Saturday Screamer - Neural Flayers

..yet Bran felt the potentialities of life--under his feet, in the brown earth--sleeping, but how soon to waken, and in what horrific fashion?

--Robert E. Howard, WORMS OF THE EARTH 

No. Enc.: 1
Alignment:Inimical
Move: 120'(40’)
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d4 (plus special)
Morale: 5

 There are those who poke in places men really shouldn't go. Sometimes things snap & skulk in the dark. Those who poke into the darkness between the stars often encounter strange things. The Neural Flayers are both parasite & race which uses others for its bidding. Not merely content to take over or reproduce within the mind of its host. The Neural Flayers grows & changes within the host until the right moment when it does something really horrible. The Flayer eats away at the memories & experiences of its host taking little bits of skills, mores, & memories all of the while the host is unaware of its actions. Chemicals & neurotransmitters are dripped into the brain allowing the Neural Flayer to develop a secondary set of mental characteristics inside the head of its host. 
When the moment is right the flayer exits the host via the nasal cavity allowing it jump to its next host where it will continue the cycle.  It will continue to weave between its hosts building a web of shared psychic memories. The hosts will experience a jumble of chaotic nightmare induced memories. Espers who read any thoughts within a hosts head will have incredibly blinding headaches. 
The Flayers are said to come from a Yithian outpost within the bands of Regulus. The actual use that the Great Race of  Yith may have put these dangerous creatures to is unknown but more then one star ship crew has found themselves bonded by a dangerous web of nightmare & memory.