Kruel

From the waist up a kruel is a gaunt, hatchet-faced elf with long, knobbly fingers and big cowlike ears; its eyes are blood red except for the pupils. Below, it stands on scaly green bird legs. Kruels dress showily in scarlet, lilac and bright green, topped by a tall hat with one red feather, and speak Common plus scraps of sylvan tongues.

Kruels close in only on foes who look feeble and harass stronger ones from afar. A pebble thrown by a kruel glows coal-hot for that round; it hurls two per round at +2 to hit out to 40 yards with no range penalties, each dealing 1-4 hp. The stones can ignite combustibles (items save vs. normal fire) but cool after one round.

In melee a kruel wields flame blade, usable at will, along with a dagger, striking once with each per round without penalty. If it wins initiative, each blow that would hit it that round has a 30% chance to miss regardless of the roll. It resists fire as the spell. Cantrip and alter self are each available twice per day at 1st level, but because its red eyes never change, alter self serves for escape (flight or swimming) rather than disguise.

Kruels haunt the fringes of farm country, harrying families and livestock and sometimes burning a barn or hayrick, though never a whole crop or village, since that would spoil the fun. Helpless-looking travelers are favorite targets; some are carried off for torture, and survivors rarely recover fully. Fickle like all fey, they may raid a far-off farm again and again while sparing a near one.

Small, shifting bands lair in hidden woodland caves, each member with its own treasure cache. Eggs need several weeks of warmth to hatch, and the young mature in a year or two. A band has a 20% chance of keeping a pet pyrolisk, a pairing that hints at distant kinship.

A little of their old nature survives: pixies and certain wood elves still deal with them, and they never burn forests. Otherwise they steal produce, livestock and goods, forage nuts, berries and small game, and likely trade with shady creatures for the rest. They love finery but make nothing. No spell or potion use has been found for their body parts, to the regret of farmers who would gladly pay hunters.