The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: Crocodillox the Great

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    Although a creature resembling a bipedal crocodile may not seem like the most bizarre thing in the world, Crocodillox the Great has been a fixture of bog person folklore for generations. The bog people speak of a twenty foot tall beast who is able to swim through mud and dirt as easily as through water, jumping up out of the soil to ambush unwary travelers. Given its ability to swim through dirt, finding Crocodillox took many years of searching the bog lands of Squee. Eventually, I discovered its nest, a massive pile of rotting leave, damp grass, and discarded bits of its last meal. Crocodillox is an obligate carnivore, preferring to hunt the largest prey it can handle to have something to feed on for several days before it must hunt again. Crocodillox, despite its size, will very rarely stand and fight, preferring to dive into the ground and wait for the perfect moment to attack. 

    The source of this magical ability to swim through the ground seems to be Crocodillox' claws, which have a strange sparkle to them. When using its ability, Crocodillox is able to treat dirt, sand, clay, and thick mud as if it was regular water. While the creature is able to hold its breath for long periods of time, it must still come up to breathe from time to time. Crocodillox seems to have no issues returning to the surface and using the soil to walk on again, making it a particularly dangerous foe. The beast is unable to use its abilities on rocks, oddly enough. Although there are very few rocks in Crocodillox' territory to take advantage of this weakness with, it is the only way I am aware of to be truly safe from the creature's ambushes.

    Crocodillox the Great has caused the end of many travelers through the years, including hunters, merchants, and even wealthy folks. All of the inedible parts of the beast's meals can be found inside its nest. Although finding the nest and having time to rummage through it without being attacked by Crocodillox may be difficult, the reward would be great. Crocodillox has been around for a very long time and I assume it has created quite the collection of items. I could see several weapons and pieces of jewelry on observation of the nest from a distance, so it stands to reason that there is quite a bit there.