Species Description:
Class: greater daemon
The tharleseer, better known as 'Gulper daemons' are a particularly vile species
that inhabit certain regions of the Lower Planes where they prey upon any
unfortunate being small enough to fit down their sizeable maw. They serve no
particular god or daemon prince and fortunately stay mostly in the underworlds
but there are always exceptions. Despite their beastly appearance, they are
highly intelligent and are capable of speech through a sort of 'one way'
telepathy (i.e. they're not mind-readers but can speak into other minds). They
also exude constantly strange, sweet but sickly smelling pheromones that tend to
lower the guard of other creatures in their vicinity, making hunting more easy.
This scent is instantly recognisable to anyone who has encountered a tharleseer
before although for most a first encounter with a gulper is one's
last.
Tharleseers received the term 'gulper' by merit of their eating habits: since their jaws are not capable of a sideways chewing motion, they simply gulp their (preferably alive and screaming) victim down whole a it like a snake only quicker. The sagging flesh all along their underbelly is highly distendable, allowing for the consumption of large amounts of food. Rather unpleasantly, this skin is also translucent allowing an onlooker to view those unfortunate enough to have become the contents of its digestive tract.
Occasionally a Gulper will find its way onto the mortal plane. When this happens they prefer to find a remote settlement somewhere not too sunny, perferably in terrain where there's plenty of places to hide and pick off stray individuals. Frequently such blighted settlements are totally unaware of the daemon's presence and the vanishing of their neighbours and travellers is a complete mystery (and they tend to give dragons, rocs or griffins the blame).
Average Statistics
Diet: carnivore (preferably of the flesh of intelligent beings)
Life expectancy: immortal in underworld, ~500 years on mortal plane.
Solitary/Group (number): solitary