Feyr

Feyrs, pronounced 'fears', are stitched together from leftover bad dreams and stray magical energy, then accidentally quickened by the intense feelings of a crowd. They turn up most in big cities with plenty of wizards, priests and other casters. Common feyrs roam the night streets looking only to cause chaos. Great feyrs, formed when lesser ones fuse, are much rarer and can appear anywhere.

A common feyr is a hunched, inhuman shape whose mottled, folded hide looks like the surface of a brain. It walks on two thick tentacles and has a few smaller ones as limbs. A wide horizontal mouth runs along its underside, and the front of its body bears one to five eyes, usually molten gold. Its skin shimmers with the sickly rainbow of oil on water: dull blues and blacks on the body, faded reds and magentas near the head, and corpse greens and yellows on the belly.

Its belly jaws are its main weapon, biting for 1d4 points of damage from a common feyr or 2d6 from a great one. It does not bite to feed but to horrify. Anyone who sees either kind attack must save vs. spell or be overcome by fear, as the spell, for 1d4 rounds against a common feyr or 2d6 rounds against a great one. The fear strikes only when it attacks; simply seeing a common feyr is not frightening.

A great feyr can also stir feelings as the wizard spell emotion does, but only the negative ones: fear, hate, hopelessness and sadness. The effect reaches 100 yards, covers a 20-by-20-foot area, and allows a save vs. spell at -2. It can do this without dropping its invisibility.

Direct sunlight destroys common feyrs, though they do not fear it, seek no shelter at dawn, and will happily go out if they survive past sunrise. Against magical sunlight such as continual light they get a save vs. spell as well as their usual magic resistance. Great feyrs are immune to sunlight.

Most common feyrs die with the dawn, but sometimes several merge into a great feyr, which is far more intelligent and no longer harmed by the sun. A great feyr seeks out ever stronger emotions to sustain itself and may travel far in search of them, while common feyrs stay near where they were born.

The common feyr shambles through fog and evening shadow seeking a crowd to terrorize and feed on. The great feyr strikes while invisible, amplifying feelings already present and driving people mad with terror. It still prefers night and hides by day in a quiet lair such as a deserted house, cave or underground ruin.

Any town can supply the raw materials, and feyrs walk at night when tension runs high: in cities under siege, communities torn by feuds or civil war, oppressed populations, or towns sweltering through a brutal summer. Ordinary city guards can usually handle common feyrs, which attack anything that moves. A great feyr calls for a wizard or another powerful hero able to withstand its assault and finish it.