Mastyrial, Desert

A deep brown scorpion the size of a man, this clawed menace comes scurrying towards you with unerring accuracy, seeming to hone in on the very scuffing of your footsteps.

Combat
The desert mastyrial prefers ambush as a way to defeat its prey. It lies hidden beneath the sand, using its keen sense of hearing to detect any viable targets passing nearby. Then it lunges to the attack, striking with surprise. Normally the tail will still be submerged, so targets are rarely stung as part of the desert mastyrial‘s opening attack.

Description
The desert mastyrial is an oversized breed of scorpion known for its toughness and keen senses. Unlike its black, mountain-dwelling cousin, the desert mastyrial has no psionic powers and no real sentience to speak of beyond the level possessed by other vermin. Instead the desert mastyrial relies upon its finely honed senses, its speed and its sheer size in bringing down prey.

The desert mastyrial spends most of its time hibernating beneath the sands. It uses echolocation to navigate underground as well as to detect prey that may pass overhead. Desert mastyrials are generally solitary creatures that occasionally gather in groups of up to three. After mating, the smaller male is slain and devoured by the female, who then cares for as many as 20 eggs in a single batch.

A desert mastyrial grows to be up to six feet long. Its chitinous carapace is a favorite ingredient in armor and bears a gentle, swirling pattern that affords burrowing mastyrials camouflage should they become exposed. Rare desert mastyrials lack any pigmentation at all and are bone-white in color. They eat other vermin and will only eat those that they kill themselves. For this reason, desert mastyrials are tolerated as a form of living pest-control.