Tyin

A tyin has a roughly human outline, but its body is warped and hunched. Its gray hide sloughs away constantly, leaving ragged strips of skin dangling, and a coat of reeking ooze covers most of it. Some sages suspect it is a cousin of the disir, a similar horror found in distant lands.

Ambush is its favorite opening. The tyin climbs superbly, digging its claws into bare rock, and often waits flattened against the roof of its lair before dropping out of the shadows to claw and bite.

At range it hurls gobs of acid from its mouth, which require a normal attack roll. A hit deals 1d8 damage, halved by a successful save vs. breath weapon. The acid is gummy and keeps burning for 1d4 points per round, again with a save for half, until someone washes it away or three rounds go by.

Up close, where it would rather be, the tyin tears at foes with claws and bite and swats them with its spiked tail. Anyone bitten must save vs. poison or contract a degenerative illness. Symptoms appear 2d4 days later as coughing, chills and congestion that make normal activity impossible. Untreated, the sickness runs three weeks, after which the victim saves vs. poison again: success means recovery, failure means death.

Its slick coating lets the tyin squeeze through startlingly narrow gaps. The slime also carries the disease, and simply touching it gives a 5% chance of infection, with the usual saving throws.

Tyins live alone, and males and females meet only every two years or so to mate. The female then moves to a fresh lair and lays 1d6+4 eggs roughly every two months for a year. Siblings and adults kill most of the young before they grow up.

In any underground region it occupies, the tyin tends to be the top predator. Its body yields nothing of real value, although alchemists may find a use for the acid and slime in certain potions.

A hatchling is a crablike larva that scuttles about on four claws looking for food. When it finds a victim it latches on and drives in a proboscis, draining 1d4 points of blood each round until pulled off with a simple Strength check. After about six months it molts into its adult form.