The elephant snail is a well-known nuisance dreaded by every gardener, originally hailing from the Jungle of Raza. Its appetite is legendary, and one snail alone can destroy a good-sized garden in only a single night. Worse, these creatures usually come in large groups and can easily destroy the harvest of a village in short time, causing famine among the people. Elephant snails usually appear in irregular intervals at the Jungles of Raza, separated by several years. In those years, they eat a swath through the jungle, until they lay their eggs and die off. Careless magi who didn't watch their elephant snails have caused swarms of them in other regions of the world, which caused the Keep to put a ban on breeding them. The Keep has a team of experts ready to move out when hearing about a swarm in an inhabited region and contain the infestation. How these ravenous creatures came into existence is unknown, although some accounts say of a magi long ago who held great respect for both elephants and snails, and attempted to meld the two into one, with a disastrous outcome.
Egg
This is a heavy egg looking almost like the shell of a snail.
Hatchling
A small snail has hatched from your egg. It has an unusual appetite and is constantly eating, usually anything leafy and green. The first night after it emerged, you made the mistake of letting it run around your quarters unchecked, with the result that one of the plants you had was eaten whole. You now keep the snail in a glass bowl with a lot of food, and it increases in size daily. Before long, this odd hatchling will challenge the gryphon younglings in size.
Adult
Your snail has almost reached a foot in length. While it is still eating whatever it can, it hasn't grown in the last few days and you suspect it has reached its final size. By now it seems to recognize you, because it always flaps its ears in greeting when you come near it, although you suspect it does this more in expectation of a meal than in genuine interest for you. Its trunk is surprisingly nimble and more than once it has broken out of the bowl you are keeping it in. When this large creature escapes, it proceeds to demolish most of your quarters, using its tusk to break into your cupboards. More than once you have considered getting rid of the thing, since it doesn't seem to serve a useful purpose, but every time you do, it wraps its trunk around your wrist affectionately and makes you reconsider. Strange though it is, you have become attached to this creature, and even the burden of feeding it seems not so difficult.
Additional Information
- No. 104
- Obtained from Remy's Inn for
1,250 - Released: April 4, 2010
- Artist: Niwer
- Breeding: not breedable
