dailybestiary:

Cytillesh is a mold from Pathfinder’s Golarion setting, a
poisonous fungus that boosts brainpower and longevity while causing birth
defects and insanity.  Derros being
derros, this is a trade-off they’re quite willing to make, and the glowing blue
fungus features in many of their mad experiments.  

Of these sick lab protocols, cytillipedes are a rare
success: Large magical beasts (their Int 6 score being far too high for mere
vermin) covered in glowing fungus that they can flash in a disorienting
manner.  Naturally, derros are immune to
the cytillipedes’ flash and poison, and they use the creatures as guard and
mounts.

So how do we make the cytillipede interesting?  Well, when a monster is part of a natural
pair…remove the other half of the pair.
Here are three options for derro-less cytillipedes:

Adventurers cross
into the Green World.  There in the
misty faerie borderlands, glitter gnomes cling to the fey natures denied the
rest of their gnome cousins.  (Treat them
as gnomes with the fey creature template.)
A diet of hallucinogenic and even poisonous fungi helps keep the Small
Folk in the Green World and gives them their luminescent hair and eyes but saps
their constitution as well.  Moreover,
glitter gnomes must always be on watch for cytillipedes, who are both quite
intelligent and happy to prey on fey and mortal alike.

Aquatic cytillipedes
(add swim 40 ft. to their stat block) live in the deepest seas where little
light shines.  They attempt to immobilize
prey with their stunning flashes—a highly effective tactic in the black
water.  The flashes also tend to attract
giant anglerfish and other aquatic predators, eager for their share of stunned
meat.

Adventures fight
through the bowels of a Gormlish Render Cube, where androids and humanoids
are flensed alive for their biomechanical data.
Along the way the adventurers must fight swarms of flashing cyanopedes
that skitter through the sewer-like ducts, conveying information and devouring
organic infections as they go.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 5
65

The Green World is also a Dar Williams album I highly
recommend.

Yes, I know it’s been a while, and I should be well into the letter D or even E right now.  Birthday plus hospital duties plus Easter
travels plus this week’s launch of Light City kept me far away from my computer
and game books.  (I did buy more books,
though—I’ll post pics soon.)  Again thank
you, thank you, thank you for your patience.

And if you live anywhere
near Baltimore you really should check out Light City this week.  I would be heading to a DJ set by Rob Garza of
Thievery Corporation right now if I weren’t about to fall asleep on my feet.

Cytillipedes are found in caves in the Sredis mountains of Munab. They occasionally accompany stone hags in missions of murder, using their disorienting flashes to soften up foes for their partners.