Silk Wyrm
A 50-foot shelled serpent that slips into camps as a shadow at dusk, paralyzes sleepers, and keeps them cocooned in silk for weeks while it slowly drinks their blood.
Appearance
This snake measures more than 50 feet and is armored in a hard, chitinous shell.
Combat
Silk wyrms often fly overhead by day hunting, but seldom strike before dusk. Then it uses its one psionic science, shadow form, to steal into a camp unseen. Its bite forces a save vs. poison; failure means paralysis for 1d4 days, reversible with restore or remove curse. A paralyzed victim can still use psionic powers so long as they require no movement of the body.
Habitat and Society
The wyrm hauls paralyzed prey away and wraps it in a silk sheath, where the victim may linger as long as two weeks. Every so often the wyrm pushes its head into the cocoon and bites the neck, drinking a little blood and paralyzing the prisoner for another 1d4 days. Each feeding costs one point of Constitution, and at 0 the body is drained dry and the victim dies.
Ecology
Cities pay well for the silk casing, which goes into costly clothing. It is very tough, making it slow work to cut a captive free, and resists flame, granting +4 to saves against normal fire and +2 against magical fire.
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Statistics
| Climate/Terrain | Badlands |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Uncommon |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Intelligence | Low (5-7) |
| Treasure | (W) |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| No. Appearing | 1 |
| Armor Class | 3 |
| Movement | 12, Fl 12 (C) |
| Hit Dice | 6 |
| THAC0 | 15 |
| No. of Attacks | 1 |
| Damage/Attack | 1d6 |
| Special Attacks | See below |
| Special Defenses | Nil |
| Magic Resistance | Nil |
| Size | L (50' long) |
| Morale | Steady (11-12) |
| XP Value | 1,400 |
Psionics
| Level | Dis/Sci/Dev | Attack/Defense | Score | PSPs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1/1/0 | Nil/Nil | 15 | 45 |
Psychometabolism - Science: shadow form; Devotions: nil.