Winged Serpent

Also called spark snakes, winged serpents are brightly colored reptiles of the forests and jungles of the desert lands, in hues from sky blue and emerald to raspberry red. Gossamer wings beating too fast to see hold them aloft like scaly hummingbirds. With wings folded back, they can spider climb at will.

Fluid and lightning-fast, they always get -3 on initiative. The bite deals 1d4 and injects corrosive venom that takes effect after 1 round, then deals 2d8 on each of the next 2 rounds, halved by a save vs. poison.

Their deadliest weapon is breath. The whirring wings build static from the air, most of all in humid forest, and the serpent releases it from its mouth as a 10-foot-wide spray of dancing sparks dealing 2d8, halved with a save vs. breath weapon. The sparks ignite exposed flammables such as clothing, hair, dry wood or lamp oil. Recharging takes one turn. Electricity cannot harm them.

Fire is their weakness. They save at -2 against it, and a failed save means the wings burn away. The serpent can still bite but has no spark breath until new wings grow.

They roam the jungle in small flocks and must feed almost nonstop, eating about ten times their weight in fruit daily. A serpent injects a fruit with venom, which partly digests the flesh inside the skin, and then sucks the pulp out through the fang holes. They have no lair and keep no treasure.

Breeding is as constant as eating. Young are born live, wingless and already able to spider climb, colored dark green to hide in the leaves until their wings mature and their bright colors come in. Parents give no care, and in the first months the young are easy prey for snakes, monkeys, giant insects and other canopy hunters. Wing buds show at one month and work at three.

Like giant bees, they carry pollen and seeds between fruit trees and matter greatly to jungle life. Adults have no natural enemies.

Caught before their wings mature in the first month, they make excellent but costly pets, eating about 100 gp of fruit a month, less with access to a large orchard. A skilled trainer can teach it up to three jobs or tricks for each point of Intelligence, all happily performed as long as fresh fruit keeps coming. They can guard, but thieves have learned that a poorly trained one will abandon its post for a fragrant decoy.

Their venom breaks down almost as soon as it meets air and their skin is too thin for leather, but powdered wings mixed into ink can be used to write a protection from lightning scroll.