Carpet Snake

Always red with black eyes, carpet snakes spend most of their lives disguised as part of a rug, coiled, twisted, or straight in whatever pose they held when they changed. They seem woven right into the fabric, and close inspection reveals nothing. A slain carpet snake crumbles into worthless fibrous red dust that can never reform.

Footsteps or vibration on the rug rouse them, though they stay put in a master's presence unless ordered to rise. On the second round after someone first treads on it, the carpet seems to ripple, which victims often dismiss as illusion; taking full shape needs 2-4 rounds in all, and during the two rounds of forming the snakes are AC 10. If their rug is rolled or folded, they need 1-2 extra rounds to crawl out.

A snake facing prey small enough to swallow fights to the death for the meal. Against bigger foes it melts back into the rug at 3 hp. That takes one round, and in carpet form it cannot be hurt; slashing the rug achieves nothing. Burning it, or cutting it apart and carrying the pieces more than 20 yards from one another, keeps the snakes from forming. A single blow of at least half a snake's full hit points can cut it in two, which forces it into carpet form. Any snake that retreats into the rug must wait 24 hours before taking shape again. One brought to 0 hp is dead.

Created by magic, carpet snakes now breed like ordinary snakes, the female staying in snake form to guard her clutch. Most breeding happens in nurseries kept by evil owners, who move any unexpectedly laid clutch and its mother somewhere safe.

Each can be taught to know as many as five masters and obey four basic orders; they never harm a master and otherwise strike at anything that moves unless told to stop. With a master present they lie quiet while their rug is rolled up and hauled about. Lacking a rug, they settle into clothing or other cloth.

Dormant snakes neither eat, breathe, nor sleep, slowly absorbing their last meal; one small rat can keep a snake going for six months, and they can last a year without food. They live up to 50 years.