trice description

The Trice
length: 9 hands (3' )
weight:.3 stone (5 lbs)
wingspan: 7.5 - 9 hands (2.5 - 3' )
habitat: lowland forests, swamps and wetlands

The trice is singularly odd, even for a chimeral species. It is the product of a species of wild chicken and the ovovorous lizards that preyed upon their nests. There is one male in any pod of trice. When the male dies, the dominant hen in the pecking order will begin to molt within 24 hrs. This molt will swell and harden to form an egg-shaped, opaque cocoon. Twenty-one days later the creature inside emerges, transformed into a cock-o-trice.
Trice are carrion-eaters. They have a necrotic bite, which is believed arcanely evolved from their pre-chimeral reptilian ancestor. This bite can cause a limb to rot off in hours, or can lead to death if the victim is bitten on the head or neck or near any vital organs.
In addition to this formidable defense, the cock-o-trice can also exhale a small gout of flame (approx 12h /4' ) at will.

P.T. Doolin