The Drifter (Patreon)

Gargantuan Dragon Aberration, Unaligned, CR 21

Weird Wyrms that Stalk the Skies.

“Don’t be caught outside on a cloudy day, or a Drifter will come and snatch you away!”

A short nursery rhyme, meant to frighten unruly children into obedience; yet this one carries more truth than most realize. The origins of a drifter are a mystery, with many theories being made across the years; could it be a dragon malformed from continued exposure to the Far Realms? Or perhaps an aboleth given mighty power from consuming draconic flesh? Nothing is for certain, as sightings of a drifter are few and far between, making information about these behemoths scarce.

The only available details about the beasts, scoured from years and years of research and sightings, describe an alien form composed of hard chiton and bulbous, pulsating flight organs carrying innumerable massive tentacles that drag behind to pick up those unlucky enough to have been caught in them. A sickening stench reminiscent of murky seawater and rotting fish lingers long after the drifter has departed.

None are truly prepared for the arrival of a drifter. But on overcast days, children across the land are corralled within their homes to keep them sheltered as the gray skies above them serve as this hunter’s camouflage.

Cloud Dwellers. True to their name, drifters float listlessly through the skies, a mass of writhing appendages dangling from the bloated sacs of air keeping them suspended. High above the cover of clouds, a drifter wanders until it latches onto the sound of prey; delicious psychic energy peppering the landscape down below.

Isolationist. What little emotion a drifter displays aside from hunger, it reserves for protecting its hunting grounds from others of its kind. These hunters understand that sharing their territory with another drifter would only serve as competition, and as such will drive off any potential threats to their claim. A drifter’s territory could range from a city that it occasionally frequents to a small country that it has staked as its own. Perhaps a lingering habit from the warped dragon trapped within the grotesque form.

Unseen Predator. When a drifter descends from above, few can recall the encounter as it stuns them into compliance with a massive blast of psychic energy. As entire villages stand dumbstruck by the mental assault, it swoops down and picks off as many hapless beings as it wishes before returning to its home in the clouds. All that remains in its wake is a confused, frightened populace, unaware of what has transpired as the beast floats away.

Careless Littering. With a diet consisting solely of mental energy, the drifter has no need for flesh and blood to sustain itself. Once a creature has been fully drained of its consciousness, the drifter simply releases the useless meat from its grasp. Those unfortunate enough to be beneath the drifter when it finishes a meal witness the gruesome sight of bodies literally raining from the skies, corpses with no visible wounds and eyes as empty as the void. If one encounters a land peppered with such bodies, one may wish to turn away as they are sure to be in the drifter’s sight in due time.

Staring into the sky above the bustling town, you spy the same cloud you spotted earlier. It seemed to be a different hue and consistency than those around it, but you thought nothing of it. Examining it now you realize that although the clouds around it moved on, this one has been fixed in place in defiance of the gentle wind of the day. Entranced by the realization of this anomaly, it takes a moment for you to notice that the once static cloud has in fact begun to move, directly toward you and the town below.