This humanoid creature has blackish-gray scales covering its semireptilian body. A thick layer of mucus drips from its body. Its bestial head sports slate-gray eyes with vertically slit pupils and a wide mouth lined with sharp teeth. Its hands end in filthy claws.
Cerebral Stalker CR 8
XP 4,800
CE Medium aberration
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 90 ft.; Perception +17
Environment any land
Organization solitary
Treasure none
A cerebral stalker is a carnivorous predator that lies in wait just below the surface of the ground for an unsuspecting victim to pass over or near it. When it detects its prey, the stalker bursts through the ground in a shower of rock and earth, cocoons its victim and disappears into the ground to devour the victimâs brain.
The lair of a cerebral stalker is a large, hollow chamber of earth, often littered with skull fragments, bits of webbing, and chunks of brain matter. Cerebral stalkers are solitary creatures and do not work in concert with others of their kind. They attack those of their own race if another attempts to take up residence in an area already inhabited by a cerebral stalker (the typical stalkerâs hunting ground covers an area of 5 square miles, though it rarely journeys that far from its lair). The lifespan and reproduction method of these creatures is completely unknown.
The cerebral stalker prefers to attack from ambush, hiding just below the surface of the ground where it uses its tremorsense ability to detect creatures moving above it. When it successfully detects a creature, it violently emerges from the ground (behind its target, if possible) and grabs the unsuspecting victim. A grappled opponent is quickly cocooned and pulled beneath the ground where its brain is devoured. Those interfering with the stalker as it sinks into the ground are subjected to its fear gaze.
Cerebral Stalker from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Author Scott Greene.