Silt Serpent

These are ordinary snakes adapted to the dusty shallows of the silt sea, light gray to pale tan like the silt itself. Most are only two to four feet long, though bigger ones may live in its deeper reaches. They are small, but their venom can drop a hardy dwarf-human crossbreed in seconds.

A silt serpent is a patient, stealthy stalker. It has eyes, but its real sense is vibration. Buried just under the surface, with dust packed around its sensory organs to carry tremors, it feels anything moving across land or silt within 40 feet. A favorite trick is to watch from a high perch, spot prey, then slip into the silt and approach from beneath, leaving a faint trail an alert adventurer might spot on an Intelligence check at -5.

Within five feet, it strikes, gaining +4 to hit on a surprise first round. The bite does 1d2 damage and demands an immediate save vs. poison: failure means death, and success still costs 20 points of damage. It goes for bare skin first and tries to bite through armor only when none is exposed; its fangs pierce hide and leather but never metal.

After every successful bite the snake retreats under the silt to a safe spot, since it cannot tell whether the venom has worked. If the prey has not collapsed in 1d4 rounds, or starts to leave, it creeps back and bites again, repeating until the target falls, escapes, or kills or drives it off.

It judges life purely by movement. A creature that stops moving and sends no vibrations is treated as dead, and the serpent will try to feed on it instead of biting. Once it senses death it emerges to eat; it cannot swallow anything much bigger than itself, so it waits for the flesh to start rotting and tears off pieces.

Each snake carries venom for four bites, counting only bites that hit. Once empty, it needs four hours to make enough for one more.

Silt serpents are met as hunting mated pairs or in nests of 2-12 young, with 1-2 adults present 50% of the time, rising to 90% after dark. Nesting serpents never retreat and fight only to kill intruders. The young carry stronger venom than adults, so saves against their bites are at -2.

Carnivorous, they eat carrion more often than fresh kills. Families make their nests among stony ruins half buried in soft gray dust. Their life span is unknown, since explorers poking through such ruins usually kill them on sight, if they see them first and survive.

Giants of the silt sea and others along its shores prize the snakes' sweet, juicy meat, eaten raw or slow-roasted. Some elf tribes serve a famous dish of silt serpent and a tart desert leaf, sold at a well-known inn in one city-state's hill district and at the tribes' trade-road bazaars.

People of the region call them elf tales, but the giants of the silt sea know giant silt serpents are real. They are simply oversized versions of the common snake, growing to 18 feet, and are rare, usually met singly or in pairs. Its statistics: 5 HD, Armor Class 4 (0 when in silt), THAC0 15, and a 1d8 bite plus the usual venom. It hunts silt horrors and giants, and they hunt it in turn; which one ends up as dinner often depends on who strikes first, and last.