Carrion Crawler

The carrion crawler can move along walls, ceilings and passages very quickly, using its many clawed feet for traction. When attacking, the monster lashes out with its 2' long tentacles, which produces a sticky secretion that can paralyze for up to 2 hours and then kill them with their bite. Carrion crawlers will continue to attack as long as any of their opponents are unparalyzed. Groups of crawlers attacking together will not fight in unison, but will each concentrate on paralyzing as many victims as they can. When seeking out prey, they rely primarily on their keen senses of sight and smell. Clever travelers have been known to fool an approaching carrion crawler with a sight and smell illusion, thus gaining time to make good their escape. 

Carrion crawlers are much feared denizens of the underground world. They live in lairs, venturing out in search of carrion or food every few days. Some underground inhabitants will make use of carrion crawlers by leaving the bodies of dead foes out in designated areas. This keeps the creatures at a good distance from their own homes and encourages them to "patrol" certain areas. Carrion crawlers will sometimes live with a mate or in a small group numbering no more than 6. This does not mean that they cooperate in hunting, but merely share the same space and compete fiercely for the same food. If 2 crawlers have made a kill or discovered carrion, they will often fight over the food, sometimes killing one another. The carrion crawler mates once a year. Several days after mating, the female will go off in search of a large kill. When she has found or killed an adequate food supply, she lays about 100 eggs among the carrion. The grubs hatch one week later and begin feeding. Maternal care ceases once the eggs have been laid and it is not uncommon for eggs to later be eaten by the female who laid them. Females die a few weeks after laying their eggs, exhausted by the effort. Males live only a short time longer, having mated with as many females as possible. Grubs have been known to consume one another in feeding frenzies, and are a favorite food of adult carrion crawlers. Few of the grubs reach maturity, but those who do have eaten voraciously and will achieve their full size in a sin-gle year. At maturity, the mating cycle begins again. These monsters exist on the most basic instinctual level, having no more intelligence than most insects. The carrion crawler is driven by two urges: food and reproduction. It has absolutely no interest in the collection of treasure. 

The carrion crawler provides the same useful, if dis-agreeable, function that jackals, vultures, and crows perform. Like so many other predators carrion crawlers instinctively prey on the weak, sick, and foolish. In the long run, this has a benefi-cial effect on the prey, strengthening its gene pool. The carrion crawler also works wonders in over crowded caverns, quickly eliminating population problems among the weaker monsters. Thus, the life cycle of the crawler is inextricably linked to those of its prey - when the prey flourishes so does the crawler.