Nightgaunt

Nightgaunts lurk in dreams, lying in wait to spirit away the unwary dreamer. Once connected to such a being, the nightgaunt feeds upon the mortal's emotions before abandoning them—often in a place they might never wake from.

A nightgaunt appears as a bony humanoid with inky black skin, batlike wings, a long sinuous tail, and demonic horns atop a head that lacks any face or features. Most nightgaunts have little interest in anything other than sating their hunger for emotions. They find the art of inducing nightmares to be a surefire way to feast, but they're even more adept at tormenting their victims through tickling while carrying them at precarious heights.

Nightgaunts often gather in vast colonies in the Dreamlands, where they entertain each other by sharing emotion memories of their meals through strange caresses. These colonies pose great danger to any adventurer foolish enough to approach.

When conjured forth into other worlds, they serve only grudgingly, often working equally as hard to find a way to escape servitude and feed on their conjurer's emotions as they do on the task they've been compelled to perform.