Moonweb

Moonwebs are greatly feared in the Sahuul Desert on nights of the full moon. Silently drifting above the dunes, they form misty clouds of almost-invisible tendrils which wrap around their luckless victim and draw the life from them.   Predators from the ethereal plane, Moonwebs can phase through the dimensional boundary when the moon is full to hunt. Even those able to see invisibility can only partially perceive the form of the Moonweb, which resembles an ethereal jellyfish. Once they have captured prey they drift away and phase back into the ethereal plane.   A Moonweb is essentially mindless, drifting utterly silently until they detect prey and lower into range. Their tendrils can stretch sixty feet, and it can swiftly replace them if they are broken. They are usually solitary hunters, but sometimes appear as a cloud, hunting collectively.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The moonweb's body resembles an aerial jellyfish, forming a near-invisible amorphous mass with long tendrils dangling below. It has no brain, depending on automatic reflexes in response to the stimuli it detects.   The tendrils dangle down from the body with gravity, and cannot stretch in other directions, but it can move its body to bring its tendrils into contact with prey. Hair-fine threads from the tendrils pierce the victim's flesh and paralyse it, leaving it able to only struggle weakly as it is reeled upward into the Moonweb's body to be engulfed.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Moonwebs prefer to ambush lone creatures or stragglers, drifting silently overhead until a suitable target passes below, whereupon it descends and drapes its tentacles around its prey. It then reels the creature in and engulfs it, starting to dissolve the prey as it floats away and phases back to the ethereal plane.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Eyeless and without hearing, a moonweb has a form of blindsight which allows it to detect living creatures within its range.
MoonWebs hunting in the Sahuul Desert by Geoff Hancock
Geographic Distribution

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