely to keep my creativity going.  I’m still 1 or 2 sections away from getting the plot done.  Then, I’m going to design all of the coven members and turn the chapter book set up into a collection of short stories.  It’s roundabout and messy, but I’m thinking it will clean up as I work.  Again, this is dependent on my mood and getting other things done.  Plenty of appointments going on this week too.  Won’t be surprised if I hit a day where my body gives up on me and I have to spend it in bed after getting my son to school.  I’m already feeling strained at the joints and edges.

Without going into details, the life event involving courts isn’t settled.  Things are still going on and now I have to spend a lot of time going through files.  It’s going to be exhausting and I have to do it in solitude.  Not easy when you have a teenager who wants to play video games in your room or hang out for an hour.  This is on top of running errands and getting some fresh air because I’ll need the mental cleansing.  Keep in mind that I have work and those appointments too.  That removes most of the weekdays and a few evenings.  My brain is going to ooze out of my ears by the time this is all over.

I feel bad that I can’t do any writing.  Looks like I can’t get things ready for November blog posts either, so I will pull more of the older posts and hope for more time to do stuff in December.  Another thing I feel guilty about since I’m just treading water.  Almost forgot that I have to help my son with a bunch of college stuff too.  Surprised I’m going to have any time for sleep.  All I’m going to try to really push in at the end of the day is some Lego time to let my mind defrag . . . Anybody remember what defragging was?

As far as positive news, my son attended his first open house last weekend.  Yes, it was during the Nor’easter, but they provided ponchos.  The wind took those as a challenge, so we got wet.  Not drenched, so victory.  He loves the campus, especially them having a Subway and soft pretzel place in the student union, and we got to meet one of the heads of the department his major falls into.  Really nice guy who is funny and has a good philosophy on getting students ready for graduation.  This is my son’s top school as well, so it’s even better that he loves it.  To be fair, it was his second time visiting, which made it impressive that he knew how to get back to my car while I was totally lost.

So, goals of the week:

  1. Prepare stuff for life event.
  2. Cook all the dinners.
  3. Help son with college prep.
  4. Bring son to SAT.
  5. Buy food to make the dinners under #2.
  6. Try to ward off the physical collapse.
  7. Lego and Pokemon Go to relax.
  8. Reach out to friends when stressed.
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