Thunder Lizards are behemoths, so large they dwarf even the mighty Stegadons and Dread Saurian which haunts the jungles. Their tread shakes the earth and their deafening roar can be heard for miles. They devastate the jungle with their passing leaving miles-long trails of broken trees and tramped vegetation behind. Fortunately for the Lizardmen, Thunder Lizards are rare and the jungles so massive that the two species seldom come into contact. Should a Thunder Lizard's distant roar be heard, then runners will be sent to the nearest temple-city and the populace roused lest the beast's path take it near. A Thunder Lizard passing through a city is akin to a natural disaster of the kind that sunk the settlement of Chupayotl. The chief defence against a Thunder Lizard is for a Slann to bring his formidable powers to bear on the creature's simple mind, forcing it to turn aside from the city and take an alternative path through the jungle.[1a]
There has been one instance in which a Thunder Lizard could not be turned aside. During the time of Lord Amazixan's second ascension, one of these mighty behemoths was observed locked in deadly combat with some form of sea monster that had risen from the depths and come inland from the Tarantula Coast. The battle between the two creatures went on and off for an entire cycle of the moons, and destroyed vast swathes of the jungle. At the last confrontation, the combatants smashed through the outer limits of Xlanhuapec, the City of Mists. Though many Slann pooled their magical powers, the Mage-Priests were unable to penetrate the beasts' frenzied minds to steer them clear. When the waning beasts had finally passed on, entirely unaware of the destruction they had wrought in their passing, the ancient Temple of the Lost had been destroyed along with countless numbers of the irreplacable relics that had been housed within since before the time of the Great Catastrophe.[1a]