ichneumon, or, “assassin's bane”

The ichneumon, meaning "tracker," is a fabulous account of the very real mongoose. The ichneumon is the enemy of reptiles, especially venomous predators like the basilisk, cockatrice and javelin snake. It hunts venomous serpents and crawls into the bellies of sleeping crocodiles to feast on their innards.

©1998 Jonathan Hunt

From here I’m going to speculate on possible uses in a gaming context. I take inspiration from the "assassin's bane" in Creature Collection Revised.

The ichneumon specializes in poison control because it is immune to poison and sniffs out nearby poisons. When it smells poison, even within a plant or animal, it becomes visibly agitated. The beast is quite popular among the nobility for this reason, much like drinking horns made from griffin talons, and is colloquially called the “assassin's bane.”

The ichneumon might be taken as a familiar or companion by druids, wizards and similar professions.

Links:

• http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast272.htm
• http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast541.htm
• http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/bestiary/civet.htm
• https://books.google.com/books?id=7PYWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=ichneumon
• http://warriorsofmyth.wikia.com/wiki/File:Dbs_Jonathan_Hunt_Bestiary_11_Ichneumon.jpg