Fee-faw-fum

The fee-faw-fum, or just 'fum, is a spiteful imp that loves to isolate trespassers and frighten them witless. Its shape is hazy and uncertain, roughly that of a small goblin-like imp or gremlin, its features only hinted at. Large eyes burn with an eerie orange-green glow, its oily skin is black, and it smells of tobacco juice.

It speaks any common tongue of its region and also makes wet, chirping twitters that may or may not be a language. No one knows, since every 'fum ever found was alone.

In a straight fight a 'fum is weak, raking with needle-like nails for 1-2 points of damage per claw. It is very stealthy, though, hiding in shadows and moving silently 80% of the time.

Every third round it may skip its claws to spit a glob of tarry, cesspool-scented goo up to 15 feet. This missile ignores armor, though Dexterity and magical adjustments still count. The target must save vs. poison at -2 or be gripped by nausea. Anyone who fails must also pass a Constitution check or lose the next round to helpless retching, and every victim who failed the save attacks at -2 until the goo is washed off.

Its true power is hypnotic dread, something like mass suggestion. Speaking for a full round in an ominous voice, it tells up to ten listeners within 20 yards that they are alone and utterly doomed, describing their coming fate in gruesome detail. Listeners roll a fear check at -2, and a failure can only result in Hide or Flee, with equal odds of each. Anyone who passes is immune to that 'fum's terror forever after.

'Fums inhabit abandoned buildings, especially ones said to be haunted, nesting in a hidden cupboard, chimney or similar nook. They doze through the day and rummage for scraps at night. They want to be left alone and treat intruders cruelly, taking special joy in sending brave warriors shrieking into the dark. How they breed, or whether they have any society, is unknown.

They eat whatever they can scrounge and cause little disturbance, but they feed many haunted-house legends. The only things they treasure are gems, for their color and sparkle. 'Fum bones can be crafted into pipes of haunting, and their spit can be distilled into a potent weakening poison.