Shirokinukatsukami

Called the Eater of Dreams, this greater spirit looks stranger than almost any other. Its stout horse's body stands on huge tiger legs and is covered in fine brown or golden hair splashed with bold, bright patterns. Its face is a lion's with a heavy coarse mane, yet it has human eyes, an elephant's trunk and tusks, and a cow's tail. Apelike arms end in tiger paws with long purple claws. It laughs often, a sound like a crow cawing.

Fearless and courteous, the spirit warns would-be attackers of their folly before any fight it is not ambushed into, and offers them a chance to back away, sometimes with an alternative, such as urging an evil spirit to seek refuge in a temple and beg mercy from the celestial court of heaven so it can reform.

Anyone who attacks it, or harms a person under its protection, gets no mercy. It strikes with both forepaws and its tusks, and if both paws hit, it may make two additional rake attacks with its hind paws, each rolled normally, for 2-8 (2d4) damage apiece.

At will it can use detect evil, detect charm, detect shapechanger, detect harmony, and ESP. Once per round it may use smoke form, teleport without error, protection from evil, 10' radius, dream vision, dream sight, become astral, or invisibility. Three times daily it can use obedience, exorcise, pacify, cloud trapeze, and dispel evil, and once daily each heal and restore spirit.

Only weapons of +3 or better harm it. It ignores air-based attacks and poison, suffers half damage from fire, or none at all, and regenerates 2 hit points per round.

No more than four of these spirits likely exist. They keep no lair, roaming the mortal world and the heavenly lands hunting evil spirits. People plagued by such spirits can pray to the full moon or leave flowers and gifts on a windowsill to ask for help, and sometimes the heavenly emperor dispatches one to guard a deserving person.

It arrives at night through a window, usually invisible or as smoke, and stations itself at the head of its charge's bed. Through the night it destroys or drives off any evil spirit that comes near, then departs at first light; it is never seen by day. It speaks every human, humanoid, animal, and spirit language, plus that of the celestial court.

It feeds on the dreams of the person it guards, slipping into them freely while staying alert for danger. The sleeper suffers no harm. Someone who dreams of a shirokinukatsukami dancing, gardening, or otherwise at leisure knows a friendly one has visited.