Kenric hated gathering firewood. He knew the value to his friends - but he hated it. He wished he was a better cook so he was given a different job. They always walked until far too late into the evening, and it was always getting dark, and the woods weren't safe. Gathering an armload of fallen sticks and some larger logs was easy, but that wasn't really the point. He heard the sound of a wolf creeping up on him in every rustle of leaves. He hated the woods at twilight, he wished he was back with his friends. Working quickly he scooped kindling into the front of his tunic and began to return to where his friends were beginning to get tinder lit and vegetables ready to be stewed. Thinking mostly of the cask of ale and good friends he was returning to, he didn't notice that one of the branches he'd gathered had reared up to strike.
Stick Snakes are a hazard of the adventurer and the traveller in the forests near the edge of the Adderwall mountain. Most claim they are leftovers of the wars against the ophidians who worshiped dark gods in the shadows of those mountains. This superstition is much less likely than they are simply smaller poisonous predators who hunt by Camoflague. Whatever the reason, stick snakes are usually about the size of a small tree branch, the kind used for firewood, with the longest of them being long enough to be used as a stout walking staff. The fact that they head and eyes are hard to discern, their scales are mottled like tree bark, and their eyes are often kept closed means that these snakes are often gathered as walking staves or firewood. The fact that they are incredibly poisonous means that this is often the final act of the unaware woodman.
Many con artists have found that stick snakes make incredibly useful tricks and cons. Since these snakes hunt by stretching themselves out and waiting, often for many hours, they can be given a mild soporific and then kept nearby, acting if they are a stick. The con will then involve the snake being given another concoction that causes it to wake up, typically enraged, allowing it to look like a staff was flung forward and immediately turned into an enraged snake. This trick is considered fairly well known around the Adderwall with most being able to figure out what it is - but farther away it is often successful. Many magicians have built their reputations on a Storm Crow, a stick snake, and a few sleight of hand tricks.
Woodskin: The Stick Snake has skin that makes it look almost exactly like a branch. This is a call-on for Stealthy when it attempts to stay completely still.
Fanged: The Stick Snake's fangs deal Pow+1 Damage, WS: - Range: Hands VA: 1. This is Puncture damage.
Deadly Poison: The wound from the stick snake's fangs increases by one type (so a superficial becomes a light and a light becomes a midi), and adds two to the deterioration steps as the poison works it way through the body with horrible consequences. The deterioration can be reduced to normal with an Ob3 Bloodletting test performed within the first few seconds after the injury, before it works its way into the blood.
A Burning Wheel Monster Every Week