To someone seeking far-off wonders or desperately needed
water, mirages already seem cruel. So a
living mirage—a creature that not only misleads such seekers but also feeds off
them as well—is downright horrific, siphoning streamers of blood and fluids
from its confused and terrified victims, who die in agony just as they reach
the objects of their desires.
Most explorers never
reach the Blackstone Sphinx.
Magnetic deposits in the sand befuddle lodestones, and landmarks are few
and far between. But really it is the
explorers’ own hopes and dreams that do them in. Many spot the Sphinx miles before they
should, and rather than question their luck they run straight into the desiccating
embrace of a living mirage. Worse yet,
their dying frustration and desperation often traps their spirits in undead
forms of fear and confusion, such as allips and worse.
An enchanted isle
lies at the tip of the Finger Bone Keys—according to rumor that is. But sailors had best beware, the stories go,
because fierce seaweed (treat as Advanced) kelpies protect the island’s
secrets. Actually it is the island
itself that is deadly, for it is the home of a living mirage. The kelpies are merely opportunists who try
to snatch a share of the mirage’s victims.
Exploring a giant vessel
that fell from the sky long ago, adventurers come across a kind of nursery chamber
in one of the habitat pods. Adjusting a
dial causes the picture-walls to show a variety of fanciful and exotic
scenes. Soon phantasmal images begin
appearing in the room as well—animals and fey with whimsical shapes that match
the scenery. These are actually
holograms projected by a field of tiny nanobots. Unfortunately, the nanobots have not been
charged since the crash, and after five minutes the nanobots’ programming switches
to molecular harvest mode, consuming all those in the room in the same fashion
as a living mirage.
—Pathfinder Bestiary 5
159
Everyone like the reference to Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt”
there? #thanksmiddleschoolenglishclass
Also props to Bestiary 5’s authors for Ooze-type
creatures that aren’t oozes—a smart move.
Regarding yesterday’s post, a reader alerted me to some of
Pogo’s recent (2015) writing. Sigh. And sigh again. (Nope, not linking. MRA stuff.)
Given the amount of time he’s spent with Disney heroines, let’s hope he’s
spent some time with—and learned something from—some flesh-and-blood women in
the years since.
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