Elghonn

Witnesses who claim to have glimpsed an elghonn describe only a shape swathed in heavy, dark robes that hide nearly all of its dreadful form. One braggart insisted he had stared into its cold red eyes. It carries a frightful array of weapons built to cause agony first and death after. Its name comes from elghinn, the drow word for death, which is exactly what it leaves behind.

The elghonn tracks prey with near-supernatural senses that let it perceive invisible and astral beings and objects, and it fights without penalty in normal or magical darkness. It moves silently 75% of the time and hides in shadows 85% of the time, using both almost constantly on the hunt. It often shadows a victim for days, showing itself for a moment before fading back into the dark.

It loves the taste of fear and so favors a crippling poison brewed from several deep-underworld fungi, usually delivered by crossbow bolt or another missile. A victim who fails a save vs. poison when first struck loses 2 points each from Strength, Dexterity and Constitution every hour. When any of the three reaches 0, the victim collapses, paralyzed yet fully aware.

In melee it is lethal. It makes up to four attacks per round and can use a different weapon in each hand, usually magical arms of the DM's choosing; a favorite is a long sword +2 of life stealing. Only weapons of +2 or better enchantment can harm it, ordinary blades and weaker magic being wholly useless, and it regenerates 1d6 hit points every round.

Little is known of this legendary hunter, and some scholars write it off as a myth. Those who actually live in the deep underworld know better, and even the matriarchs of the great drow cities speak its name in frightened whispers. It roams the caverns ceaselessly. Whether it has a home lair is unknown; if it does, that place must be steeped in unspeakable evil.

Every living creature below ground is potential prey, and the elghonn shows no preference among them. Strangely, it never eats what it kills, though its victims are always found with faces locked in terror. Some sages guess that it serves a dark deity or is the avatar of a forgotten god. No one has proved it: the last several scholars who went below to learn more never came back.