Ankheg

The ankheg's preferred attack method is to lie five to ten feet below the surface of the ground until its antennae detect the approach of a victim. It then burrows up beneath the victim and attempts to grab him in its mandibles, crushing and grinding while secreting acidic digestive enzymes until the victim is dissolved. The ankheg can squirt a stream of acidic enzymes once every six hours to a distance of 30 feet. However, since it is unable to digest food for six hours after it squirts enzymes, it uses this attack technique only when desperate. A victim struck by the stream of acidic enzymes suffers 8d4 points of damage (half damage if the victim rolls a successful sav-ing throw vs. poison).

The ankheg uses its mandibles to continuously dig winding tunnels 30-40 feet deep in the rich soil of forests or farmlands. The hollowed end of a tunnel serves as a temporary lair for sleeping, eating, or hibernating. When an ankheg ex-hausts the food supply in a particular forest or field, it moves on to another. Autumn is mating season for ankhegs. After the male fertilizes the female, the female kills him and deposits 2-12 fertilized eggs in his body. Within a few weeks, about most of the eggs hatch and begin feeding. In a year, the young ankhegs resemble adults and can function independently. Beginning in its second year of life, the ankheg sheds its chitin-ous shell just before the onset of winter. It takes the ankheg two days to shed its old shell and two weeks to grow a new one. Dur-ing this time, the sluggish ankheg is exceptionally vulnerable. While growing a new shell, it protects itself by hiding in a deep tunnel and secreting a repulsive fluid that smells like rotten fruit. Though the aroma discourages most creatures, it can also pinpoint the ankheg's location for human hunters and desperately hungry predators. Ankhegs living in cold climates hibernate during the winter. Within a month after the first snowfall, the ankheg fashions a lair deep within the warm earth where it remains dormant until spring. The hibernating ankheg requires no food, subsisting in-stead on nutrients stored in its shell. The ankheg does not secrete aromatic fluid during this time and is thus relatively safe from detection. Though the ankheg's metabolism is reduced, its antennae remain functional, able to alert it to the approach of an intruder. The ankheg does not hoard treasure.

Though a hungry ankheg can be fatal to a farmer, it can be quite beneficial to the farmland. Its tunnel system laces the soil with passages for air and water, while the ankheg's waste products add rich nutrients. The ankheg will eat decayed organic matter in the earth, but it prefers fresh meat. All but the fiercest predators avoid ankhegs. Dried and cured ankheg shells can be made into strong armor and its digestive enzymes can be used as regular acid.