Hrökkáll

Hrökkáll are evil eel-like monsters from Icelandic folklore and despite being rather small by the standards of legendary creatures are nevertheless seen as dangeroys beings that can pose a significant threat to human life.

Role in Folklore
At some point in the ancient past a malicious wizard revived a dead, half-rotted eel, giving rise to an evil and toxic creature, which was the first Hrökkáll, or “coil-eel” - while both the wizard and his original creation passed on the descendants of the monster continued to spawn and became the Hrökkáll of folkore.

A Hrökkáll is described as a two feet long eel which lives in still ponds and stagnant water. It has flexible, iron-hard scales, and sharp saw-toothed fins, it secretes corrosive venom and its meat is poisonous. Captured Hrökkáll have been known to melt their way through earth and rock to squirm back into the water.

Hrökkáll lie in wait until someone steps in the water. Then they coil around the person’s leg and constrict it, slicing into flesh and bone alike and amputating the limb. It is unknown whether Hrökkáll use their acidic venom or their bladed fins (or both) to do this. They will dismember humans and horses in this way, but sheep are safe as their legs are too narrow for the Hrökkáll to gain a hold.

Abilities
Hrökkáll are small but vicious monsters capable of surviving in toxic conditions, they have bladed find and acidic blood as well as vicious constriction capabilities - they can even burrow through earth if necessary and are highly poisonous and durable due to their scales : they are capable of amputating limbs if they attach themselves to a victim, allowing them to take on prey many times larger than themselves.