Nightstalkers

The Syklan hills are home to many dangerous critters, but none are more feared than the nightstalker. Only the brave and the stupid travel the hills at night: a single nightstalker has been known to bring down two or three well armed people. Since nightstalkers do not usually hunt alone, even larger groups of travellers are cautious about traversing the hills at night.
Nightstalkers are large sleek felines that live in caves in the Syklan hills. They live and hunt in packs of up to fifteen, and are fiercely territorial. Feeding only every few days they spend most of their time patrolling their territory, sunbathing or looking after the cubs. Although they live in the hills, they often come down onto the steppes to hunt food from the herds of grazing beasts. Hunting in packs they employ teamwork to sepparate a few stragglers from the herd then swiftly despatch them. Once they have brought down two or three beasts they tear the carcasses into smaller pieces and carry them back to their caves in the hills.
Nightstalkers only appeared in this area after The Great Quake, and are actually a hybrid of two similar species of large cat. The tsunamis drove many of the large, black panthers out of the southern jungles onto the plains, and earthquakes and volcanoes did the same for the mountain lions from the north. Over time the two species interbred and their superior offspring soon rose to dominance. There are no longer any known remaining examples of the original species in the central plains.
Their black colouring, excellent night vision and heightened sense of smell make them perfect night hunters. Moving silently through the grass and shrubs of the steppes like liquid shadows they can be be on their prey before they are even aware they are there. Powerful haunches allow them to leap at their prey with great force, knocking them to the ground and pinning them down under the nightstalkers weight. Once the prey has been brought down, another nightstalker darts in to rip out it's throat with strong jaws. The kill is then torn apart using their long sharp claws and teeth.