#niali

“Chupacabra” by Terry Maranda, © Storm Bunny Studios. Accessed at the artist’s ArtStation here

[The “sheep killer of Niali” was a short lived panic in 2017 and 2018 in the Niali district of Odisha. The creatures were shortly captured, and turned out to be two young wolves, both of which were placed in a zoo. You can read about the government response here. But, like so many mysterious animal killings, rumors of monsters started to spread in the wake of the incident.

So I took this opportunity to make stats for a monster that is a long time coming in Pathfinder-- a canine chupacabra. The modern understanding of a chupacabra is often as a weird dog. PFRPG 1e makes the chupacabra some sort of a reptile, and PFRPG 2e gives it an appearance like a feral grey alien, similar to the original reports from Puerto Rico. But if you want a mystery canine for your game, here’s one you can use.]

Niali CR 3 CN Magical Beast This creature looks something like a hyena and something like a wolf, but with longer legs than either species, and front paws like a man’s hands. It has oversized canine teeth protruding from its mouth.

A niali is a canine vampire, a blood-drinking monster that prefers to prey on livestock. They are clever and quick-fingered, able to pick simple locks and lift gates in pursuit of prey. They are somewhat selective feeders, draining an animal’s blood, gutting it to eat the soft organs, and leaving the muscles and bones behind for other scavengers. A niali leaves no tracks, and is capable of confounding pursuers with a variety of magical abilities.

Niali:  Elanin’s mother.  Niali short dark brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin.  She is, overall, a very sweet and patient woman, although she has grown considerably quieter and somewhat more withdrawn since the death of her husband. 

Niali is greatly appreciative of Kiramae, Bik and the others helping out with Elanin, who is quite a handful.  Kiramae hopes to try and encourage a new relationship between her and Van once more time has passed since the accident, as the two of them have always been friendly with one another and Niali has always been very kind to Bik.  Bik is somewhat opposed to this idea because his father and him have always gotten along just fine on their own.

Niali loves to grow things and to cook, so she often repays the villagers’ kindness with fresh food from her garden.  Beatrilia also sometimes comes to her for certain herbs, because while Bea has her own garden, she knows that Niali is talented with growing many herbs that don’t usually take to growing in the environment of the Wildends.