Path River Peeler

Like many cryptids, even the name of the Path River Peeler is a matter of dispute. Some say the creature earns its name from the corpses of its victims, which are often found stripped clean of skin but otherwise untouched. Others claim that corpses left in such condition are the exception to the rule. More frequently, no trace of the Peeler's victims is ever found—perhaps these skinless kills were simply abandoned by the Peeler before it could finish with its meal. Those who subscribe to this theory argue that a better name would be the "Pealer," after the echoing cries the beast makes while on the hunt. But what sense does it make to call it the Pealer, when everyone knows loud noises are the best way to drive off the monster? The arguments go round and round, with no end to the debate in sight.

The Peeler is most frequently encountered in a wild and largely unoccupied area north of Grayce called the Shivering Bluffs. Most people in Grayce, with the exception of the elderly who have tales from their youth, think the Peeler is just a story to frighten children and explain the killed and missing sheep that fall victim to wolves or other predators. Even so, everyone who grew up in Grayce can sing a few lines of a popular skipping rhyme the children in town sing while playing.

Barrow Claw

Purported sightings of the Path River Peeler often coincide with an outbreak of barrow claw: a rare, disease-bearing fungus that is cold to the touch and devastates nearby vegetation. Outbreaks of barrow claw have led some enthusiastic scholars to postulate that the cryptid itself is the source of the fungus. A more likely theory is that the Peeler and barrow claw share a habitat in the Netherworld, and that the former simply carries spores of the latter on its bristly hide.