Horax

A horax is long, flat and slung close to the ground on twelve legs, each tipped with a claw that grips almost anything. Chitin plates armor its back, and its small mandibles are brutally strong. Its blue-black to jet-black coloring hides it so well that even infravision struggles to spot it.

Packs of horax win through speed and numbers, and their squat build hides real quickness: they get +1 on surprise and -1 on initiative. Since they cling at any angle, a pack in a tunnel spreads over floor, walls and ceiling at once.

Once its mandibles connect, a horax holds on, dealing another 1d6 damage each round automatically with no attack roll. The victim or an ally can spend a full round trying to pry the jaws open, which still requires a successful attack roll.

Cold does no extra damage, but any ice or cold attack slows the creature as the slow spell for 2d6 rounds.

Colonies of 30+1d10 sexless horax dig chambers around a central egg room holding 3d6 young (HD 1, AC 7, Dmg 1d6). Side rooms store carcasses dragged home by foragers, kept from rotting by the dry air. Treasure lands there by accident, mostly gear from slain warriors, so magic items tend to be arms or armor.

When prey runs short below, horax surface at dusk, after the desert heat fades and before night chill makes them sluggish. They favor fresh kills but scavenge too, and rarely attack other insects. Skilled armorers can shape their back plates into light, durable AC 4 armor, and a seafaring people famed for glass-working excel at it.