Cousins to the common barn bat, tuhl-bats are distinguished by their shaggy yellowish fur and total lack of eyes. Extremely adaptable scavengers, they use their unique ability to get at food that other creatures cannot. Tuhl-bats are capable of teleporting short distances, around half a meter, through solid objects. Somehow they are not bound by the usual rules of teleportation, and may be able to sense space through barriers. They are able to “skip” across extended distances, teleporting in small jumps, allowing them to cross much larger distances than traditional flying creatures of their diminutive size.
Though they do eat the normal bat diet of small insects and fresh fruits, their teleportation ability allows them to enter enclosed spaces through unusual angles. This makes them a prime pest species. Many a farmer has found their grain picked at by tuhl-bat swarms and there is no warehouse or pantry that they cannot skip into and raid. Those wishing to prevent tuhl-bat pests from getting their way have learned to keep their stores inside of wooden or metal boxes that their sharp claws and teeth cannot tear into. Additionally, keeping a supply of cotton or loose cloth to stuff into any empty space will prevent the tuhl-bats from entering these secured spaces.
Rumors and Talk
Tuhl-bats are not natural creatures. Some wizard up north created them to torment his neighbor to the west and never bothered to check whether they breed true.
If you come across a bunch of yellow fur lying on the ground, tuhl-bats have been mating nearby.
They hate the smell of elderberries. Put them along the walls of your storehouse and they’ll stay away.*
Juvenile tuhl-bats are a delicacy amongst the sea-nobles, they’ll pay 10gp per kilo.
There is a master thief named Condle who is said to train tuhl-bats and use them as part of their infiltrations.
Because their nests are in such hard to reach places, they almost always share with ethereal filches.
Tuhl-bats actually do have eyes, they just exist only in the astral plane.*
After being blamed for the Orange Famine, tuhl-bats are kill-on-sight by order of the king.
*False
Adventures
A massive swarm of tuhl-bats have been moving across the countryside, devouring all food in their path. The elders of a farming village have put out a bounty on stopping them.
A possibly-mad inventor wants 100 tuhl-bat hides for a teleportation device. The only known nest of them nearby rests deep within the abandoned mines.
Careless use of stone shape has inadvertently trapped a nest of tuhl-bats inside a cave adjacent to an ancient dwarven tomb. Their shrieking is disturbing the mummies within and the crypt-watchers want the situation resolved.
Hunters attempting to supply the sea-nobles’ extravagant tastes are overhunting the tuhl-bats. The local druidic circle is requesting that enterprising individuals put an end to the practice.
Encounters
A swarm of tuhl-bats engaging in their mid-air mating ritual descend on the group. Their chirping draws other beings. Roll twice for an additional encounter, using both.
A wandering merchant offers trained tuhl-bats to those with 5gp per head. (They are not trained).
d4+1 crazed hermits who have dyed all their hair yellow. Against all odds, they are weretuhl-bats.
A questing knight who has sworn to bring back an albino tuhl-bat to impress the love of their life. They are growing hungry and dehydrated and will pay generously for information on their quarry.
A ring of tuhl-bats sit bizarrely in a ring on the ground, facing inwards. They are fixated upon a door to the astral plane that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
A young tuhl-bat lies on the ground, chirping weakly. If nursed back to health and properly trained it will become a devoted pet.
Items
Tuhl gloves: Fashioned from the skin and fur of tuhl-bats, these gloves most often extend up to the shoulders, but more unobtrusive versions end at the wrists. They allow the wearer to reach through solid objects up to the hem of the glove.
Astral sight potion: Made from the juices of tuhl-bat glands, the crafting of this potion is a trade secret. It allows the imbiber to see into the astral plane for up to an hour. They may see through solid objects in the material plane with concentration.
Blink bombs: Small charges composed of tuhl-bat bones and wing membranes, these gunpowder-filled explosives can be lit and then flung through solid surfaces, passing through up to a meter of material. Deals 1d6+2 damage.
False dagger: A blade treated with preserved tuhl-bat blood, it is incapable of stabbing, passing harmlessly through any material it encounters. Perfect for faking assassinations with some fake blood, and popular among pacifists who still wish to defend themselves.
Ethereal net: Thin ropes of finely-woven tuhl-bat fur are fitted into a bright yellow, thin net. Any ethereal creatures attempting to pass through are caught. Not particularly strong, it is mostly used to stop other tuhl-bats but it can be used to pinpoint the location of otherwise untouchable beings.
Phase shift: Dried tuhl-bat droppings can be burned and the fumes inhaled to allow the inhaler to project their consciousness into the astral plane. Lasts for an hour.
Lesser portable hole: Made of specially treated tuhl-bat wing membranes soaked in their blood, these round, flexible discs may be affixed to a solid wall and will create a hole up to a meter deep within. Fundamentally unstable, lasts d4 rounds.
Tuhl wine: Berry juice that has been fermented in a special bladder made of tuhl-bat stomach, this alcoholic beverage is sweet with an acrid aftertaste. The next time a drinker awakes, they will find themselves in a randomly-determined hex adjacent to the hex they went to sleep in.
Slip oil: Squeezed from the soaked bones of a tuhl-bat, this oil can be applied to an object no larger than an apple. Within seconds the object disappears, whisked away into the ethereal plane. This effect lasts for up to a day, with thicker coatings lasting longer.
Tuhl ablution: A special grease distilled from boiled tuhl-bat meat. When applied to an arrow, bolt, sling stone, bullet or other type of ammunition, that ammunition passes through the first solid object or person it encounters before rematerializing. A single dose covers 10 objects (ud8).
