Peryton
Perytons are mythical monsters resembling giant eagles with the heads of stags, who cast human shadows and eat human hearts... no, we're not making this shit up. Like many other crazy mythical monsters, they've shown up in Dungeons & Dragons, but have also made appearances in the Monsters and Animals supplement for the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game.
Interesting fact: The Peryton isn't actually from mythology. It was actually made up as a joke to show how easy it is to make up a monster that sounds like it could be from mythology but isn't.
Warhammer Fantasy
An edgy version of Peryton called Preytons was introduced in the Monster Arcanum rulebook.
In this version, Preyton was the result of a ritual conducted by Bray Shamans long ago to corrupt and mutate a Great Stag, turning it into a monster with its front legs replaced by Dark Wings of Black Eagles (or Bat Wings). The corrupted Great Stag doesn't take to kindly to this transformation and went batshit insane over its loss, which it decided to vent their hatred on anything it encounters. It seeks death despite turned into a hateful being, and would cherish every wound it receives as it brings them closer to death, the release of their suffering.
It mostly haunts the forest of Bretonnia where it would most often prey on both the Bretonnian and Wood Elves (or any other living beings it encounters) with "endless malice". Most often it does not hunt for food, but to satiate his hatred and the corpse of their preys were left to rot.
Further Reading
You can find an exhaustive discussion of the Peryton's history in D&D, including naming all sourcebooks that refer to it, over here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?4552-Monster-ENCyclopedia-Peryton
Gallery
-
1e
-
-
2e
-
-
-
3e
-
5e
-
Pathfinder
-
Pathfinder 2e