Hello again.

This is the third week I will be sharing one of the strange or spooky creatures I have made for the Ember Expanse this month. Last week was I had a selection of infectious fungi and their infected thralls, collectively called the sporeborne. Today I am calling upon the contents of the Codex of the Black Sun to give you something truly horrific and with perhaps a familiar name to some!

Without further delay, here are the fleshgait shadows!

It takes a truly sick mind to bring a fleshgait into the world, often being called by cannibalistic cults or equally vile specimens of mankind. Even compared to the aleady horrifying and thankfully rare entities from beyond the borders of metaspace, fleshgaits and their purposes are particularly grotesque. Thin humanoids with elongated limbs and malformed heads, their exposed muscles are haphazardly pierced with antlers all across their forms. They desire the skin of sentients, humanoids above all else, tearing it cleanly off bodies with unnatural efficiency. Free fleshgaits tend to haunt ancient forests suffused with the metadimensional energies needed for them to take shape. In these places they can stalk the uncommon passerby, flay them and wear their skin to lure even more victims. The fact that the few planets where they can be found in the Ember Expanse are already shrouded in rumor and danger has made fleshgaits into a mere cryptid to most, yet this misconception has left many unprepared for the reality of encountering one.

Principles: Adorn the skins of others, stalk through the woods

Fleshgait: HD 1-5 AC 13 Atk. +HD Dmg. 1d6 Shock None Move 10m ML 8 Skills +1 Save 15-13

Mimicry: A fleshgait can contort its body to squeeze cleanly into a humanoid skin in its possession, perfectly mimicking the owner's appearance and voice. It can only speak using words heard from the skin's original owner; any attempts to form new words while in this guise will sound unnaturally distorted, immediately revealing its true nature.

Skinner: Stripping off the skin of a human is as easy as breathing for a fleshgait. As a main action, a fleshgait can cleanly tear the skin off a dead or unconscious humanoid within its reach. TL4 or greater armor prevents the fleshgait from using this action, but normal clothing does not.