Shadow Asp

A shadow asp is a slim snake made of pure darkness, so formless it looks like a stray tendril of the gloom around it. It makes no noise at all, neither hiss nor rustle. It is barely intelligent, but it strikes by instinct at anyone who violates the tomb it lives in.

Utterly black and silent, the asp imposes a -5 penalty on victims' surprise rolls, and since it gives off no body heat, infravision cannot find it. Its needle fangs deal only 1-2 damage, but the bite carries the essence of darkness. On a failed save vs. poison, the victim begins darkening over five rounds and then rolls system shock. Failure means the body breaks apart and is lost beyond any resurrection; success means the victim is now a shadow, bound to the guarded site as another warden. Remove curse or dispel magic halts the change at any point before it finishes, but not afterward.

The asp's speed gives it a very good Armor Class; held by hold monster, it drops to AC 8. Any normal weapon can hurt it. Blunt and slashing weapons do full damage, but piercing ones such as arrows and spears do half. A light or continual light spell aimed directly at one asp destroys it with no save, and the light is cancelled at once, giving no illumination. The asps are not undead, so turning and holy water do nothing, but as summoned creatures they are held back by protection from evil.

Priests of Osiris, Set and Nephthys in a desert domain of pharaohs call these snakes up through a closely guarded ritual to protect royal tombs. Fiercely territorial, the asps patrol the place of their summoning against thieves and defilers. Because of what their bite does, there is a 40% chance that 1d6 shadows accompany any group.

Shadow asps come from beyond the physical world and fill no role in nature except killing intruders and making new undead shadows.