Bestiary February 2023
Whooo beasties! Who doesn't love them? And those we don't love, we'll just call them monsters and let our players slay them, right? ^^ I've put most, if not all, these beasties in their corresponding region in my article about Eshil (still a WIP at the time of writing!), so you can find them there as well. Now, let's see what creatures my brain will conjure. This article will be more of a brainstorm article where I just chuck down some ideas on the several prompts. If I end up turning one of those ideas into an actual article, I'll make sure to add them to the sidebar.
Entries
Wings: The Grass Skipper
Whenever you're travelling through the meadows of the Gardens of Bermuth, you can see tiny birds shooting over the high grass tops. These Grass Skippers fly at immense speeds through the tops to gather insects and other... well, to them snacks. The males have bright yellow feathers, making them easily visible among the grass. The females, on the other hand, have feathers that camouflage them when sitting high up in the treetops brooding on a fresh nest of eggs. With their brown feathers, they are nearly invisible both in the trees and among the flooring of the meadows. Grass Skippers love the meadows as long as there are patches of medium to high grass. Other than in the Gardens of Bermuth, you can find them in Finntonmor as well. A close cousin of the Grass Skipper has adapted itself to the shorter grass of Bani Reshumba. Fighting these little fellas should not be underestimated. While taking on one of two won't pose much of a challenge, you'll certainly think differently when facing a swarm of these little birds.You should see these little fellas go!
Zoom zoom zoom!!
Zoom zoom zoom!!
Stripes: Sharayit
The Sharayit got their name for how they look to the normal eye. Their specie is considered the fastest at climbing, whether that's trees or entire mountains. All people would see is a vertical stripe. "The Mountains Descent" was a popular myth among dwarves who described a spectacle on the mountains, where it was imbued with stripes of different colours. In reality, it was the mating season of the Sharayit and they gathered at the mountains to show off their climbing skills to potential partners. There are multiple varieties of Sharayit, each having evolved to accomodate their climbing areas most. The most well known ones are the Sharayit Jibal (mountain sharayit) and the Sharayit Ghaba (forest sharayit). There are rumours of a water based sharayit, the Sharayit May, but researchers have yet to confirm their existence.Man, these four legged things be quicc. I wish I could climb that fast, that woulda solved a lot of problems!
Horn: Bilhoorn
The bilhoorn is a staple animal in Eshil as it is used by the Limani Supplies Dealer to pull along the carriages full of tradewares. Its large frame and intense muscular build have granted them with immense power to tug along large loads. Their most notible feature are their horns. Starting at the head a single big horn points forward and splits into two smaller horns at the end. Originally, the bilhoorn could be found grazing in the Gardens of Bermuth. However, since the company started using and breeding them amass, very few of these animals still roam in the wild. Still, if encountered alone, their fighting instincts will kick in as them charge towards any threat they face.Whoah.. Damn, you're twice my height and I can even fit in your horn alone!
We... we made it out la-dee-da-dee. Holy hell, never again, those things scare the living poopies out of me.
Shell: Bahtirs
Let me give you a fair warning, don't wander near Theorston Thicket if you don't want to encounter your worst nightmare. These nasty creatures inhabit the dead, using it as a shell to protect their true nature. There are a few small cues to tell a Bahtir apart from the shell it lives in. First and foremost, the eyes of who they inhibit turn full black. So, while it might be easy to spot a Bahtir inhabiting a human, or high elf, it's much more difficult to tell them apart from beady eyed animals. Second, a Bahtir that recently inhabited a corpse still has to get familiar with the movement patterns and interacting with the specie. Therefore, if one knows how a certain specie should move or respond, they can detect the Bahtir. That is, unless the Bahtir has inhabitted the corpse for a long enough time to have blended in with the specie. The only way to get rid of Bahtirs, is to destroy the host body first while making sure there is no other medium for the Bahtir to use. When there is nowhere to go, it has no choice but to ooze out of its shell. In that moment, they are at their most vulnerable, but also their most powerful. So... be careful.Colourful: Rainbow Centipede
One of the most colourful insects of Eshil brighten the fifty shades of gray in the mountains. The rainbow centipede and millipede come in a variety of colours and patterns. Every segment develops into a different colour from the previous segment. Each colour pattern is unique, coming from a random DNA strain combined with the DNA of the parents. The orange legs carry the centepede and millipedes to different heights. While they are most common in the mountains, sometimes a few wander in the forests and greenery at the foot of the ranges. However, they will never travel too far from the mountains, as they sustain themselves with the mineral rich water from the caves and the nutrient dense Ugwu Hoppers.So pretty! They're too pretty to be scary!
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