The Strange Bestiary
A night spent in the grip of vivid, sensual dreams might be harmless, nothing more than the mind's nocturnal wanderings in unexpected places. Then again, the dreams might be manifestations brought on by an aganar's feeding, visions and fantasies stirred to life in sleep to nourish a weird parasitic creature that creeps from its underground lair under night's cover.
An aganar, sometimes called a dream thief, shares many physical traits with the squid. An aganar's tentacles are strong enough to support its weight and provide locomotion like legs. It sees using two eyes perched atop flexible eyestalks. The eyes have independent movement, and an aganar can stretch the stalks to look in any direction.
Motive: Devour the dreams of living creatures
Environment (Ardeyn | Magic): Anywhere in the Daylands at night in groups of one to three; anywhere in the Night Vault in groups of three to ten
Health: 21
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Movement: Short
Modifications: All tasks related to perception as level 8; all tasks related to climbing as level 6.
Combat: As generally peaceful creatures, aganars do not initiate fights. They want only to feed. When one comes within short range of a sleeping creature it can see (or within immediate range of a sleeping creature it can't see because of a solid obstacle), it begins to feed on the victim's psychic essence. The target must make an Intellect defense roll. On a failure, the aganar inflicts 5 points of Intellect damage, and the victim treats the next recovery roll he makes within twenty-four hours as if he had rolled a 1. After inflicting this damage, an aganar usually scuttles off. Once a victim takes this damage, he does not dream for several days. Aganars leave their victims alive. Killing them would only remove a source of food. Aganars know when creatures have been recently drained because they have no dreams to eat. If an aganar comes under physical attack, it uses its tentacles to defend itself and make attacks.
Aganars cannot tolerate ultraviolet radiation. Sunlight and other forms of such radiation cause their rubbery skin to blister and crack. Extended exposure can kill them and turn them into dark purple stains. An aganar takes 1 point of ambient damage each round it is exposed to sunlight or other forms of ultraviolet radiation.
Interaction: Aganars communicate by flashing stolen dream images at each other on their bioluminescent hides in complex patterns. Stories suggest that sometimes an aganar deposits a dream sequence in the mind of a sleeper as a form of communication, but most dreamers fail to understand the message's meaning. If the PCs descend into the Night Vault to find a spirit or seek out something else in that dark and foreboding place, they might gain the service of an aganar as a guide—provided they discern the meaning of its bioluminescent images and come up with some way of flashing images back in turn.
GM Intrusion:Intrusion: A sleeping character who takes Intellect damage from an aganar has a dream of such nightmarish horror that, upon waking, she sees all her allies as monstrous creatures until she succeeds on an Intellect defense roll