"The dharculus is a creature native to the Far Realm. These particularly deadly creatures hunt all other creatures that cross their paths without regard to rank or hierarchy. They possess little fear, being well protected from its prey."
"The dharculus are swimmers of the Border Ethereal; however, they have a singular ability to insert their made tentacle ends into the Prime Material Plane. These tentacles appear as a swarm of blind eel-like creatures slinging through the very air in a deadly school. To those who can see into the Ethereal, the 'eels' are merely the protruding tentacle tips of the dharculus. Following the multiple tentacles back, one would see that they come together in a fused braid, a thick and rigid worm link tube coming the main body of the creature. The posterior end of the cylindrical body loops back towards the front the a giant question mark, ending in a huge, drooling maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Five of the darculus' tentacle end in eyes instead of manipulator maws;"
Bruce Cordell, The Gates Of Firestorm Peak
Ok, after a little break I'm back with a weeks worth of bizarre D&D monsters.
This first weirdo debuted in the 1996 module The Gates Of Firestorm Peak. Jeff Easley did the cover art while Arnie Swekel did all the interior illustrations, including the dharculus.
This creature feels like a Lovecraftian monster and right up my alley. That's because it is. Bruce Cordell created the planes of madness aka Far Realms, inspired by the works of HPL, specifically for this module. The dharculus has the feel of a dhole or one of the things from beyond.
This next illustrations are from Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Four by Brian Despain followed by Guide To the Ethereal Plane by Adam Rex. Despain's is cool but a little too whacky for me. Rex's is really cool. It looks like an amalgamation of the Deadly Spawn and the Creature From the Black Lagoon!
Tomorrow will be a much more familiar creep, but also Lovecraftian.
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