Serpent

More than one: Serpents

Floors 5 to 9ConstrictionTakes a bribe 10%Pays 500 experience

What is known

A great coiling serpent that fills a doorway. It is faster than its size suggests, and once it has hold of somebody the fight becomes a matter of getting them back.

The bestiary's report

HIT POINTS5 TO 30MIDDLING

DAMAGE PER HIT1 TO 6MIDDLING

HOW IT REACHES YOUMELEE ONLY

SKILL AT HITTING7HIGH

DEFENSE5MIDDLING

ACTIONS PER ROUND3HIGH

CLOSES ON YOU3 ACTIONS IN 4LOW

TAKES A BRIBE1 TRY IN 10ONE OF THE LOWEST

SHRUGS OFF MAGICNEVERONE OF THE LOWEST

KILLING ONE PAYS500 EXPERIENCEMIDDLING

How to read these

HIT POINTS: How much damage it takes to put one down. Each one gets its own number from the range at random, so two of a kind are rarely the same.
DAMAGE PER HIT: How deep a landed blow cuts. Every hit takes a new number at random, from one up to the top of the range.
HOW IT REACHES YOU: Most kinds have to close on you before they can strike. One that throws reaches you from where it stands and hits harder once you close on it. An ethereal one also strikes without closing, and there is nothing you can do about that.
SKILL AT HITTING: How often its blows land. It is weighed against your protection, and this run's setting is already in it.
DEFENSE: How hard it is to hit. Every point takes five percent off your chance, the same five an attack bonus puts back.
ACTIONS PER ROUND: How many times it moves or strikes before the round is over.
CLOSES ON YOU: How often it spends an action coming at you rather than standing where it is.
TAKES A BRIBE: How often gold turns it away. A refused offer costs you the try.
SHRUGS OFF MAGIC: How often a spell aimed at it simply fails.
KILLING ONE PAYS: The experience one death is worth. It climbs with how deep the kind is found and how hard it fights.