Phase Spider
Phase Spider
Ethereal Ambusher of the Veil
Phase Spiders are hunters that move between the mortal world and the Ethereal Plane with unnerving ease. They strike without warning, appearing from thin air, paralyzing their prey, and then vanishing again before the body hits the ground. Outlaws, prospectors, and miners working near old shafts whisper that these creatures “ride the shimmer”—sliding in and out of sight like ghosts come to feed.
Those who’ve seen one and lived say that the air around them bends, like heat haze over desert sands, just before they strike.
Frontier Encounters
Phase Spider attacks are mercifully rare—but when they occur, the signs are unmistakable: tools dropped mid-swing, no footprints left behind, and a faint shimmer in torchlight that flickers at the edge of vision. Some claim you can hear them before they strike—the faint click of their claws echoing half a second out of sync with the world.
Veteran bounty hunters swear the only sure defense is to keep iron dust in your lantern oil; the shimmer doesn’t like that, they say, and it might just buy you the breath to run.
Basic Information
Anatomy
At first glance, a Phase Spider looks like an enormous hunting spider, its legs long and muscular, its body slick with a faint, blue-green sheen. Strange markings shimmer across its carapace when it phases between worlds. The creature’s eyes glint with cold, alien light, and the air ripples around its form as if the world itself struggles to hold it still.
When visible, their movement is jerky yet graceful, each step soundless. Their fangs exude a paralyzing venom that leaves their prey conscious—but unable to scream while being dragged into the mist between worlds.
When visible, their movement is jerky yet graceful, each step soundless. Their fangs exude a paralyzing venom that leaves their prey conscious—but unable to scream while being dragged into the mist between worlds.
Ecology and Habitats
These creatures seem drawn to areas heavy with magical residue or sudden deaths—battlefields, cursed ruins, or the mine tunnels beneath the Green Creek Range. Scholars from far-off colleges claim the spiders serve as natural predators of ghosts and lesser spirits; prospectors and rangers, on the other hand, swear they feed on living fear as much as meat.
Few natural predators hunt Phase Spiders, though they sometimes compete violently with ettercaps or displacer beasts when territories overlap. Their eggs are bound in silk that flickers between substance and shadow, often mistaken for patches of ghost-light in dim mines.
Few natural predators hunt Phase Spiders, though they sometimes compete violently with ettercaps or displacer beasts when territories overlap. Their eggs are bound in silk that flickers between substance and shadow, often mistaken for patches of ghost-light in dim mines.
Behaviour
Phase Spiders are solitary hunters, preferring deep caves, misted lowlands, or abandoned mines where the veil between worlds thins. They lurk in ambush, half-phased until prey draws near. When striking, they pounce fully into the Material Plane, bite swift and deep, then retreat Ethereal once more—taking their helpless victim with them.
Because their hunting ground spans more than one plane, they leave few tracks, and those who vanish in such haunted places are rarely found again. In the frontier tongues, there’s an old saying:
“When the air starts hummin’, don’t hold still—she’s phasin’ through.”
Because their hunting ground spans more than one plane, they leave few tracks, and those who vanish in such haunted places are rarely found again. In the frontier tongues, there’s an old saying:
“When the air starts hummin’, don’t hold still—she’s phasin’ through.”
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