Darkmantle (Basic Lore)

Darkmantle (CR 1)
Pure Evil - Small - Magical Beast
Darkmantles are weird, magically potent beasts that are a menace nearly everywhere. If you can get a good look, they appear much like something almost aquatic, being roughly cone-shaped, with drapes of leathery hide between strong tentacles, and they move with eerie, unnatural motions, as if gravity holds little sway over them. Darkmantles originated, almost certainly, far beneath the ground, down in the nigh-mythical realms of the Unterwelt. Indeed, those mighty adventurers who venture down, down, far down, below even the warrens of the Dwarves, report that vast caverns full of these terrible things still infest the World Below. However, it is far more common, today, to find nests of these things in far less mystical places. At some point, somehow, Darkmantles escaped their deep underground domain, and surprisingly they thrive even in the domain of the sun. It seems that these things love the dark, and night time, and even shadows, are plenty to allow them to exist happily. Darkmantles are ambush predators and opportunistic scavengers. They prefer fresh meat, but will eat carrion without hesitation and have even been seen to subsist on fruits, nuts, and even vegetation. Darkmantles prefer to attack from a height, and are reliably reported to be able to 'swim' through the air with surprising facility. Birds have nothing to fear from a Darkmantle, but they can readily get themselves aloft and move about in battle with quick, jerky flaps of their tentacled mantle. Darkmantles prefer to lurk up high, and then plunge down upon victims, wrapping them in flaps of leathery hide and strong tentacles, with plenty of sharp claws. Perhaps most terrible, Darkmantles seem able to project a blot of inky darkness around themselves, meaning their attack is accompanied by the loss of vision, causing much terror. Darkmantles have also been reported to hide themselves in even thin shadows, using their magical blot of darkness to deepen even mild shade enough to hide within. Darkmantles are a menace to citizens, livestock, and children. When a nest of these things are confirmed, it behooves all heroes to expunge them without hesitation.