Environment

Special abilities

Normal sight 15 | Dark vision 5 | Legs 4 | Faster running 1

The gauton is a huge lizard six to eight metres tall, with green-brown skin, two strong legs, stunted front paws and a large head about two metres long.

Gautons are among the strongest animals of all, so they do not need to band together for safety or hunting; they live alone or in pairs. They are carnivorous and immensely voracious. They hunt elephants, karialises, large herbivorous lizards and anything they can catch, and they attack other large predators without hesitation. To avoid wiping out all the game in a short time, they need an enormous territory of hundreds of square kilometres.

In spring the female lays one or two eggs, from which the young hatch by autumn. Gauton eggs are large and highly sought after as a delicacy. Young lizards reach full size only after many years; until then they have weaker skin and are not as dangerous.

Combat

The gauton attacks only with its maw and swallows smaller victims whole. Its tail serves only for balance; it cannot use it effectively in combat. Like other lizards it sees only dimly and perceives mainly movement, so it usually does not attack an adventurer standing still. Prey that it spots, however, it pursues doggedly even beyond its territory – over a short distance it is an excellent runner, though it has little stamina.