Black-tailed pheasant goblin

An aggressive carrion bird native to Merge that uses illusion magic to engineer the "accidental" death of its prey. Thereafter, the bird feasts on its victim as it is dying.

Physiology

The pheasant goblin is not, contrary to its name, related in any way to the various goblin races of the Web, nor does it have any humanoid traits. It is something of a cross between a bird and a reptile, having a snake-like tail obscured between several trailing pheasant-like tail feathers, and a scaled underbelly that is (unlike the rest of its body) naked of feathers. The creature has four limbs (two forelimbs with rending claws and two hind limbs used for walking/sprinting) and a pair of bird-like wings which can sustain low-altitude flight for brief periods of time. The pheasant goblin's face is a mixture of avian and reptiloid traits: its three eyes (one on either side of its head, and then one in the center) are decidedly lizard-like, while its beak conceals a maw with two rows of razor sharp teeth and a long, rasping tongue. The creature has a rooster-like comb atop its head, which fringes down on either side and sometimes suggests droopy ears.

Innate Magical Ability

The pheasant goblin is one of many creatures in Merge capable of using magic innately. The pheasant goblin's magic exploits the creature's above-average intelligence and makes use of illusionary images and sounds to lure its prey into lowering their guard. Common employments of this ability include the suspicious appearance of food, or small springs of clean water, or friendly-looking members of the same race (who may or may not appear to be injured/in need of help). Sapients are often alerted to pheasant goblin illusions by the lack of speech of illusory persons: the pheasant goblins are not capable of speech themselves, and don't have much concept for the idea, so the images of people they conjure will always make little more than unintelligible groaning, grunting or squealing noises and never use actual words (except in the rare cases that a pheasant goblin remembers a word uttered by a sapient it encounters, and is able to remember and mimic the word in one of its illusions). If possible, the pheasant goblin attempts to use its illusions to lure its prey into dangerous situations -- too near to a precipice, or over a pit that the creature and its pack have dug. Once prey is in position, the pheasant goblin and any hunting packmates will emerge to either push or scare its prey through the last few steps, whereupon the pack feasts upon the dead (or dying and helpless) victim.

Social Habits

Pheasant goblins are pack hunters out of necessity: individually, the creatures are quite weak. The pheasant goblins have many natural enemies (especially sapients and larger predators) and few means to elude of combat them apart from their natural illusion powers. The pack is usually lead by its strongest member. Gender means relatively little among pheasant goblin packs, as all members of the species are hermaphroditic and possess both male and female reproductive organs. Pairs occassionally do mate, but individuals do have the ability to, on their own, create offspring -- which makes pheasant goblin packs very hard to permanently destroy near civilized areas.