Lava ankheg

Lava ankhegs were a powerful type of ankheg adapted to burrowing through volcanic soil.

Description
Lava ankhegs largely resembled common ankhegs: they were massive, worm-like creatures covered in chitinous plates. They had large, powerful mandibles and many insectoid legs, each of which ended in a sharp hook.

Abilities
Like the common ankheg, lava ankhegs were excellent burrowers, and could use their hooked limbs to easily carve through soil and earth. However, lava ankhegs were hardier and stronger than their cousins as they were adapted to navigating through volcanic soil, which was denser than the soft soils in which most ankhegs were known to live. As a result, lava ankhegs had tougher chitin and stronger pincers than common ankhegs.

Also like the common ankheg, they could find their prey using sensitive antennae that detected vibrations in the ground, with an effective range of up to. They could also emit a spurt of acid intended to incapacitate stubborn prey.

Behavior
Lava ankhegs carved out tunnel complexes, generally at a depth of approximately underground so as to allow for easy access to prey on the surface. They used their powerful, barbed limbs to rapidly burrow up beneath a target, burst out from the ground, and grab it with their huge mandibles.

While fierce predators, lava ankhegs were not needlessly aggressive. When their tunnels were intruded upon, they might confront the intruders with the intent to frighten them away rather than to attack (assuming the ankheg was not hungry at the time).

Ecology
Lava ankhegs were carnivorous, and posed a threat to any creature on or in the ground. They were not indiscriminate killers, however, and two fresh humanoids was sufficient to sate a hungry lava ankheg.

Their tunnels tended to be just large enough to accommodate a human, and would sometimes serve as connections between the surface and subterranean locations.

Habitats
Lava ankhegs were found near volcanoes, notably on Pelleor's Prairie near the Hill of Lost Souls.

History
The lava ankheg was first identified as a separate subspecies of ankheg in the 14 century DR by scholars in the High Forest after the druid Tharnn Greenwinter encountered one near the Hill of Lost Souls.