Dharculus

From the Prime Material Plane all anyone sees of a dharculus is a school of blind eels swimming through the air. Anyone who can see into the Ethereal Plane will recognize them as the tips of long tentacles, some ending in small mouths. In the Border Ethereal the tentacles join into a braided, wormlike trunk. Its rear end curls forward like a question mark and carries an enormous slavering mouth lined with razor teeth. Five more tentacles end in eyes rather than mouths; the creature keeps these safely in the Ethereal, peering through the mists for prey.

It hunts by pushing its six mouthed tentacles through the veil. Each attacks separately, dealing 1d4 and latching on. An attached tentacle does no further harm, but tearing it loose takes a Strength check at -2 (a save vs. paralysis for creatures without Strength) and costs another 1d4 as the teeth rip out. Any round that begins with three or more tentacles on one victim, that victim must save vs. death or be pulled into the Ethereal, where the main maw bites for 2d10.

Each tentacle has AC 3, flying MV 9, 2 HD, 8 hp, THAC0 11, one 1d4 attack, size S (2 to 10 feet) and the parent's morale. One that has taken its full 8 points, with the final blow from an edged weapon, is cut off and drops like a dead eel; lost tentacles regrow at 2 points each per 12 hours in the Ethereal. A magical weapon hit has a 20% chance per plus to knock a tentacle back through the veil, and it takes four rounds to push it through again.

A victim hauled across may fight the whole beast. Killing it leaves him adrift in the gray Border Ethereal, able to see his friends but not reach them, and usually lost unless he has unusual resources. One way back remains: for up to four rounds the limp tentacles still poke into the Prime, and a successful Strength check lets him climb one like a rope back home.

Dharculi come from a distant alternate reality, perhaps beyond the known planes entirely. So far they cluster near where they entered this cosmos, maybe because they rely on some element of their native Farther Dark, maybe by chance. If chance, more will surely come, hunting the shores of the Prime from the safety of the shallow ethereal sea. Their minds are completely alien, but feeding drives them: a dharculus never passes up easy prey, even pulling creatures through the veil to save for later, and it attacks anything regardless of rank.

No one knows if they mate, bud or split. If they reproduce alone, one could fill a region quickly. Their rarity may mean they must stay near the leak where their home reality seeps through, in which case only creatures near that spot are in danger. If that zone is slowly spreading into the Prime itself, the threat is grave.