Riddle of the Sphinx 18 - CLOSED

Welcome to my eighteenth riddle, the last before the end of term. And as a special treat, there will be more housepoints on offer this time.

The answer will, of course, be a magical creature, and the first person to PM me with the correct answer will receive 40 points for their house. Everyone else who gets it right will earn 20 points.

That said, here is the riddle...

Great riddles of time and of lore and of tale,
To find the answer you must follow the trail.
Take first the beginning, the opening letter,
Then second the digit that falls third in adopter.
This riddle befuddles, now that much is true,
Take third the second that comes in crew.
For the fourth we must return to the start,
And the fifth is the second of the French word for heart.
The last letter, the sixth in our grisly tale,
Limps into last place as the second in snail.

Good Luck!

This riddle is now closed.

As many of you discovered, the answer to the riddle was Gorgon. Well done to Jennifer Williams for being the first person to send me the correct answer. She receives 40 points for her house.

The following will all receive 20 points for getting the answer right:

running_swift
WaterLily
Raistlin the Wizard
littleprincess_01
streams of silver
kit
rip_dogfather