Flugantopod

Flugantopods are rare breed of giant, flying squid that live in the middle atmosphere. Despite being nearly one thousand feet long, these creatures are still easy to miss, as their skin is iridescent and reflects the surrounding light. Flugantopods aren't known for their brains, but are incredibly powerful. If one feels threatened by a passing airship, frequently it will attack the ship, spelling almost certain doom for those aboard. Once every nine years, flugantopods come down to the Albersea Islands, a small couple of islands hundreds of miles southwest of Chismea. Here, they mate with other flugantopods for two days, before they take to the skies again.

Flugantopods are the sources of a number of common magical potions on Alaria. Their iridescent skin is a primary ingredient in invisibility potions, and the gas inside their air sacs—the giant internal balloons that keep them afloat—is used in flying potions. However, harvesting either of these things is quite difficult, as killing a flugantopod is nearly impossible. If you stumble over one that's already dead, however, and if it's still fresh, it can be picked over—assuming it's already dead. When a flugantopod dies, it remains suspended in the air for months, as bacteria begin to eat through their bodies, and it can be difficult to discern between an alive one and a dead one, occasionally resulting in angry squids. When they finally do die, they bloat larger and larger until they pop, in which case all of the gasses keeping them afloat leave their bodies, and the giant creature begins to accelerate towards the ground. Most fall into unpopulated areas, though there are the unfortunate exceptions that result in death-by-falling-rotten-squid. Flugantopods that are found after falling are more nuisance than prize, as most of the body has rotted into an unusable state, and is now just a giant feeding ground for other predators on the ground. Still, their shiny dead bodies sprawled over a thousand feet of ground is a sight to behold.