Esipil

Among the least of the sahkils, esipils delight in spreading fears and uncertainty among people who live with animals that could turn on them. They generally appear to their prey as some benign creature such as a domesticated dog or cat, but once they gain trust and get their victims close, they transform into a terrifying creature that looks part dog and part worm with tendrils of viscera that the creature uses as both a tongue and a weapon.

Of all the sahkils, esipils are most likely to ingratiate themselves with mortals, sometimes serving powerful spellcasters and other times simply living among unsuspecting victims, biding their time until they strike.

Ages ago, when this cycle of the multiverse was still adolescent, a cabal of psychopomps who already felt bored and restrained in their role of ushering souls to their ultimate resting place rebelled against their station. It was this corruption of the cycle of souls that spawned the first sahkils.

Ambivalent to the prescribed order of the multiverse and spiteful of mortals, sahkils delight in spreading fear and unease to all beings, clogging up the metaphysical cycle with anxiety-ridden mortals too scared to achieve their potential. These fiends have drastically changed from their dedicated psychopomp predecessors. They are creatures of spite and torment, fear and disgust. They exploit the most common and rare fears for their own perverse satisfaction, and they want nothing more than to frighten mortals and make them quetion their reason for existence.

Most sahkils lurk on the Ethereal Plane, but they frequently invade the Material Plane to torment mortals and spread terror. They use their innate ability to slip between the veils of the Ethereal and Material effortlessly, often stalking their targets for days or weeks before enacting their devious plots.