Desh

The Desh are creatures from an alternate dimension that can be summoned to earth through the brain of a sentient being. They come in many different shapes and sizes, two samples of which are pictured below, named Lesser and Greater Desh. Lesser desh appear as large silvery tadpoles with limp, toothless mouths, and with a row of dark, bead-like eyes across their narrow heads. Their long limbs are tough and springy. Greater desh have slim, fish-like bodies with four long limbs knotted with cords of stringy muscle. Wide mouths bristle with curved, six-inch teeth. The top of the sleek head is crowned with a bundle of 2 to 8 lidless, plate-shaped eyes arranged in a crescent.

In the RPG...

Lesser Desh are not much of a threat at all. They only have 5 hit-points and "attack" by simply tripping the investigator (upon a failed DEX roll). The Greater Desh, however, have 10 hit-points, and will bite with an average of 4 damage, so are not quite as harmless. Did I mention that the summoning of a Greater Desh will cause the victim's skull to burst open, leaving a star-shaped hole? 

    There is another weird trait of the Greater Desh, too, and that is that a successful attack upon them will have the rolled damage multiplied by 5, then that becomes the % chance that the creature disappears in a bright flash of light—else the attack has no effect at all. So say a bullet does 5 damage, that means there's a 75% chance that damage is completed negated. A weapon would therefore need to do 20 damage to guarantee killing a Greater Desh. Strange, but intriguing.

    The 7e Malleus Monstrorum has changed quite a few of the Deshes' stats. For the Lesser Desh, CON, DEX, and SIZ have all increased, POW as well, but only slightly. For the Greater Desh, the ranges of CON and POW have decreased, though the averages have remained the same. It should be noted that the 7e Malleus Monstrorum also has the incorrect hit-points listed. It should be 8, not 10.

In a video game...

I'd never even given the Desh a second glance until writing this entry, and I have to say, I've come to like them. Even limiting to the two types listed, they are different and quirky enough to make interesting enemies. Imagine the look on a player's face when the Lesser Desh leaps at them... only to be tripped. Or when they fight off a couple of Greater Desh that wink away in a flash, and then the next one inexplicably shrugs off the attack completely.

In a film...

Despite having just said that the Desh had won me over, I don't think floaty fishy things would work that well in a film.