Xrafstar, Karamank

[ Outsiders > Fiends > Orphan > Xrafstar ]
[ Karamank | Marzanbor | Panjeghorb] 

Karamank Xrafstar

The karamank [KARRA-mank] is one of the most frequently encountered xrafstars in the Druj-Demana, and among the most terrifying to fight in enclosed spaces—which is, of course, where it prefers to be found. It combines the worst aspects of spider and worm, and then magnifies them up to 80 feet long. Its body is a vast, segmented mass like a great pale grub or larva, easily sixty feet long, but ringed at intervals with clusters of coarse, chitinous spider-legs that drag it forward with unnerving speed. Its head has multiple black eyes above fanged chelicerae which weep a constant dark ichor. Behind all this trails a thick, muscular worm-tail, heavy enough to crack stone when brought down with full force. Unlike other xrafstars, the karamank is able to create its own weapons. It wraps loose rocks with its vile silk, lashing them into weighted bolas like a spider wraps a fly—and then flings them with lethal precision, hurling them to trip and bind prey too large or too fast to simply charge.

What distinguishes the karamank from its kin is its patience. It can lie buried and motionless for weeks, feeling delicate vibrations through stone, and this patience has sharpened into a kind of tactical instinct that repeatedly surprises cutters. The moment it perceives a projectile coming its way, the karamank reflexively shoots a defensive web-glob to deflect it. It lurks entirely submerged in rubble and loose scree until prey is within reach, then it erupt in a calculated burst of speed that catches most berks off guard and vulnerable. If it can use the confusion created by its sudden appearance to grab a sod with its claws and shove them into its gaping maw, then even better.

See the general information on xrafstars here…

Stats: Homebrew [ PF2e ]

Sources: Jon Winter-Holt. The xrafstar is a creature of Persian mythology, and are described as a kind on enormous vermin the size of mountains. I’ve reinterpreted this as mixing and matching various kinds of vermin into horrible monstrosities. Its name is a portmanteau of the Persian words for spider and worm.