Giants of Azurth

The Giants of Azurth are a varied lot, not strictly fitting into Gygaxian categories. The giants in the country of Yanth are typically primitive and almost certainly not very bright, though they are not necessarily evil (though they're likely to be). This:

And this:

Would reflect your typical Yanth giant. There is some evidence that was not always the case and that in some remote time (maybe before Azurth became Azurth) there were floating cities of blue-skinned, giantish folk, who enjoyed a life of science fictional splendor as only mid-century America could correctly imagine. They looked something like this:

They all disappeared and their cloud cities are mostly abandoned, except perhaps for a few degenerate examples.

Beyond Yanth, in the countries of Sang and Virid, giants are often less human looking and more uniformly hostile--though still not exclusively. This would be a giant you might find in those lands:

Azurthite Bestiary: Cosmic Cat

Art by Joel Priddy

It is fearfully discussed by nervous rats in conclaves beneath the cities of Man, casually rumored by upended bats hanging from branches in moonlight, and philosophically considered by telepathic xvats scuttling slowly through frigid, Plutonian twilight, that there are ultraerrene creatures not unlike cats, that visit Earth from some higher sphere. These Cosmic Cats may leap from a passing comet or arrive curled and napping upon a falling star.

To call a Cosmic Cat a cat is to rely on the most superficial of resemblances. It has the general shape of a common cat (if one ignores the fleshy antennae) to be sure, but it is about size of a lynx, and its tail tapers to a point in an almost reptilian fashion. It has no fur, and its silken hide is awash with changing patterns of color like some varieties of cuttlefish.

What Cosmic Cats do on Earth is their own affair, and rarely does it seem to others that they have any goal whatsoever--but here one would do well not to jump to conclusions. The cats demonstrate (or at least they claim to possess) a cosmic awareness that renders all time and distance transparent. Certainly, they seem to have great insight--any Cosmic Cat you meet will tell you as much--but when they share that insight with others, they inevitably do so highly cryptic manner.

COSMIC CAT
small aberration, chaotic neutral (good)
AC 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 85
Speed: 40 ft.
STR 14(+2) DEX 15(+2) CON 16(+3) INT 19(+4) WIS 16(+3) CHA 16(+3)
Skills  Insight +8
Damage Immunities bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages telepathy 120 ft.

Limited Magic Immunity. A cosmic cat is immune to spells of 6th level or lower unless it wishes to be affected. It has advantage on saving throws against all other spells and magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The cosmic cat's spellcasting ability is intelligence (spell save DC 15). It can innately cast the following spells with no components:

At will: blink, detect magic, detect thoughts
3/day: confusion, hypnotic pattern, levitate, identify
1/ day: plane shift (self only)

Actions:
Bite. Melee weapon attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) piercing damage.

Sirens

Art by Diane Özdamar

In the first part of my pirate-Sargasso adventure "In Doom's Wake" the PCs encountered three unusual, but alluring creatures in a half-submerged wreck. There were 3 Cecalian (thanks, internet!) mermaids: Giddy, Sheela, and Pru. In place of legs, or a traditional mermaids fish tail, they had squid-like tentacles--a vampire squid's webbed tentacles in this case, making them look like they wore long skirts. They also had a color change and light-producing ability like a cuttlefish. In 5e, I statted them pretty much like Merfolk with a few special features. Here are their abbreviated stats:

AC 11, HP: 16
STR: 10, DEX:13 (+1), CON: 12 (+1), INT: 11, WIS 11, CHA 13 (+1)

Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage. Hit creature is grappled (escape DC 12).

Mesmerizing Light Display. As the spell Hypnotic Pattern. Wisdom save or be charmed (incapacitated, speed of 0). DC 11 to resist.

In all other respects they had the abilities of Merfolk.

Draconic Correspondences

This comes from a productive accidental brainstorming with Richard and Mateo on G+ yesterday. Something formed will hopefully come from this.

Chromatic Dragon Colors & Alchemical Associations:
Black: lead, vitriol (sulfuric acid), fire, the smell of sulfur, putrefation, phelgmatic.
Blue: tin, rust, water, acrid smell, dissolution, melancholic.
Green: copper, earth, saltpeter, chlorine smell, amalgamation, sanguine.
Red: iron, air, sodium carbonate, rotten egg smell, separation, choleric.
White: silver, alchemical mercury, after a rain smell, unemotional.

All in the Family

The monstrous crone that was once a pirate queen broods beneath the decks of her decaying flagship, Doom's Wake. Her many descendants, mutated by demonic taint, carry on their grandam's murderous trade:

Art by David Lewis Johnson

Perdita

Daring and cunning, she would also be beautiful if not for her green-scaled skin and the barbels drooping from the edges of her upper lip. Stats: As Bandit (Pirate) Captain, with the  +1 AC in light armor and swimming and climbing rates of the Mariner Fighting Style.

Squalo

His broad nose, gray skin, and finned head recall a shark--but no more so than his wide mouth full of serrated, triangular teeth. He is vicious, but is not as smart as Perdita and knows it. Stats: As a Sahaugin, but without shark telepathy or claws. Besides his bite, he wields a cutlass as a weapon.

"Handsome" Blut

Scarred, pale, hulking brute in a featureless wood mask, beneath the mask his mouth is a lamprey-like sucker with a circular array of teeth. Stats: As Berserker but with a bite attack like a Vampire Spawn, but necrotic damage and drain like a Wight's life drain attack.

Azurthite Bestiary: Bad Seeds

Bad Seeds are made by evil magicians and the like out to undermind Good Azulina and the rightful order of the Land of Azurth. They are made from combination of a Green Man root, a moonless night, and an unwholesome ritual whose full details are regrettably quite easy to find in magical tomes. Depending on certain details of the rite and the place of planting, different types of Bad Seed are cultivated. 

 Twig Bad Seeds have the form of crude stick dolls or effigies. They wait at the side of lonely woodland trails or guard the abodes of witches in haphazard clusters. You must be very cunning and quick to see them move before they strike. There are stores of giant twig seeds that stride through the forest like wicker giants and throw victims in the cages of their chest. 

 Thorn Bad Seeds can stand upright if they wish, but mostly they roll like bramble bush tumbleweeds making rasping noises like the growl of a dog. The spilling of blood greatly excites them. They seem to be able to taste it on the air.

Vine Bad Seeds usually take the form of slithery masses and like to hide in dark places. Other than the susurrus of their movement, they make no other sound. They will often stalk prey, stealing small items and causing confusion before finally striking.

 Bad Seeds are statted like the comparable Blight in the Monster Manual.

Not a Bad Seed, but another plant creature: a Heap as rendered by David Lewis Johnson:

Here Comes the Moon Goon

I've blogged about these guys before--twice in fact. But I've never before had an illustration of their weird villainousness. Now I do, thanks to Matthew Adams.

Moon Goons get their name from their heads or masks, large, round, and faintly luminous like the Moon, and their vile behavior. The Moon Goons avoid the real moon, only striking when it is new. Their spindly, bone-white limbs are animated with odd gestures and faintly aglow despite the lack of moonlight. They are forever mumbling and conversing, but their lips never move and their speech is unintelligible.

Azurthite Bestiary: Heap

Heaps are lumbering creatures most commonly found in the bottomland swamps along the Yellow River in the Country of Yanth, particular in the environs of Lardafa, the Beggar City. They appear as anthropomorphic mounds of plant material, sometimes mixed in garbage.

Though only a few in the Land of Azurth are aware of their origins, Heaps are made when the process of generating a Green Man goes awry, leaving them unconnected to the spirits of nature, and dumb brutes, in the main. Heaps are nevertheless dimly aware of what their mission would have been and at least seem to intend to protect the forests where they dwell, though their means of doing so is not always effective.

Heaps are feared by most folk (and not without some reason),  but Lardafans view them with reverence and augur meaning from their mysterious comings and goings.

HEAP
large plant, neutral
AC 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 128 (15d10+45)
Speed: 20 ft.
STR 18(+4) DEX 8(-1) CON 16(+3) INT 8(-1) WIS 11(+0) CHA 7(-2)
Skills  Stealth +2
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing
Condition Immunities blinded, deafened
Senses passive Perception 10.

False Appearance. A heap looks a mound of vegetation if it lies motionless.

Actions:
Multiattack. A heap makes two slam attacks per round.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 13(2d8+4) bludgeoning damage.

Azurthite Bestiary: Deodand, Leprous

Deodands are a horrible danger in the darkness of Subazurth, and the Leprous Deodand is perhaps the most feared of the lot. Not only do they favor humankind in preference to all other meals, but they spread a wasting disease to many who are lucky enough to escape their clutches. The no doubt terror-tinged recollections of their appearance agree on most points: They are giantish, like other deodands, but with an emaciated look. Their sore-marked and flaking skin hangs in loose folds as if they are wasting away within it. Their lips are receded back from their mouths lending them a permanent rictus. Their eyes are wide and vacant. The only sound they make is a desiccated wheeze or sigh, or a corpse-moan.

DEODAND, LEPROUS
large monstrosity, neutral evil
AC 20 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 126 (12d10+60)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 17(+3) DEX 18(+4) CON 20(+5) INT 12(+1) WIS 12(+1) CHA 17(+3)
Saving Throws  Dex +8 Con +9 Wis +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 11.

Magic Resistance. A leprous deodand has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.
Contagion. A creature that touches a leprous deodand or is touched or hit by it must make a DC 15 Constitution save or become infected. One day later the individual develops a flesh rotting which gives a vulnerability to all damage. At the end of each long rest, the infected must make a DC 15 Constitution save or the disease progresses. At the end of the next long rest the disease has spread so that they have a disadvantage to Charisma checks. At the end of the second long rest they can a disadvantage on Constitution checks. Three successful saves cause the disease's progression to halt and healing to begin. Three failures mean the effects become permanent.
Sunlight Weakness. In anything brighter candlelight, a deodand have a disadvantage to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Bright sunlight causes them to melt like film in a projector, losing i hit dice worth of hit points a round.

Actions:
Multiattack. A leprous deodand may make two claw attacks.
Rotting Claw. +8 to hit. 10 ft. reach, 1 target. Hit: 10 (1d6+7) plus 1d6 necrotic damage.

The Weird Monsters of Krypton

Yesterday, I posted the map of Krypton and suggested it as a setting for a weird fantasy game. What would be a weird fantasy game without weird monsters? Don't worry. Krypton has got that covered too. Here's a brief list:

Drang: A giant, purple serpentine creature with a single horn.
Fish-Snake: poisonous snake-things living in the Fire Falls.
Flame Dragon: A bat-winged, dragon-like creature that breathes fire.
Ice Bird: Polar-dwelling birds with razor-sharp talons.

Metal Eater: An animal that looks something like a giant, prehistoric tapir and eats metal.
Pryllgu: A large, reptillian sea creature that attacks ships.
Rondor: A ponderous ungulate-type creature with a single horn with curative properties.

Telepathic Hound: They can locate people at a distance via mind-reading.
Thought-beast: Rhinocerous-sized, ceratopsian creatures whose frill acts like a video screen that projects there thoughts and intentions to the world.
Yagrum: A large, vaguely cat-like carnivore.

Azurthite Bestiary: The Face of the Deodand

In previous posts, I've mentioned the three species of deadly deodands in Subazurth beneath the Land of Azurth proper. Now, you, the reading public, can see what these horrible creatures look like from the safety and comfort of your own home. I commissioned artist Matthew Adams to render the deodands from the descriptions of first hand accounts. Here is the startling and slimy Gleimous Deodand for your education and wonder:

Zonal Aberrations

Aberrations (not to be confused with the D&D monster type) are a type of hazard encountered in zones. The resemble mobile anomalies in some ways, but they exhibit wider patterns of behavior, resembling (at least in limited observation) living things. They are abiologic, however; their tissues (if they have them at all) appear undifferentiated to close inspection, or they may have simulacra of organs that are clear nonfunctional. They do not appear to eat, grow, or reproduce, though they sometimes mimic behaviors associated with these activities. They can not be destroyed or driven off by "wounding" them (in most cases, it's unclear if they can be wounded) but must be completely destroyed.

Aberrations have a substance (similar to the manifestations of anomalies), a behavior pattern, and effects/abilities. A lot of D&D monsters would make good inspiration for aberrations. So are some paranormal or folkloric entities but keep in mind in their game usage they are more like obstacles or traps than monsters to be fought. Slimes and oozes are good models. You could destroy them, but it's generally more fruitful to just avoid them.

Unlike most anomalies, aberrations can spot/notice things approaching them as well as being noticed themselves--though the sensory modality by which they do this isn't clear. They are not usually as tied to as specific an area as anomalies, but most will have a specific territory, in the way an animal might.

Substance
1  Apparition
2  Construct
3  Crystalline/Mineral
4  Flesh
5  Fluid
6  Gas
7  Growth
8  Light
9  Ooze/Slime/Gelatinous
10 Shadow

Behavior
1  Ambusher. Lies in wait, sometimes in a dormant or indolent state, until approached.

2  Builder. Involved in some sort of construction project like a nest or nonrepresentational sculpture.

3  Chaser. After detecting target, follows targets at a high rate of speed.

4  Collector. Forages for particular objects or objects with particular characteristics.

5  Follower. Loosely joins with the target, following at a respectful distance without overt hostility.
6  Guard. Only active in a certain area. Patrols and menaces those who enter.

7  Harbinger. Appearance precedes some other event.

8  Lurker. Follows targets, but furtively, as if shy.

9  Mimic. Seems to repeat the actions or behaviors of a target.

10 Ritualist. Performs certain fairly complicated but perhaps mundane actions over and over.

11 Swarm. Smaller entities surround targets.

12 Snooper. Curious, possibly annoyingly and intrusively so, but not threatening.

13 Stalker. After detecting target, hunts it over distances.

14 Watcher. Stays in plan view, but at some remove as if only there to observe. No direct interaction.

Effects: Use the table for Zonal Anomalies--or borrow from a monster.

Examples:
chasing shadow: Too thick and deep black to be natural, the chasing shadow is nevertheless able to lurk unseen in normal darkness. It slides out of hiding when a living thing draws near, and if not stopped, attaches itself to them at their feet like a normal shadow--though does not also flow out in the same direction as the natural one. It slowly begins to crawl up the victims body and if not stopped, will cover a person complete in darkness in 20-30 hours. Over the next 30-45 minutes it will contort and collapse their body until only the flat shadow remains. What happens to the victim is unknown. If caught early, the shadow can be removed but only if the victim is surrounded by bright light and a small laser (like a laser pointer, for example) is used carefully "cut" away from the chasing shadow.

grim: Something like the featureless, white quadrupedal shape, surrounded by blotchy redness, like the silhouette of a large dog outlined in red spray paint. Grims simply appear on high ground, never approaching, and retreating if they are approached. They usual appear after someone has been seriously wounded, and Zone hunters fear them as a harbinger of death.

memory flashes: Groups of will-o'-the-wisp-like flashes of light with colorful after-images. They move quickly to swarm around a person, typically for no more than a minute. After the flashes pass, a person so caught will have one or more new memories of things that happened to someone else instead of them. They will also likely notice at some point that one or more of their own memories are missing--always small, discrete things, but perhaps important (like a telephone number of the location of something).

An Introduction to the Elementals of Subazurth

The primal elements of Subazurth are not the same as in the Land of Azurth above, though why this is so is not entirely clear. Perhaps they represented altered or tainted refuse from the creation of Azurth by the giant crystal gnome, Gob, under the direction of the Lady Azulina. Here are the elements as found in the world beneath the world:

Art by Juan Diego Dianderas

Ooze/Slime:It's elementals are slimes or jellies. The viscous, semi-liquid Kingdom of Oozurth with its laminar fiefdoms connects to bubbling Lake Ooze,

Crystal: It's elementals are fae folk composed of gem or crystal. It intrudes upon the environs of Troglopolis as the Crystal Forest.

Magma: It's elementals are various fae folk composed of lava or magma. It's people are kept out of the upper levels of Subazurth for the trouble they cause, however innocently.

Art by Valterri

Dust: It's elements tend to be indolent folk, resting as often as they cane, though some cause mischief as swirling dust devils. They lay claim to unused caverns, but their primary habitat is the air itself beyond many a yawning precipe.

Azurth Monster Review

Yesterday's tigerpillar was only the beginning. Here's some other entries from the bestiary you might have missed:

Deodand, Hirsute and Gleimous varieties.
Dragonborn are a different thing in the deserts of Sang.
Manhound. "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."
Moon Goon arrives in a lead balloon.
Super-Wizard ancient, ultra-powerful alien wizards.

Azurthite Bestiary: Tigerpillar

by B.R. Guthrie

Tigerpillars are horrible because they are always hungry. Owing to their magical nature (their creation blamed on one ancient and obviously depraved sorcerer or another), their organs are all mixed up--in one place tiger-like and another more like an inchworm--and they can never get fully satiated. They make their lairs in remote places in the wilderness or underground not because they prefer these places, but there they can devour whatever unfortunates might happen by with less interference.

Some say the tigerpillar metamorphizes into an adult form--a tiger moth or slaughterfly, perhaps--at some point, but others say this is nonsense.

TIGERPILLAR
large monstrosity, unaligned
AC 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 51 (6d10+18)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 17(+3) DEX 13(+1) CON 16(+3) INT 3(+4) WIS 12(+1) CHA 8(-1)
Skills: Perception +3, Stealth +3
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13.

Keen Smell. The tigerpillar an advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on smell.

Pounce. If the tigerpillar moves at least 20 ft. straight toward a creature then hits it with a claw on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the tigerpillar can make one bite attack it as a bonus action.

Actions:
Multiattack. The tigerpillar makes two attacks: one with its claws and one with its bite.
Bite. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+3) piercing damage.
Claws. +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 7 (1d8+3) slashing damage.

Azurthite Bestiary: Super-Wizard

Before there ever was a Land of Azurth, an ancient race known as Super-Wizards strode the various worlds as demi-gods, bending the forces of matter, energy, and time to their inscrutable and sometimes nonsensical will. They built strange cities and monuments and worked weird wonders, and they among themselves and with primordial monsters. It was hubris that led to their end. Either by their own hand they unleashed forces that even they could not master, or their arrogance troubled the sleep of the Slumbering God enough that his dreams conceived their doom. In any case, their very planet that once occupied the sphere between Mars and Jupiter was lost in a cataclysm.

The Super-Wizards' power being what it was, there is always a chance, however, that some escaped the fate of their world and are plotting with immortal patience their re-ascendance. It is the official position of the most learned arcane scholars of Azurth that the Super-Wizards are no more. However, the Wizard of Azurth and the Mysteriarchs of Zed are known to pay handsomely for an information about the Super-Wizards, particularly as might hint to their continued existence.

The following stats represent an "average" member of the Super-Wizard race. Exceptional individuals will be far more formidable.

SUPER-WIZARD
medium humanoid, any alignment
AC 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 139 (13d10+74)
Speed: 30 ft.; fly 90 ft.
STR 18(+4) DEX 18(+4) CON 18(+4) INT 17(+3) WIS 17(+3) CHA 18(+4)
Saving Throws  Con +8 Cha +8
Skills Arcana +7, Insight +7, Perception +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons, cold, necrotic
Senses passive Perception 17

Spellcasting. Most Super-Wizard's are 10th-level spellcasters, with a number of spell slots equivalent to a Sorcerer of the same level. Their spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with attack spells). Their spells never requirement material components. They The following spells are common:

Cantrips (at will): Friends, Light, Mage Hand, Message1st level: Comprehend Languages, Disguise Self, Thunderwave2nd level: Alter Self, Detect Thoughts, Scorching Ray3rd level: Blink, Haste, Protection from Energy4th level: Dimension Door5th level: Teleportation Circle

Magic Resistance. A Super-Wizard has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.

Actions:
Multiattack. A Super-Wizard can make two melee attacks.
Melee Weapon. Super-Wizards employ a variety of over-sized or exotic appearing simple or martial weapons which function like standard ones of their type.

Azurthite Bestiary: Deodand, Gleimous

The lucifugal monsters called deodands are a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of Subazurth. The Gleimous variety may well be the most foul of them, adding the insult of its slimy excess to the already sufficient injury of its anthrophagousness. No specimen of a gleimous deodand has ever been examined in detail, but the reports of those unlucky enough to have encountered them and lucky enough to have survived give the impression of a hunched and hairless body, emaciated, but suprisingly strong. At least three, bloodshot eyes of differing sizes protrude from their flat faces, and a great, multi-headed, wet, worm-like tongues writhes between fearsomely toothed jaws, agape and heavily drooling. This heavy drool it wipes on its arms and hands and is what gives the beast its name.

They are recognized by their peculiar vocalizations: an idiot snickering, punctuated by the occasional sniffle, and wet, lip-smacking sounds. They tend to mark potential pray by licking the unfortunate first or perhaps starting with their unattended belonging before moving to the individual. Later, they snatch them from the darkness. They tend to feed on skin, striping it with their abrasive tongues, and them dismember the corpse to more easily break the bones and suck out the marrow. The flesh itself is left for the scavengers.

DEODAND, GLEIMOUS
large monstrosity, neutral evil
AC 21 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 139 (13d10+74)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 17(+3) DEX 18(+4) CON 20(+5) INT 11(+0) WIS 12(+1) CHA 17(+3)
Saving Throws  Str +7 Dex +8 Con +9 Wis +5
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 11.

Magic Resistance. A gleimous deodand has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.
Slime. A creature that touches a gleimous deodand or hits it with a melee attch while within 5 ft. must make a DC 12 dexterity save or take 3 (1d6) points of acid damage from flying drool.
Sunlight Weakness. In anything brighter candlelight, deodand have a disadvantage to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Bright sunlight causes them to melt like film in a projector, losing i hit dice worth of hit points a round.

Actions:
Multiattack. A gleimous deodand may make two claw attacks and one bite or tongue lash.
Claw. +8 to hit. 10 ft. reach, 1 target. Hit: 11 (1d8+7) damage.
Tongue Lash. +9 reach 10 ft.; one target. Hit: 10 (1d6+7) damage plus 1d6 acid damage from caustic saliva.
Bite. +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit:  (1d8+7) plus 1d6 acid damage from caustic saliva.

Azurthite Bestiary: Deodand

The deodand are a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of Subazurth. Its appetite is insatiable, and it prefers to feed on people above all else. It abhors the light, and as a consequence no deodand has ever been seen clearly--or at least no one has survived the encounter to give a full description.

It is the general consensus that their are three varieties of deodand: leprous, gleimous, and hirsute. A fourth type, the slithery or lubricous is mentioned in some texts, but its existence is disputed. Glabrous and rugose varieties are described in Hokum's A Compleat and Entirely Accurate Bestiary of Subazurth, but the contents of that work are often as dubious as its title.

This is what is known of appearance of deodands in general: They are roughly human in shape, but taller. Their eyes glow like smoldering coals in the darkness. They seem no more intelligent than beasts and use no tools.

Today, we'll consider the Hirsute Deodand.

DEODAND, HIRSUTE
large monstrosity, neutral evil
AC 20 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 157 (15d10+75)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 18(+4) DEX 14(+2) CON 21(+5) INT 11(+0) WIS 16(+3) CHA 18(+4)
Saving Throws  Str +9 Con +10 Wis +8
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities poison
Senses Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 13.

Magic Resistance. A hirsute deodand has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.
Stench. Within 5 feet, make a DC 13 save or be sick.
Sunlight Weakness. In anything brighter candlelight, deodand have a disadvantage to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Bright sunlight causes them to melt like film in a projector, losing i hit dice worth of hit points a round.

Actions:
Multiattack. A hirsute deodand may make two claw attacks and one
Claw. +9 to hit. 10 ft. reach, 1 target. Hit: 12 (1d8+8) damage.
Bite. +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (2d6) damage.

Hirsute deodands are large, gangingly humanoids, their mass filled out by thick, course, foul-smelling hair. Their only vocalization is a phlegmatic growl or chortle. Only their malevolent red eyes are ever seen.

Deodands move silently and quickly for creatures so large, The favorite tactic of a hirsute deodand is to snatch folk from parties traveling through Subazurth--perhaps stragglers or merely the unaware--snuff their light source quickly, then carry them into the darkness to consume at their leisure. They consider eyes a delicacy. Their meeps of pleasure can sometimes be heard reverberating through dark and cavernous places. It might otherwise be a comical sound, but is chilling in context.

Azurthite Bestiary: Moon Goon

Moon Goons get their name from their heads or masks, large, round, and faintly luminous like the Moon, and their vile behavior. The Moon Goons avoid the real moon, only striking when it is new. Their spindly, bone-white limbs are animated with odd gestures and faintly aglow despite the lack of moonlight. They are forever mumbling and conversing, but their lips never move and their speech is unintelligible.

They arrive in balloons--or what look like balloons--but their gondolas are slung from metal spheres with the appearance of lead. The spheres are hollow, and no one knows from where they derive their buoyancy nor what propels them forward. Perhaps the Moon Goons know, but they don't say. Each gondola carries 2-3 moon goons. They arrive in groups of 2-4 balloons.

They prey on small, isolated villages or farms. The items that interest them are often not particularly valuable at all--at least not in the strict monetary sense. Sentimental value seems the be the primary quality evident in the things they steal.

Moon goons try to put the humans they rob to sleep with the silvery metallic rods they carry. The slumber the rods produce sleep plaqued by weird nightmares. Humans that prove resistant to their rods or harm one of the moon goons raiders, may find themselves on sharp end of their scalpel-like knives.

MOON GOON
medium aberration, neutral evil
AC 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 22 (4d8+4)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 11(+0) DEX 13(+1) CON 12(+1) INT 13(+1) WIS 12(+1) CHA10(+0)
Skills: Stealth +6
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11.
Languages Understands any language but don't speak any of them

Magic Resistance. A Moon Goon has an advantage against spells and other magical effect.

Actions:
Rod. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, one target in a 30 foot range. Hit: On a failed DC 12 Constitution save, the target falls to sleep.
Scalpel-like Knife. Melee Weapon Attack. +4 to hit, 5 ft. reach, one target, Hit: 1d8.

Azurthite Bestiary: Manhound

Art by Jeremy Duncan

There are archfey that resent the so-called civilization of Man and desire the return to a more natural state. These beings sometimes gift their cultists with a ritual which can transform humans into a bestial form and brings their bloodlust to the fore.

The manhound looks human twisted into an approximation of a cannine shape, becoming only a little more hirsute in the process. The may be distinguished from lycanthropes in that they only have one form (a mostly quadrepal hybrid) and only vaguely resemble in specific species of animal. Their "curse" is not contagious nor are they gifted with any of the immunities or weaknesses of the lycanthrope.

MANHOUND
medium humanoid (shapechanger), chaotic or neutral evil
AC 10 in human form, 12 (natural armor) in hound form
Hit Points: 30 (7d6+6)
Speed: 30 ft.
STR 14(+2) DEX 13(+1) CON 12(+1) INT 10(+0) WIS 12(+1) CHA10(+0)
Skills: Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13.
Languages Common (unable to speak in manhound form)

Animal-Like Hearing and Smell. Has an advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on hearing or smell.
Shapechanger. Under the influence of an ancient spell, normal humans are turned into humanoid quadrapeds for the duration of the spell (typically 2-8 hours). Their abilities scores remain unchanged in human form.

Actions:
Bite. +3 to hit, reach 5 ft.,one target. Hit: 4 (1d6+1) piercing damage. A creature must succeed on a DC 11 Strength check on be knocked prone.