Hooplamander

Many a traveler has heard a loud rumble from behind and turned to see a strange wheel bearing down upon them. Even if they can dodge it, they still might not be safe, for once the wheel stops, it unfurls into a hooplamander. Though whispered of in the remote expanses of Arcadia and feared along the grassy plains of the Mwangi Expanse, many in urban areas believe the seemingly ridiculous hooplamanders to be nothing more than tall tales. As the flattened remains of many caravans can attest, however, these apex predators are very real.

Hooplamanders resemble large salamanders. They're born with retractable rear legs and an incredibly strong, flexible spine. Their sharp foreclaws feature sharp hooks that can rend flesh or stabilize it when it enters its wheel-shaped form. As they develop, hooplamanders learn how to leap and roll, hooking their tails beneath their mouths and stabilizing them with their foreclaws to form a crude wheel that they use their tail muscles to propel forward. Their backs are ridged with a tread-like pattern that gives significant traction and maneuvering power. Hooplamanders are particularly deadly when they use their hooked claws to inflict bleeding wounds before entering their "wheels up" form to dash around the battlefield, trampling foes and waiting for their prey to bleed out.

Hooplamanders can be found wherever the ground is flat and open. Their coloring matches where they hunt, with those in grassy plains sporting brown-green skin and those in snowy regions bearing a white hide. Some naturalists believe the creatures started out as salamanders that hatched within the acidic trail of the fabled ouroboros. Others believe that nature, in its infinite variety, doesn't need magic to create such creatures—only an environment flat enough to reward their cunning adaptation.