The haundar is a horrible sluglike creature that flies through the skies of the arctic tundra (during calm conditions), devouring whatever it can catch.
Appearance[]
The haundar resembles a giant slug, some thirty feet long and ten feet tall. Its back is covered in tough, chitonous, articulated plates, and its blubbery flesh is sheathed in thick layers of fur. Its body is white, with a faint greenish shimmer. Its maw is filled with sharklike jaws full of teeth that are continually growing, and, like many slugs, it has two eyestalks and two pseudopods that it uses to sense its environment.
Combat[]
The huandar mostly attacks with its tremendous bite, though it is capable of spitting acid as well. It mostly attacks things it thinks it can eat (and it thinks it can eat most things), relying on flight to get out of the battle in a hurry if the prey seems too problematic.
Habitat/Society[]
The huandar lair in rocky caverns when not hunting. They are migratory creatures, flying accross the tundra in great herds, following other herds such as reindeer. They mate in midsummer, when they are the farthest north, and rest as they lay their eggs. Their hatchlings feed on the bodies of their parents after birth, though successful hatchlings are rare, and the creature grows at a very slow rate. The creatures can live for upwards of 60 years, unless a hatching kills them first.
Relations[]
Huan are parasites of the huandar, and infect them as they lair in the rocky caverns of the tundra. The huandar are the main portion of the sha'az diet, and the creatures make many useful items out of the huan's parts. This actually makes the huandar fairly rare: they are severely over-hunted by the sha'az.
Uses[]
Huandar meat is edible, though most find it fairly unpalatable (sha'az consider it an acquired taste). Its blubber can be used for oils for lamps and heating. Its eyestalks can be brewed into potions of darkvision, and the pseudopods it uses to levitate are useful in making potions of levitation. The shell on its back can make acid-resistant armor.
Sources[]
AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (1991)