Ethereal Squids spend most of their long lives floating in the...

Ethereal Squids spend most of their long lives floating in the alternate plane that give it its name, engaging in long periods of contemplation. Every few years they enter the material plane to feed, as this unlucky bearowl is discovering. 

Bearowls are not natural beasts: they were accidentally conceived by a group of disgraced wizards looking for the Keys of Eternity. At first it was thought that a breeding pair escaped into the wild but this turns out not to be the case as all bearowls are sterile. Unless magicians can find a way to replicate the original spell the bearowls are doomed to extinction, and there is much debate as to whether this is a good or bad thing. While they are certainly not a part of nature’s plan, over the centuries they have filled an ecological niche (farmers appreciate the bearowls since they feed on the pegasi which ruin crops) but this is cold comfort to the families who have lost loved ones to the bearowl’s talons. The ethics of creating a monster that feeds on folk are fuzzy at best. 

The carbant above is one such victim. It is especially unfortunate because carbants exist primarily in the fifth dimension (which might be what drew the attention of the squid) and so would’ve provided little nourishment to the doomed bearowl.