CLASS: BIOCONSTRUCT

   The Crepugnant is a bashful, sluggish creature with an unnaturally distressing visage.

BIOLOGY:

The soft, boneless cranium of the Crepugnant acts as a powerful neural antenna, constantly broadcasting its unique cognowaves to other psychocompatible monsters. This signal hyper-sensitizes other beings to external stimuli with special focus on the Crepugnant itself, triggering uncontrollable terror and revulsion in those who perceive its finely writhing, squelching facial features. Even the soft, moist sound of its seething feelers and suckers can instill an escalating feeling of impending doom, and the lightest physical contact with its wet, twitching flesh can send affected individuals into blind panic.

Crepugnant feed mostly on plant matter, which they ferment over a long period within their hollow torso cavities. Young, reared in the same cavity, are not immune to the effects of their mother's visage, and all familial interaction is limited to sufficiently dark environments.

BEHAVIOR:

A Crepugnant tends to feel content, confident and even playful so long as it remains fully retracted, though this renders it effectively blind and deaf. With its face exposed, its mood dramatically plummets, and it may begin to weep the longer it believes it can be seen. During mating, the male and female tightly lock their torsal orifices, entwining their heads internally and feeling one another's features without visual contact.

The sight of a Crepugnant's own reflection will drive it to prolonged shock, unfortunately triggering a comatose state in anything already under its psychic influence.

APPLIANCE:

Even retracted, Crepugnant are sensitive enough to navigate and make generally powerful fighters, though their psychic effects are an obviously superior asset. The soft, elastic head and incredibly long neck can easily squeeze through small openings to terrorize well-hidden enemy combatants, and continue functioning for some time even severed from the body.