Everyone, meet the styxslither

[DassaultMirage]

Waist down, an olive green boa constrictor with the tail ending in a harpoon-shaped bone. Neck down, a lighter green female human in a black straitjacket. The bald head was a fitting cap for the most otherworldly abomination I have ever seen. Four gold slit eyes locked on me unblinkingly. Four octopus-like tentacles where the mouth and nose should have been lashed about, revealing an orifice where a bone-like proboscis protruded.


From the intelligence reports Master Retep gave me, I was sure the creature was a styxslither.


As though nagas were not twisted enough, styxslithers were nagas modified both by damned magic and being raised in the damning depths of River Styx. In their naturally twisted form, styxslithers existed only to eat. I was lucky the one I would surely face was physically and magically leashed, but that does not make it less of a voracious eater as any.


Styxslithers would eat anything with a brain, the method uniformly gruesome. Like pythons, they would wrap around their prey and constrict them to unconsciousness, but the styxslithers ate like spiders. The tentacles on their faces would wrap on the prey’s head as the proboscis stabbed the head and suck the brain juices of the corpse from the inside.


The reports from Master Retep ended with one fitting tip: Do not let it wrap around any part of you.


I took a deep breath and raised my palms, making sure that the styxslither got a good view of the activated spell circles in them, hoping that this fearsome creature knew fear.


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Okay, I need tips and reactions both on the styxslither and the way I introduce beasts.

 

[ThinkerX]

Hmmm...

Reads like an olde 'Dragon' Magazine entry for introducing a new beastie.

Mythologically speaking, Naa are already spirits. Is this varient necessary?

 

[DassaultMirage]

I guess so. The Styx River, as with many places in the Empire of Vlad, have been known to mutilate creatures through pure exposure with the vile magic that fogs the place.

 

[DavidJae]

You'll need to introduce the styxslither through other characters reactions and experiences. Maybe start with someone, a wandering ranger, getting eaten by one. Your description is okay, but maybe too physical. Descriptions should leave it to the reader's imagination, focusing more on sounds, smells and actions instead of just what it looks like. Something like;
The styxslither moved effortlessly through the trees, it's serpentine body undulating across the ground, it's arms clearing away vines and branches with inhuman ease. It's bald head was scarred and it's four golden eyes swept the forest looking for prey. The tentacles on it's face twitched as it smelled the air and it's tail waved slowly, eager for the kill.