Phantom Rats
half-way between here and somewhere else
HP 2, Morale −, Bite d4
Encountered in scurrying packs of d10.
Special: Half-way between here and somewhere else, always flickering, always glowing sickly blue. Keep one in a bottle for a makeshift lantern. Just make sure the glass is coated in the ethereal blood of its kin, lest it escape. They're a nightmare to catch (DR16 to attacks).
Lore: Phantom Rats drift between the Valley and the Realm of the Dead beneath it. They cross by chewing through whatever in this world feels thinnest, which is everything in the Valley. A jar of one makes a lantern of cold blue light, and a faint chittering that will not stop.
Valley of the Unfortunate Undead, Realm of the Dead, Eat-Prey-Kill
Ethereal-blood-coating is the canonical capture method but unexplained: who first figured this out, and what blood-of-the-kin costs in Valley wares, is open. A loose Phantom Rat escapes through walls — a containment problem in any inn.