Sand Leviathan
- HP
- 50
- Defense
- 6
- AR
- 6
- Mettle
- 0
Attacks
| Attack | Pool | WR | Tempo | Qualities | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breach | 0 | 8 | 0 | Surfaces beneath target area (6m radius). All in area: QUICK TN 15 or 8 damage + Knockdown + buried in sand. | |
| Swallow | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Anything inside the mouth when it submerges is consumed. 10 damage/turn, no save, no AR. |
| Sand Wake | 0 | 3 | 0 | Passing beneath the surface: 3 damage in a 10m line, Knockdown, buried to waist (IRON TN 13 to free). |
Traits
- Burrowing: The Leviathan moves beneath the sand at great speed. It cannot be targeted while submerged except by vibration-based or psionic attacks.
- Vibration Sense: Detects footsteps, impacts, and machinery on or in the ground within Extreme range. Heavy footsteps (running, mounted movement, machinery) are detected at double range.
- Immense: Cannot be meaningfully harmed by normal weapons. Even if its HP is technically reduced, it doesn't die — it retreats beneath the sand and returns later. Treat HP as 'pain tolerance'; at 0 HP, it submerges and does not return for 1d6 days.
- Indifferent: The Leviathan is not hostile — it is hungry. It targets the largest source of vibration, which is often not the party. Caravans, herds, machinery, and stampedes draw it away from smaller groups.
- Defense While Surfaced: Defense 6 applies only while surfaced. While submerged, the Leviathan cannot be conventionally targeted (see Burrowing).
The Scorchveil’s apex predator — a burrowing colossus that cruises beneath the dunes the way a whale cruises beneath the ocean. Sand Leviathans are rarely seen in their entirety; what surfaces is usually a ridge of chitinous plates, a fin of crystallized sand, or a mouth. The mouth is the size of a train car.
They navigate by vibration, sensing footsteps on the sand from miles away. Dust Vulture clans know to “walk soft” in Leviathan territory — bare feet, slow steps, no metal on the ground. The Consortium’s rail-laying crews learned this the hard way when a Leviathan surfaced beneath a construction camp and swallowed eleven men, three horses, and a boiler.
There is no known way to kill a Sand Leviathan. The Circle estimates their chitinous hide is eight inches thick, and the creatures are so large that even catastrophic damage to one section doesn’t meaningfully threaten the whole. The Dust Vultures do not try to kill them. They worship them.
Tier classified as Boss (Environmental).
Tactics
The Leviathan is a force of nature. It surfaces to feed, consumes what it can reach, and submerges. It does not pursue targets that stop moving. It cannot be fought in any conventional sense — the goal is to avoid it, distract it, or survive its passing.
Encounter Design
The Sand Leviathan is a survival set piece. The party is crossing the deep Scorchveil. The sand begins to tremble. The dunes shift in ways that have nothing to do with wind. The encounter is about movement, silence, and sacrifice — do you freeze and hope it passes? Do you throw your pack mule toward the disturbance to buy time? Do you run and risk the vibrations drawing it after you? There is no winning. There is only escaping.