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Sand Gorgon

Appearance

"The Elders saw their chosen people to be strong and untested and so they brought forth from the forge a hammer with which to shape them and challenge their steel." - The Elder Scrolls, Unsumael, "The Trials"
    The Sand Gorgon is a frightful demon, brought into creation to hunt in the deserts of the Prime Material. The creature stands tall, nearly 12 feet, and towers with its hunched, hulking bulk over all men that stand against it. Its skin is ebony black and stretched tightly over its think musculature. Its arms are thick like trees, ending in massive, tortured fists that rarely unclench. Most terrible of all is that the Sand Gorgon has no head. At the top of its shoulders its height ends abruptly, exposing a tough black, boned carapace that grows like a carpet from its back and thickens over its shoulders. Emerging from the back of its boned, ridged back is a long black serpents tail whose end is lined with sharp blades of bone protuberances. Somewhere underneath the creatures carapace are two vertical slits in its back from which the creature breaths and can emit its terrible screeching bellow of fury. Its legs are tough, also like trees in their muscled girth, ending in large webbed and clawed feet which allow it to traverse the desert sands very quickly.

Combat

A Sand Gorgon charges into combat without hesitation, trying to ram its opponent. Like an angered bull, Sand Gorgons will charge anything that attracts their attention. However, unlike am angered bull, a Sand Gorgon never calms down. It is stuck in an endless, near-mindless rage. Sand Gorgons primarily use their fists in combat, using their tails only against opponents that try to flank it.
    Ram (Ex): To make this attack the Sand Gorgon must run at least 20 ft., in a straight line, at its intended target. Targets that opt to not take an attack of opportunity can make a Reflex save (DC 23) to dodge the ramming attack. Targets struck suffer 4d6+16 point of damage, are knocked prone, and must make a Will save (DC 23) or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. Using this attack is a full round action for the Sand Gorgon. Sand Gorgons have been known to use this ramming attack on building structures as well.
    Fearful Presence (Ex): Sand Gorgons may cause fear in creatures with fewer Hit Dice than itself by emitting a frightening screech or by ramming. Creatures with within 30 ft. of the Sand Gorgon must make Will saves (DC 16) or be shaken for 5d6 rounds (see DMG pg. 301). This is a mind-affecting fear effect.
    Poison (Su): The tail of a Sand Gorgon exudes a dangerous and supernatural poison that turns flesh to stone. Targets struck must make a Fortitude save (DC 23) or be rapidly turned to stone by the end of the combat round. Treat creatures in transition as exhausted - allowed to move at only half speed and suffering a -6 penalty to strength and dexterity ability scores. Targets which succeeded saving are still poisoned and must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15 +1 per failed save) once per hour or suffer a -1 reduction in strength and dexterity. Once both strength and dexterity ability scores have reached 0 the afflicted has turned completely to stone. A target that succeeds three consecutive saving throws has fought off the poison.
    Poisoned targets that receive a spellcasting of stone to flesh regain lost ability scores and are returned to flesh. However, if a neutralize poison spell was not cast upon the target first, than the target continues to suffer from the poison, though they are allowed new Fortitude save to determine the severity of the poison.
    Sand Gorgons have the tendency to destroy any statues that they create.
    Tremorsense: Sand Gorgons can detect and pinpoint the presence of any creature within 160 ft. that is in contact with the ground. They also are able to accurately detect by scent the presence of creatures within 30 ft.
    Immunities: Immunity to Heat/Fire, attacks of a gaseous nature, mind-affecting attacks (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). Sand Gorgons are blind and thus are immune to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight. Sand Gorgons are immune to bludgeoning damage, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning.
    Resistances: Sand Gorgons possess cold and electrical damage resistance 20.

Habitat/Society

The only beast that a Sand Gorgon will not battle to the death is another Sand Gorgon. Of course this does little to stop the quick and dangerous fights which frequently arise when more than one Sand Gorgon is gathered together, but they do not intentionally kill each other. Sand Gorgons prefer hot, arid, and sandy environs.

Ecology

Despite the creatures "breathing" slits which are hidden and protected by the boned carapace of its back, the Sand Gorgon does not need sustenance of any kind. Sand Gorgons are not a natural creatures and it is unknown exactly how they were brought into existance. The Haruninki claim that it was the divine will of their Elder Gods who created the beasts to challenge Haruninkian warriors.
    There is little reasoning with a Sand Gorgon. It seems to exist to only destroy other things. One will spend endless hours throwing itself against a building, methodically destroying it to the foundation with one ramming attack after another.

History

Sand Gorgons probably would have migrated into the Desert of the Sinnd, where it rains fire, had not Kirrinda Loche-dar of the Sultan - the ancient race which became the Haruninki - imprisoned the Sand Gorgons in a whirlwind in the Golden Desert from which the Gorgons could find no way out. In modern times the Sand Gorgon is only seen when the Haruninki execute their criminals at the walls of Bithralania. Only by the utterance of one of the demons names can they gain the power to escape the Whirlwind where they are forever imprisoned by Loch-dar's magicks.
    In the Homeland of the Haruninki, Criminals are lowered over the walls of the city, Bithralania, where they are magically forced to speak the name of a Sand Gorgon. Once spoken, the name frees the Sand Gorgon from its imprisonment in the Maelstrom and it races to attack the criminal. This tradition has persisted since the days of Kirrinda Loche-dar. In his days, towards the end of the Sultan society (before The Breaking of the Sultan) the power of the criminals blood being spilt, and that of other unfortunates caught up in the slaughter, was harvested by blood mages and used to fuel incredible magicks, such as the whirlwind which imprisons the Sand Gorgons in the Golden Desert. Some Haruninkian legends state that the Elders (their gods) placed the Sand Gorgons amongst them as a challenge to be overcome. When the Sultan used blood magic to win over the Sand Gorgons the Elders saw this as cheating at the expense of thousands of Sultan lives, and thus punished the Sultan by breaking them in two. What actually happened is not too different from legend.