Monster: Myrcuri

Myrcuri
Armour Class: 3
Hit Dice: 2**
Move: 120' (40')
burrow 120' (40')
climb 90' (30')
Attacks: 1 bite or sting
Damage: 1-6 + dissolve or 1-6 + paralysis
No. Appearing: 6-24 (20-200)
Save As: F2
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: D
Alignment: Neutral
XP Value: 30

Shimmering and eerily iridescent, myrcuri -- or quicksilver ants -- measure some two to two and a half feet long. The chitin of a myrcuri resembles mirror-bright, almost liquid-looking silvery metal, and its eyes are faintly luminous white orbs; the creature looks almost translucent. Myrcuri are armed with both chewing and puncturing branches on their mandibles, and their abdomens sport a needlelike stinger. They are said to hoard metals to spin into filaments as fine and flexible as silk to line their warrens, and some few quicksilver ants "sacrifice" themselves as repletes for the storage of the colony's food.

In combat a myrcuri will either bite or sting. The bite of a quicksilver ant inflicts 1-6 hit points of damage and allows the ant the chance to inject its metallic, toxic bile; a failed save vs. poison indicates that the victim takes a further 1-3 hit points of damage per round for four rounds as the flesh first reddens and then begins to dissolve. Likewise the sting of a myrcuri inflicts 1-6 hit points of damage, paralyzing the victim for 2-8 turns if a save is failed. Paralyzed victims are often dragged away, receiving further stings as required to return to the nest.

For every six myrcuri there will be a soldier of 4 Hit Dice, capable of inflicting 1-10 hit points of damage with its bite. The colony is led by a queen of 6 Hit Dice; her bite and sting are useless but she may mesmerize opponents by shivering her iridescent -- if useless -- wings, charming victims into servitude or becoming the nest's next meal.

Myrcuri replete "honey" is a fine -- if sweetly musky -- source of sustenance, but one must be willing to ingest it.