The Glitter Ghoul

 Here's what I wanted to make:

1. A monster, who is

2. weak as shit,

3. poses a threat to whole regions, and

4. can and should be stopped by the PCs early, because the longer it goes unchecked the worse it gets. It should also

5. operate by a decipherable internal logic that isn't immediately obvious and

6. be super iconic and memorable.

Here's what I have:

The Glitter Ghoul

N2 HX A Blinding, Bonded Hypnotism, Shining Vitality, Spore Emitter I To colonize

Actually in no way resembles a ghoul. This creature, in its native form, looks like a shifting mass of glittering, blinding light squeezed into a multifaceted prism. It blinds anyone who looks upon it, bypassing even significant layers of protection- like looking at the open face of the sun.

They collectively reside in a demiplane known as the Shifting Gold. Planar scholars have concluded that the Shifting Gold is being eaten by a cosmic beast, and the recent incursion of Glitter Ghouls in the past century has been a result of colonization efforts. In fact, Glitter Ghouls were unheard of not but 100 years ago, making research on them rare and often incomplete or riddled with small errors.

The creature's first impulse, upon entering a new dimension, is to begin producing spawn. It lets out a hypnotic pattern of light on the first person it sees. This person becomes Bonded to the Glitter Ghoul, utterly under its control as long as it can see. The Glitter Ghoul then conceals itself as best it can, using its Bonded as a mouthpiece. The Bonded's eyes radiate pure light, so they often wear coverings over their eyes.

A Bonded can implant Glitter Ghoul spores into whatever it touches once a day. Anything that sparkles, shines, reflects, or otherwise makes a bright light can be infected with the "spores" of a Glitter Ghoul. It shines with unnatural intensity with a golden light while infected with the spores. That light brightens over the course of a tenday, slowly becoming blinding until it rips open a portal to the Shifting Gold, whereupon another Glitter Ghoul emerges to occupy their Bonded. Coins, torches, swords, mirrors, windows, and more can all play hosts to spores. The only way to destroy a spore is to make the object incapable of catching the light- corroding it, painting it, destroying it, disintegrating it, whatever.

To kill a Glitter Ghoul, plunge it into darkness and it screams itself into unmaking. It subsists on light shining on it, and often places itself in inaccessible but well-lit locales, as it can contact its Bonded from anywhere. Often, the challenge isn't spotting the Glitter Ghoul's handiwork, but locating the entity itself. Luckily, it is damn near offense-less save the blinding light. Its multifaceted carapace is invulnerable to conventional means of access.

d6 Adventure Seeds

1 A Glitter Ghoul has Bonded to a Medusa. The Glitter Ghoul has made the Medusa plea for repentance, saying that she wishes to interact with the cultures of the Kin. The heroes receive her plea- will they help her rehabilitate? After all, she does have her eyes securely under wraps, so her stone gaze won't harm anyone...

2 The Captain of the Guard reaches out to the heroes. A local crime lord has been handling a lot of currency that has the shine of the Glitter Ghoul... the heroes would be paid handsomely to raid the guild warehouse and track down the Ghoul. In reality, the crime lord is trying to collect the currency and remove the spores; the Captain is actually the Bonded one, taking out an enemy faction while taking suspicion off itself.

3 The Glitter Ghoul has bonded to a Dragon. It knows that it is advantageous to get adventurers to spread the loot in the hoard, so it spends years infecting it all with a latent spore, then bait the heroes into killing the Dragon so that they'll spread the hoard into the world. How long until the heroes catch on to the fact that portals are opening a week after their spending sprees?

4 The Glitter Ghoul finds itself incapable of Bonding due to a medical error. It sets itself up as a god deep in the Underdark. Can the players find a way to directly combat it? Especially when it asks its suppliants to start cultivating bioluminescent fungus in the nearby caves as a backup?

5 What would happen if a Glitter Ghoul Bonded to a powerful angel? The Celestial Host begins to ship out golden riches to impoverished locales, at the request of Eltheriel the Wise- the shining eyes are simply a sign of newly sparking divine inspiration.

6 What if there were an anti-Glitter Ghoul? Casting light on it banishes it and its touch, and it makes things dull and dim. What would make this monster all the more terrifying is a host of teeth and claws and rusted iron bones... it could truly prove to be a nightmare to deal with it, especially when you can't even see where it is to kite it into the light!

Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.