Barnacoil

Description:

These carnivorous crustaceans look like stout stalactites, and will often position themselves among actual such rock formations as camouflage. They prefer humid cave mouths, though can sometimes be found in deeper chambers where water has pooled. They prey on the animals that come to drink at these water sources by dangling their sticky, translucent, tongue-like appendages downward to grab unsuspecting prey, hoist it upward, and devour it.

Barnacoils are often encountered in large numbers, and while not intelligent, they seem to act in an orchestrated manner, with those in the cave mouth waiting for groups of prey to enter deeper into the cave before silently lowering their appendages. Coordinating in this way ensures individuals deeper in the cave also get to eat, while at the same time, making it harder for prey to escape out of the cave should they manage to free themselves from an initial attack.

Some cave dwelling humanoids, such as tuckers or bugaboos, will often intentionally nourish barnacoil clusters to create traps or to protect the entrances of their caves. A few dead vermin on sticks are enough to easily bypass a cluster of barnacoils for those who know where they are, and unwary spelunkers may find themselves being pulled upward into the waiting beaks of barnacoils while nasty dungeon dwellers rush in with spears to attack them from below.

Special:

Barnacoils do not have a wide range of attack options - they must attempt to entangle and then constrict and bite their opponents. As with all constrict attacks, the first attack must be an attempt to entangle using the effect attack, after which, each turn that the victim does not escape, the Barnacoil can roll a 21 Challenge against a helpless target to apply either fast or strong constrict or bite damage.

While constricted, any victim weighing less than 200 kg will be lifted immediately from the ground. Due to lack of leverage, challenges using Adaptability or the Escape skill to escape entanglement are made at -2.

After one turn of entanglement, the barnacoil will also be able to apply its bite. Depending how high the barnacoil is, melee attackers on the ground may be unable to assist the victim using melee weapons. As immobile creatures themselves, however, barnacoils cannot defend themselves from physical attack, and are considered defenseless targets.