Cave Fisher

This large underground arthropod looks like a cross between a lobster and a spider. Overlapping chitin plates armor its body. Its six hind legs grip stone so well that it walks up and down sheer walls with no trouble, and the front pair end in strong pincers for killing and tearing apart prey. Its strangest feature is a long snout that shoots a tough, sticky filament, which it also uses to anchor itself on cliffs and ledges.

Its favorite tactic is to string filaments around its lair. The strands are fine, strong, and hard to spot: there is a 20% chance to notice one at 10 feet and none beyond that, though detect snares and pits reveals them. Only +1 or better edged weapons can cut a strand, and the glue dissolves only in strong alcohol, such as the cave fisher's own blood. Once something is stuck, the fisher reels it in like a fish on a line.

If prey slips past the traps, the fisher spends a round pulling in its line and then fires it at the target, rolling to hit as a 6 Hit Die monster, and keeps trying as long as the quarry stays in its territory. A struck creature of up to 400 pounds can be hauled in at 15 feet per round, and in a tug of war the fisher's line pulls with 18/00 Strength.

Cave fishers lair on ledges and in caves above busy paths, up to four sharing one lair, with filaments always strung out front. They kill whatever they snag and often save some for later. Territories are tiny, never more than about 300 feet in each direction.

Any creature of man-size or less counts as food, and halflings are considered delicacies. A lone fisher will not take on a large, well-armed group for one meal, but a group of them may pull in their lines and set an ambush if they think it will work. When game grows scarce they simply move to a spot with more and sloppier prey.

Females lay eggs near the lair and guard them, and the hatchlings scatter to find lairs of their own. The fishers keep no treasure, but their victims' belongings often litter the floor.

Bats make up most of a cave fisher's diet, though it is always tempted to vary it with an unwary adventurer, goblin, or orc it thinks it can get away with. Several often team up to land bigger prey. Other monsters outrank it underground, so it has learned to be careful around other monsters. It is clever enough to know that harassing large, organized groups could get its kind wiped out, so it sticks to stealth and cunning, both for hunting and for staying alive.

Thieves' guilds pay well for the filaments. Spooled and treated to weaken the glue, the strands become thin, very strong, almost invisible rope, and the thinned adhesive becomes a coating for gloves and boots that greatly improves grip when climbing.