The Immortal Naturalist's Guide to Cryptic Creatures: The Shindegoost

This post is part of the Immortal Naturalist's Guide series. The explanation for that series can be found in this post.

    There is one resident of the Planar Peninsula who I have always struggled to understand. Possessing razor-sharp fangs and powerful tentacles is the Shindegoost, which runs through the Northern Plains at breakneck speeds looking for its preferred prey, teleporting hares. In order to actually catch and eat such prey, the Shindegoost is able to dispatch creatures with shocking speed. The Shindegoost does its killing with its fangs and tentacles, able to easily grab onto anything and slice open its neck in the blink of an eye. This man-sized creature seems to spend most of its time hiding in large bushes and bunches of grass, waiting for its prey to wander by. This behavior likely explains why so few people have ever seen the Shindegoost, in addition to the fact that it will frequently attack any people who happen to discover its hiding spot. By watching a band of teleporting hares for several months, I was able to spot the Shindegoost when one of the hares I was observing seemed to be pulled into a bush one day. Upon closer inspection, I saw the bush shaking a bit, and chose to observe from afar. Soon, the Shindegoost emerged, looking quite satisfied, and began sprinting away faster than any other creature in the Northern Plains.

    While the Shindegoost is quite fast, it seems like that is not the most incredible thing about the creature. The Shindegoost secretes a musk from the tips of its tentacles that is able to prevent the hares it catches from teleporting. The musk seems to be derived from whatever part of the teleporting hares allows their own teleportation, however, so the effect relies on a steady diet of hares and little else. Despite its sharp teeth and strong bite, however, the beast is unable to bite through metal, making one immune to its dangers by wearing conventional armor. With its powerful tentacles, the Shindegoost will be able to remove the armor, but it will give its victim time to react as well.

    Having this time to react is important, as well, because I believe the musk on the creature's tentacles is effective against all forms of teleportation. Such a substance would be of incredible value, one just has to collect it off of the tentacles of a deadly beast. The Shindegoost does not seem to keep a nest or lair of any sort, preferring to sleep up in a tree where other creatures on the ground cannot easily see or reach it. I am not brave enough, but I suppose someone could track the beast down and collect the musk while it is sleeping. Whoever performs such a task has a lot of money to make from those who want to detain teleporting criminals and rivals, so good luck to them.