Baku

Creatures from Japanese mythology that resemble floating, tusked tapirs, bakus feed on sleeping folks’ dreams.  On the whole they are indifferent to PCs, though they might serve as allies if the characters show an appetite for fighting night hags.  They also come well armed with dream claws that act as magic cold iron against fey and demons who are vulnerable to such weapons. 

But their hunger for dreams and creativity can make these magical beasts the bane of artists, bards, and spellcasters who need a full night’s rest.  To those who can see past invisibility, the sight of a baku drifting in and out of unsuspecting folks’ bedrooms must be a disturbing one indeed.

The serpentfolk race rests in its epoch-long slumber…and bakus feast on their dreams.  But something is hunting the magical beasts.  With fewer bakus to devour their troubling nightmares, the serpentfolk are beginning to waken.  Meanwhile, the bakus that remain are restless with fear and attack all who approach.

An adventurer discovers her sister is not her sister at all, but an animate dream she gave form to as a child.  Worse yet, a baku has moved into the region and intends on reducing the dream-sister to cud.

Adventurers get themselves into trouble in Crone Row and need to flee before the night hags find out who is to blame.  A baku offers to guide them out of the Ethereal Plane, through a bizarre wonderland of talking plants and sparrow-like tengus, but his price is sampling—and possibly modifying—a memory once a day.  If the adventurers renege at any point in the journey, the baku instead leads them into a valley of nightgaunts and ethereal jaunts away.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 3 31

Did someone say tapirs?

After way, way too long an absence, I was back on the air this week.  My volume levels are still all over the place as I fight with the board, but the songs are good.  Check out the Muffs, Tove Lo, a Ramshackle Glory song I only just recently discovered, plus some DJ Krush for you old-school trip-hop fans.  Enjoy!