Copperspit Ants

The mysteries of the Feral Jungle of northern Midvail are many, with the exact structure and very limit of the area still unexplored as of the middle of the Era of Change. The flora and fauna found within the Feral Jungle are unique to anywhere else in Midvail, with sightings of near every animal on the plane living naturally within the confines and off shoots of plants and animals considered to originate in Sovaga, the Feywild. One such creature that has found its way from the Feral Jungle to the rest of Dioya is the Copperspit Ant.
As far back as The Era of Order, citizens of Midvail’s Thicket have traveled into the Feral Forest to retrieve Copperspit Ants to train into domesticated beasts of burden. The process of collecting and training Copperspit Ants is a dangerous and time consuming task, often times taking months of preparation and painstaking detail. An individual must track down a colony of Copperspit Ants, sneak into the nest without alerting any of the ants and kill the queen, rubbing her pheromones on the body to trick the ants into thinking the assassin is the queen. The indevidual captures as much of these pheromones to be used for the purpose of selling the trained ants to other people. The indevidual may then lead the colony out of the nest where they can train the ants to obey anyone who carries the scent of the queen.
The Copperspit Ant has a very low intelligence and can be trained to obey anyone who carries the scent of their particular queen.
Copperspit Ants are quite expensive for a beast of burden, but they are widely used in Midvail. Often times, farms will save up to purchase a Copperspit Ant for their fields.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Copperspit Ant is a medium to large sized insect with a rich golden brown coloration and strong large, beetle like pincers that grow to about 2 feet from its mandibles. Copperspit Ants have incredible strength, able to carry up to 600 pounds of weight for seemingly an endless amount of time so long as they can consume soil rich in iron and copper. The Copperspit Ant gets its name from its pension for spitting molten copper that it keeps in its stomach at anyone who threatens it.
As analyzed by the Era of Order Copperspit Ant breeder and etymologist Lidgwen Fleetfoot, the Copperspit Ant only needs two ingredients to survive, copper, iron which it uses as a food source, and copper which special enzymes located in the Copperspit Ant’s second stomach break down and apply to reinforce the exoskeleton of the ant. Any access copper is kept in a third stomach which is kept melted down to be used as a defense mechanism and a way for the ant to build copper based nests.

Ecology and Habitats

The Copperspit Ant is found exclusively in the Feral Jungle of Dioya.

COPPERSPIT ANT
HP:35
AC: 15
Special Traits:
Keen Smell The Copperspit Ant has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Beast of Burden: The Copperspit Ant has a carrying capacity of 600 pounds maximum. If the Copperspit Ant is made to carry more than 600 pounds, it will still be able to do so but at a reduced speed and it will take 3d6 crushing damage an hour.
Sure-Footed: The mule has advantage on Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws made against Effects that would knock it prone.
Multiattack. The giant ant makes one bite attack and if it is currently restraining one Copper attack.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and the giant ant can’t bite a different target.
Copper Spit. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d12 + 4) acid damage plus the target must make a DEX saving throw of 10 or be hit with molten Copper that deals 2d6 damage per turn and hardens to solid copper after 2 turns.

Origin/Ancestry

Possibly Sovaga

Lifespan

20 Years