Lurking strangler

Lurking stranglers were a species of floating aberration companions to beholders of the Underdark.

Description
Lurking stranglers were two disembodied eyeballs, connected by a long flexing and compressing strand of muscle fiber. An entire creature weighed around.

Behavior
Lurking stranglers could not speak but understood Beholder and Common languages. However, they did communicate via body movements. For example, a wide-open posture meant the creature complied or understood a command, while when a lurking strangler coiled in a spiral, it meant fear, stress, or dissent.

Abilities
Due to their biology, lurking stranglers were extremely perceptive creatures visually. They also flew thanks to their naturally buoyant bodies and were unable to fall out of the sky, slowly descending down instead, as if under the effects of the feather fall spell.

Combat
In battle, lurking stranglers primarily used eye rays. Despite being able to make lashing attacks with their sinus bodies, stranglers preferred to stay a safe distance away from the opponent. One of the eye rays fired from a distance put their foes to sleep, after which lurking stranglers slithered to the slumbering victims and strangled them in sleep. The sleep ray had a great range of. The second eye's ray caused fear with the range of.

Ecology
Lurking stranglers were pet creatures of sorts for gauths and beholders. Lurking stranglers acred as companions and sometimes as spies for them. As such, any beholder enclaves usually included a number of lurking stranglers. The largest population of these aberrant creatures could be found in the Underdark city of Ooltul by the late 14 century DR.

History
It was believed that the first lurking stranglers appeared on Toril as magical spell experiments created by beholder mages. Circa the, lurking stranglers were known to inhabit underground chambers of Waterdeep, and the mega-dungeon of Undermountain.