Planar Bestiary
In the Feywild, under the faded colors of an ever-setting sun, fierce and deadly crake streak through the forests and over the hills. Iridescent crake are devious, adroit at escaping the unseelie fey's hunt one moment, only to turn unexpectedly on their pursuers and become the hunters.
Combining elements of fast avians and huge reptiles, these enormous creatures sport glittering scales and a ruff of iridescent feathers around their heads, which they can extend in a proud crest, or fold back as they run through the tangle of sharp-toothed brambles and syrupy fens they prefer.
The glitter speckling a crake's scaled hide and that whirls in their wake is beautiful, but poison to breathe or touch. This gives a crake an edge when hunting down smaller prey, or when dealing with fey hunters eager to add a crake head to their trophy wall.
Crake are sometimes called "feathered dreams" because their poison can cause hallucinations in prey even as it kills them.
GM Intrusion (Group):The iridescent crake makes a high, piercing call. Two more crake emerge from the foliage, allying with the first.
Motive: Defense, hungers for flesh
Environment: The Feywild or near fey crossings in worlds of the Material Plane, alone or in groups of two
Health: 15
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Movement: Short; immediate when climbing
Modifications: Speed defense as level 1 due to huge size; perception as level 5; restraining bitten targets with teeth as level 5
Combat: If an iridescent crake is hit with an attack, a puff of iridescent dust settles over all creatures within immediate range. Creatures in the area that fail a Might defense task are poisoned for one minute, during which time all their tasks are hindered.
The crake's bite inflicts damage and , on a failed difficulty 5 Might defense task, the target is grabbed until they escape with a successful Might task as their action. A grabbed victim automatically takes bite damage each round.
About once each minute, the crake can breathe out a great blast of poison gas. Any target held in their mouth is automatically affected. Other creatures within immediate range that fail a Might defense task are also affected, taking 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) from the poison.
If the crake does nothing on their turn except move, they become invisible as their turn ends, and remain so for up to one minute, or until they attack another creature.
Interaction: Hungry and cunning, crake are clever predators, and won't try to take down prey that proves too dangerous.
Use: A group of shadow fey pursue a flock of iridescent crake across a dimensional veil into mortal realms.