Durzurchs

A fearsome lizard creature with a powerful built body and a large mouth, usually frothing, filled with large, sharp teeth. Half a dozen short horns protrude from back of its scull and these gradually grow longer over the years. Hornlike outgrowths continue down the length of the spine and several spikes adorn the end of its tail. The durzurch’s skin is incredibly thick and usually dark grey although it sometimes turns completely black. The eyes are black in lamplight but emit a reddish glow in darkness, where it usually spends it time. The creature has no less than six powerful legs and while it moves on all of them it can rise to use its front pair in combat. The durzurch is quite unique in that its skin, horns and skeleton is very rich with minerals, making the creature very resistant to injury. These minerals also cause its skin to sparkle as the tiny minerals reflect any light. They continue to grow to 9 meters at which point they stand 2.5 meters off the ground and weighs well over 1,000 kg. The few durzurchs which reach adulthood have no natural enemies left and they prefer to stay in their cave until a prey come along. They can enter a comatose sleep which allows them to survive for many years without eating, so they can become several hundred years old. Durzurchs are solitary animals and only meet others of their kind for short periods when mating.

Durzurchs can be found mainly in the Northlands where they live in mountain caves, but a few specimens have been known in the south as well. In very rare occasions they might be found in a dark forest or mountain pass should they’ve had difficulty finding enough food in their cave systems.

Durzurchs can also be found among the dwarves who use juveniles as mounts. In the wild, juvenile durzurchs are rare as it is not easy for them to find a cave out of the reach of another durzurch, and venturing out to the surface makes them vulnerable. However, the dwarves keep them in large amounts to use as mounts. Young durzurchs are often quite docile while not hungry and can be imprinted on an individual if trained from infancy. When reaching adult age at 20 they will become much more aggressive, particularly against other durzurchs. Dwarves usually kill their durzurch mounts when they reach an age of 16, just to be on the safe side.

Commerce
The skeleton of a durzurch can be used to construct very sharp but somewhat brittle weapons.