 CLASS: BIOCONSTRUCT BIOLOGY: This tiny monster can keep its soft, balloon-like body airborn by no more than the flapping of its leathery ears as it seeks out its next meal, targeting creatures that are already asleep or otherwise unmoving. Usually alighting on the subject's head or chest, it quickly paralyzes them with a neurotoxic powder from its fur before extending a long, fine proboscis into the sinuses or ear canal to consume minute, usually inconsequential traces of brain tissue. Should a Skweep's host awaken during feeding, they will not only find themselves completely immobilized but will only perceive the Skweep as whatever figure their subconscious mind considers the absolute most distressing, with behavior to match. Even subjects that are already conscious and active when exposed to Skweep powder will experience its full effects for at least sixty seconds, and momentary flashes of the terrifying illusion may return at unpredictable intervals for hours or days.  BEHAVIOR: Skweep are of somewhat lower intelligence than most other monsters and usually interested in feeding, but they are sapient enough to appreciate the effects of their toxin. They regard themselves as inhabitants of two realms: the waking realm in which they are physically powerless, and the dream realm in which they are all-powerful, their pink powder serving as the gateway between the two. APPLIANCE: Despite their charismatically spider-like scurrying, Skweep are otherwise abhorred for the ease with which they can infiltrate dwellings and subject even the most formidable beings to a sometimes viscerally traumatic experience. They are particularly despised by Dreerie who consider them a form of competition and regard their methods as barbaric. Those who do employ a Skweep as an underling may put its abilities to any number of creative uses on the battlefield, its tiny size an advantage over other illusionary monsters whose true bodies may be easier to identify. Skweep toxin loses its potency within seconds of separation from the monster's body, and successful synthesis by any other means has yet to be achieved. SLEEP PARALYSIS: the Skweep can induce a state of immobility and delusion in other creatures, taking on a terrifying form in the eyes of the subject. FLOATATION: the monster can float through the air by inflating its body and flapping its ears. PROBOSCIS: the creature's thin proboscis can be inserted into the cranium of another creature to feed on brain matter.   Contents copyright Jonathan Wojcik
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