Haundar

A haundar was a gargantuan predatory slug that crawled endlessly across, and flew over, the arctic ice in its migrations. Notably, they were parasitized by hauns, and used them as mounts and mobile fortifications. They were quite rare.

Description
The haundar was an enormous gastropod some in length and  in height. Its back and head were largely covered by a flat armor-like shell; it was very thick but articulated to allow better movement. The remainder of the body was covered in a thick fur. Shell, fur, and hide were all white with a faint green shimmer.

Similar to common slugs, the head bore four retractile sensory tentacles. The upper pair were eyestalks used to see, while the lower pair were used for touch, smell, and even speed, altitude, and direction of flight. If the tentacles were severed, the haundar would be seriously incapacitated. One eyestalk was required to travel and hunt, and without both it would starve to death. One sensory tentacle was need for it properly fly. Any severed tentacle would regrow in under a month. Between the lower pair was the mouth, which held an array of teeth like those of a shark and which grew constantly.

Internally, the haundar contained a thick layer of body fat, which served as a kind of blubber that maintained body temperature. The greatest amount was around behind the head, beneath the thickest part of the shell.

Abilities
Surprising for its size and shape, the haundar was able to levitate and move through the air, albeit at a slow speed. It could not fly during a blizzard.

Thanks to its sensory tentacles, the haundar was capable of infravision.

Tactics
To attack, the haundar could either bite with its fang-filled mouth or spit a dangerous acid. This could reach a distance of and splash everything within a radius of.

For defense, the haundar relied on its armored shell, which provided more protection than the lower parts of the body. It would also retract its tentacles if they were threatened in order to avoid injury to these vital organs, but then it could only use its sense of smell. These stayed retracted until the fight was over.

Lands
Haundars inhabited arctic areas, typically in valleys and on icebergs. Haundar trails were distinctive for their width and how they broke ice and compressed snow beneath their massive bodies. It would take many days of heavy snow to fully cover a haundar trail, so they were easy to track.

Behavior
Haundar were of animal intelligence and lived and travelled alone. They made their lairs in large caves in the rock or in natural crevasses or caverns burrowed in the ice. Here they slept, reproduced, and took shelter from blizzards. These lairs were sometimes linked with the lairs of hauns.

The haundar engaged in constant migration over the ice in order to stay within a particular range of temperatures. They moved north in summer and south in winter and followed other ice-dwelling creatures, such as bear, moose, seals, and occasionally humans. At the northernmost point of its migration and when prey was scarce, the haundar mating season began.

Ecology
A haundar was hermaphroditic and capable of self-fertilization. To start the reproductive cycle, a haundar flew nearly continuously for days before returning to its lair. There it lay a number of eggs, from four to sixteen. Now exhausted, the haundar fell into a dormant state that would last several weeks.

During this time, the eggs might hatch, but the chances were low. The hatchlings then fed on the dormant parent, killing it. Hence, successful reproduction was a once-in-a-lifetime event. With enough food, a hatchling grew at a rate of about per year. On average, two hatchlings would survive to adulthood, and only one would successfully reproduce. Haundars could live up to 60 years.

Haundars were predatory carnivores. They would devour just about any creature they could catch.

Uses
Haundars had many uses for those who lived on the ice. For one, the blubber was nutritious and could be used to make oils.

In particular, they were a key part of the diet of sha'az, who hunted them. One haundar could supply enough meat to feed a sha'az hive for tendays. However, haundars were rare for this reason.

The tentacles also had uses in potion brewing. The lower tentacles might be used for a potent ingredient in a potion of levitation and the eyestalks were sought after for a potion of infravision.

The shell could be extracted and broken into smaller pieces and used for armor pieces. Providing the same degree of protection as equivalent metal armor, it weighed only half as much and was acid-resistant. However, haundar armor cost double the price to make, but some knights of the north were prepared to shell out for it. Sha'az trade pieces of haundar shell to other races.

But most notably, haundars were parasitized by hauns. Upon locating a haundar, a haun brood got as close as possible and jumped onto its tail. Then they burrowed into its flesh and beneath its shell, hollowing out a chamber under the thickest part. As this area was largely fat, the haundar was little harmed. Inside, the hauns spun silk to seal openings, made cocoons for their warmth and comfort, and stored food. They even cut small defensive slits into the shell and turned the haundar into a mobile fortress, means of travel, and weapon with which to crush their enemies. Possessing such a haundar was a status symbol for a haun brood. Large broods could have as many as ten haundars under their control.

To control the haundar, hauns used their psionic powers to communicate with it, forcing it to understand that it must obey or suffer pain. To aid them in this, hauns sought the eggs of sha'az, as they contained a substance that deteriorated resistance to the haun's contact and mindlink powers. Once within a haundar, hauns injected the egg substance into the haundar's bloodstream, letting them easily make and maintain the necessary mindlink. One egg was effective for one week. After some years of this, the haundar became docile and fully submissive. Hauns were common parasites of haundar, and they restricted its natural migration patterns.

History
Circa 1367 DR, on the ice of the Great Glacier, a brood of hauns mounted on haundars began launching raids on travelers and surrounding sha'az villages and human nomad tribes, kidnapping anyone they could. For a few months they terrorized the area. To the humans, the unseen culprits were unknown and they left no clue but the wide trails of the haundar. Eventually, adventurers arrived to investigate, and after being caught in a trap, were met by nomads led by Huktal or surviving sha'az. Working together, they would track the haundar trails back to the slave colony and try to fight the hauns to free the slaves.

Afterward, the hauns abandoned tactics and attacked surrounding villages directly; the inhabitants held out and were besieged, and sought adventurers to aid them. Meanwhile, the sha'az retaliated, hunting lone hauns where they found them and even skirmishing with larger forces when able, and they had one brood on the run. Finally, they discovered a populous haun icehold with no less than five haundars under their control (there were in fact ten) and made an alliance with the adventurers to help them destroy the brood for good.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Book of Lairs
 * Novels
 * The Council of Blades
 * The Council of Blades