Dream Stalker

Its natural shape is a softly shining ball roughly as big as a person's fist, a steady pale yellow-white. People sometimes mistake it for a will o'wisp, though it is far smaller and never changes color. It floats through the air, or skims so close to the ground that it seems to roll.

At will it can become any small animal, commonly a dog, cat, rabbit, duck or other farmyard creature, or something suited to the local terrain such as a lizard or large insect. In animal form it does not glow and is indistinguishable from the real thing, down to a particular animal's markings. As an animal it communicates as that animal would; as an orb it communicates through empathy or a confused stream of pictures drawn from its most recent victim's dreams.

To feed, the orb hovers within an inch or two of a sleeper's eyes, without needing to touch, and oddly its light never wakes the victim. Anyone looking into the sphere can watch the dreams playing inside it, as in a crystal ball, and they are usually nightmares. It does no physical harm but wounds the mind, dropping the dreamer into a deep, coma-like magical sleep.

Undisturbed, it feeds for 4d4 rounds before seeking someone new. The victim then sleeps one day for every round of feeding, so five rounds means five days; a save vs. paralyzation halves this, rounding up to a whole day. The sleeper takes neither food nor water and loses 1d3 hit points a day; rest heals nothing, though magic can restore lost hit points.

Only magic such as dispel magic can wake the sleeper. Anyone roused before the coma ends must pass a madness check (or save vs. paralyzation) or jolt awake from a terrifying dream with a nightmare-born madness such as delusions, paranoia, hallucinations or amnesia. It lasts as many days as the coma had left to run.

Its animal form is AC 8, vulnerable to normal weapons, and attacks with whatever claws or teeth the animal has at THAC0 17 for 1d2. After 4 points of damage the animal 'dies', and a round later the glowing orb rises from the body. Unless magical weapons or spells were used against the animal, the stalker is unhurt and has its full 3 Hit Dice. The true form is AC 0 and can be hit only by magic. Once harmed, it flees, its glow fading as it takes damage, and at 0 hit points it winks out.

Dream stalkers dwell in bleak, foggy places and never stray from them for more than a couple of hours. Strong emotions draw them from many miles off, and they like to feed on a sleeper in peace. If a chosen victim stays nearby, the stalker comes back the next time he sleeps.

Its favorite targets are people frustrated or grieving over a lost animal. It shows itself to them in the right animal shape and bolts, leading them into the mists. There they usually get lost, and the stalker simply waits for them to tire and fall asleep before resuming its true shape and feeding on their troubled dreams.

Most live on the edges of swamps or among ruins, where prey is easy to find. A slain stalker leaves behind a glassy bead about the size of a marble. Wizards prize these and grind them to powder for sleeping draughts and potions.