"Good morning," the Thing in the Well calls, "And how are we doing this morning Mrs. Westmen?" -- "Just wonderfully. How have you been keeping, Thing?" -- "Fine, fine. A little peckish, a bit in the mood for, you know, a nibble, a bite to eat. But don't worry yourself, perfectly fine." -- "It's quite alright Thing, I was just thinking I should bring by some lunch. How does a ham sound?" -- "You are too kind Mrs. Westmen, just too kind..." -- The Thing in the Well has lived in the village for longer than anyone can remember. It is traditional to fix regular meals for the Thing, and to present it with a sheep or pig on special occasions. Years ago a boy went down the well on a dare. He never returned. The subject has not been broached in the presence of the Thing. Instinct: To devour

• Politely collect tribute
• Leverage townspeople through secrets
• Purify water
• Hide in darkened waters

"The Old Ones, they knew much. Not the alchemy of man nor the sorcery of warlocks and the like. No, this is the magic of gears and pulleys, the sorcery of science. Watch your every step in the tower: be wary or you may call to life the ancient defense systems. You'll know the Defenders have awoken long before you face them, that's for sure; they're louder than a stomping giant and their hulls scrape the stone walls. You'll hear them coming, I'm sure you can avoid them, go on in the tower. Me? I... I'll stay out here. Got to have a lookout post, right?"

Instinct: Destroy all Intruders! *click* Defend the domain!

• Display immense and uncaring strength
• Soldier on, ignoring all damage until the last
• Reveal a hidden function from the depths of its gearworks

The mating call of the otyugh is a horrible, blaring cry that sounds like a cross between an elephant dying and an over-eager vulture. The otyugh spends much of its time partly submerged in filthy water and prefers eating garbage over any other food. As a result, it often grows fat and strong on the offal of orcs, goblins and other cave-dwelling sub-humans. Get too close, however, and you’ll have one of its barbed tentacles dragging you into that soggy, razor-toothed maw. If you get away with your life, best get to a doctor, or your victory may be short lived. Instinct: To befoul

• Infect someone with filth fever
• Fling someone or something

Each individual shadow is actually a swarm of tiny, dust-sized demons. No one is quite sure where they come from, or how to kill them, but it is known that children of every species on every plane of existence know to fear the darkness . . . Instinct: To spread

• Devour flesh
• Impersonate voices
• Absorb knowledge from those it kills

Scarabaeus pyractomena! What a delightful creature—see how its carapace glitters in the light of our torches? Not too close now, they’re temperamental, you see. The fire in their belly isn’t just metaphorical, no. Watch as I goad the beast. Aha! A spout of flame! Unexpected, isn’t it? One of these creatures alone, if it comes up from below, can be a hellish nuisance to a farmstead or village. A whole swarm? There’s a reason they call it a conflagration of fire beetles. Instinct: To enflame

• Undermine the ground
• Burst from the earth
• Spray forth flames

Known throughout the multiverse as brain collectors, neh-thalggu consume the brains of Humanoids and use them as receptacles to enhance their magical abilities. Neh-thalggu are born in the nightmarish Far Realm, but they spread across the Astral Plane and find their way onto the various worlds of the Material Plane, where brains are much more abundant. A neh-thalggu has a bulbous body and six legs resembling those of a crustacean. Four bulging eyes and a tooth-filled maw dominate its hideous visage. Behind and above these features, one or more lumps protrude from its body, each one containing a brain the neh-thalggu has consumed. After a neh-thalggu kills a victim, it uses its pincers to cut open the victim's head and remove the brain. It then swallows the brain whole. The collected brain is stored inside one of several pockets in the neh-thalggu's head. Once it has collected twelve brains in this fashion, it is overcome by an urge to return to the Far Realm and begins devoting all its energy to finding a way home. In an encounter with a neh-thalggu, roll a d12 to determine how many brains it has already collected. Instinct: Collect brains

• Psychically incapacitate an enemy
• Remove brain

A psurlon can use magic to assume the form of a specific Medium Humanoid. First, the psurlon must consume the creature it wants to imitate. It then enters a psionic trance for 8 hours, at the end of which it takes on the appearance of the creature it ate. The psurlon gains that creature's memories and languages, but none of its class features or other abilities. The transformation is permanent and can be undone only by a wish spell. Despite appearances, the psurlon ringer is still an Aberration, and other psurlons recognize it for what it is. Instinct: Lure creatures to its pack

• Lure adventurers
• Attack telepathically

Psurlons are malevolent, wormlike creatures that live on the Astral Plane. A fully grown specimen is 7 feet long. They have legs that end in hooves and arms that end in hands with three long fingers. A psurlon's eyeless head resembles that of an earthworm, capped by a maw ringed with teeth. Psurlons adorn themselves in richly colored robes and rarely wear armor or carry weapons. Psurlons live for thousands of years because they spend most of their time in the Deep Astral. Every hundred years or so, psurlons leave their astral strongholds, invade Wildspace systems, and indulge in a seven-year-long ceremony called the Feast of Worlds, during which they consume as many sentient life-forms as they can before returning to the Astral Plane. Psurlons prefer the flesh of humans and halflings but don't mind feasting on other folk. They use their spellcasting abilities to infiltrate the settlements of their intended victims. On the Material Plane, psurlons have been known to work with mind flayers. Together, they collect victims to feed on; the illithids devour the victims' brains while the psurlons consume the rest of the prey. Githyanki despise psurlons because of this alliance and attack psurlon strongholds in the Deep Astral wherever they are found. When a psurlon dies, other psurlons store the corpse in a safe place. As the corpse decays, the psurlons lay one or more eggs inside it. These eggs hatch 24 hours later, each one producing a Tiny worm. For the next seven days, the worms feed on the corpse and on each other until only one remains. This worm crawls out of the putrescent remains of its dead host as an adult psurlon. Instinct: Devour flesh

• Hide in shadows
• Attack telepathically

The dryad sits at the center of the Grove. Her magic springs from the Grove, and the Grove is sustained by her magic. They are one. Betrayed by her sister Zosia and bound to the Grove, she who was once Mabel Blackheart seeks revenge and to spread her influence across the Shifting Marsh! Instinct: To expand the grove

• Sprout new growth
• Emerge from a mushroom in a new location
• Entice a mortal to her aid

Eine vage an einen Menschen erinnernde Kreatur aus Schatten. Sie haust häufig in verwinkelten Gewölben mit Säulen, die Schatten für sie werfen. Jeder Gruftschatten kann die Schatten seiner Opfer an sich binden und zu neuen Dienern verwandeln Instinct: Schatten stehlen

• Hülle einen Raum in flackernde Schatten
• Hübsche von Schatten zu Schatten
• Schatten kontrollieren
• Lähme durch Angriffe auf den Schatten