Screaming devilkin

Screaming devilkin were strange small fey creatures that resembled mephits, and were born out of potent feelings of panic.

Description
Screaming devilkin looked quite fiendish, appearing as small tall creatures with bat-like wings and a  barbed tail. Sages theorized that as fey, they were molded by folk's primal fears of fiends and devils. While some bards claimed that screaming devilkin were ugly because the feelings of panic and fear that spawned them was an abhorrent emotion.

Abilities
Screaming devilkin were competent and agile fliers, making it challenging using ranged weapons against them when they were in the air. However their stunted and stumpy legs made them slow and vulnerable when on the ground.

Screaming devilkins' ear-piercing screams could only be stopped by killing the creatures or via magical means, such as silence spell.

Personality
Born out of howls of panic, screaming devilkins delighted in sowing fear and confusion. They gathered in small flocks and inhabited lone forest boards and mountain passes where they ambushed travelers. Despite being malicious and evil beings, screaming devilkins preferred to keep their victims alive, injured, and devoid of all hope. In some cases, screaming devilkins were known to steal supplies from travelers, dooming them to a slow and lonely death. To make the suffering worse, the creatures pursued their victims, taunting them with the supplies they stole.

Combat
Screaming devilkins attacked from an ambush, lashing their targets with the long barbed tails. The creatures hollered in overwhelming shrieks that affected their targets' senses, causing panic and confusion. The screams could affect creatures within from devilkins.

Ecology
Despite their appearance, screaming devilkin inhabited the Feywild, and not Lower planes. They were created following a specific chain of events that occurred in the Feywild. When a creature felt overwhelming fear and panic, their screams echoed through the plane of Faerie. If the sound traveled at a certain angle between rocky cliffs in the night, the screaming echoes intensified until the sound became a deafening crescendo. When this happened, rocks shattered, birthing a flock of screaming devilkins.

Predators in the areas where screaming devilkins dwelt quickly learned that creatures shrieks meant some unfortunate soul was an easy still living prey. Screaming devilkin also were known to offer their allegiance to evil overlords or necromancers.

Habitats
Screaming devilkins could be found inhabiting mountains and foothills surrounding the city of Phlan of the Moonsea region.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds