| Bareccian Sparrow Tortoise | |
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| Species | Duplicata lubrica |
| Place of origin | Bareccia (conjectural) |
Bareccian Sparrow Tortoises are a species of frog presumably native to Bareccia.
A single specimen is generally between four and six inches long, with weight topping out at around a pound. They are poisonous to most species, including humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, and kenku, but not to the predators in their natural habitat.
The species has an unusual reproductive cycle; rather than the more common frog life cycle of egg, tadpole, and adult, D. lubrica reproduces by means of slime duplication. An adult specimen will exude a stream of thick slime from its skin until it has built up enough for the slime to congeal, separate, and transmute into another frog, at which point the cycle begins again. Without its native predator life to keep the population in check, this species is notorious as an invasive species.
Bareccian sparrow tortoises have a natural violent reaction to the immediate presence of orcs, which takes the form of a long, deep inhale followed by a prolonged scream. It is unknown why this is the case.
A Bareccian Sparrow Tortoise was sold to Man by Timrek d'Gorf around a century before the beginning of the campaign. The ensuing infestation nearly destroyed the farming town of Ckaen before it was discovered by Nuek that the poison that Darvin had put in the town's wheat nullified the frogs' natural toxins, making them edible. After this discovery, Ckaen began farming the frogs, producing a cheap source of nutrition for the town and the surrounding areas in the human kingdom.
During the infestation, however, the frogs were instrumental in the exposing of Selshak and his associate's plot to poison the town of Ckaen and the rest of the human kingdom at the hands of Kirmez and his adventuring band.