WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0138 0138
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spider poisons: they felt no pain from the bite and saw
beautiful angelic beings manifest around them while
insensate.
Peer’urat
(Screaming Cobra)
Basking beneath the hot, Khitan sun waits one the
deadliest wasteland snakes, ready to prey on the unwary: the peer’urat or screaming cobra. Fast, cunning
and, some say, possessed of a nearly human intelligence,
this reptile can strike, bite, kill and swallow an adult human whole. They grow more than 15 feet long and can
weigh over 440 pounds, but this vast size does not seem
to hinder the cobra’s lightning-fast agility. Matched
with cunning strategy and tactics, the peer’urat picks
its positions well, setting elaborate traps in the local terrain, like a scaled spider waiting for its next meal.
It is called the screaming cobra for good reason: after
sneaking up on its prey and before it strikes, it looses a
deafening scream so frightening that it can paralyze the
infirm. Peer’urat poison is very strong, numbing the victim’s muscles while making victims spasm uncontrollably (possibly driving them further down the snake’s
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throat). Even if not consumed, a victim’s heart races and
spasms, ripping itself to pieces within minutes. An antidote must be applied quickly to save the victim’s life.
Fortunately for travelers, peer’urats hate even their own
kind, so are only encountered one at a time.
Regelth (Stone Worm)
In the deepest deserts, nothing can survive on the
dunes exposed to the relentless sun. The rulers of these
forsaken places take refuge beneath the surface and flow
through the desolation as easily as fish through water.
Regelthi, or stone worms as most call them, are creatures of living rock. They are six feet wide and up to 60
feet long, and their weight surpasses five tons (the largest being ten tons). Despite a lack of teeth, they eat and
digest stone, preferring crystals and hard rock, though
they do occasionally surface through sand on the trail
of certain foods. Wherever they burrow beneath the
dunes, they leave behind caverns and dark spaces. An
adventurer in such a place may think he’s found a refuge
from the surface world, but the denizens here cannot
abide intruders and attack with all haste.
Stone worms are mineral eaters, churning up and excreting enormous wealth in their wakes. Plunderers seek the
