The second sister cocked her head. “What indeed? A nice strong man like you…? You can likely get along fine with just one hand, couldn’t you?”
“What? My…my hand?”
“Don’t look so scared, little one. We’ll let you choose which one to keep.”
Ardam gulped and felt faint again. “Can’t you just…just heal me out of a sense of mercy and charity?”
They laughed. “What are those? No, of course not, little one,” said the first sister.
“It must be a bargain. Always a bargain,” said the other. “But it’s better than being dead, wouldn’t you say?” Ardam forced down his panic. He related to me how close he felt to death and how desperately he wished for life. “Okay, I accept,”— with which they closed in on him and he held up his hand—“if you also promise to guide me back to my master Professor Pendrake afterward.”
The sisters sat back. “Hmm,” said one.
And the other, “This Pendrake will be hard to find since he is in no danger.”
“No immediate danger,” amended the other. “Still, we should be able to find him.”
They shared a look and spoke as one. “We accept your terms, little one.”
They closed on him again. As he saw the hungry pinpricks of light in their eyes, Ardam began to have second thoughts. One lifted a live, squirming rabbit. She snapped its neck with a swift jolt. Ardam’s wound tingled. The other sister lifted a butcher’s blade. Their hoods fell back, and Ardam screamed. He says he remembers no more.
Quimut and I found him lying near our camp the next morning sleeping fitfully and huddled around the bloody stump of his hand. Some days passed before he could tell us his tale.
Combat
Twilight sisters enter combat only if a victim refuses to pay his agreed-upon price or if someone attacks them, and they show no mercy. They ravage their opponents with their most powerful spell-like abilities. Against multiple opponents they begin com- bat with waves of exhaustion and mass inflict moderate wounds. After a
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battle is over, they might offer their services to wounded survi- vors, though at a much higher price.
Magic Riposte (Su): If a spell fails to bypass a twilight
sister’s spell resistance, she may immediately use one of her spell-like abilities as a free action. This counts as a use of the spell-like ability for the purposes of the number of times per day she can use it. This also counts as a use of her Quicken Spell-like Ability feat.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will—bestow curse (DC 21), cause
moderate wounds, contagion (DC 21), fear (DC 22); 3/day—enerva- tion (DC 22), waves of fatigue; 1/day—eyebite (DC 24), harm (DC
24), mass inflict moderate wounds (DC 23), mirage arcana (DC 23),
waves of exhaustion. Caster level 18th.
Alternate Form (Su): A twilight sister can assume the
form of a locust swarm with a fly speed of 200 feet as a stan- dard action.
Life Manipulation (Su): A twilight sister’s signature power
is her ability to manipulate life force. She can save a wounded character from death, but doing so always has a price.
A twilight sister can duplicate any spell of up to 6th level from the Conjuration (healing) subschool without any risk of Pain of Healing, but with certain stipulations. First, she must sacrifice (or have sacrificed in the past) something approximately equivalent. The exact specifics are up to the GM: to save a character from a life-threatening wound, a twi- light sister might strangle a rabbit. If a character needs a new hand, the sister might replace it with a hand she once took from another character.
Secondly, the twilight sister always demands payment from the character she helps. This payment is usually painful and permanent, though if the character is a skillful negotiator, the twilight sister might not collect right away. Twilight sisters often demand flesh from the victim, such as a hand, a foot, an ear, or an eye (with repercussions for the GM to determine, such as deafness, blindness, loss of Dexterity, movement pen- alties, etc.). The twilight sister might also ask for something that causes permanent ability score loss. For example, she might accept payment in “youthful brawn” (Strength), “grace” (Dexterity), “breath” (Constitution), “wits” (Intelligence), or “beauty” (Charisma). They ask this more often in cases when the creature has regenerative powers such as trollkin, though not always. Characters who benefit from a twilight sister’s ministrations always come away a little worse off than before, though many still view this as preferable to death.
Twilight sisters always bargain, temporarily performing whatever they must to undertake the discussion. They will return a victim to consciousness, for example. If the parties do not come to an agreement, the sister will return him to uncon- sciousness (perhaps forcefully).
Two sisters working in concert can duplicate any
Conjuration (healing) spell of up to 7th level. Three or more
sisters can duplicate Conjuration (healing) spells of up to 8th level. Four sisters can duplicate Conjuration (healing) spells of 9th level but cannot cast any spell that brings the dead to life (such as raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection).
Life Sense (Su): A twilight sister has knowledge of all
living, intelligent creatures within 5 miles, as with the spell
status. She knows the direction and distance to the creatures
and any conditions affecting them: unharmed, wounded, staggered, unconscious, dying, diseased, or the like.
Necromantic Impunity (Ex): A twilight sister does not
suffer the usual drawbacks for using necromancy spell-like abilities in the Iron Kingdoms.
See Invisibility (Su): A twilight sister can see invisibility,
as the spell. This ability is always active.
Unearthly Grace (Su): A twilight sister adds her
Charisma modifier on all her saving throws and as a deflec- tion bonus to her armor class.
Treasure
Twilight sisters make no great effort to collect treasure. However, when creatures refuse their aid, they often follow to observe the individual’s fate and, should they expire, harvest whatever body parts and organs interest them. The sisters collect such a creature’s valuables and store them in their lair. They might also bargain for such items in addition to the life force on which they feed. The sisters have little use for the treasure they collect, but it occasionally proves valuable in their negotiations.
Legends & Lore
Common: None.
Uncommon: The twilight sisters find injured or dying travel-
ers and occasionally return them to health.
Rare: The twilight sisters use powerful magic to restore
their patients, but they may demand a literal pound of flesh in return.
Obscure: Twilight sisters are capable of truly great acts of
healing magic. The greater the healing, though, the steeper the price.
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Woldwatcher
Always N Large Construct (Elemental Construct) CR 9 Hit Dice: 8d10+30 (70 hp)
Immunities/Resist: Construct traits, damage reduction 10/ magic, elemental construct traits
Initiative: +0
Senses: Darkvision 60’, Listen +6, Spot +6, low-light vision, tremorsense (120’)
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 24, touch 8, flat-footed 24 (-1 size, - 1 Dex, +12 natural, +4 shield)
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+16
Attack: Slam +11 melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack: 2 slams +11 melee (1d6+6)
Special Attacks: Elemental strike
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Qualities: Call wardens, plant growth, fertilize, stone armor, stone form
Saves: Fort +2, Reflex +1, Will +4
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 9, Con —, Int —, Wis 15, Cha 1
Skills: Hide +11, Listen +6, Spot +6
Environment: Any land
Organization: Solitary
Advancement: 9-12 (Large), 13-20 (Huge)
F
or years I mistakenly thought the woldwarden, atremendously powerful construct of stone and wood which blackclads use to guard their ter- ritories, the only example of its type. In recent months I have found my preconceptions woefully misguid- ed. The druids make use of a rather frightening assortment of these beings, some requiring far less time and mystical energy to craft and animate. The druids call one of these “lesser” constructs the woldwatcher, although from the story related to me by my Iosan associate Edrea, “lesser” remains a relative term.
Edrea had the misfortune to run afoul of the woldwatcher while out in the wilds on an ill advised “student expedition” to the Glimmerwood. I hold myself responsible as this occurred not long after my capture by the skorne. I would have warned her well away from that region, as recently it has become far more dangerous. I understand that violence between the wil- derness trollkin and the blackclads reached its highest level to that point, with combat erupting at the slightest provocation, just as this group of ill-prepared students tragically blundered into a sacred grove of the druids.
These foolish students had no idea what awaited them as they disturbed the moss-covered obelisks they discovered deep in the Glimmerwood. Edrea described their shock as one of these stone columns unfolded under her hand and stood erect to reveal a woldwatcher. While consider- ably shorter and less massive than the woldwardens they strongly resemble, the woldwatcher demonstrated its own formidable powers. With no more evident emotion or mal- ice than a steamjack displays, this stone and wood fabrica- tion pointed at a student and the runes upon its granite surfaces glowed green. Without warning, lightning erupted
from beneath the lad’s feet, boiling him like a fish in oil as the power arced into the sky. His body ripped apart and, where his blood soaked the ground, flesh-hungry trees surged upward in an instant to replace a young man full of hope and ambition.
The horrors did not end there. Another stone column unfolded into a woldwatcher and the two of them quickly absconded into the trees with several living students. Fearing for her life and yet unwilling to abandon her wards, Edrea followed them and nearly witnessed a barbaric bloodletting ritual far too like the ancient rites of the Molgur. A blackclad druid—whom I had not known practiced ritual sacrifice— stood with a knife poised to spill one of the student’s blood upon knotted ropes lying near chiseled stone. They clearly intended to bring a new woldwatcher to life by spilling the life essence of an innocent student onto the construct’s raw mate- rials. Hearing of this incident has caused me hold the druids in a new and unpleasant regard.
Before Edrea could use her own magic to attempt to save her student, fortune intervened. Enraged trollkin warriors beset the druids, allowing Edrea to rescue her wards and make good their escape. I have not yet interviewed Edrea person- ally regarding this encounter as she has left for some months on some task to her kinsfolk in Ios. I have only her detailed account and meticulous sketches, which I have copied and included here. In the pages that follow I will describe other similarly fascinating and even more wondrous fabrications apparently in use among the druids. I have reevaluated my opinion of this forest “cult” in light of this new information and now find it difficult to travel the woods without some apprehension that any nearby boulder might suddenly stand and try to end my life.