Squidslippers
This piece of Ophi-Tech consists of muscle tissue from the Serpent that has been carefully inhibited at key spots by Bakelite inserts, thus keeping the items from running off on their own. Squidslippers look unpleasantly like two constantly writhing boots made up of miscellaneous squid parts. Anyone who is familiar with minor horror pulp writers of the 20th Century will immediately think of ‘shoggoths,’ instead — but that’s still a pretty obscure reference in 1947.
When activated, Squidslippers provide the speed power; the user can also walk on water at normal Pace, and may run at the normal -2 penalty. Unlike most pieces of Ophi-Tech, Squidslippers were developed accidentally by a bored lab assistant at Rhodes University. Unfortunately, the assistant also discovered, terminally, what happens when the Bakelite inserts malfunction.
Malfunction: the Bakelite inserts pop out or shift, thus stopping the inhibition of the muscle tissue. The wearer has to make an Easy Agility test to remove the Squidslippers in time to avoid being attacked by them; the muscle tissue is fairly ravenous, and will attempt to either eat any flesh it encounters, or else run away at random until it intersects something that it can eat. Fortunately, once the Squidslippers consume about a dog’s worth or so of meat they become sated and tractable, and can be recaptured easily.