Tentamort

A distant cousin of the squid, the gray-green tentamort is a two-foot sphere of flesh inside a chitinous shell that holds all its organs and its senses of smell, taste and hearing. It has no eyes, but a sensitive organ on its body detects body heat. Underneath, six to eight short, suckered tentacles act as feet, anchoring it to nearly any surface and providing its only means of travel. Three blowholes just above them let it breathe. On top grow two long tentacles, 10 to 12 feet each.

A tentamort crawls through a dungeon, sniffing out a busy doorway or junction, then fastens itself to a wall or ceiling and waits. Anything that comes within 10 feet is attacked by both long tentacles; two targets are attacked one each, a lone target by both. The body has 4 Hit Dice, each tentacle 2. A tentacle reduced to 0 hit points is cut off and regrows in a week, without affecting the other. Only destroying the body kills the creature.

Both tentacles lash for 1d6 and grab their target on a natural 20 or a roll 2 or more above what was needed. The first is a constrictor. Its captive cannot use arms, weapons or spells, may try a Strength check at -2 to escape, and takes 1d6 per round automatically until it dies or the tentacle is severed.

The second is far worse. A six-inch hollow bone needle juts from its tip. The round after seizing a victim, it drives the needle in without a roll and spends the next two rounds pumping in a saliva-like fluid that dissolves muscle and organs so they can be sucked out. If the tentacle is cut off mid-injection, cure disease within one hour saves the victim. A full two-round dose kills three rounds later unless stronger magic intervenes immediately: heal neutralizes the fluid, as does regenerate followed by cure wounds.

Tentamorts react to simple stimuli. They recoil quickly from fire or cold, and unless starving they give up after losing a tentacle.

Tentamorts live in dungeons and gloomy swamps. Underground they cluster in groups of 1d10 around one entrance or bend in a tunnel; in swamps they spread out, anchoring themselves to tree trunks and hiding their tentacles in water and mud. Each is both male and female, like an earthworm, and after mating both partners produce clusters of two-to-three-pound young.

A tentamort is mostly a big lump of meat, and goblins, orcs and other intelligent hunters kill them by shooting arrows from out of reach. To avoid this, a tentamort sometimes squeezes into a crevice and attacks with its tentacles while shielding its body.

Its poison glands sell for 10d4 gp, and one creature yields enough for a skilled alchemist to brew 1d3 doses of lethal poison with no taste or smell. Swallowed, it slowly breaks down the victim's organs: the victim loses 1 hit point on day one, then 2, then 3, climbing daily. No healing, even magical, works until neutralize poison is cast, and untreated victims eventually die of internal bleeding. Assassins love it, especially those who prefer to be far away when the target dies.