XP 4,800 DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex, +9 natural, -1 size) OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft. Tactics Anyone who does not offer a prayer to the Waiting Beast and moves farther than 5 feet into the room immediately wakens the sand kraken. With the sound of hundreds of shattering crystals, the creature shakes off its calcite coating and comes to life, immediately attacking the transgressor. It does not attack anyone who offered a proper Prayer unless that creature attacks first. If possible, it splits its tentacle attacks among as many different targets as it can. The Waiting Beast fights to the death, but does not pursue foes out of this room. If attacked from beyond at range, it simply closes the doors or slides to the north or south of the door to get out of line of sight. If this tactic doesn’t protect it, the monster begrudgingly thunders forth from the room to attack foes beyond. STATISTICS
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 25, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 3 SPECIAL ABILITIES
Camouflage (Ex)A sand kraken can bury itself with great skill in sand or loose soil—doing so takes the sand kraken a minute, but grants it a +16 Racial bonus on Stealth checks Tentacle Regeneration (Ex)A foe can attack a sand kraken’s tentacles individually; each has 15 hit points. The loss of a tentacle does not harm the sand kraken’s hit point total, and lost tentacles regrow in 1d4 days. |
The Waiting Beast (Elite Sand Kraken)
Atop a pedestal sits is a mighty sand kraken, one of many horrific predators held in high regard by the cult. Normally immobile, this sand kraken is a more active hunter that can crawl and burrow to seek out prey. It appears as a 10-tentacled squid-like monstrosity with huge eyes and a fang-filled mouth.
