Sleek

Sleeks resemble silvery-white ermines with big, bright black eyes and muzzle antennae that gauge a target's size and range, signs of a cave-dwelling past that light no longer hampers. Independent by nature, they sometimes still seek human or demihuman company.

Swift and silent, a sleek surprises on 1-5 on 1d6. Against man-sized or bigger foes it probes for weak points with its antennae, then claws (1d4) and bites (2d6). A natural 20 opens an artery: victims of halfling size or more bleed 1d6 hp per minute until first aid (pressure, a tourniquet) or healing magic stops it, while smaller creatures must save vs. death or die with a severed spine. A furious metabolism makes sleeks immune to poison and able to digest toxic or exotic meat, even flesh golems. They sometimes hunt large prey together, and their berserk frenzy (+4 to hit) makes them terrors to shipboard vermin.

Sleeks haunt cargo holds and cramped passages; food gives a 30% chance to tame one. They mate for life, have 1d4 young each year, and hold family territories with little feuding. In lean times they demand tribute, pranking the crew and stealing clothes and valuables until food is offered formally, with a show of submission such as the captain rolling over on his or her back before them. Hence their nickname, 'pirate-masters.'

A sleek lives about 20 years, leaving its parents at two to find its own territory. One that adopts a human stays a loyal ally for life.