Gishell

A Gishell is an offshoot of the Giant Snail and the immense gastropod phylum. They are similar in the sense that, the Giant snail and the Gishell have giant spiral shells, however that's about it. The Gishell has a prismatic spiral shell covered in small needle like protrusions. This is to keep predator's away when the gastropod is inside it's shell. The outer body is a purple color, covered in slime. They have a few vestigial eye stalks that are prehensile on the ends. They use these stalks to carry sticks and rocks as weapons. Their eyes resemble snail eyes and stalks, however, their actual eyes are faceted like a cut gem. Their eye color and pattern vary wildly, from deep sapphire blue, to a kaleidoscope random colors. 
The needles on their shells are tipped in a substance called honeydew. Though, it doesn't taste very good, it is actually used to capture prey items that the snail cleans of it's shell with its foot. While most predators are clever enough to not touch the shell, it doesn't stop other insects, and animals from running right into it and sticking to it. The dew is a weak digestive juice that helps break the prey item down. 
Their vestigial eye stalks, are colloquially known as whomping stalks, have earned that name well. While under attack, the gastropod shrinks into it's shell and keeps it's whomping stalks out, and any careless hunter will find out why they earned that name. This overgrown snail stays in place, and whomps, and allows anything to stick to the shell, and waits for it to succumb to the digestive juices of the dew. 
A fully grown Gishell, has a shell approximately 10ft in diameter, and a soft body stand about 7ft tall. It's whomping stalks are about 2-5ft in length.  They are a semi-social species, meaning that they travel alone, but they lair in groups of about 10-15 members. They do stake claim to territory of about a one mile, each. But, they do not engage in disputes of territory between members of the same groups, only outside groups. Being scavengers, and patient trappers, if you come across a pile of bones from various species in the forests, you should look out for a Gishell. 
It is said that hunting these creatures is unpleasant, not because breaking the shell, or burning the gastropod is difficult, only time consuming. But it is the noise they make while being hunted, and it only gets worse as they are dying. It is a high pitch trill, that gets louder as time goes on. When the gastropod knows it is dying, it stops trilling, and starts rumbling. Hard enough that fittings on armor come lose and dead tree branches fall. 
Their shells are as useful as Giant Snails, having a slight elemental protection, and being just plain beautiful, the needles are easily removed. Most describe the process as similar to removing arrows from an over encumbered shield. Simply take a branch, pole, sword, and anything long and straight and whack the needles off. Beyond that their processing is very similar to their other snaily cousins. Their shells are particularly valuable, and durable. Their meat is welcome at just about any tavern or restaurant, as their meat is considered much better than cattle. Their slime is also valuable to machinists, as it is a resilient lubricant. 

	GP/unit	Amount	Use
Prismatic Shell	1500 GP	1	Crafting, smithing, alchemy, Magic ritual, Magic Reagent
Prismatic shell broken	75GP/ piece	10-25	Crafting, smithing, alchemy
Gastropod meat	8GP/LBS	300LBS	Food, Crafting
Gishell blood	5GP/Gal	20Gal	Alchemy
Gishell Slime	15GP/Gal	25-65Gal	Crafting, Alchemy
Honeydew	5GP/Gal	10Gal	Crafting, Alchemy, Magic Reagent
Shell Needles	1GP/Needle	500	Crafting, Archery
Monster essence	20GP/OZ	10OZ	Alchemy, Magic Reagent