Strigloi

There are those who lead lives so horrible that those who knew of their deeds allow them to live on in memory and tales told to frighten children. When these tales are told enough times by enough parents, they begin to assume form in the spirit world, and eventually begin to haunt the Prime Material Plane in ways much worse than bogeymen. These spirits, called strigloi, do not merely feed on fear... they feed on the flesh and blood of children, like the monstrous beings from the tales. Strigloi abduct children from their homes in the dead of night, and a child taken by one of these monsters is never seen again.

Strigloi appear as extremely ancient men or women, pale and wrinkled, with lank hair and covered in fine dust. They are capable of taking flight, and do this by simply leaping into the air, at which point they either become invisible or appear as a sparkling white light or flame.

Combat: The strigloi will never fight an adult if it can find any way to escape: They prey exclusively on the young, and prefer to devote their energies to their prey. As mentioned above, two successful hits allow the creature to carry its victim away. Strigloi have never been observed using their poisonous bite on the child they wish to abduct, but have always reserved that attack for anyone trying to defend the child. It might also use its paralyzing attack on defenders, only to take them into the air and drop them from a great height.

In addition to taking half damage from attacks leveled against it with nonmagical weapons, the foulness of this kind of spirit causes the weapon to corrode on contact, rotting or rusting immediately and breaking the next time an attempt is made to strike with it.

Accepted Alignments: Any evil.

Familiarity: A strigloi accepts any shaman who somehow demonstrates that he or she has power over it (briefly casts contain spirit on it, for example). It probably goes without saying, however, that no good-aligned shaman would want to establish relations with a creature such as a strigloi, but should attempt to destroy it.

Demands: Per spell that it sponsors, a strigloi expects one pint of fresh blood (from a sentient being) to be given to it every week. This is simply given to the physical manifestation of the spirit, without a formal sacrifice. Extra pints may be given in advance to create a "credit." Strigloi have no desire for worship.

Benefits: Strigloi can sponsor contain spirit, death candle, and haunting notes. Additionally, it has been said that strigloi can grant favored shamans the ability to cast vampiric touch (as the wizard spell) twice per day. Whatever foul rituals would need to be performed to gain that benefit, however, is known only to the most darkhearted spiritualists.