Kaia

Kaia were aberrations that lived in the Spur Forest near the Akanamere.

Description
These horrid creatures used darkvision and tremorsense to hunt prey.

Ecology
A mature kaia mother reproduced asexually, birthing up to a dozen kaia spawn at a time. Then the mother would devour all things in its path, including the spawn.

History
The genasi Ghaelya told tales of kaia in 1479 DR, which had been told to her by her mother. She later leaned against a tree in the Spur and mumbled an old rhyme that asked the nightmares to leave her alone and remove her name from the trees.

Rumors & Legends
Folklore had it that the kaia was an ancient beast from another plane. It was to have been a serpent charged by foul gods to devour the children of the genasi. However, it was afraid of the light, which a clever child exploited to frighten it and it retreated into the deep forest.

The kaia was thought to be the cause of the nightmares that Ghaelya and other children experienced, so as to test their courage. So the story went, those who cried out would have their names carved into the trees of the Spur Forest so that the kaia would know them and know that they could devour them without having to fear the light.

Some claimed a kaia "eats its own young or runs them from the Spur Forest. They start out small but they're never pretty".

To a good ear, kaia could be heard in the rustling of the grass, punctuated by the sound of tiny teeth and little growls, together with the unmistakable sound of tiny claws scratching on stone. Slippery tendrils of darkness might separate them from the glow of a torch or a low-burning campfire as they slithered and searched for flesh.