Dustdigger

 

art by Jim Holloway

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Subtropical or tropical sandy deserts
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: Semi-intelligent (2-4)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral

N° APPEARING: 1-10
AC: 16 (outside), 13 (inside)
MOVEMENT: 3 (burrowing)
HIT DICE: 4
THAC0 +3
N° OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: bite (1d8), constriction (1d6+1)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: sinkhole trap, enveloping
SPECIAL DEFENSES: natural camouflage
SPECIAL ABILITIES: create mirage
MAGIC RESISTANCE: none
SIZE: M or larger
MORALE: 14
EXPERIENCE: 270 xp (420 xp for the mirage-maker variant)

ORIGIN: “I3 – Pharaoh” (1982, by Tracy and Laura Hickman)

Appearance
A dustdigger looks like a man-sized sandy brown starfish with five long tentacles ringing a central maw lined with sharpened teeth and fangs. An adult dustdigger is about 3 meters in diameter.

Combat
A dust digger inflates its body with air, buries itself under a thin lair of sand or dirt, and waits for its prey to pass nearby – a buried dustdigger is completely camouflaged and virtually undetectable without magical means. The creature can also automatically sense the location of anyone within 20 meters that is in contact with the ground.

When a living creature walks over a dust digger, the creature deflates its body causing a sinkhole effect attempting to shove the prey into its mouth. Victims caught into this situation must succeed on a Surprise roll with a -3 modifier; surprised victims cannot react fast enough to escape, and will fall into the creature’s pouch and be automatically trapped and constricted (see details below).

If the victim is not surprised, however, he can either fight the creature (with a -2 modifier to the attack roll due to unstable ground) or make a successful saving throw vs. Breath Weapon to escape; failure, however, means the victim is completely trapped by the dustdigger’s tentacles.

Once a victim is trapped inside its pouch, the dustdigger will instantly flip its arms over its mouth and constrict its prey, enveloping the victim and inflicting 1d6+1 of constricting damage.

After enveloping and constricting its victim, in the next round the dustdigger will bite once per round, inflicting 1d8 hit points of damage with each bite until the victim is either killed or breaks free. No attack roll is necessary if the prey is fully trapped inside.

Those enveloped by a dustdigger can either attack with a -4 penalty, if they have a small weapon available, or can try to force their way out with a Strength check (for this purpose, consider that an average-sized dustdigger has a Strength of 16).

If a grabbed opponent is up to one size smaller than the creature, it will be automatically swallowed whole. Once inside the dustdigger’s interior, the opponent takes 1d6+3 points of bludgeoning damage plus 1d8 points of acid damage.  A swallowed creature can also cut its way out by using a small slashing or piercing weapon to deal 10 points of damage to the dust digger’s interior (AC 13). Note that a victim cutting his way out may very well find itself in a worse predicament than it was since the dust digger’s body is buried in the sand or dirt surrounding its area.

About one in five dustdiggers can create illusionary mirages to lure their prey, and will typically project a pool of bubbling water in the desert sands when approaching victims come within striking range.

Habitat / Society
The dustdiggers inhabit arid areas that have loosely packed, sandy soil, such as desert dunes.

Although they tend to roam a large territory in search of prey, these creatures are cunning enough to settle near caravan routes or oases. They travel only at night and only for a few minutes before digging a hole and settling in again.

They do not form packs, but sometimes more than one dustdigger can be found in the same area, particularly during mating season. Females usually lay 2 to 4 eggs per year after mating, and newly-born dustdiggers are completely self-reliant.  

Some nomadic desert tribes consider hunting and killing dustdiggers as a great feat of strength and courage.

Ecology
Dust diggers are nocturnal desert carnivores about 3 meters in diameter. The creature spends most of its life buried under sand and dirt, waiting for potential prey to wander too close or actually wander over the area where it is buried.

After killing its prey, a dustdigger will sink in the sand and stand still to devour it slowly. The creature cannot digest metal or stone, and will regurgitate items made of those materials.

In theory, dustdiggers never stop growing up, and some gargantuan-sized creatures, large enough to swallow an elephant whole, have been reported from time to time.  

A dust digger can burrow through sand, loose soil, or almost any sort of loosely packed earth as easily as a fish swim through water. Its burrowing leaves behind no tunnel or hole, nor does it create any ripple or other signs of its presence.