Uzollru

❌

Uzollrus were arthropodal obyrith demons of truly titanic size, awful leviathans that scoured the dark depths of Dagon's Shadowsea for prey.

Description
Uzollrus had the vague appearance of a giant centipede with dozens of spiny flippers rather than legs. Their head was like that of a sea anemone with a bulging red eye at the center and five long tentacles extending from behind the eye in a radial pattern around it. On both sides of their heads were gigantic arms like those of a lobster ending in tremendous, barbed claws.

Behavior
Uzollrus weren't particularly intelligent creatures, their primary drive being the desire to consume, something they relished in doing. Though always on the hunt, their craving for flesh was rooted not in hunger but hatred, and even after eating they wouldn't stay sated for long.

Abilities
Uzollrus possessed incredible strength, allowing them to easily crush and constrict their prey. The tentacles near their eyes were used for feeding; when extended, they burrowed into the prey's body in winding tunnels. The uzollru then liquefied the flesh and bones before absorbing them through pores along their tentacle lengths. The carcass of a creature killed by an uzollru was left filled with seeping holes.

The gaze of an uzollru could leave a target stunned, but far more dangerous was their unique obyrith form of madness. Those witnessing an uzollru would be struck dumb by its sheer size, rendering them all but completely mentally incapacitated.

Combat
Upon sensing life, uzollrus quickly investigated, in most cases attacking soon after. They had a preference for intelligent prey since they took perverse delight in the effects of their madness, and barring that keeping them still with their stunning gaze. After capturing and holding prey with their pincers, they latched onto them with their tentacles and fed on them.

Society/Ecology
Uzollrus were the most common servitors of Dagon in the Shadowsea and rightfully thought by the petitioners to be his heralds, making both the Prince's favor and wrath known to them. Once contacted and given an assignment by the Prince of the Darkened Depths, an uzollru immediately abandoned whatever it was doing and set to accomplishing its mission with intense single-mindedness. The Shadowsea petitioners lived in pockets of air called mounts, appearing from the inside as large, lone islands, and some of the most whispered tales among the petitioners were when armies of the obyriths were sent to destroy a mount.

Uzollrus were known to travel alone as well as in schools of up to eight. Despite their power and size-based method of inducing insanity, uzollrus were neither the largest nor the most dangerous inhabitants of the Shadowsea, a fact that truly emphasized the dangers of the lightless ocean. On rare occasion, they found their way to the Elemental Plane of Water and sometimes even the Material Plane, immediately and unmistakably imprinting on the surroundings with swift and utter destruction.

Rumors and Legends
Some of the ancient ruins in half-forgotten rifts within the Shadowsea hinted that the uzollrus, as opposed to the primitive hunters they had become, used to be something more. Cities that conformed to their alien bodies, dizzying spires and bulbous buildings that instilled fear and nausea in onlookers, suggested that the uzollrus had been far more intelligent creatures at some point, perhaps even the dominant life forms of the Shadowsea. The exact cause of their fall was unknown, but one could only hope that they stayed in decline.