TEXT: Robert J. Schwalb
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  1
  Writing, Design, 
  and Art Direction: 
  Robert J. Schwalb
  Editing: Kim Mohan
  Proofreading, Layout, and 
  Graphic Design: Kara Hamilton
  Cover: Jack Kaiser
  Interior Illustrations: Jack Kaiser, Todd Wilson, and Britt Martin
  Cartography: Cecil Howe
  Brush art: indodreamin and chain
  Terrible Beauty: A Guide to the Faerie in a Land of Shadow 
  is ©2016 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC. 
  All rights reserved.
  Shadow of the Demon Lord, Terrible Beauty, 
  Schwalb Entertainment, and their associated logos are trademarks of Schwalb Entertainment, LLC.
  SCHWALB ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
  PO Box #12548
  Murfreesboro, TN 37129
  info@schwalbentertainment.com
  www.schwalbentertainment.com 
  A Guide to the Faerie in a Land of Shadow
  TERRIBLE BEAUTY
  
  2
  Terrible beauty
  Chapter 1: 
  Faeries .............................................................3
  The Nature of Faeries ....................................................3
  Children of Magic ..........................................................3
  Forever Young ..................................................................3
  The Hidden People ........................................................3
  Iron Loathing ...................................................................3
  Faeries and Mortals .......................................................4
  The Great Fey, Lords and Ladies ................................4
  Free Faeries ......................................................................4
  Characters and Faeries ..................................................5
  Professions .......................................................................5
  Starting Equipment .......................................................5
  Faerie Backgrounds .......................................................6
  New Interesting Things ................................................6
  New Ancestries ............................................................... 6
  Elf ........................................................................................7
  Hobgoblin ........................................................................9
  Pixie ...................................................................................11
  Expert Path ........................................................................... 13
  Avowed ............................................................................ 13
  Master Paths ......................................................................... 13
  Beguiler ...........................................................................14
  Cat Sith ............................................................................ 15
  Eternal Guardian .......................................................... 15
  Harbinger ....................................................................... 15
  Keeper of the Flame ....................................................16
  Morrigan .........................................................................16
  Muse ................................................................................. 17
  Nightstalker ................................................................... 17
  Spellweaver ....................................................................18
  Troll Hunter ...................................................................18
  Magic ......................................................................................19
  Chapter 2: 
  Lands of the Faerie ............................ 23
  Faerie Sites .....................................................................23
  Faerie Rings ...................................................................23
  Hollow Hills ...................................................................23
  Islands of the Fey ..........................................................24
  Secret Roads ..................................................................24
  Stones, Boulders, and Monuments .........................24
  Trees and Forests ..........................................................25
  Stray Sod .........................................................................25
  Borderlands ....................................................................25
  Hidden Kingdoms .........................................................26
  Crossing Over ................................................................26
  Hidden Kingdom Features ........................................27
  Denizens and Details ..................................................28
  Exploring Hidden Kingdoms ....................................29
  Alfheim ...........................................................................29
  Elysium ........................................................................... 31
  Isle of Forever ................................................................32
  Maze of the Goblin King ............................................32
  The Midnight Lands ...................................................35
  Rewards ...........................................................................35
  Favors of the Great Fey ...............................................35
  Enchanted Objects .......................................................36
  Faerie Steed ....................................................................37
  Relics ................................................................................37
  Chapter 3: 
  Creatures of FAerie .............................39
  Asrai .................................................................................39
  Banshee ...........................................................................39
  Bean-Nighe ...................................................................40
  Cu Sith .............................................................................41
  Elf ......................................................................................41
  Fachen .............................................................................42
  Faun..................................................................................43
  Imp ...................................................................................43
  Jabberwock .................................................................... 44
  Kobold ............................................................................ 44
  Lares .................................................................................45
  Merrow ........................................................................... 46
  Nymph .............................................................................47
  Pixie ................................................................................. 48
  Satyr ................................................................................ 48
  Unicorn .......................................................................... 49
  Chapter 4: 
  My Father Left Forever .................. 50
  Background ......................................................................... 50
  Getting Started ................................................................... 50
  A Thief in the Night ......................................................... 50
  Befriending Tyna ......................................................... 50
  Exploring the Woods ........................................................ 51
  The Lady’s Servants .....................................................52
  Keyed Locations..................................................................53
  The Group’s Camp .......................................................53
  Trappers’ Moot ..............................................................53
  The Pleen Shack ...........................................................54
  Animal Traps .................................................................54
  The Troll Cave ...............................................................54
  Faerie Portal ...................................................................55
  Jealous Dryads ..............................................................55
  The Lady of the Wood ................................................55
  Conclusion ...........................................................................55
  Index .................................................................56
  
  3
  Terrible Beauty
  All things are possible when it comes to the faeries. 
  A diverse people, strange and wonderful by human 
  standards, faeries take a variety of forms—from the 
  captivating nymphs, whose beauty is so striking that a 
  mere glimpse can make slaves of mortals, to the ﬁ lthy 
  goblins that make their homes in the sewers and 
  rubbish heaps of human cities. Faeries are the ghostly 
  ﬂ ames that drift over the fens, the merrow that rise 
  from the ocean depths to lure sailors to their dooms, 
  queer fungus people that turn to watch passersby 
  moving through their lands, and so much more. This 
  supplement describes the faeries that live in and 
  adjacent to the world described in Shadow of the Demon 
  Lord, giving players and GMs the tools they need to tell 
  stories involving them, as allies of the player characters 
  or their foes.
  The Nature 
  of Faeries
  No matter how diﬀ erent they are from one another, 
  faeries have certain common characteristics.
  Children of Magic
  Faeries don’t really know how they came into being. 
  When they tell the old stories, they embellish them, 
  burying the truth—if there is such a thing—beneath 
  layers of fancy and imagination. Ask a faerie where it 
  comes from, and you’re bound to hear any of a dozen 
  diﬀ erent answers, all of which might contain a shred 
  of fact but are, largely, fanciful. Some goblins claim 
  the world is the rotting carcass of a dead god, and the 
  faeries are descended from the maggots that feast on 
  its ﬂ esh. The elves say they are eternal, having come to 
  Urth through hidden paths from another world. Others 
  propose diﬀ erent theories; for instance, many mortals 
  believe that faeries are manifestations of magic in the 
  form of ﬂ esh and bone. Of all the beings that could 
  reveal the origins of the faeries, it would be the genies, 
  but they are too mad to be reliable.
  Forever Young
  Short of catastrophe or violence, most faeries can live 
  forever. They do not, however, have many oﬀ spring. 
  Their low birth rate is not for lack of trying; pregnancy 
  is simply rare. Lack of children combined with the costly 
  wars against the trolls and, later, dwarfs, humans, and 
  others, diminished the faeries’ numbers so much that 
  they were forced to ﬂ ee the mortal world if they would 
  preserve their kind.
   Faeries can mate with humans. Such unions produce 
  faerie oﬀ spring or fauns. Elves, dryads, nymphs, and 
  others sometimes take mortal lovers and then abandon 
  or kill them once they have served their purpose.
   Faeries squander their immortality on beauty, luxury, 
  and excess. They live in the present, unconcerned by 
  the future, uncaring about the past. So long as they 
  can feed their appetites, they are content. When faeries 
  don’t get their way, they become sullen, spiteful, and 
  wickedly vengeful.
  The Hidden People
  When the faeries travel into the world, they prefer to 
  stay out of view of mortal people. Many beneﬁ t from 
  natural invisibility, though children, animals, and 
  supernatural creatures can normally see through the 
  illusion. Others camouﬂ age their bodies, while some 
  can assume the forms of rocks, trees, or other natural 
  features. 
  Protection from Faeries
  Folklore suggests many different methods to keep 
  faeries at bay. Some of the most commonly known 
  are listed below, though in truth their efﬁ cacy in 
  dealing with faeries is unreliable at best. Some 
  faeries ignore these wards, while other don’t. The 
  Game Master decides whether they work or not.
  • Wear your clothing inside out, which confuses 
  faeries enough that they will leave you alone.
  • Hang a knife in the doorway of your home or 
  nail a horseshoe to your door to keep faeries 
  from entering.
  • Keep an iron nail in your pocket to protect 
  yourself against faerie spells.
  • Hang an open pair of scissors above your 
  baby’s crib to keep faeries from stealing your 
  baby.
  • Keep your shoes at the end of your bed with 
  the toes pointed away from you to prevent 
  faeries from entering your dreams.
  • A pig’s head or a pentagram on the door causes 
  faeries to pass over your home.
  • If you hold a four-leaf clover, you can see 
  invisible faeries within short range of you.
  • A bundle of twigs of oak, ash, and thorn tied 
  together with a red thread protects you from 
  faerie magic as if the twigs were iron.
  Iron Loathing
  Faeries cannot stand iron’s touch. Even its smell oﬀ ends 
  them. The trouble they have with iron has to do with the 
  metal’s magnetic properties, which interfere with faerie 
  magic. Being magical creatures, the same disruption 
  causes them extreme discomfort when they touch the 
  metal, and some ﬁ nd their magical abilities start to 
  unravel. Extended contact with iron or any of its alloys 
  can leave burn marks. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
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  4
  Faeries and Mortals
  Faeries left the mortal world for hidden lands, but they 
  didn’t abandon it completely. The fey ﬁ nd the mortal 
  world fascinating and frequently venture into it to 
  explore the lands they left behind. Of particular interest 
  to them are the mortals who inherited their world. 
  Faeries watch them, and they might oﬀ er aid to the 
  worthy or torment to those with repellent personalities. 
  Nasty tricks await the lazy, dishonest, or stingy, while 
  people who show respect and reverence for the Fair 
  Folk and who demonstrate industriousness, kindness, 
  and virtue can receive aid from the faeries—aid that 
  sometimes is as dangerous as their scorn.
   Humans living near a hidden kingdom or a faerie site 
  do well to avoid attracting the attention of the Fair Folk. 
  Since faeries delight in trickery, people blame them 
  for all the terrible things that befall mortals, including 
  sickness in the home, missing animals, and vanished 
  items. Most times, these setbacks and frustations have 
  nothing to do with the faeries, but some people do 
  attract the attention of the fey in these ways, and how 
  those people treat their hidden guests determines how 
  the faeries treat them in return. 
   Faeries expect mortals to follow the proper forms of 
  good behavior. They prize neatness and order in the 
  homes they visit, and cheerfulness and generosity in the 
  people living there. They reward acceptable behavior 
  and punish those who fail to live up to their standards. 
   Helpful faeries lend aid to mortals in small ways—
  they mend clothes, patch shoes, prepare food, chase 
  oﬀ  rodents, and watch over the children, who can 
  typically see them. Most of all, the faeries are a source 
  of good fortune. Harvests yield greater crops, animals 
  stay healthy, and sickness is a rare guest. Families who 
  beneﬁ t from the faeries’ attention can continue to earn 
  those beneﬁ ts by oﬀ ering their helpers small tokens of 
  gratitude, such as wine and food left for them at night, or 
  a few strands of colorful ribbon.
   Faeries are sticklers about the proper forms of 
  conduct. A recipient of their gifts should never mention 
  them nor oﬀ er thanks to the hidden helpers. Showing 
  any kind of gratitude in this way will cause the faeries to 
  leave or, worse, become angry.
   Giving oﬀ ense to faeries always has disastrous results. 
  The faeries use their magic to bring disaster onto the 
  heads of the mortals who angered them. They steal 
  livestock, spoil milk, ruin clothing, steal small items, and 
  aﬄ  ict their victims with terrible luck. 
  Changelings 
  Of all the terrible things faeries do, the stealing of 
  children is undoubtedly the worst. Faeries pluck babies 
  from their cribs and lure the young into the deep forests, 
  whether to spirit them away to a hidden kingdom or 
  simply to lead them into danger. Faeries usually take 
  children as a way to replenish their diminished numbers. 
  Faeries reproduce so infrequently that they can go 
  centuries between producing oﬀ spring. It’s thought by 
  some that only so many faeries can exist at a time, and so 
  one must die to make room for another’s birth. For this 
  reason, elves and other powerful faeries send pixies to 
  ﬁ nd suitable heirs. Children most at risk are those with 
  golden hair. When the faeries steal a child they intend to 
  raise, they often take a midwife as well to help with the 
  child’s rearing.
   Faeries always leave changelings behind to cover 
  their thefts. They fashion such creatures from wood, 
  mud, rocks, and leaves, using magic to make a 
  changeling appear to be the child that was taken. The 
  magic rarely lingers, and after a few days or a week, the 
  parents discover a crib ﬁ lled with ﬁ lth. Sometimes, the 
  magic holds long enough for changelings to become 
  real people.
   On the frontier, where the faeries are much more 
  common, families who suspect one or more of their 
  children to be changelings might place them on red-
  hot shovels and toss them into a ﬁ re. If the child was 
  a changeling, it erupts in green ﬂ ame, and the magic 
  ﬂ ees into the air or up the chimney. A child who isn’t 
  a changeling meets a predictable and tragic fate.
  The Great Fey, 
  Lords and Ladies
  Most faeries shelter in one of several hidden kingdoms 
  scattered around the world. A high king or queen rules 
  each kingdom, the most famous being Titania, the Faerie 
  Queen. Attending the monarch is a court of lords and 
  ladies, all elves loyal and devoted. The rest of the faeries 
  live at the monarch’s pleasure, in some realms enjoying 
  great freedom and in others living as slaves.
   All the named personages who rule over the 
  hidden kingdoms, their consorts, and other faeries of 
  considerable inﬂ uence are known as the great fey. In 
  addition to the Faerie Queen, the list includes the Goblin 
  King; Diabolus, the Lord of Hell; the Queen of Dreams 
  and Shadows, and many others. These beings have great 
  magical power, capable of shaping the kingdoms they 
  rule in any manner they choose.
  Free Faeries
  Faeries living outside the hidden kingdoms must make 
  their own way in the world, relying on their cunning 
  and magic to survive. Bloody bones, nisse, many dryads, 
  and hags are examples of faeries who have managed 
  to scratch out an existence in the mortal world, but the 
  goblins have exceeded all others in their eﬀ orts to ﬁ nd a 
  place among the mortal races.
   The Goblin Exodus: The goblins were always unruly 
  subjects of the Faerie Queen, disobedient, reckless, and 
  ﬁ lthy. They stole from each other and other faeries, 
  wreaked havoc in their land, and were ever a disruption. 
  Through it all, the Faerie Queen tolerated their excesses 
  until they crossed her. The story varies with the telling, 
  as all the best faerie stories do, but the gist is that the 
  Goblin King assembled all the goblins in Alfheim and 
  swept into the Faerie Queen’s palace. While the goblins 
  turned the place upside down, the Goblin King stole 
  a kiss from the Queen. In her wrath, she stripped the 
  goblins of their immortality and cast them out forever. 
  Upon becoming mortal, goblins found they could breed 
  far more easily than they could in Alfheim, and thus 
  they have survived. 
  
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  5
  The Gods
  The faeries have no true gods. They ﬁ nd mortal 
  preoccupation with the divine to be curious, since there’s 
  little evidence that any such powers exist, and if such 
  entities do exist, they have no interest in the people 
  who pray to them. Most suspect that the gods of the Old 
  Faith came into being after the ﬁ rst encounters between 
  humans and the immortals. Awed by their majesty and 
  afraid of their magic, the mortals elevated them to deities 
  and built a religion around them. As the needs of the 
  petitioners changed, the “gods” they worshiped evolved 
  with them. One can still ﬁ nd traces of the fey in the 
  modern interpretations of the old gods, with the Queen 
  of Summer being quite similar to the Faerie Queen and 
  the Horned King being almost identical to Oberon. 
   Faerie Priests: Faerie characters can become priests. 
  The character might have had a supernatural revelation 
  or simply ﬁ nds common cause with an established 
  religion. As well, a faerie character can forge a pact 
  with an immortal patron, such as the Faerie Queen or 
  the Goblin King. Characters who do function as priests 
  have Enchantment, Fey, and Illusion as their associated 
  traditions. 
  Characters 
  and Faeries
  The hidden kingdoms belong to the faeries but are home 
  to peoples of other ancestries as well. Humans snatched 
  from the cradle grow up among the faeries, while fauns 
  live as servants to the lords and ladies. A clockwork 
  could be a prized treasure stolen from an artiﬁ cer, 
  while a halﬂ ing might be a welcome and honored guest 
  because of some heroic service that individual rendered 
  in the past. Characters of almost any ancestry can have 
  a place in the hidden kingdoms and ties to the immortal 
  people who live in them.
  Eyebright Ointment
  An application of eyebright ointment allows 
  the recipient to see invisible creatures and 
  objects out to the range of her vision as if those 
  creatures and objects were visible. One must 
  use an action to apply the ointment to the eyes 
  of a living creature, and its effects last 1 hour. 
  Eyebright is a rare alchemical item that sells for 
  1 gc. Hags can create a more potent version of 
  the ointment that has a permanent effect—but 
  they do not part with this substance willingly or 
  cheaply, exacting steep and terrible prices from 
  those who would gain its beneﬁ ts.
  Professions
  The professions described in Shadow of the Demon Lord 
  reﬂ ect the occupations found in the mortal world, but 
  many are inaproppriate to the peoples of the hidden 
  kingdoms. If you play a faerie character, you can use 
  the Faerie Professions table instead of the ones in the 
  main rulebook.
  Faerie Professions
  d20
  Profession
  1
  Animal trainer
  2
  Apothecary or healer
  3
  Artisan. Choose a trade from baker, brewer, 
  chandler, cobbler, dyer, leatherworker, or tailor. 
  4
  Artist. Choose a medium from painter, poet, 
  sculptor, or writer. 
  5
  Bandit or highwayman
  6
  Boater
  7
  Burglar, pickpocket
  8
  Carouser or sot
  9
  Charlatan
  10
  Courtier
  11
  Entertainer. Choose a style from actor, dancer, 
  fool, orator, singer, or storyteller.
  12
  Explorer or treasure hunter
  13
  Gambler
  14
  Gatherer, hunter
  15
  Guide or tracker
  16
  Hermit
  17
  Musician. Choose an instrument style from 
  percussion, string, or wind.
  18
  Poacher or rustler
  19
  Scholar. Choose one area of scholarship from 
  architecture, astrology, folklore, geography, 
  history, magic, medicine, navigation, occult, 
  philosophy, nature, or war.
  20
  Soldier
  Starting Equipment
  If you chose a faerie background and your starting 
  wealth indicates you are comfortable or above, you 
  begin the game with the following items instead of those 
  normally granted to starting characters of your wealth. 
  You have ﬁ ne clothing, a ﬁ ne cloak, a bronze dagger, 
  a bow, a quiver of 12 arrows, 1d6 small cakes that each 
  provide one day’s nourishment, 1d3 bottles of wine, a 
  healing potion, and a pouch that holds 3d6 cp.
  
  Terrible Beauty
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  6
  Faerie Backgrounds
  If you create a character with an ancestry that is not a 
  faerie, you can roll on the following table to come up 
  with your character’s background in place of the table 
  included in your ancestry description.
  Faerie Background
  d6
  Background
  1
  Bewitched by a Nymph. During one of your 
  travels, you happened upon a nymph. Her beauty 
  stole your heart and your free will, making you 
  her slave for days, months, or years. The faerie 
  eventually lost interest in you, and you were free 
  to spend your remaining days and nights pining 
  for what you lost. 
  2
  Faerie Friend. You were a good and decent child 
  who attracted the attention of several brownies. 
  These diminutive faeries watched out for you, 
  protecting you from an abusive parent, wild 
  animals, or a bully. When you came of age, the 
  brownies vanished from your life, but from time to 
  time you feel as if they are watching over you.
  3
  Fey Bargain. You suffered terribly when a loved 
  one died abruptly. Sensing your vulnerability, a 
  wicked faerie appeared to you and offered to 
  restore your loved one to life in exchange for 
  a service. You agreed, and the faerie lived up 
  to the letter of the agreement, but with terrible 
  consequences. Your loved one is alive but ﬁ nds 
  you repellent, has no memory of you, is trapped 
  inside a mirror you carry with you, or is trapped in 
  one the realms of the faerie. 
  4
  Hag’s Thrall. You lived as a hag’s thrall for many 
  years. The hag could have snatched you from a 
  cradle, leaving a changeling behind to cover the 
  theft or might have used magic to seduce you 
  when you came upon her lair. As the hag’s thrall, 
  you witnessed many terrible things and were 
  likely forced to participate in obscene activities. 
  Start with 1 Insanity.
  5
  Lost in the Mists. You became lost in a borderland 
  between the mortal world and the realm of 
  faerie. You wandered through dreamlike vistas 
  for weeks, months, or years until you ﬁ nally 
  found your way free. You have no recollection of 
  what happened during your time there, but your 
  dreams have been nightmares ever since.
  6
  Sleep of Ages. You ate a poisoned apple, took a 
  nap on an elf hill, or offended an elf maiden, the 
  result of which was for you to fall into a deep 
  sleep that lasted 5d20 years. When you ﬁ nally 
  awoke, you hadn’t aged a day, but likely everyone 
  you knew and loved is aged, gone, or dead.
  New Interesting Things
  If the Game Master starts the campaign near a hidden 
  kingdom, you can roll on this table instead of the ones 
  found in Shadow of the Demon Lord.
  Interesting Things from the 
  Hidden Kingdoms
  d20
  Interesting Thing
  1
  A bright blue frog that can speak the Common 
  Tongue and has a random academic profession. 
  The frog claims it was once human.
  2
  A bloodstained wedding dress. 
  3
  A severed ﬁ nger inside an ornate box.
  4
  Elvish script written all over your body.
  5
  A glass cofﬁ n sized for a child.
  6
  A sword carved from bone and carved in 
  Elvish script.
  7
  A tiny violin with bow sized for a person 
  3 inches tall.
  8
  A purple crystal, one inch wide and nine 
  inches long.
  9
  A human child.
  10
  A small cedar box ﬁ lled with 6d6 bloody 
  ﬁ ngernails.
  11
  The petriﬁ ed head of a troll. Very heavy! 
  12
  A kaleidoscope of 2d20 butterﬂ ies. New 
  butterﬂ ies replace dead ones each time you 
  complete a rest.
  13
  An annoying, talking sidekick (as a tiny animal) 
  that does little more than chatter, follow you 
  around, and disobey half of the orders you give it.
  14
  An air of mystery.
  15
  A grotesque mask made from human skin.
  16
  A beard shorn from a dwarf.
  17
  A four-leafed clover.
  18
  A bouquet of ﬂ owers.
  19
  A cloak woven from moonlight. 
  20
  A place in the Faerie Queen’s court.
  New Ancestries
  Joining the changeling and the goblin from the main 
  rulebook and the faun from the Demon Lord Companion 
  are three new faerie-themed ancestries. Elves are the 
  self-styled lords and ladies of the hidden kingdoms. 
  Hobgoblins, the foot soldiers in the armies of the 
  hidden kingdoms, appear identical to one another 
  until they lose control and become frenzied. Pixies, 
  diminutive and fragile, rely on their natural invisibility 
  to avoid their foes and to play tricks on mortals that draw 
  their attention.
  Terrible Beauty
  awoke, you hadn’t aged a day, but likely everyone 
  you knew and loved is aged, gone, or dead.
  
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  7
  Elf
  The lords and ladies of the faerie realms, the elves have 
  produced such beings as the Faerie Queen, the Prince 
  of Robins, Oberon, and even Diabolus, the Lord of 
  Hell. Most elves have few grand ambitions, content to 
  pass the centuries in pleasure, perhaps capturing the 
  breathtaking vistas of their homeland on canvas or in 
  verse, coupling with lovers under a sea of glittering stars, 
  or dancing, drinking, and feasting on the bounty stolen 
  from the mortal world. 
   Terrible Beauty: Elves appear human for the most 
  part, but all possess some sign of their otherworldly 
  origin. One might have pointed ears or a cow’s tail, or 
  might appear normal when viewed from the front, only 
  to be revealed as nothing more than a two-dimensional 
  image when seen from behind. Some have horns, 
  vestigial butterﬂ y wings, or soft fur covering some or 
  all of their bodies. Many people ﬁ nd them appealing, 
  even infectious, no doubt due to their natural charisma. 
  Elves draw on their inner magic to become alluring or 
  fearsome, wondrous or monstrous. Most elves stand 4-1/2 
  to 5 feet tall and weigh 80 to 140 pounds.
   Eternal Youth: Short of falling victim to violence 
  or disaster, elves live forever (though they have but 
  one life, because their bodies and souls 
  are inseparable). When elves reach 
  maturity, they stop aging and 
  remain ﬁ xed at that physical 
  state for as long as they remain alive. Elves produce 
  oﬀ spring only once or twice over the course of their 
  entire lives. For this reason, they often resort to stealing 
  mortal children, then raise them for a few years until 
  the children transform into faeries, or until the children 
  prove too boorish to bear, and the faeries abandon 
  them to whatever horrible fate awaits them in the 
  magical landscape.
   Beyond Good and Evil: The length of their lives and 
  the ﬁ nality of their deaths combine to make it diﬃ  cult 
  for elves to care much about the consequences of their 
  actions. Pleasure drives them, and they do whatever 
  they need to obtain it, heedless of who or what they 
  hurt in the process. Others might interpret their actions 
  as selﬁ sh or evil, but elves don’t concern themselves 
  with such concepts, making no distinction between 
  plucking the pretty eye from a shepherd’s face and 
  composing a sonnet to a beautiful ﬂ ower. Both acts give 
  them pleasure.
   Common Names: Elves adopt names related to things 
  they ﬁ nd beautiful. Examples include Breath of Winter, 
  Dawn in a Dewdrop, Fury of the North Wind, Moon in 
  the Night Sky, Scattering of Leaves, Sorrow in Twilight, 
  Whisper of Night, and Widow’s Cry. Elves use these 
  common names in lieu of their true names, which they 
  keep secret lest some meddling mortal call them from 
  their hidden realms. 
  Creating an Elf
  Starting Attribute Scores Strength 9, Agility 10, Intellect 
  10, Will 9. Choose two attributes and increase each by 1.
  Perception equals your Intellect score + 1
  Defense equals your Agility score
  Health equals your Strength score
  Healing Rate equals one-quarter your Health, round down
  Size 1, Speed 12, Power 0
  0 Damage, 0 Insanity, 0 Corruption
  Languages and Professions You speak the Common 
  Tongue and High Archaic. You also speak, read, and 
  write Elvish. You might gain additional professions or 
  languages based on your age.
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased 
  Shadowsight You see into areas obscured by shadows as if 
  those areas were lit.
  Spell Defense You take half damage from spells and you 
  make any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking you with a spell makes the attack roll 
  with 1 bane. 
  Bewitching Presence Your magical nature alters how 
  others see you and behave around you. You make attack 
  rolls in social situations with 1 boon. If you touch or are 
  touched by an object made from iron, you lose this trait 
  for as long you remain in contact with the object and for 
  1 minute afterward.
  Iron Vulnerability You are impaired while you are in 
  contact with iron. In addition, if you touch or are touched 
  by an object made from iron, you lose Spell Defense for 
  as long you remain in contact with the object and for 1 
  minute afterward.
  Level 4 Expert Elf
  You either learn one spell or increase your Health by 4.
  one life, because their bodies and souls 
  are inseparable). When elves reach 
  maturity, they stop aging and 
  remain ﬁ xed at that physical 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  8
  Elf Background
  d20
  Background
  1
  You fought the trolls thousands of years ago.
  2
  You were a child stolen from your parents by 
  the faerie and raised among them, losing your 
  humanity to become an elf.
  3
  You chose to live apart from your kind, ﬁ nding 
  refuge in the unspoiled wilderness of the mortal 
  world.
  4
  You had a tryst with a human that resulted in the 
  birth of a faun. You abandoned both. 
  5
  You stole a baby from a human family and raised 
  it as your own. Roll a d3: 1, you gave the baby to 
  Hell as part of your tithe; 2, you misplaced the 
  baby; 3, the baby grew up to become an elf or a 
  faun.
  6
  You maimed several dozen humans to harvest 
  their best features. You tried to ﬁ t the pieces 
  together but lost interest and discarded the mess. 
  Gain 1 Corruption.
  7
  You once drowned a person to take his or her 
  spouse. Gain 1 Corruption.
  8
  You have spent half your life composing the 
  perfect poem.
  9
  You lived among the dark faerie of Hell for 
  many years, before escaping that awful place 
  and cleansing yourself of the experience. Gain 
  1 Corruption.
  10
  You fancied a mortal and lured him or her 
  into your hidden kingdom. You lost the mortal 
  somewhere along the way, and that sometimes 
  makes you sad.
  11
  Pleasure has ruled your life, and you have few 
  memories of the times you have spent indulging 
  your every desire.
  12
  You have traveled among mortals, and you have 
  a better understanding of their nature than do the 
  rest of your people.
  13
  You have the Faerie Queen’s favor. She watches 
  what you do from time to time in a reﬂ ecting pool. 
  14
  You are among the highborn, a member of the fey 
  aristocracy.
  15
  A mortal summoned and bound you to service for 
  seven years. 
  16
  Choose one other character. You befriended that 
  character long ago, and you watch out for your 
  friend at all times. 
  17
  You have confused pain for pleasure, spending 
  1d20 years mutilating your body.
  18
  You come from a people who refused to abandon 
  the mortal world. You are deemed primitive and 
  backward by other elves.
  19
  Demons spilled into your homeland, and you are 
  the sole survivor.
  20
  You fell in love with a mortal and murdered his or 
  her loved ones so that he or she would love only 
  you. Gain 1d3 Corruption.
   Elf Age
  d3
  Age
  1
  You are young, less than ﬁ fty years old.
  2–3
  You are an adult, and you have stopped physically 
  aging. You are 1d20  50 years old. For each 
  century you have lived, add either one faerie 
  profession to your list of professions or one 
  language to your list of known languages. 
  Elf Faerie Mark*
  3d6
  Faerie Mark
  3
  You appear two-dimensional from behind, as if 
  nothing more than an image of a person. Any 
  clothing you wear conforms to your appearance 
  and returns to normal when it is removed.
  4–5
  Horns or antlers sprout from your forehead.
  6–8
  You have the tail of a cow, a fox, a cat, or some 
  other animal. 
  9–12
  You have pointed ears, exotic skin color (blue, 
  green, gold, or something else), unusual hair color, 
  or no pupils or irises in your eyes.
  13–15
  Fine fur covers some or all of your body, or from 
  the knees down, you have the legs of a frog, a fox, 
  a grasshopper, or some other animal.
  16–17
  You have vestigial butterﬂ y wings, hair made 
  of raven or swan feathers, or a speck of light 
  that shines like a candle from the center of your 
  forehead.
  18
  Your body appears to be made from wood, and 
  a forest of twigs crowns your head.
  *You can have up to three marks.
  Elf Quirk
  d20
  Quirk
  1
  Your laugh tends to make people smile.
  2
  You cannot cry.
  3
  You talk in a singsong voice.
  4
  Your laughter sounds like the chiming of silver 
  bells.
  5
  You always smell of fresh ﬂ owers.
  6
  Your hair or skin color changes with the seasons.
  7
  You speak in whispers.
  8
  The smell of iron sickens you. 
  9
  You sometimes speak in rhymes, usually when you 
  are excited or upset.
  10
  Birds sometimes land on your shoulders and chirp 
  until they are shooed away.
  11
  You can’t sit still, and you ﬁ dget constantly.
  12
  Whenever you sleep on the ground outdoors, 
  ﬂ owers or mushrooms grow up around you.
  13
  To the touch, you are as cool as a corpse.
  14
  You sparkle in sunlight.
  15
  Your clothing always stays clean.
  16
  You have permanent grass stains on your hands 
  and feet.
  17
  You have butterﬂ y wings. They don’t let you 
  ﬂ y, but you never take damage from landing after 
  a fall.
  18
  You bear a hideous scar from a battle with a troll.
  19
  Normal ﬂ ames within short range of you turn blue.
  20
  When you become angry, your face twists into a 
  feral mask.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  9
  Elf Personality
  3d6
  Personality
  3–4
  Your hatred for mortals manifests as cruelty. You 
  never pass up the chance to make a mortal suffer.
  5–6
  You are ﬁ ckle, changeable, and erratic. Ruled by 
  your whims, you can be wicked or kind, loving or 
  hateful, switching between extremes with little 
  warning.
  7–8
  You take pleasure in one thing of your choice. 
  You strive to feed your appetites and pursue that 
  pleasurable thing whenever you can.
  9–12
  You are curious about the world beyond your 
  home and seek new experiences among the 
  fascinating creatures there.
  13–14
  You resent authority and obligations. You are 
  loath to swear a vow and never willingly promise 
  to do anything.
  15–16
  To you, all living things deserve respect, and you 
  work to nurture and protect life in your world as 
  well as the world of mortals.
  17–18
  You dislike mortals and make your disdain for 
  them clear when you interact with them.
  Hobgoblin
  When the fey go to war, they rely on the hobgoblins 
  to take up arms and lead the van. Made for battle, 
  hobgoblins are ever eager to wet their blades with the 
  blood of their enemies. The great fey created hobgoblins 
  from goblin stock, stripping them of their immortality. 
  They imbued what remained with might and courage, 
  to make them into obedient soldiers willing to die in the 
  defense of their lands and masters. 
   Same in Every Way: Identical to one another, all 
  hobgoblins have heavy, distended bellies that hang 
  like ﬂ eshy skirts over their thighs, spindly limbs, and 
  drooping facial features with heavy jowls. They all stand 
  exactly 5 feet, 4-1/2 inches tall and weigh 166 pounds no 
  matter how much or how little they eat. Each hobgoblin 
  has both male and female anatomy to make breeding 
  more eﬃ  cient. Like goblins, hobgoblins are fecund, but 
  they never live for more than thirty-three years.
   The Frenzy: Hobgoblins lose control in a ﬁ ght, 
  becoming wild and violent killers. When they enter the 
  state known as “the frenzy,” they behave in odd ways and 
  undergo bizarre transformations. The change never lasts 
  long, and when they regain control, they revert to their 
  typical appearance and usual behavior.
   Live to Serve: The highest ideal to which all 
  hobgoblins strive is to acquit themselves well in service 
  to their patrons, even if doing so means their death. 
  Hobgoblins venerate their patrons—the Faerie Queen, 
  the Goblin King, the Prince of Robins—almost as 
  gods and invoke their names when they are surprised, 
  angered, or amazed. Hobgoblins believe that their 
  people share one soul, so death holds no fear for them 
  so long as at least one hobgoblin lives.
   Simple Ambitions: Hobgoblins were made to ﬁ ght, 
  but battle does not occur frequently enough to hold 
  their attention. They spend their time between battles 
  drinking, ﬁ ghting, and mating. Many hobgoblins 
  become quite skilled at making arms and armor, rivaling 
  dwarfs in their crafting 
  ability.
   Common Names: A 
  hobgoblin’s full name 
  consists of three numbers. 
  The ﬁ rst number is the 
  sum of all the last numbers 
  of one’s grandparents. 
  The second is the sum of 
  the last numbers of one’s 
  parents. The third number 
  indicates one’s order of 
  birth within the family. 
  So, the second hobgoblin 
  born to the fourth and 
  ﬁ fth hobgoblins born 
  to the third, ﬁ fth, ﬁ rst, 
  and second 
  hobgoblins 
  would be 
  named 11-9-2. 
  Hobgoblins 
  typically refer 
  to each other 
  by the last 
  numbers of their 
  names, and some adopt 
  nicknames given to them by 
  their acquaintances.
  Creating a 
  Hobgoblin
  Starting Attribute 
  Scores Strength 
  11, Agility 10, 
  Intellect 9, Will 11. 
  These scores cannot 
  be adjusted during character creation.
  Perception equals your Intellect score + 1
  Defense equals your Agility score
  Health equals your Strength score
  Healing Rate equals one-quarter your Health, round down
  Size 1, Speed 10, Power 0
  0 Damage, 1d3 Insanity, 0 Corruption
  Languages and Professions You speak Elvish, and you 
  have the soldier profession.
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased 
  Iron Vulnerability You are impaired while you are in 
  contact with iron.
  Shadowsight You see into areas obscured by shadows as if 
  those areas were lit.
  Frenzy In combat, roll a d6 at the end of each round if you 
  are neither incapacitated nor subject to this trait. On a 
  6, you become frenzied for 1 minute. While frenzied, you 
  are immune to the frightened afﬂ iction, your attacks deal 
  1d6 extra damage, and all creatures that attack you make 
  their attack rolls with 1 boon.
  Level 4 Expert Hobgoblin
  Characteristics Health +5
  You either learn one spell or gain Control Frenzy.
  Control Frenzy While you are subject to your Frenzy trait, 
  you can use a triggered action on your turn to make a 
  Will challenge roll. On a success, the Frenzy effect ends 
  and you lose that trait for 1 minute.
  dwarfs in their crafting 
  Common Names: A 
  hobgoblin’s full name 
  consists of three numbers. 
  The ﬁ rst number is the 
  sum of all the last numbers 
  of one’s grandparents. 
  The second is the sum of 
  the last numbers of one’s 
  parents. The third number 
  indicates one’s order of 
  birth within the family. 
  So, the second hobgoblin 
  born to the fourth and 
  ﬁ fth hobgoblins born 
  to the third, ﬁ fth, ﬁ rst, 
  numbers of their 
  names, and some adopt 
  nicknames given to them by 
  their acquaintances.
  Creating a 
  Hobgoblin
  Starting Attribute 
   Strength 
  11, Agility 10, 
  Intellect 9, Will 11. 
  These scores cannot 
  be adjusted during character creation.
   equals your Intellect score + 1
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  10
  Hobgoblin Background
  d20
  Background
  1
  In a large, chaotic battle, you became separated 
  from your unit. You wandered off and became lost 
  in mortal lands.
  2
  Accused of cowardice, you left your homeland in 
  disgrace.
  3
  A spell whisked you from your homeland and 
  bound you to serve a mortal summoner. You 
  escaped the magical bonds when your summoner 
  died.
  4
  You spent the last 1d3 years hiding in the cellar 
  of a house owned by a human family. You often 
  crept up to watch the family members sleep. 
  5
  A hag bound you to her service, compelling 
  you to steal children to feed to her ovens. You 
  escaped a few days ago, and you fear she might 
  ﬁ nd you and turn you into a toad.
  6
  You helped defend a faerie site from a rampaging 
  troll and bear the scars from that encounter with 
  pride.
  7
  You were a spy for the Lord of Hell in the realms 
  of faerie. You were discovered, but escaped 
  before your foes could kill you.
  8
  You were an elf’s henchman. You despised your 
  master.
  9
  You were a member of a small military unit in the 
  faerie realm.
  10
  You belonged to a company of hobgoblins 
  pledged to defend your hidden kingdom.
  11
  You were a sergeant in your military unit, leading 
  your team on forays against the enemies of the 
  hidden kingdoms.
  12
  You spent your early life protecting your 
  homeland but gave up that endeavor to explore 
  the mortal world. 
  13
  You ﬂ ed your homeland after you murdered an 
  elf. You have not been able to clean the faerie’s 
  blood from your hands.
  14
  You accompanied an elf out of Alfheim to combat 
  the growing darkness in the world. The elf might 
  be another character in the group, or someone 
  else from whom you have become separated.
  15
  Your homeland vanished, devoured by demons, 
  and you are the sole survivor.
  16
  You killed a human warrior in battle. You start the 
  game with a sword.
  17
  You befriended a young girl and served as her 
  protector. Now you wonder what became of her.
  18
  You lived with goblins for 1d3 years to learn 
  more about your people’s heritage. You left 
  disappointed with what you discovered.
  19
  You have mated with several hobgoblins, and you 
  have 1d6 children that you know about.
  20
  You spent many years as one of the Faerie 
  Queen’s guards. You left this service after 
  discovering some terrible secret. 
  Hobgoblin Age
  3d6
  Age
  3
  You are a small child, 3 years old or younger.
  4–5
  You are an adolescent, 4 to 8 years old.
  6–8
  You are a young adult, 9 to 12 years old.
  9–12
  You are an adult, 13 to 20 years old.
  13–15
  You are a mature adult, 21 to 24 years old.
  16–17
  You are an old adult, 25 to 29 years old.
  18
  You are a venerable adult, 30 to 33 years old.
  Hobgoblin Frenzy Side Effect*
  d20
  Quirk
  1
  You scream and scream and scream some more.
  2
  You violently expel the contents of your guts from 
  your mouth and anus.
  3
  You shriek with horrible laughter.
  4
  Your facial features rearrange themselves.
  5
  You belch bubbles that emit stinking green 
  vapors when popped.
  6
  Rivers of sweat pour from your body.
  7
  Weird blue spots appear and move under your 
  skin all over your body.
  8
  You drop 1d6 small bricks from your rear that 
  land on the ground in your space the instant you 
  become frenzied.
  9
  You vomit on a randomly determined creature 
  within short range.
  10
  All closed objects within short range of you that 
  can be opened that are neither stuck nor locked 
  ﬂ y open.
  11
  Your breath steams.
  12
  Your eyes become as large as saucers and 
  bulge out from your face.
  13
  Your face collapses in on itself so that you have 
  a crooked crease running from the top of your 
  head down to your chin. You can perceive your 
  surroundings as normal.
  14
  You utter a stream of words in a language 
  you don’t know that sounds like nonsense to 
  everyone.
  15
  Steam whistles as it leaves your ears.
  16
  You reek of rancid ham.
  17
  Your hair stands on end.
  18
  Your jowls lengthen until they reach your chest.
  19
  You skip and dance while you move.
  20
  A ball of green ﬂ ame appears and hangs over 
  your head. The ﬂ ame is not hot and emits light as 
  a torch.
  * 
  The side effect applies while under the 
  effects of your Frenzy trait.
  Terrible Beauty
  10
  10
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  11
  Hobgoblin Personality
  3d6
  Personality
  3
  You hate everything. The only activity you like 
  more than watching things die is being the one to 
  kill them. 
  4–5
  Something is wrong with you. You lack all sense 
  of duty and discipline, even when you’re not 
  under the inﬂ uence of the frenzy. You bristle at 
  commands and smart off to your betters. 
  6–8
  You are loyal to the faerie and consider mortals 
  to be nothing more than talking animals. You 
  tolerate them, at best.
  9–12
  You live to serve. You seek out a person of 
  authority to whom you can devote yourself. You 
  follow orders from this person, no matter how 
  despicable.
  13–15
  You take responsibility for your friends, and 
  you would die to protect them from harm.
  16–17
  You are in love with the Faerie Queen. You 
  know she will never reciprocate, but you hope 
  to one day make yourself worthy in her eyes. 
  Everything you do, you do for her.
  18
  Violence sickens you. You acquit yourself in 
  battle as needed, but when it’s over you must 
  spend a few moments being violently sick. 
  Pixie
  The quintessential wee folk, many pixies use secret 
  ways to ﬂ utter across the borderlands into the mortal 
  world, where they cause trouble, spy, and play tricks on 
  larger, more foolish people. Pixies are the wildest of the 
  faerie, recognizing no authority other than their whims, 
  going wherever and doing whatever they please. Their 
  mercurial nature makes them unpredictable—a pixie 
  might be all laughter and jests one moment and pure 
  malice the next.
   Endless Variety: The name “pixie” encompasses many 
  diﬀ erent families of faeries, typiﬁ ed by their small size 
  and magical nature. Generally, pixies look like tiny elﬁ n 
  people, each about 8 inches tall and weighing no more 
  than a couple of pounds. They can be cute and cherubic 
  or strange and feral-looking, all teeth and claws. They 
  can have any skin coloration, with pink, blue, and green 
  being the most common hues. All can ﬂ y, and most do 
  so by using the wings on their backs. The ones that lack 
  wings ﬂ utter about through some quirk of magic.
   Most people never lay eyes on pixies, thanks to their 
  natural invisibility, but children, animals, the simple-
  minded, and supernatural creatures can all see pixies. 
  They can reveal themselves to other creatures, though 
  they rarely do so.
   Wicked Tricksters: Pixies love games, and their 
  favorites involve playing tricks on larger creatures. The 
  tricks can be harmless fun, such as stealing a small item 
  or making scary noises in one’s home, but they can also 
  be dangerous. Some pixies see nothing wrong with 
  leading a woodcutter into a beastmen encampment to 
  see what happens or stealing horses and running them 
  to death. 
   Insigniﬁ cant Pests: Most other fey consider pixies 
  to be a nuisance, seeing them as incorrigible tricksters. 
  Some pixies manage to ﬁ nd places of respect among the 
  faerie, but most languish in tiny cages, prized for their 
  sweet voices and charming appearance. Unscrupulous 
  goblins sometimes trap pixies to sell for use as 
  ingredients in dark incantations. 
   Common Names: Pixies name themselves after things 
  they consider pretty, such as Bluebell, Dew, Giggles, 
  Glimmer, Mist, Moonlight, Petal, Rain, and Sunshine.
  Creating a Pixie
  Starting Attribute Scores Strength 5, Agility 12, Intellect 10, 
  Will 8
  Perception equals your Intellect score + 1
  Defense equals your Agility score
  Health equals your Strength score
  Healing Rate equals one-quarter your Health, round down
  Size 1/8, Speed 10, Power 0
  0 Damage, 0 Insanity, 0 Corruption
  Languages and Professions You speak Elvish.
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Flutter You can move by ﬂ ying, but if you ﬂ y higher than 
  5 yards above the ground, you fall.
  Naturally Invisible You are invisible to most creatures aside 
  from other pixies. Animals, demons, faeries, monsters, 
  children, creatures with Intellect scores of 7 or lower, 
  and creatures with 5 Insanity or more can see you 
  clearly. You lose this trait from noon to one in the 
  afternoon and from midnight to one in the morning, 
  as well as at dawn, until the sun fully rises, and at dusk, 
  until the sun fully sets. If you come into contact with 
  iron, you lose this trait for 1 hour.
  Glow You can use an action on your turn to become 
  visible and illuminate the area within 2 yards of you. 
  You remain visible until you use an action to become 
  invisible once more.
  more than watching things die is being the one to 
  Something is wrong with you. You lack all sense 
  under the inﬂ uence of the frenzy. You bristle at 
  You are loyal to the faerie and consider mortals 
  authority to whom you can devote yourself. You 
  ways to ﬂ utter across the borderlands into the mortal 
  world, where they cause trouble, spy, and play tricks on 
  larger, more foolish people. Pixies are the wildest of the 
  faerie, recognizing no authority other than their whims, 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  12
  Shadowsight You see into areas obscured by shadows 
  as if those areas were lit.
  Iron Vulnerability You are impaired while in contact 
  with iron.
  Wee Your weapon attacks deal half damage. Whenever 
  you increase Health from a path, you increase your 
  Health score by half the given amount.
  Level 4 Expert Pixie
  Characteristics Health +2
  You either learn one spell or gain Dilate.
  Dilate You can use an action to increase your Size to 1/2. 
  You remain at this Size until you use an action to return 
  to your normal Size. Until this effect ends, you lose the 
  Flutter, Naturally Invisible, and Glow traits, but you gain 
  a +5 bonus to Strength, and a bonus to Health equal to 
  2 for each level your group has attained. In addition, your 
  weapon attacks deal normal damage instead of 
  half damage.
  Pixie Appearance
  1d20
  Appearance
  1
  You have the legs of a grasshopper or a cricket.
  2
  Your hair looks like dandelion ﬂ uff.
  3
  You have large, pointed ears.
  4
  While you are visible, you trail golden sparkles 
  whenever you move. 
  5
  You have a pointed head.
  6
  You have a wide, toothy grin.
  7
  You are always ﬁ lthy, no matter how much you 
  scrub.
  8
  You have the head of a bird or an insect.
  9
  You have ﬂ ower petals in place of hair.
  10
  You can’t stand still, ﬁ dgeting constantly.
  11
  When you become visible, you look like you are 
  on ﬁ re.
  12
  The air around you always smells of fresh cut 
  grass, honey, or ﬂ owers.
  13
  The chime of tiny bells sounds whenever you 
  become visible.
  14
  When you become invisible, 1d6 bubbles ﬂ oat 
  away from you. 
  15
  Your skin appears to be made from woven grass.
  16
  You prefer to go about unclothed.
  17
  You wear colorful ribbons in your hair.
  18
  You have many scars on your hands and feet from 
  being imprisoned in an iron cage. 
  19
  Your wings are frayed and tattered. (If you don’t 
  have wings, you appear to be made from cloth 
  and have tiny buttons for eyes.)
  20
  Your skin is an unusual color or a pattern of 
  different colors.
  Pixie Age
  1d3
  Age
  1
  You are young, less than 5 years old.
  2–3
  You are an adult, aged 1d20  5 years. For each 
  decade you have lived, add either one faerie 
  profession to your list of professions or one 
  language to your list of languages learned. 
  Pixie Background
  1d20
  Background
  1
  An elf kept you in a golden cage for half your life. 
  You recently escaped.
  2
  You loved a mortal child who was cursed never to 
  grow up. 
  3
  You have spent many nights leading travelers 
  astray.
  4
  You served a hag and helped the monster steal 
  children.
  5
  You have always had a great fondness for horses 
  and would tangle yourself up in their manes, 
  urging them to gallop away from their owners.
  6
  You were a great explorer, discovering many 
  ocean caves.
  7
  You love making and repairing shoes.
  8
  You used to sneak into the homes of mortals to 
  steal their ribbons.
  9
  You helped goblins inﬁ ltrate the hidden kingdom 
  from which you come.
  10
  You have passed the years indulging your every 
  desire.
  11
  You once stole the eyes from a child. You have 
  them still.
  12
  You used to perform services for mortals in 
  exchange for a trinket, a token, or a saucer of 
  cream.
  13
  You plucked a wedding ring from a great lady, but 
  have since lost it.
  14
  You were a valued servant of an elf lord or lady 
  until you were discarded.
  15
  You befriended a mortal long ago and protected 
  your friend until he or she came of age. That 
  mortal can see you when you are invisible.
  16
  You stole a gold coin from the Great Dragon and 
  spent it on wine.
  17
  You fell in love with a nymph and pine for her still.
  18 
  You once befriended a wild man of the wood and 
  helped him rescue his lady and two unicorns from 
  Hell.
  19
  A trick you played on a mortal resulted in a death. 
  You might or might not feel guilty.
  20
  You have spent your life in Hell and just recently 
  escaped. Gain 1d3 Corruption.
  Pixie Build
  3d6
  Build
  3
  You are a mere wisp of a faerie, short and slight 
  for your kind.
  4–5
  You have a curvy or plump body.
  6–8
  You are quite small for a pixie.
  9–12
  You are typical for a pixie in both height and 
  weight.
  13–15
  You stand a bit taller than other pixies.
  16–17
  You look stretched out, tall with a willowy body. 
  18
  For a pixie, you are tall and have a muscled 
  physique.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  13
  Pixie Personality
  3d6
  Personality
  3
  You are so wicked, you probably belong in Hell. 
  You thrive on sowing discord, you enjoy maiming 
  innocents, and you leave a trail of destruction 
  wherever you go.
  4–5
  You love to laugh, though the things you ﬁ nd 
  funny others ﬁ nd appalling. Nothing sets you off 
  like watching the surprise on a creature’s face 
  when the ﬁ rst jet of blood spurts from its body.
  6–8
  You live for pleasure. You take what you want, 
  do what you feel like doing, and go wherever you 
  want.
  9–12
  You are capricious and willful, doing and saying 
  what you please. You have a hard time keeping 
  promises, and you are easily distracted.
  13–15
  You are a free spirit, unbound by oath or 
  obligation. You are innocent in nature, though, 
  and you prefer not to harm others. You are not 
  above playing tricks on people you deem to be 
  too serious.
  16–17
  You lack the wildness typical of your people, 
  tending to be more focused and committed to 
  your goals. You strive to do good in all that you 
  do.
  18
  You are quite serious. You have no time for the 
  games your people play, ﬁ nding them silly and 
  distracting.
  Pixie Wings
  3d6
  Wings
  3
  You have no wings.
  4–5
  You have dragonﬂ y wings.
  6–8
  You have moth wings.
  9–12
  You have butterﬂ y wings.
  13–15
  You have wasp wings.
  16–17
  You have feathered wings.
  18
  You have leathery wings.
  Expert Path
  In addition to the expert paths described in Shadow of 
  the Demon Lord, creatures of faerie can choose a path of 
  faith, the avowed, that speaks directly to the uniqueness 
  of what they consider to be their deities. Others with ties 
  to the hidden kingdoms might follow this path as well.
  Avowed
  Although the fey have no true gods, the ancient beings 
  who rule the hidden kingdoms, such as the Faerie 
  Queen and the Goblin King, occupy a similar place 
  in the faeries’ worldview. The great fey protect their 
  subjects and inspire them to great deeds or despicable 
  villainy. 
   Most faeries regard the great fey with wonder and 
  respect, while a few become so enamored that they 
  devote themselves fully to their patron, acting as agents, 
  champions, and protectors. The avowed, so called 
  because of the sacred oaths of service they speak before 
  taking up the mantle of service, range far from the 
  hidden kingdoms on their missions, traveling wherever 
  they must to defend and further the interests of their 
  patrons. Avowed are almost always faeries, but some 
  impressive mortals have pledged service to one of the 
  great fey and found their oﬀ ers accepted. 
  Level 3 Avowed
  Attributes Increase two by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +4, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a faerie profession.
  Magic You discover the Enchantment, Fey, or Illusion 
  tradition, or you learn one spell from one of those 
  traditions.
  Favor You have your patron’s favor and act with your 
  patron’s blessings. When you would make an attack roll 
  or a challenge roll, you can call upon this talent to make 
  the roll with 1 boon. If the roll results in a failure, you 
  gain 1 Insanity, and you lose this talent until you 
  complete a rest.
  Level 6 Avowed
  Characteristics Health +4
  Magic You learn one spell.
  Countless Doors While you have the Favor talent, you 
  can use an action or a triggered action on your turn to 
  teleport to an open space you can see within medium 
  range. You can use this talent a number of times equal 
  to your Power. You regain expended uses when you 
  complete a rest. 
  18
  You have leathery wings.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  14
  Level 9 Master Avowed
  Characteristics Health +4, Power +1
  Magic You learn one spell.
  Great Favor Increase the number of boons gained from 
  your Favor talent to 2.
  Power of the Ancients While you have the Favor talent, 
  you can expend the casting of one spell you have 
  learned to gain the Power of the Ancients for a number 
  of rounds equal to 1 + the rank of the spell whose casting 
  you expended. Until the effect ends, you gain the 
  following beneﬁ ts:
  • You impose 1 bane on attack rolls made by creatures 
  against you.
  • You gain a +4 bonus to Speed.
  • You can use your Countless Doors talent without 
  expending a use.
  • You heal 1d6 damage at the end of each round.
  Avowed Story Development
  d6
  Story Development
  1
  A noble deed you performed won you the 
  attention of one of the great fey. As a 
  reward, that ﬁ gure raised you up to become 
  a champion of the court.
  2
  Your tricks made one of the avowed look 
  like a fool. Your cunning gave you a place 
  in the service of a great fey while also 
  earning you an eternal rival or enemy.
  3
  You spied one of the great fey and 
  instantly and permanently became 
  smitten. You serve in the hope of 
  one day winning your patron’s 
  affections. 
  4
  You found a way to contact one 
  of the great fey and strike a 
  bargain through shrewd 
  negotiation. In exchange for 
  your service, you gained the 
  patron’s favor. 
  5
  You sought out the gods of the 
  Old Faith and instead discovered 
  one of the lords or ladies. You 
  mistook (or understood) the 
  being for a god and henceforth 
  pledged your life to his or her 
  service.
  6
  Your hatred of trolls, orcs, 
  humans, or demons led you 
  to serve one of the great 
  fey, hoping to grow your 
  power enough through the 
  fey’s gifts to be able to 
  stand against your 
  enemies and survive. 
  Master Paths
  Each of the following master paths has its roots in 
  the lands of the faerie or is associated with one of 
  the various methods that the fey employ to get what 
  they want.
  Beguiler
  Standing at the crossroads of the mortal world and the 
  realms of faerie, beguilers master Fey magic, causing 
  mystical energy to well up from within themselves and 
  manifest as an otherworldly presence that makes it easy 
  for beguilers to inﬂ uence others with nothing more than 
  a thought and a gesture. 
  Level 7 Beguiler
  Attributes Increase three 
  by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +2, 
  Power +1
  Languages and Professions You 
  can speak another language.
  Magic You discover the Fey 
  tradition or learn one Fey spell.
  Enchanting Presence You can 
  use an action to expend the 
  casting of one spell you have 
  learned and choose one living 
  creature within short range. Make 
  an Intellect attack roll against 
  the target’s Will. On a success, 
  the target becomes charmed for 
  a number of rounds equal to 1 + 
  the rank of the expended spell. 
  Twist the Mind You can use an 
  action to twist the mind of one 
  creature within medium range 
  that is charmed by you. You 
  remove the charmed afﬂ iction, 
  and the target must make a Will 
  challenge roll. On a success, you 
  become dazed for 1 round. On 
  a failure, you can choose one of 
  the following effects:
  • The target becomes 
  frightened for 1 minute.
  • The target becomes 
  compelled for 1 round.
  • You become invisible to the 
  target for as long as you 
  concentrate, up to 1 minute.
  Level 10 Beguiler
  Characteristics Health +2
  Magic You learn one Fey spell.
  Fey Majesty When you use your 
  Enchanting Presence talent, you 
  choose a number of living creatures 
  equal to your Power and attack each 
  target separately.
  Terrible Beauty
  Avowed Story Development
  Story Development
  A noble deed you performed won you the 
  attention of one of the great fey. As a 
  reward, that ﬁ gure raised you up to become 
  a champion of the court.
  Your tricks made one of the avowed look 
  like a fool. Your cunning gave you a place 
  in the service of a great fey while also 
  earning you an eternal rival or enemy.
  You spied one of the great fey and 
  instantly and permanently became 
  smitten. You serve in the hope of 
  one day winning your patron’s 
  You found a way to contact one 
  of the great fey and strike a 
  bargain through shrewd 
  negotiation. In exchange for 
  your service, you gained the 
  You sought out the gods of the 
  Old Faith and instead discovered 
  one of the lords or ladies. You 
  mistook (or understood) the 
  being for a god and henceforth 
  pledged your life to his or her 
  Your hatred of trolls, orcs, 
  humans, or demons led you 
  to serve one of the great 
  fey, hoping to grow your 
  power enough through the 
  fey’s gifts to be able to 
  stand against your 
  enemies and survive. 
  Characteristics 
  Magic
  Fey Majesty
  Enchanting Presence talent, you 
  choose a number of living creatures 
  equal to your Power and attack each 
  target separately.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  15
  Cat Sith
  Cat sith are people who have been touched by faerie 
  magic, gained from a bargain with one of the great fey, 
  that grants them the ability to adopt the forms of great 
  black cats. Many cat sith are witches, though they also 
  come from the ranks of druids, rangers, and anyone 
  else who lives in or near the realms of the faerie. Most 
  common folk consider black cats to be ill-omened 
  creatures, and they stave oﬀ  the bad fortune such 
  creatures bring by leaving oﬀ erings of cream on their 
  doorsteps.
  Level 7 Cat Sith
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Perception +1, Health +4, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a faerie or wilderness profession.
  Form of the Black Cat You can use an action to assume the 
  form of a large cat, covered in black fur with a white spot 
  on your chest. While in this form, you use the following 
  statistics box in place of your own. You can remain in this 
  form for up to 1 hour, and you can revert to your normal 
  form by using an action or a triggered action on your 
  turn. You also revert to your normal form if you become 
  incapacitated. You can use this talent a number of times 
  equal to your Power score. You regain expended uses 
  after you complete a rest.
  BLACK CAT 
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 13 (+3); darksight
  Defense 15; Health 20 + your Health score
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12
  Immune gaining Insanity; frightened
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Teeth (melee) +4 with 2 boons (1d6)
  Claw (melee) +4 with 2 boons (1d3)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Claws and Teeth You attack twice with your claws and 
  once with your teeth.
  Pouncing Attack You move up to your Speed and attack 
  twice with your claws, dealing 1d6 extra damage on each 
  success.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Dire Crossing While moving, you can use a triggered 
  action to lay a curse on one creature within 1 yard of 
  you. The target must get a success on a Will challenge 
  roll or become cursed for 1 minute or until you use 
  Dire Crossing again. While cursed, the target makes all 
  attack rolls and challenge rolls with 1 bane. Furthermore, 
  whenever the total of an attack roll or a challenge roll 
  made by the target is 0 or lower, the target gains 1 
  Insanity.
  Level 10 Cat Sith
  Characteristics Health +4
  Dire Cat While in your black cat form, you gain a +1 bonus 
  to Size, you have a +20 bonus to Health, and your teeth 
  attacks deal 1d6 extra damage.
  Eternal Guardian
  The eternal guardians are an elite order of faerie 
  warriors established long ago to protect the magicians in 
  the wars against the hated trolls. Eternal guardians have 
  both magical and martial training, making them quite 
  eﬀ ective at shielding their charges from harm. Although 
  the wars against the trolls are long over, the order 
  persists, and nowadays its members protect the great fey 
  and members of their courts from harm.
  Level 7 Eternal Guardian
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +4, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a faerie profession.
  Ward Other You can use an action or a triggered action on 
  your turn to designate one creature within short range to 
  be your ward. The target remains your ward until you use 
  this talent again. Until this effect ends, your ward cannot 
  become hidden from you, you know if your ward is alive, 
  and you always know your ward’s damage.
  Sudden Counterstrike When a creature attacks your ward 
  while you are within short range, you can use a triggered 
  action to teleport to an open space within 1 yard of 
  the triggering creature and attack that creature with 
  a weapon.
  Level 10 Eternal Guardian
  Characteristics Health +4
  Unassailable Resolve While you are within short range of 
  your ward, you cannot be compelled or frightened.
  Guardian’s Wrath When you use Sudden Counterstrike, 
  you make the attack roll with 1 boon. Also, your attack 
  deals 1d6 extra damage if your Power is 2 or lower or 
  2d6 extra damage if your Power is 3 or higher.
  Harbinger
  The elusive and mysterious harbingers pour out from 
  the realms of faerie to raid mortal lands, speeding 
  ahead of the main host to prepare the way to victory. 
  Harbingers use the hidden passageways that crisscross 
  the world to strike from the least expected directions and 
  then melt away before their foes can mount a defense. 
  Any faerie might pursue this path, though pixies are best 
  suited to it.
  Level 7 Harbinger
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +4
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a faerie profession.
  Ghost Strike You can use an action to cause an image of 
  yourself to appear in an open space within short range. 
  Make an attack with a weapon as if you were in that 
  space. On a success, you deal damage as normal and 
  then teleport to that space.
  Level 10 Harbinger
  Characteristics Health +4
  Swift Escape When a creature you can see attacks you, 
  you can use a triggered action to make an Intellect 
  challenge roll. On a success, you teleport to an open 
  space you can see within short range, and if the target 
  could no longer attack you in your new position, its 
  action is wasted. On a failure, you lose this talent until 
  you complete a rest.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  16
  Keeper of the Flame
  The fey were the ﬁ rst to bind genies in an eﬀ ort to 
  harness their power. That act earned them the enmity 
  of those ancient spirits—a resentment that endures to 
  this day. From their eﬀ orts, the faeries learned advanced 
  techniques for controlling the elements, many of 
  which have been disseminated to other peoples all 
  over the world.
    The Keepers of the Flame, in contrast, guard their 
  secrets and remain an insular society, suspicious of 
  outsiders and reluctant to welcome new blood into their 
  ranks. While almost all Keepers are faerie, a talented 
  mortal might gain entry to their ranks.
  Level 7 Keeper of the Flame
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +2, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a profession.
  Magic You learn the create ﬂ ame spell, which is described 
  below.
  Inured to Fire Creatures attacking you with ﬁ re make their 
  attack rolls with 1 bane, and you make challenge rolls to 
  resist attacks using ﬁ re with 1 boon.
  CREATE FLAME 
  FIRE UTILITY 0
  Duration 1 hour; see the effect
  You cause a ball of ﬁ re to appear in the palm of your hand or 
  at the end of an object you are holding. The ﬂ ame is warm, 
  but does not harm you or anything you wear or carry. It emits 
  light that ﬁ lls a sphere with a 3-yard radius centered on the 
  ﬂ ame.
   
  You can use an action to attack with the ﬂ ame, which ends 
  the spell. Make an Agility attack roll with 1 boon against the 
  Agility of one creature within short range. On a success, the 
  ﬂ ame hits and the target takes 1d6 + 1 damage.
  Level 10 Keeper of the Flame
  Characteristics Health +2
  Magic You learn one spell.
  Fiery Resurgence You can use an action to plunge your 
  hand into a ﬂ ame and regain the casting of a Fire spell 
  of rank 2 or lower. You can use this talent a number of 
  times equal to your Power. You regain expended uses 
  when you complete a rest.
  Control Flame You can use an action to take control of 
  one ﬂ ame of Size 2 or smaller that you can see within 
  medium range. The target ﬂ ame can be part of a 
  larger ﬁ re. The controlled ﬂ ame becomes a compelled 
  creature with any shape you choose for as long as you 
  concentrate, up to 1 minute. When the effect ends or 
  when the controlled ﬂ ame becomes incapacitated, the 
  ﬂ ame gutters out.
  CONTROLLED FLAME 
  Size 2 or smaller construct
  Perception 5 (–5); truesight
  Defense 10; Health 20
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 5 (–5), Will 5 (–5)
  Speed 12
  Immune damage from disease, ﬁ re, or poison; gaining 
  Insanity; asleep, blinded, dazed, deafened, diseased, 
  fatigued, frightened, immobilized, poisoned, prone, 
  slowed, stunned
  Fiery Form A controlled ﬂ ame takes half damage from 
  weapons. In addition, it blazes brightly, emitting light out 
  to 10 yards around it.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Fiery Touch (melee + 1) +4 with 1 boon (2d6 plus Ignite)
  Ignite The target must get a success on a Agility challenge 
  roll with 1 bane or catch ﬁ re.
  Morrigan
  When an immortal creature of faerie dies a violent death 
  from unnatural causes, the morrigans spring forth to 
  avenge that death. Morrigans are physical manifestations 
  of grief and hatred, feared for their fury and brutality. 
  Known by the crows that keep their company, morrigans 
  are living omens of doom, their mere presence capable 
  of striking fear in the hearts of their enemies.
  Level 7 Morrigan
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +4
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a faerie profession.
  Crows You have the service of two crows (each as a tiny 
  animal with the ﬂ ier trait). These creatures are under 
  your control, and they obey your spoken commands. 
  If a crow dies, a new one replaces the old when you 
  complete a rest.
  Doom You can use an action to force one creature within 
  short range that can see and hear you to make a Will 
  challenge roll. On a failure, the creature becomes 
  doomed for 1 minute. 
  While doomed, the creature is frightened. Also, if at 
  least one of your crows is within 1 yard of the creature, 
  your attacks against the creature deal 1d6 extra damage. 
  Finally, whenever the creature gets 0 or lower as the 
  result of an attack roll or a challenge roll, you can use a 
  triggered action to move up to your Speed and attack it.
  Level 10 Morrigan
  Characteristics Health +4
  Murder of Crows When you move, you can transform into 
  a swarm of shrieking, cawing crows and remain in that 
  form until you stop moving. In this form, you can ﬂ y, you 
  take half damage from any attack that targets a single 
  creature, and you can move through a space occupied 
  by any creature, though you cannot end your move in 
  such a space.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  17
  Muse
  Faeries have an enduring interest in mortal 
  creatures. They recognize the potential of mortals, 
  but they pity their short life spans. A muse is a 
  special kind of fey dedicated to helping mortals, 
  and others, realize their capabilities, oﬀ ering them 
  inspiration and motivation to ﬁ nd success in what 
  they do best. Muses tend to be elves, but can also 
  be fauns, pixies, or any other individual who has a 
  knack for bringing out the best in other people.
  Level 7 Muse
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +2, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a faerie profession.
  Magic You discover one tradition or learn one spell.
  Aura of Inspiration You can use an action to emit an 
  aura of inspiration that lasts for 1 minute or until you 
  become incapacitated. Until the effect ends, each 
  member of your group that is within short range of 
  you makes challenge rolls with 1 boon. You can use this 
  talent a number of times equal to your Power, and you 
  regain expended uses when you complete a rest.
  Level 10 Muse
  Characteristics Health +2
  Magic You learn one spell
  Clarity Whenever a creature affected by your Aura 
  of Inspiration talent gets 20 or higher as the result of 
  its challenge roll, you grant each creature affected by 
  your Aura of Inspiration 1 boon on all attack rolls and 
  challenge rolls for 1 round.
  Nightstalker
  Creeping through the darkness, unseen and 
  unheard, nightstalkers are masters of the art 
  of stealth. Many nightstalkers use their nearly 
  supernatural talents for criminal pursuits, whether 
  thievery or murder. Others use their abilities to ﬁ ght 
  creatures of darkness, gathering information about 
  them and then striking with shocking surprise.
  Level 7 Nightstalker
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +3
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a profession.
  Darksight You can see in areas obscured by shadows 
  or darkness within medium range as if those areas were 
  lit. Beyond this distance, you treat darkness as shadows 
  and shadows as lit. If you already have Darksight, you 
  instead make Perception rolls with 1 boon.
  Shadowblend When you move into an area obscured 
  by shadows or darkness, you can attempt to become 
  hidden without using an action. 
  Silent Moves When moving, you make no sound.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  18
  Level 10 Nightstalker
  Characteristics Health +3
  Perfect Stealth You are automatically hidden from any 
  creature that cannot see you.
  Shadow Evasion When a creature attacks you while you 
  are in an area obscured by shadows or darkness, you can 
  use a triggered action to move up to half your Speed to 
  a space that is also obscured by shadows or darkness. 
  Spellweaver
  Spellweavers weave threads of magical energy into 
  mundane pieces of ammunition, allowing magical 
  eﬀ ects to be propelled across great distances. Many 
  spellweavers imbue ammunition with spells and then 
  bestow those projectiles upon keen-eyed allies who are 
  skilled with ranged or thrown weapons.
  Level 7 Spellweaver
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +2, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a profession.
  Magic You discover one tradition or learn one spell.
  Enchanted Ammunition You can use an action to touch 
  a piece of ammunition and expend a casting of a spell 
  whose rank cannot exceed more than half your Power 
  and that affects an area or that targets a point in space 
  or a point within your reach. You bind the spell to the 
  piece of ammunition, where it remains until ﬁ red. 
  When you or another creature makes an attack 
  using enchanted ammunition, the attack roll is 
  made with 1 boon. On a success, the spell bound 
  to the ammunition is expended and takes effect 
  as if you had just cast it. The spell’s area either is 
  an area centered on a point within the target’s 
  space or originates from that point.
  Level 10 Spellweaver
  Characteristics Health +2
  Magic You learn one spell.
  Greater Magic Ammunition When you use 
  the Magic Ammunition talent, you can 
  expend a casting of a spell of any rank 
  that you have learned. 
  Troll Hunter
  Trolls and fey have fought since the sun ﬁ rst rose on 
  the world, and their mutual hatred continues to this 
  day.For some among the faerie, this feeling is all-
  consuming. These troll hunters make it their life’s 
  mission to hunt down and exterminate trolls. They 
  develop and hone special ﬁ ghting techniques to bring 
  down their ancient foes.
  Level 7 Troll Hunter
  Attributes Increase three by 1 each
  Characteristics Health +4
  Languages and Professions You can speak Trollish or add 
  a profession.
  Giant-Fighter You can move through and occupy spaces 
  occupied by creatures whose Sizes are 1 or more larger 
  than your own.
  Tumbling Assault While you are inside a space 
  occupied by a creature larger than you are, 
  you make attack rolls against that creature 
  with 1 boon.
  Through the Legs When a Size 2 or larger 
  creature gets a failure on an attack roll against 
  you, you can use a triggered action to move 
  up to half your Speed and attack the 
  triggering creature at any point during 
  your movement.
  Level 10 Troll Hunter
  Characteristics Health +4
  Giant Evasion Creatures of Size 2 or larger make 
  attack rolls against you with 1 bane.
  Troll Slayer Your attacks against Size 
  2 and larger creatures deal 1d6 extra 
  damage. Against trolls, your attacks deal 
  2d6 extra damage instead.
  Terrible Beauty
   Increase three by 1 each
  Health +2, Power +1
  Languages and Professions You can speak another 
  language or add a profession.
   You discover one tradition or learn one spell.
  Enchanted Ammunition You can use an action to touch 
  a piece of ammunition and expend a casting of a spell 
  whose rank cannot exceed more than half your Power 
  and that affects an area or that targets a point in space 
  or a point within your reach. You bind the spell to the 
  piece of ammunition, where it remains until ﬁ red. 
  When you or another creature makes an attack 
  using enchanted ammunition, the attack roll is 
  made with 1 boon. On a success, the spell bound 
  to the ammunition is expended and takes effect 
  as if you had just cast it. The spell’s area either is 
  an area centered on a point within the target’s 
  space or originates from that point.
  Level 10 Spellweaver
  Health +2
   You learn one spell.
  Greater Magic Ammunition When you use 
  the Magic Ammunition talent, you can 
  expend a casting of a spell of any rank 
  that you have learned. 
  occupied by a creature larger than you are, 
  you make attack rolls against that creature 
  with 1 boon.
  Through the Legs When a Size 2 or larger 
  creature gets a failure on an attack roll against 
  you, you can use a triggered action to move 
  up to half your Speed and attack the 
  triggering creature at any point during 
  your movement.
  Level 10 Troll Hunter
  Characteristics Health +4
  Giant Evasion Creatures of Size 2 or larger make 
  attack rolls against you with 1 bane.
  Troll Slayer Your attacks against Size 
  2 and larger creatures deal 1d6 extra 
  damage. Against trolls, your attacks deal 
  2d6 extra damage instead.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  19
  Magic
  Spells of the Fey tradition, not surprisingly, were ﬁ rst 
  crafted by faeries. They remain popular among denizens 
  of the hidden kingdoms, and over the eons this tradition 
  has been discovered and exploited by a great many 
  mortals as well.
   This section also includes a selection of new spells 
  of other traditions that have particular signiﬁ cance or 
  usefulness to faeries.
  Fey
  Fey magic deceives and beguiles. Its spells shatter 
  restraint and wash away suspicion, making fools of 
  their targets and leaving those creatures susceptible to 
  manipulation. Most users of Fey magic are, of course, 
  faeries, with elves and pixies being the most common, 
  though goblins, fauns, and anyone else with close ties to 
  faerie might discover its power, either learning it from 
  the faeries or gaining the knowledge by bargaining with 
  one of the great fey. 
   If you learn Fey spells, you attract the attention of 
  tiny faeries who regard you as a friend and ally. These 
  rarely seen companions tend to your gear, mending and 
  cleaning your clothing and sometimes preparing meals, 
  all provided that you leave them small gifts and never, 
  ever directly oﬀ er thanks. If you fail to uphold these 
  faerie customs, your helpers can become hindrances. 
  Angry faeries might ﬁ lch small items, cause food to 
  spoil, sabotage equipment, or steal your animals.
   Intellect is the associated attribute for the casting of 
  Fey spells.
  Iron Abhorrence
  You cannot cast Fey spells while you are in 
  contact with iron or an alloy of iron. As well, 
  when you attack with a Fey spell, you make the 
  attack roll with 1 bane if the target is wearing 
  iron or an iron alloy, and the target makes any 
  challenge roll to resist the attack with 1 boon.
  MISDIRECT 
  FEY ATTACK 0
  Target One creature within short range
  Make an Intellect attack roll against the target’s Perception. 
  On a success, the target makes attack rolls with 1 bane 
  while it is within short range of you for 1 minute.
  Attack Roll 20+ The target also becomes impaired for 
  1 minute.
  SHRINK OBJECT 
  FEY UTILITY 0
  Target One Size 1 or smaller object you can reach
  You touch the target, causing it to become Size 1/8 or half 
  its Size, whichever is smaller. The object remains at this Size 
  until you use an action to restore it to its normal Size.
  FADE 
  FEY UTILITY 1
  Duration 1 minute
  You become hidden for the duration. The effect ends if you 
  use an action or a triggered action. 
  Triggered When you take damage, you can use a triggered 
  action to cast this spell. The duration becomes 1 round when 
  you cast the spell in this way.
  DRUNKENNESS 
  FEY ATTACK 1
  Area A sphere with a 2-yard radius centered on a point 
  within medium range
  Magical fumes spread through the area and then disperse. 
  Each living creature in the area must get a success on 
  a Strength challenge roll or become intoxicated. While 
  intoxicated, the creature is impaired, takes half damage from 
  all sources, and cannot gain Insanity.
  WILL-O’-WISP 
  FEY ATTACK 1
  Target A point in space within medium range
  Duration Concentration, up to 1 minute
  A 1-foot-diameter ball of ﬂ ickering ﬂ ame appears at the 
  target point and remains for the duration. The ﬂ ame sheds 
  light in a 2-yard radius. When the ﬂ ame appears, each 
  creature within medium range of it that can see it must get 
  a success on a Will challenge roll with 1 boon or become 
  beguiled by the ﬂ ame until the spell ends or until the creature 
  takes damage. 
   
  Each time you use an action to concentrate on the effect, 
  you can move the ball of ﬂ ame up to 5 yards in any direction. 
  While a creature is beguiled by the ﬂ ame, whenever you 
  move the ball of ﬂ ame, the creature must move half its Speed 
  toward the ﬂ ame.
  SLUMBER 
  FEY ATTACK 2
  Area A sphere with a 3-yard radius centered on a point 
  within medium range
  Sparkling specks of gold swirl through the area and 
  disappear. Each living creature with Health 10 or lower falls 
  prone and goes to sleep for 8 hours. 
   
  Each living creature with Health 11 or higher must make a 
  Will challenge roll. A creature makes the roll with 1 bane if it 
  is injured and 2 banes if it is fatigued. A creature with Health 
  30 or higher makes the roll with 1 boon. With a failure on the 
  challenge roll, the creature falls prone and goes to sleep for 
  8 hours. A sleeping creature immediately wakes if it takes 
  damage or if another creature uses an action to shake or kick 
  it awake.
  FAERIE GOLD 
  FEY UTILITY 2
  Target One leaf you are holding
  Duration See the effect
  The target transforms into a gold coin and remains in this 
  form until the next sunrise, at which point it becomes a leaf 
  once more. When a creature other than you touches the coin, 
  it must make an Intellect challenge roll. It makes the roll with 
  1 bane if it is charmed by you. On a success, the effect ends 
  immediately.
  Sacriﬁ ce You can expend a casting of this spell to heal 
  damage equal to your healing rate.
  BEWILDER 
  FEY ATTACK 3
  Target A sphere with a 2-yard radius centered on a point 
  within medium range
  Multicolored lights spread through the area. Each living 
  creature in the area must make a Will challenge roll. A 
  creature with 1 or more Insanity makes the challenge roll with 
  2 banes. On a failure, the creature becomes confused for 1 
  minute. On a success, the creature becomes impaired for 1 
  round.
   
  A confused creature must take a fast turn each round and 
  on that turn roll a d6 to see what it does.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  20
  Bewilder Effects
  1d6
  Behavior
  1
  The creature spends its turn laughing or weeping.
  2
  The creature moves up to its Speed along a 
  straight line in a random direction.
  3
  The creature uses an action to charge the creature 
  nearest to it.
  4
  The creature uses an action to claw at itself, 
  taking 1d6 damage as a result.
  5
  The creature is frightened for 1 round but 
  otherwise decides what it does on its turn.
  6
  The creature decides what it does on its turn.
  ERASE MEMORY 
  FEY ATTACK 3
  Target One creature within short range that can hear you
  Your words cause the target’s memories to fade from 
  its mind. Make an Intellect attack roll against the target’s 
  Intellect. You make the attack roll with 1 boon if the target 
  is charmed. On a success, you erase the target’s memories 
  of what it had experienced during the minute before your 
  casting of this spell. Casting this spell also removes any 
  Insanity gained by the target during the previous minute.
  Attack Roll 20+ The target also becomes impaired for 1 
  minute.
  HALLUCINATIONS 
  FEY ATTACK 4
  Target One creature you can see within medium range
  The target sees and hears things that are not real. Make an 
  Intellect attack roll against the target’s Perception. On a 
  success, the target hallucinates for 1 minute. Until the effect 
  ends, whenever the target would use an action, it must ﬁ rst 
  make a Perception challenge roll with 1 bane. On a failure, the 
  target becomes dazed for 1 round.
  TWISTED CROWN 
  FEY UTILITY 5
  Duration Concentration, up to 1 minute
  A twisted wooden crown appears on your head and remains 
  for the duration. When you cast the spell and again when 
  you use an action to concentrate on it, each creature within 
  short range of you must make a Will challenge roll. A creature 
  becomes stunned for 1 round on a failure, or immune to this 
  casting of the spell on a success.
  BEGET CHANGELING 
  FEY UTILITY 6
  Requirement Before you can cast this spell, you must 
  spend 1 hour working with mud, sticks, leaves, and 
  small stones to form a simulacrum of a human-shaped 
  creature. The simulacrum can be no larger than Size 1. 
  Once created, the simulacrum retains its potency until 
  you complete a rest or until it takes 10 damage or more.
  Target The simulacrum you created that is within 
  your reach
  Duration 1d6 + 1 days; see the text
  You transform the target into a changeling that has the 
  appearance of one living creature you can see within medium 
  range. The changeling has 1 for all of its attribute scores. Each 
  hour, the changeling’s attribute scores increase by 1 until it 
  has Strength 9, Agility 10, Intellect 10, and Will 10. 
   
  When the spell would end, roll a d20. If you roll a 1, the 
  effect becomes permanent. Any other result indicates that 
  the spell ends, and the changeling collapses into a pile of dirt, 
  sticks, leaves, and small rocks.
  Other Spells
  Aside from magic of the Fey tradition, faeries have 
  devised numerous other spells that characters of any 
  ancestry might ﬁ nd useful.
  Battle Spells
  SEEKING MISSILE 
  BATTLE ATTACK 0
  As part of casting this spell, make an attack with a ranged 
  weapon or a thrown weapon. Your attack ignores banes 
  incurred by any form of cover except for total cover, banes 
  due to invisibility, and banes from attacking targets that are 
  in obscured areas.
  PHASING MISSILE 
  BATTLE ATTACK 1
  As part of casting this spell, make an attack with a ranged 
  weapon or a thrown weapon. You make the attack roll with 
  1 boon. Your attack ignores banes due to cover, and you can 
  attack totally covered targets, but if you cannot see such 
  a target, you shoot as if you were blinded. If you can see a 
  totally covered target, you can attack that target as if it was 
  not covered.
  Celestial Spells
  MOON BRIDGE 
  CELESTIAL UTILITY 2
  Requirement You can cast this spell only at night or 
  underground
  Area A line 10 yards long, 2 yards wide, and 1 inch thick, 
  originating from a point within medium range, each end 
  of which must be in contact with a solid surface
  Duration Concentration, up to 1 minute
  Soft light ﬁ lls the area and remains for the duration. The area 
  becomes solid and able to hold any weight placed on it.
  Sacriﬁ ce You can expend a casting of this spell to cast the 
  burning beam spell.
  Conjuration Spells
  CREATE SECRET DOOR 
  CONJURATION UTILITY 2
  Target A circle with a 1-yard radius centered on a point on 
  a ﬂ at surface within short range
  Duration 1 hour
  A closed, ornate, round wooden door 2 yards in diameter 
  appears in the area. The door can be opened and closed, 
  functioning as an ordinary door. Behind the door is a 2-yard-
  diameter open space that extends up to 2 yards into the 
  surface on which the spell was cast. Both the door and the 
  space remain for the duration. If the thickness of the surface 
  is 2 yards or less, opening the door grants access to whatever 
  lies beyond the surface. 
   
  When the eﬀ ect ends, any creature or object inside the space created 
  by the spell becomes shunted into the Void, unlikely to be seen again.
  Curse Spells
  CURSED APPLE 
  CURSE UTILITY 3
  Target One apple you are holding
  Duration 24 hours or until consumed
  You concentrate for 1 minute, during which time you must 
  prick your hand and spill a little blood onto the target. At 
  the end of this time, you imbue the target with magic that 
  imparts a curse on anyone who eats the target. The imbued 
  magic lasts for the duration. As part of the casting, you must 
  state a speciﬁ c action that can lift the curse laid by the target, 
  such as a kiss from a mortal with noble blood, the tears of a 
  maiden, or a drop of blood from a mortal child. You can also 
  use an action to lift the curse from the target, provided you 
  are within long range of it.
   
  A creature that eats the apple falls prone and becomes cursed. While 
  cursed, the creature is asleep, does not need to eat or drink, and grows 
  no older. The eﬀ ect lasts until the curse is lifted, or until you die.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  21
  Enchantment Spells
  BLISS 
  ENCHANTMENT ATTACK 3
  Target Any number of creatures within short range
  Each target must make a Will challenge roll. If the target is 
  charmed, it makes the roll with 1 bane. If you attacked the 
  target at any point since you last completed a rest, the target 
  is immune to this spell. On a failure, the target becomes 
  dazed for 1 minute or until it takes damage.
  Illusion Spells
  KINDRED SOUL 
  ILLUSION UTILITY 1
  Duration 1 hour
  For the duration, creatures that can see and that have the 
  same Size or range of Sizes that members of your ancestry 
  commonly possess perceive you as sharing their ancestry. In 
  addition, when you speak, creatures that hear you speak and 
  know at least one language can understand what you say as 
  if you had spoken in a language they know.
  Nature Spells
  CIRCLE OF STONES 
  NATURE UTILITY 3
  Target Eight points on the ground within short range, each 
  of which must be at least 2 yards from another
  You cause a stone to rise from one target point when you 
  cast the spell and another stone in each round when you use 
  an action to concentrate on the spell, until a total of eight 
  stones appear. Each stone is 2 yards wide, 1 yard thick, and 4 
  yards tall, with Defense 5 and 100 Health, and remains until it 
  is destroyed. 
   
  A stone that appears as a result of casting this spell is 
  imbued with magical energy that lasts until you complete 
  a rest. You can use an action, or a triggered action on your 
  turn, to choose up to eight creatures you can see within 
  medium range of you. The stones provide a +1 bonus to 
  Defense and 1 boon to attack rolls for chosen creatures that 
  are within 1 yard of at least one of the stones. 
   
  A chosen creature can use an action to touch a stone 
  imbued with magical energy and be moved into the stone’s 
  space. While in the stone’s space, the creature remains aware 
  of its surroundings and of the passage of time, but it cannot 
  do anything except to use an action to move out of the stone 
  through the surface where it entered. If a stone is destroyed 
  while a creature is inside it, the creature becomes fused to 
  the rubble and dies. If the creature is still inside the stone 
  when the stone’s magical energy dissipates, the creature is 
  forced out of the stone, taking damage equal to twice its 
  healing rate and gaining 1d6 Insanity. 
  Primal Spells
  CALL STEEDS 
  PRIMAL UTILITY 4
  Target A circle on the ground with a radius of 5 yards 
  centered on a point within short range
  Duration 8 hours; see the effect
  At the end of the round, six horses appear in the area 
  standing on the ground. They remain for the duration or until 
  they become incapacitated, at which point they disappear. 
  The horses become compelled by anyone riding them for as 
  long as they are ridden.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  22
  Protection Spells
  IMPRISON 
  PROTECTION ATTACK 5
  Target One creature within long range that is standing on 
  the ground
  Adamantine chains spring up from the ground, forcing the 
  target to make an Agility challenge roll. A target with Health 
  50 or lower makes the roll with 1 bane per point of its Power 
  score. A target with Health 100 or higher makes the roll with 
  1 boon. On a failure, the creature is immobilized for as long as 
  you concentrate, up to 1 minute. While it is immobilized, the 
  target can use an action to make a Strength challenge roll 
  with 1 bane plus 1 bane for each round you used an action to 
  concentrate on the spell. On a success, the target removes 
  the immobilized afﬂ iction and the chains disappear. 
   
  If you concentrate on maintaining the effect for 1 minute, 
  the chains drag the target 3d6 miles down into the earth, 
  where it remains bound until you use an action or a triggered 
  action at any time to free it. While bound in this way, the 
  target cannot be perceived with Divination spells.
  REMOVE CURSE 
  PROTECTION ATTACK 5
  Target One cursed creature you can see within medium 
  range
  Make an Intellect challenge roll. On a success, you remove 
  one curse from the target. If the total of your challenge roll is 
  20 or higher, you remove all curses from the target.
  Song Spells
  SONG OF REVELS 
  SONG ATTACK 3
  Duration Concentration, up to 1 minute
  When you cast the spell, and when you use an action to 
  concentrate on it, choose one creature within short range 
  that can hear you. The target must get a success on a 
  Will challenge roll or become impaired for 1 minute. While 
  impaired, the target must take a slow turn each round, and 
  you decide how the target moves during that turn, provided 
  you can see it. An affected creature can use an action to 
  make a Will challenge roll. A creature removes the afﬂ iction 
  on a success, or gains 1 Insanity on a failure.
  ENTHRALLING SONG 
  SONG ATTACK 5
  Target Any number of living creatures within short range 
  that can hear you
  You play or sing a lively melody. Each target must get a 
  success on a Will challenge roll or become enthralled for as 
  long as you concentrate and continue to play, up to 1 hour. 
  An enthralled creature is dazed, and on each of its turns, it 
  must move to stay with medium range of you. If an affected 
  creature cannot see or hear you on its turn, the effect 
  immediately ends for that creature.
  Faerie Music
  Faeries love music and often weave magic 
  into their songs and melodies that can bewitch 
  mortals who hear the tunes, luring them to join 
  the fey in their dancing and capering. Faeries 
  favor ﬁ ddles, harps, cymbals, tambourines, and 
  mouth harps, all good at making the sort of 
  lively music that mortals ﬁ nd enchanting. Many 
  popular faerie songs are the foundations for 
  spells of the Song tradition.
  Teleportation Spells
  HIDDEN SPACE 
  TELEPORTATION UTILITY 3
  Area A cube of space, 1 yard on each side, originating from 
  a point within medium range
  Duration 8 hours
  A portal opens in the center of the area and remains for the 
  duration. The portal is 1 yard wide and 2 yards tall, but has 
  no thickness. It has a front and a back, and can have any 
  orientation. 
   
  Anything moving through the front of the portal enters an 
  interdimensional space that is up to 2 yards in all dimensions 
  for each point of your Power score. For example, if you have 
  Power 5, the space can be a cube up to 10 yards on each 
  side. The walls, ﬂ oor, and ceiling of the space are solid, with 
  swirls of silvery mist moving across their surfaces. There is 
  sufﬁ cient air to breathe for as long as the space remains in 
  existence.
   
  Creatures and objects inside the space cannot be 
  approached by any means except through the open portal. If 
  you are inside the space, you can use an action to close the 
  portal, thus making the space inaccessible. When the spell 
  ends, roll a d6 for each creature or object inside the space. 
  On an odd number, the creature or object is shunted into the 
  Void, tumbles into the endless dark, and is likely torn apart 
  by demons. On an even number, the creature or object takes 
  damage equal to half its Health and lands prone in an open 
  space of the GM’s choosing within short range of the space 
  the portal occupied.
  BANISH 
  TELEPORTATION ATTACK 3
  Target One creature you can see within medium range
  Make a Will attack roll against the target’s Will. On a success, 
  the target goes out of phase for as long as you concentrate, 
  up to 1 minute. While out of phase, the target takes half 
  damage from all attacks, and its attacks deal half damage. 
  The target can use an action to make a Will challenge roll 
  with 1 bane plus 1 bane for each round you used an action to 
  concentrate on the spell. On a success, the effect ends. If 
  you concentrate on the effect for 1 minute, the target 
  disappears. If it had been summoned, the target 
  returns to where it was when you summoned it. 
  Otherwise, the target teleports to a point 
  the GM chooses 5d20 miles away.
  with 1 bane plus 1 bane for each round you used an action to 
  concentrate on the spell. On a success, the effect ends. If 
  you concentrate on the effect for 1 minute, the target 
  disappears. If it had been summoned, the target 
  returns to where it was when you summoned it. 
  Otherwise, the target teleports to a point 
  the GM chooses 5d20 miles away.
  
  Tales of the Desolation
  Tales of the Desolation
  23
  The lands of the faerie are everywhere and nowhere, 
  touching the world yet never quite part of it. They are 
  fantasies made real and nightmares brought to life. 
  They are hidden in plain sight, but reveal themselves to 
  the worthy and the wicked, oﬀ ering bliss, pain, wonder, 
  madness, or death to the mortals who ﬁ nd them. And 
  although these lands occupy space and are ﬁ xed in time, 
  they shift and change with their makers’ whims.
   The realms of the faerie can sometimes be glimpsed by 
  someone who is at the right time and place. Shimmering 
  towers might appear in the rain falling on an ancient 
  forest, or a light fog could part under the light of the full 
  moon to reveal a path through the hills. The elusiveness 
  of these realms stems from their otherworldly nature. 
  Each exists inside a bubble that ﬂ oats on the surface of 
  reality and protrudes like a bulge into the Void. Their 
  proximity to the Endless Dark makes faerie realms 
  extremely unstable, and so the normal rules that apply in 
  nature are bent or even broken in such places.
   Many of these “bubbles” are old, having sprung into 
  existence as a byproduct of whatever creative force 
  made Urth and the rest of the universe. Others are more 
  recent, created by powerful spells (whether intentional 
  or accidental). The most secure hidden realms are those 
  created by the faeries, which includes Alfheim, Tir 
  Nan Og, Niﬂ heim, the Isle of Dreams, the Maze of the 
  Goblin King, and many others. The great fey fashioned 
  these realms to escape the horrors in the mortal world—
  horrors loosed by the humans of Gog, the wickedness 
  of trolls, and the hostilities of the other, younger races. 
  Sequestering themselves in these hidden kingdoms 
  signaled the fey’s relinquishing of the mortal world to its 
  less worthy keepers, freeing the faeries to pursue their 
  own interests while isolated from the myriad enemies that 
  lurked beyond the borders of their new, magical home.
  Faerie Sites
  Scattered all across the Lands of Rûl and beyond are 
  sites that have strong ties to the fey, whether steeped in 
  their magic or made by their hands. Most such places 
  mark thin spots, where it is possible to move from the 
  mortal world into a hidden kingdom and back again. 
  Faerie Rings
  Faeries love music, and their revels involve dancing, 
  often in the same place, night after night. Such sites are 
  clearly marked by rings of toadstools, and mortals do 
  well to avoid them lest they become ensnared by the 
  faeries. A faerie ring can be from 1 yard to 10 yards in 
  diameter. 
   When a creature steps into a faerie ring, it hears lively 
  music performed by invisible faeries and must make a 
  Will challenge roll with 1 bane. On a success, the music 
  stops for the creature and it can leave the ring. On a 
  failure, the creature becomes invisible to creatures 
  outside the ring, seeming to have disappeared, when 
  in truth the creature is being forced to dance wildly to 
  the otherworldly music. After each minute the creature 
  dances, it must get a success on a Strength challenge roll 
  or become fatigued. If the creature is already fatigued, 
  it takes a cumulative –1d6 penalty to Health. When the 
  creature gets three successes, the music stops and the 
  creature can leave the ring—whereupon it discovers that 
  for each minute the creature spent inside the ring, one 
  day of real time has passed. Penalties to Health incurred 
  by the dancing disappear when the creature completes a 
  rest.
   A creature can neutralize the power of a faerie ring 
  by tossing a glove turned inside out into the center of 
  the ring. Doing so causes the faeries to ﬂ ee and releases 
  any mortals trapped inside the ring. Digging into the 
  earth beneath a faerie ring typically turns up bones, an 
  interesting object or two, and usually one enchanted 
  object.
  Hollow Hills
  Hollow hills, known also as faerie mounds and elf hills, 
  dot the countryside near Alfheim and other hidden 
  kingdoms. These features are enormous rounded 
  mounds, denuded of everything but grass, the air 
  motionless above them. The sounds of the environment 
  grow quiet the higher one climbs toward the top of a 
  hill. Animals and even insects avoid these places. When 
  night falls, glowing motes are sometimes seen rising 
  from the grass, swirling, almost dancing in the air. On 
  the sides of some hills are stout wooden doors, through 
  which one can hear laughter, music, and sounds of 
  revelry coming from inside the mound.
   Many hollow hills are doorways to hidden kingdoms, 
  spots where mortals can travel from their world into 
  that of the faerie. Inside the hills, elves and other faeries 
  gather to pass their nights in games and diversions and 
  their days sleeping oﬀ  the night’s excesses. Mortals 
  might gain access to the hidden kingdoms by walking 
  around a hollow hill nine times when Tarterus looms 
  full in the sky, or by knocking seven times upon the door 
  of one. In rare cases, access is provided when a hill rises 
  up, its top supported on wooden pillars, to grant entry to 
  any who come near. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  24
   Not all hills are gateways. Some are the tombs of 
  great warriors and magicians lost to the world long ago. 
  Others are treasure vaults, in which the Fair Folk keep 
  dangerous relics. In all cases, whether gateways or not, 
  magic protects these hills from trolls, robbers, and other 
  unwelcome guests.
  Islands of the Fey
  Islands, especially those in lakes and seas far removed 
  from civilization, sometimes house faeries that refused 
  to abandon their homes, feeling safe because of their 
  remoteness. Many faerie islands appear intermittently 
  in the mortal world. Such an appearance could occur 
  in response to the movements of celestial bodies, or an 
  island might rise from the watery depths once every 
  few years. Faerie islands oﬀ er refuge to those who are 
  friendly to their kind and doom to those who aren’t. It’s 
  believed that a faerie island can be ﬁ xed in the world by 
  lighting a ﬁ re at its center or plunging an iron rod into 
  the ground in that location. 
   Most faerie islands are peaceful, joyous 
  places, serving as refuges from the world’s 
  horrors and harshness. Mortals who travel to 
  an island experience feelings of happiness 
  and contentment. The temperature is always 
  pleasant and warm, and those living there 
  do not age or suﬀ er ailments. There’s no 
  need to work, thanks to the abundance 
  of food and water. These places come as 
  close to paradise as souls can ever ﬁ nd, 
  if the islands’ inhabitants permit those 
  souls to receive their beneﬁ cence.
  Secret Roads
  A web of invisible pathways stretches 
  across Urth, providing instantaneous 
  travel from one place to another. The fey 
  use these routes to move freely through 
  lands held by mortals. Although these 
  secret roads are diﬃ  cult to detect with 
  ordinary senses, people tend to feel 
  their presence as a tingling on the skin 
  or the raising of the hair on the back of 
  one’s neck. A home built atop a secret 
  road might seem to be haunted, with its 
  occupants hearing knocks in the walls 
  or glimpsing apparitions in and around 
  the home in the darkest hours of night. 
   At either end of a secret road stands 
  a portal. Although such portals can 
  have any appearance, most look like 
  circular shimmers of heat, 1 or 2 yards 
  in diameter. Others are pools of color, 
  curtains of fog, or disguised as ordinary 
  objects, such as a door in the side of 
  a freestanding boulder. Under most 
  circumstances, a creature or object that enters one portal 
  emerges from the other. Some portals allow one-way 
  travel only, while others might have special requirements, 
  such as being able to transport only living things, faeries, 
  or anything but iron. A portal might operate only at 
  speciﬁ c times, such as at midnight or in the gloaming 
  between day and night. Others spring into existence once 
  every few years or at random times.
  Stones, Boulders, 
  and Monuments
  From bits of statuary nearly lost amid overgrowth, 
  to rune-scrawled monoliths, to circles of standing 
  stones, the lands of Rûl are littered with the debris 
  of lost civilizations. Many of the older rocks and rock 
  formations were left by the fey when they retreated 
  from the world, and most were later adopted by the 
  priests of the Old Faith as sites of religious 
  signiﬁ cance. Others have 
  believed that a faerie island can be ﬁ xed in the world by 
  lighting a ﬁ re at its center or plunging an iron rod into 
   Most faerie islands are peaceful, joyous 
  places, serving as refuges from the world’s 
  horrors and harshness. Mortals who travel to 
  an island experience feelings of happiness 
  and contentment. The temperature is always 
  pleasant and warm, and those living there 
  do not age or suﬀ er ailments. There’s no 
  need to work, thanks to the abundance 
  of food and water. These places come as 
  close to paradise as souls can ever ﬁ nd, 
  if the islands’ inhabitants permit those 
  travel from one place to another. The fey 
  use these routes to move freely through 
  lands held by mortals. Although these 
  their presence as a tingling on the skin 
  or the raising of the hair on the back of 
  road might seem to be haunted, with its 
  or glimpsing apparitions in and around 
  the home in the darkest hours of night. 
  curtains of fog, or disguised as ordinary 
  priests of the Old Faith as sites of religious 
  signiﬁ cance. Others have 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  25
  obvious connections to the Fair Folk, featuring doors or 
  windows on their surfaces that can be opened only at 
  certain times of the year or with the speaking of a mystic 
  phrase.
   The most signiﬁ cant monuments are the dolmens, 
  of which only a few remain in the lands of Rûl, mostly 
  on the Empire’s frontiers. Each dolmen consists of two 
  vertical megaliths that support a horizontal capstone. 
  Many devotees of the Old Faith perform ceremonies 
  to honor their gods at such sites, though most of these 
  locations have long lost any magical power they once 
  had. A few, however, can be coaxed to life by speaking 
  the proper phrase, which might reveal a gateway to one 
  of the hidden kingdoms, allowing passage to and from 
  that site by passing beneath the capstone. 
   The Endless Stairs: In the Mistwood, a stone staircase 
  rises from the forest ﬂ oor, surrounded by rocks and 
  rubble. To anyone who views it, the stairs appear to 
  climb thirty-three steps and then stop. Ascending or 
  descending the stairs reveals their enchanted nature. 
  No matter how high one climbs, there always appears to 
  be just one more step to take, enabling the creature to 
  climb higher and higher into the air. But if the climber 
  turns back and descends the staircase, it reaches the 
  forest ﬂ oor after stepping oﬀ  the thirty-third step, 
  regardless of the elevation the creature had seemingly 
  attained.
   It’s believed that the staircase leads to the palace 
  of the Maiden of the Moon and that the goddess 
  confounds climbers to prevent them from gaining access 
  to her wondrous realm. Some believe that singing a 
  song of praises to her while climbing for thirty-three 
  days and nights can draw her attention, and if she ﬁ nds 
  the singer’s voice sweet and heart pure, she opens the 
  gate to her realm. 
  Trees and Forests
  The faeries left few monuments from their time in 
  the mortal world. One can ﬁ nd evidence of their 
  inhabitations in the pale spires that stab up from 
  the lands of the Northern Reach. Their function 
  and purpose are a mystery to mortals; in truth, they 
  channel magical energy from the mortal world to 
  sustain Alfheim’s existence. Without these towers, 
  the magic would unravel and the hidden kingdom of 
  Alfheim would be forced into Urth, with disastrous 
  consequences. The energy transmitted from the 
  mortal world is boundless, allowing Alfheim and other 
  hidden kingdoms to exist in perpetuity. Aside from the 
  occasional dolmen, or door in the side of a boulder, 
  most faeries preferred to live as part of nature rather 
  than at its expense, using their skill at shaping stone 
  only when needed. Instead, most faeries lived in the 
  forests and raced through the hills, exulting in the 
  natural beauty of the world.
   In some places, especially those that have never 
  known the bite of an iron axe or the blade of a plough, 
  the faeries remain in the world much as they did before 
  the great exodus to the hidden kingdoms. In these lands, 
  far from civilization’s stench, the faeries make their 
  homes, favoring the deep woodlands, where they live 
  in the boles and boughs of oaks, alders, elders, rowans, 
  blackthorns, hazels, and willows.
   Although the faeries who claim these trees protect 
  them, their magical nature can sometimes be apparent 
  in the manner in which the trees grow. Trunks of trees 
  infested with the fey might display oddly human faces, 
  bend and twist away from the sun, or gather together, 
  growing such that multiple trees become tangled.
   Folklore warns people to show reverence to such trees, 
  and most woodcutters, as a result, think twice before 
  harvesting a tree that has an odd shape. Rustic folk who 
  seek to appease the faeries or gain their attention might 
  tie ribbons in the branches of unusual trees or leave 
  small gifts at the base of their trunks.
   Walking Trees: Magical energy that seeps from the 
  hidden kingdoms into the mortal world can awaken 
  ordinary trees, imparting sentience and mobility to 
  them. This energy is born from the same power that 
  was used to fashion the hidden kingdoms, power that 
  sometimes distorts the mortal world in the borderlands. 
  Trees aﬀ ected by the faeries in this way might become 
  leshy, wise protectors and shepherds of the forest, or, 
  in the case of younger trees, become something lesser. 
  Such trees use the statistics box of a leshy, but they have 
  Defense 15 and Health 50, and they lack the Awaken 
  the Forest special action. Wherever faerie magic has 
  awakened trees in this way, such beings safeguard the 
  woods and drive oﬀ  or destroy anyone who would 
  despoil their homes.
  Stray Sod
  Sometimes, when the great fey walk the mortal world, 
  their passage across the ground leaves behind a bit of 
  their magic, sometimes causing ﬂ owers to bloom, and 
  at other times making a loyal servant of the grass itself. 
  Stray sod, for example, can ensnare mortals who step 
  on it, appearing to be a clump of uprooted grass. Any 
  creature that moves across it must make an Agility 
  challenge roll with 1 bane. On a failure, the creature 
  becomes cursed. A creature cursed in this way is 
  immobilized. An aﬀ ected creature can lift the curse by 
  oﬀ ering a gift to the grasses that trap it, with a measure 
  of wine usually being suﬃ  cient to relax their grasp. 
  Borderlands
  The regions that lie between the hidden kingdoms and 
  the mortal world are steeped in the powerful magic 
  that pervades the realms of the faeries. Each of these 
  borderlands exhibits the nature of the fey realm to which 
  it connects, often producing unpredictable phenomena 
  in the environment. A borderland’s size usually 
  corresponds to the size of the place to which it oﬀ ers 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  26
  access. A borderland that connects with a place the size 
  of a hidden room might be nothing more than a door 
  suspended in the air, while the edge of Alfheim, a vast 
  landscape, is deﬁ ned by miles of dense forest obscured 
  by thick, silvery fog.
   Many perils await travelers that dare to explore one 
  of these regions. The distortion in the area’s magical 
  ﬁ eld muddles the senses, making a short distance seem 
  long, sending compass needles spinning, and making 
  it easy for explorers to become turned around and lost. 
  One’s sense of time might also be aﬀ ected, such that a 
  few minutes of wandering around in an enchanted wood 
  could take hours, days, years, or even no time at all from 
  the perspective of those in the adjoining realms. Faeries 
  regard mortals that brave the borderlands as fair game 
  for trickery and pranks that are not always harmless. 
  The greatest danger to travelers in the borderlands, 
  however, is the presence of demons. Some borderlands 
  distort reality so much that ﬁ ssures to the Void appear 
  in them and emit demons that also become trapped in 
  these murky places.
   A creature of faerie knows how to navigate the 
  borderlands that connect to the hidden kingdom 
  from which it originated and is never subject to the 
  environmental hazards faced by other creatures that 
  explore these areas. A creature of faerie that enters 
  the borderland of a hidden kingdom other than its 
  own makes challenge rolls to avoid hazards and perils 
  encountered in such areas with 1 boon.
  Spriggans
  Faeries and demons aren’t the only creatures 
  found in the borderlands. The greatest realms 
  of faerie use spriggans to guard these hidden 
  pathways, to ensure that the unwanted do not 
  trespass. Spriggans were all once faeries who 
  delighted in villainy. They would rob mortals and 
  steal away their children. Their wickedness earned 
  them the wrath of the great fey, who transformed 
  them into creatures of wood and vine, hulking 
  animated plants that are compelled to protect 
  their peoples’ homelands.
  Hidden Kingdoms
  The hidden kingdoms of the faerie came into being 
  after centuries of violence that began with the genies, 
  continued with the trolls, and eventually concluded 
  with the mortal peoples, most notably the dwarfs. Each 
  immortal life lost diminished the faeries’ numbers, and 
  when their casualties grew too high to bear, the survivors 
  ﬂ ed Urth. The great fey called upon magic that originated 
  at the time of creation. They used it to form new 
  worlds entirely from their imagination—places hidden 
  and secure, realms in which the faeries could pursue 
  whatever they desired. 
  Crossing Over
  Because the faeries made the hidden kingdoms to serve 
  as havens for all their kind, they guard the ways to their 
  homelands to ensure that their age-old foes can trouble 
  them no further. For this reason, ﬁ nding points of entry 
  to the realms of the faerie is beyond the capabilities of 
  ordinary people, even though the routes are often in 
  plain sight.
   Accessing a faerie realm requires one to pass through a 
  borderland. A borderland refers both to a physical place, 
  such as that misty realm between a hidden kingdom and 
  the mortal world or a device that allows passage from 
  one place to the other. It might seem strange that an old 
  boot could constitute a borderland, but since rubbing 
  the sole three times in a counterclockwise fashion could 
  whisk someone from the comfort of a chair into a dark 
  and unruly forest, that bit of footwear is every bit as 
  signiﬁ cant as the mirage spotted in the depths of the 
  Desolation that hints at a wondrous city just out of reach.
   When a borderland takes the form of an item, it 
  often appears ordinary, maybe even shabby, to ensure 
  that mortals who happen upon it don’t recognize its 
  importance. Items that serve as borderlands tend to be 
  more dangerous to the faeries, since they can be moved 
  from place to place. A bent key, for instance, might be 
  found stuck in the side of a mysterious white tower and 
  when twisted could open a door to Alfheim, but that key 
  could be removed and carried to someplace else, on the 
  other side of the world, and still grant access to Alfheim.
   Luckily for the fey, items that function as borderlands 
  tend to be rare and guarded. The more common 
  borderlands 
  are places, 
  occupying 
  space in the 
  world, spun 
  into existence 
  by the strain the 
  hidden kingdom places 
  on reality. Such locations 
  tend to be obvious—
  mists curling between 
  the trunks of an ancient 
  sylvan wood, rain falling 
  from a cloudless sky, or 
  a mountain pass that 
  seemingly leads nowhere.
   Most entrances to 
  the hidden kingdoms 
  are either closed or 
  restricted. Closed 
  entrances open under 
  special circumstances, 
  such as speaking a mystic 
  phrase, presenting the 
  appropriate token, or 
  waiting until the proper 
  time of night, day, or year. 
  into existence 
  by the strain the 
  hidden kingdom places 
  on reality. Such locations 
  tend to be obvious—
  mists curling between 
  the trunks of an ancient 
  sylvan wood, rain falling 
  from a cloudless sky, or 
  a mountain pass that 
  seemingly leads nowhere.
   Most entrances to 
  the hidden kingdoms 
  are either closed or 
  restricted. Closed 
  entrances open under 
  special circumstances, 
  such as speaking a mystic 
  phrase, presenting the 
  appropriate token, or 
  waiting until the proper 
  time of night, day, or year. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  27
  Once opened, an entrance remains so for 1d6 minutes 
  and then closes again. 
   Restricted entrances oﬀ er free access to a particular 
  group of creatures or objects. For instance, one could 
  limit access to faeries or creatures traveling with faeries. 
  A restricted entrance usually blocks creatures carrying 
  iron from passing through it or, at the very least, destroys 
  iron items, causing them to disappear when such objects 
  are brought into a hidden kingdom. 
  Hidden Kingdom Features
  The hidden kingdoms bend and twist the laws of nature 
  in accordance with the intentions of their creators, 
  which can then be additionally warped by the realm’s 
  proximity to the Void. A hidden kingdom might have 
  features in common with similar realms found in the 
  mortal world, but beneath the veneer of normalcy is a 
  place unpredictable and strange.
   Hidden kingdoms range in size from quite small, 
  taking up no more space than a broom closet, to 
  enormous, covering an area the size of a continent. 
  Inside a hidden kingdom, the laws that govern reality 
  in the mortal world do not necessarily apply. The 
  sky in a faerie realm might display diﬀ erent stars and 
  celestial bodies; the world might be one of eternal 
  summer, where the seasons never change; or it might be 
  populated by animals that speak as humans do. Or all 
  three of those facts, and more, could be true. Anything 
  that one’s imagination can conjure could be a feature of 
  a realm within the faeries’ domain.
   Some hidden kingdoms have special eﬀ ects on objects 
  or phenomena brought into them—black powder does 
  not burn, machines and marvels of engineering do not 
  function, or spells have unpredictable or even dangerous 
  eﬀ ects.
  Wasting Sickness
  Mortals face many dangers while traveling the 
  realms of faerie. One of the most insidious is the 
  wasting sickness. A creature might catch the 
  disease by sampling food and drink in one of 
  the hidden kingdoms, being kissed by a faerie, 
  or simply from spending an extended time in 
  the world of the fey. The likelihood of travelers 
  being exposed to the disease depends on the 
  their intent and the disposition of the great fey 
  toward them. Those who are on errands that 
  oppose the faeries’ interest might face this 
  threat at every turn, while those who venture 
  into a hidden kingdom on a mission in aid of the 
  faerie might never encounter this plague.
   
  When a creature would be exposed to the 
  wasting sickness, it must make a Strength 
  challenge roll with 1 bane. On a success, the 
  creature becomes immune to the wasting 
  sickness until it completes a rest. On a failure, 
  the creature becomes diseased. A creature 
  diseased in this way is subject to the effects of 
  lethal disease (Shadow, page 200), except the 
  disease imposes 1 additional bane to Strength 
  challenge rolls made to recover from the 
  disease, and each failure results in the creature 
  gaining 1 Insanity in addition to the penalty to 
  Health.
   In the more bizarre hidden kingdoms, creatures 
  with tremendous magical power can transform their 
  surroundings through force of will. They can cause 
  trees and overgrowth to retreat from their path, raise 
  or lower the earth, alter a river’s course, and remake 
  their environment in any way they wish by making an 
  Intellect or Will challenge roll. The creature makes the 
  roll with a number of banes equal to 5 – the creature’s 
  Power score. On a success, the creature reshapes its 
  surroundings out to medium range. On a failure, the 
  creature gains 1d3 Insanity and cannot attempt the action 
  again until it completes a rest. The GM adjudicates any 
  consequences for reshaping reality, calling for challenge 
  rolls as necessary to avoid dangerous terrain and dealing 
  damage using the Baseline Damage table (Shadow, page 
  179). 
   Even the passage of time, or one’s perception of it, can 
  be subject to the whims of a hidden kingdom’s creators. 
  A distortion in the ﬂ ow of time is noticeable to a creature 
  whenever it spends time in a hidden kingdom and then 
  returns whence it came (generally back to the mortal 
  world). 
   In some hidden kingdoms, the eﬀ ect is too small to 
  perceive—the length of time spent in the faerie realm 
  is within a few seconds of the time that elapsed in the 
  mortal world. In other realms, the time distortion is 
  signiﬁ cant—for instance, for each hour that passes in the 
  kingdom, one month passes in the mortal world, or each 
  hour spent in the kingdom is equivalent to one minute in 
  the mortal world. 
   Signiﬁ cant time distortions of this sort could wreak 
  havoc on a campaign world. For that reason, these eﬀ ects 
  should come into play only if everyone agrees to take 
  this step, and as long as doing so ﬁ ts into the story the 
  GM wants to tell.
  TALKING ANIMAL 
  Intellect +1d6
  Languages If the animal has an Intellect score of 8 or 
  higher, it can speak Elvish. If it has an Intellect score of 10 
  or higher, it can speak one additional language of your 
  choice.
  Talking Animals
  The animals of the hidden kingdoms tend to 
  be smarter than those found in the mortal 
  world—and some even have the ability to speak. 
  Apply the following modiﬁ cations to animals 
  encountered in these places. Talking animals 
  have personalities suited to their natures. 
  Talking rabbits, for example, tend to act 
  nervously and furtively, while talking cats can 
  come off as arrogant or cruel. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  28
  Denizens and Details
  The following tables are full of interesting characters, 
  strange sights, and weird events that could be found or 
  experienced in any sort of hidden kingdom—adding 
  appropriate bits of color to the surroundings of those 
  who explore the place.
  Interesting Characters
  d20
  Character
  1
  A wizened old human who has lived in the hidden 
  kingdom since being seduced by an elf prince. 
  Discarded, the character passes eternity painting 
  portraits of the one he loved in his own blood and 
  feces.
  2
  A wingless pixie that goes about on a palanquin 
  held aloft by six trained squirrels, one of which 
  can speak the Common Tongue.
  3
  A dwarf slave, prized for his unusually large 
  anatomy, who is passed around between the 
  faeries as a toy.
  4
  An elf clad in colorful ribbons who steals eyes 
  from mortals so she can see.
  5
  A corpulent faun, force-fed by faeries to see just 
  how much he can eat.
  6
  An elf maiden of unsurpassed beauty with silver 
  hair a mile long that is carried by an army of 
  human children.
  7
  A dusty knight clad in bronze plate and armed 
  with sword and shield, trapped in the hidden 
  kingdom after offending a great fey.
  8
  Conjoined halﬂ ings who perform juggling tricks 
  and sing songs to the delight of gathered faeries.
  9
  An enormous bass, swimming in the bottom of 
  a sweet water pool, that can see exactly seven 
  minutes into the future and might be convinced to 
  reveal what it sees.
  10
  A handsome elf with dead eyes and a disdain for 
  mortals.
  11
  A pixie agitator with an axe to grind against one 
  of the great fey.
  12
  A hobgoblin general whose jowls hang to the 
  ground (and whose mouth sags open as a result) 
  who claims to have lived ten times as long as the 
  eldest hobgoblin to have ever lived.
  13
  A tiny bird, once owned by a nymph, that was 
  once a goblin and now lives in a golden cage that 
  was lost inside a sea cave.
  14
  An amorous dryad who lives in a tree from which 
  hang the corpses of lovers who disappointed her.
  15
  An enormous blue-scaled snake that can speak 
  Elvish and has a taste for halﬂ ing meat.
  16
  A grumpy hobgoblin without a kind word for 
  anyone.
  17
  A svelte elf warrior wearing a breastplate made 
  from a petriﬁ ed troll’s face.
  18
  A weeping child who claims to be lost, but is in 
  truth a wicked changeling with evil in its heart.
  19
  An elf magician clad in living butterﬂ ies, maidens’ 
  tears, or severed human hands with nails painted 
  in a rainbow of colors.
  20
  A mad, raving human whose eyes and lips have 
  been sewn shut with golden thread.
  Strange Sights
  d20
  Sight
  1
  A twisty tower made from the petriﬁ ed remains of 
  sixty-six trolls.
  2
  An undulating sphere of green water drifting 
  through the air.
  3
  A war being fought in the clouds between two 
  vaporous armies.
  4
  A giant snail pulling a cart, on which rides a 
  redcap or some other faerie.
  5
  A verdant ﬂ ower garden displaying a riot of 
  colors, whose perfume causes intoxication in 
  mortals who breathe it.
  6
  A zoo with thirteen cages holding a variety of 
  mortal creatures that include a pair of humans, 
  a ﬂ atulent ogre, and an angry ghoul, plus other 
  creatures mundane and strange.
  7
  A great building with ornate architecture that 
  houses a tall mirror that ﬂ oats in the center of a 
  great chamber and in whose reﬂ ection can be 
  seen faraway places, possible futures, and distant 
  pasts.
  8
  A lumbering giant laden with scaffolding across 
  which scurry a dozen armed and angry goblins.
  9
  A train of noble elves in full regalia riding on ﬁ ne 
  horses in a procession.
  10
  A great, spreading oak tree with a locked door 
  ﬁ tted into its trunk.
  11
  An enormous bog from which issues a foul stench 
  and whose ﬂ uids transmit the bog’s stink to 
  anyone who touches them.
  12
  A hollow at the base of an enormous tree inside 
  which is a pedestal that holds a crystal sphere.
  13
  A small hut being carried aloft by six churning 
  chicken legs.
  14
  A ﬂ aming chariot drawn across the sky by eight 
  ﬁ ery steeds.
  15
  A rotunda standing in a clearing. Coming from 
  inside can be heard the sound of children’s 
  laughter.
  16
  A pack of wolves that can speak the Common 
  Tongue and that taunt their victims before they 
  attack.
  17
  An enormous stone statue depicting two elves 
  coupling.
  18
  A heap of broken objects being fought over by 
  two rival gremlins.
  19
  A silvery lake whose surface does not reﬂ ect the 
  sky, but some other faraway place as if seen from 
  overhead.
  20
  A great marketplace where oddities from all over 
  the universe are available for trade.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  29
  Weird Events
  d20
  Event
  1
  A shower of colorful lights streaks across the sky.
  2
  Beautiful singing ﬁ lls the air.
  3
  Green shoots instantly rise from the ground and 
  ﬂ ower. 
  4
  The trees all around move a yard or two in 
  random directions.
  5
  A warm breeze brings the scent of baking bread.
  6
  Small rocks and pebbles scatter.
  7
  A light ﬂ ickers into existence at a distance and 
  then winks out.
  8
  Giggling pixies ﬂ y through the area and then 
  disperse.
  9
  Thunderous laughter booms in the distance.
  10
  The sounds of a revel echo all around. 
  11
  Multicolored stars fall from the sky.
  12
  Up to a 20-yard square of ground suddenly rises 
  or sinks 1d6 yards.
  13
  A shimmering in the air reveals a glimpse of the 
  mortal world. 
  14
  All the grasses around bend in the same direction 
  at the same time (and against the wind, if any).
  15
  A wide grin appears in the boughs of a tree and 
  then fades away.
  16
  A vine uncoils from around a tree, hisses, and then 
  sinks into the earth.
  17
  Cherry blossoms rain from the sky.
  18
  Quiet sobbing sounds come from somewhere 
  nearby.
  19
  The earth churns as a humanoid or animal 
  skeleton rises to the surface and then settles back 
  into the ground.
  20
  Green lights appear in the sky, twisting and 
  writhing for several minutes before they 
  disappear.
  Exploring Hidden 
  Kingdoms
  Mapping a hidden kingdom is fruitless, since the 
  landscape of one changes at the whims of the great fey 
  who rule it. What might be a line of rugged hills one 
  day could be a tangled wood the next. Although some 
  of the hidden lands are more stable than others, they 
  all shift to some extent, making it easy for outsiders to 
  become lost and fall prey to the many dangers these 
  places present. The denizens of these faerie lands are 
  never troubled by the changeable landscapes and adapt 
  to their environments with ease.
  Alfheim
  All across the Northern Reach one can ﬁ nd signs of the 
  ancient faerie kingdom that once claimed those lands—
  only to be utterly broken by the trolls and, later, the 
  men of Gog. From the glittering spires of the elves, their 
  interiors never explored, their purpose unknown, to the 
  ruins of cities, shattered statuary, and graceful bridges 
  spanning rivers long gone dry, all these signs point to a 
  kingdom of great power that once dominated the lands 
  of mankind. Except for the goblins found all across the 
  Empire, the faeries appear reluctant to return to the 
  lands they left behind.
   The reason for their scarcity in the mortal world is that 
  most faeries live content under the reign of the Faerie 
  Queen, Titania, believed by some to be the Queen of 
  Summer herself. Sequestered in the hidden kingdom of 
  Alfheim, arguably the greatest of the faerie realms, the 
  fey have little reason to leave the comforts of their home. 
  The centuries since Alfheim’s establishment have proven 
  peaceful ones, free from the bloody wars against the 
  hated trolls and segregated from the mortal races who 
  greedily took the lands of the ancient faerie kingdom for 
  themselves.
   The entrance to Alfheim stands in the center of the 
  Mistwood, so named from the pervasive mist that curls 
  between the trunks of its impossibly tall trees. On clear 
  days, travelers can spy the towers of the great faerie city 
  from a distance, its spires breaking the canopy of the 
  treetops and gleaming in the sunlight. Nevertheless, 
  ﬁ nding the place is not easy. The foggy, twisting paths 
  through the woods make it diﬃ  cult to get from one side 
  of the forest to the other, let alone to discover the hidden 
  entrance to Alfheim. Those of good heart and noble 
  intent might happen upon the entrance, possibly with 
  the aid of a curious faun or a mercurial elf. 
   The entrance is a great stone arch that stretches over 
  a silvery stream where it passes through a clearing. The 
  columns on either side are carved to resemble elves with 
  arms stretched overhead, faces downcast, their naked 
  bodies crisscrossed with scars. When Tarterus rises full, 
  the gap between the columns ﬁ lls with silvery mist. A 
  traveler that leaves behind items of iron and steps into 
  the mist vanishes, whisked away to Alfheim.
   Alfheim spreads across a roughly circular plane 
  forty-nine miles in diameter. The ground drops away at 
  the edges, beyond which is an expanse of shimmering 
  light. Sheets of water spill over the edge from rivers, 
  evaporating as they drop away, to return above as bright 
  pink clouds that creep across the violet skies. 
   Dense hardwood forests cover much of the kingdom’s 
  interior, a broad swath of green shot through with dark 
  courses carved by rivers and dimpled with ponds and 
  lakes. To the north rises a range of misty mountains 
  blanketed with forests. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  30
  The Hell Tithe
  Diabolus, the Dark Lord of Hell, demands tribute 
  from the faeries to keep him and his infernal 
  legions of devils, dark and twisted faeries, 
  from resuming the old wars between their two 
  courts. Every seven years, the hidden kingdoms 
  must deliver a tithe in souls, usually made up of 
  stolen children and bewitched mortals. Into the 
  depths they go, never to be seen again. 
   
  Faeries and their devil kin do their best to 
  avoid one another. In ancient times, the faeries 
  under Diabolus’s command fought with those in 
  the mortal world over how they should conduct 
  themselves with mortals. Diabolus wanted to 
  be a god over mortals, while the other great fey 
  sought to leave mortals to their fates. Although 
  they had all agreed to leave mortals to their 
  own devices, Diabolus went ahead with his own 
  plans, teaching mortals terrible secrets and 
  encouraging them to exalt him. His treachery 
  led to his exile to Hell, something to which 
  he agreed on the condition that the great fey 
  would tithe to him. If they fail to deliver souls to 
  him, Diabolus will emerge from the heart of Urth 
  to reclaim his place over mortals as their god 
  and master. 
  The Nameless City
  Aside from scattered settlements found in the forest 
  and nestled in the mountains, the largest community in 
  Alfheim is the city, a magniﬁ cent forest of smooth spires 
  constructed from white stone. The spires are surrounded 
  by a series of rings made up of marble statues that depict 
  a menagerie of creatures, some real and many imaginary, 
  with no few petriﬁ ed trolls mingled in with the ordinary 
  statuary. The city is where the Queen of Faeries holds 
  court—though she has withdrawn from public life for 
  centuries, lost in grief over the death of her consort 
  Oberon, who was slain by the Troll King in another age.
   The city changes almost daily, undergoing subtle shifts 
  in its architecture or the directions its streets take, always 
  adjusting itself to the needs of its people. The spires, 
  similar to the ancient ones found all across the Northern 
  Reach, scratch at the sky, impossibly tall and slender, 
  the spans between them connected by thin bridges and 
  garlands of ﬂ owers that never wither. Cherry blossoms 
  fall from the sky to drift lazily to the streets, and canals 
  of sweet water wend their way through it all to reach the 
  heart of the city and the exquisite gardens found there. 
  Swan-shaped boats poled by fauns ferry passengers 
  along the canals. 
   Almost anything can be found in the city, which is 
  crowded with treasures plucked from the mortal world. 
  Most residents pass their time in leisure. An elf might 
  spend years pondering the next line of a sonnet or 
  perfectly capturing on canvas the pinkish-violet shade of 
  the heavens. Talking animals keep company with faeries, 
  and one can usually spot a mortal among the well-oﬀ  
  and inﬂ uential citizens. 
   The city’s people have no need of physical 
  accommodations. The weather is always mild, and few 
  folk have any possessions of note, so most just languish 
  where they are or drift to whatever interests them. Most 
  of the buildings are open and airy, with few walls and no 
  doors. Each structure serves as forge, library, kitchen, or 
  whatever else the community needs.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  31
   The Faerie Queen and the noble elves who attend 
  her live at the city’s center, surrounded by a ring of 
  slender spires that reach higher than all others to form a 
  glorious crown. The Queen resides within a great palace 
  of white stone, at the center of which is a rose garden 
  where it is believed she walks the nights, weeping for 
  the love who was taken from her. Grief has led the 
  Queen to withdraw and rely on her handmaidens to 
  attend to the business of governance. They speak with 
  her voice, acting with her authority. 
   Seven houses surround the Queen’s palace, each 
  of which is home to one of the great elf families that 
  support the Faerie Queen. These families live apart 
  from the rest of the city and command the city’s armies 
  of hobgoblins and other faeries. The families have 
  considerable inﬂ uence in Alfheim, and most citizens 
  fear them and their wrath. The ascendant family is the 
  House of the Ninth Star, led by the Morning Lord, a 
  great fey who was once the Faerie Queen’s consort 
  before Oberon. The Morning Lord has been vocal about 
  taking a direct role in the mortal world to curb the 
  spreading darkness. His son, Nightfall, has led several 
  expeditions out from Alfheim to ascertain the threat to 
  Alfheim and to dispatch the undead that stumble out 
  from the Desolation.
  Elysium
  To mortals, the place that comes closest to paradise is 
  Elysium. It is a place that proves to mortals that they 
  do not live their lives in vain. It is a place of refuge for 
  the dead to pass the centuries in a state of bliss and 
  wonder, where pain, sorrow, and misery fade in the 
  overwhelming pleasure experienced by any and all 
  welcomed to these bright lands. Elysium is a destination 
  promised by preachers at the pulpits, a reward for a 
  life lived well, but one that is elusive to most. The few 
  who have managed to ﬁ nd it, alive or in death, did so by 
  earning the favor or the faeries.
   The oldest of the hidden kingdoms, Elysium 
  was created before the faeries needed a retreat for 
  themselves, back when mortals were still counted 
  as their allies and not their enemies. The great fey 
  established Elysium as a haven for mortals who had 
  earned the faeries’ friendship through great deeds, love, 
  and brilliance. The faeries plucked the souls of dead 
  mortals who impressed them, sparing them from the 
  oblivion of the Underworld to preserve their minds, 
  memories, and personalities forever. 
   As they retreated from the mortal world for brighter 
  and safer realms of their own creation, the faeries 
  largely abandoned Elysium to the souls it held. The 
  souls, transformed into shades called lares, were left to 
  fend for themselves, trapped inside the wondrous realm 
  and chaﬁ ng to be reborn into the mortal world as their 
  essential natures demanded. So while the lares ﬁ nd 
  their every desire met, their days and nights ﬁ lled with 
  pleasure, most feel trapped, made prisoners by the very 
  beings who saved them from oblivion.
   Mortals search for fabled Elysium today, hoping to 
  escape the horrors of their world, to seek out the wisdom 
  of the lares dwelling there, or to preserve their existence 
  against death’s inevitable pull. Not many have found 
  success in reaching the kingdom, let alone gaining access 
  to it. Elysium’s entrance is a great golden gate set in a 
  wall of billowing clouds. The entrance drifts across the 
  world, ﬂ ickering in and out of existence seemingly at 
  random. The gates might appear atop a tall mountain, 
  in the center of a valley, or be glimpsed in the sky after 
  a strong storm. Finding the gates does not guarantee 
  entrance, because the faeries set mighty guardians (as 
  huge constructs) to deny access to the paradise, and to 
  prevent the lares from leaving and thus being claimed by 
  Father Death, who would subject these souls to the same 
  oblivion all ordinary mortals face.
   Beyond the gates lies a land of aching beauty, of 
  rolling ﬁ elds extending as far as the eye can see beneath 
  a cloudless blue sky ruled by a sun that is overlarge, 
  but no so bright as to dazzle. Starlings twist and turn 
  through the air, while a warm breeze brushes the tall 
  wheat, sounding like a long sigh. Here and there, one 
  sees structures of white marble ﬂ ecked with gold, 
  rotundas, airy plazas, and arcades. Lakes of cool, clear 
  water sparkle in the sun as sailing boats drift across their 
  surfaces. 
   Upon entering Elysium, travelers feel their cares and 
  worries fall away, their pains fading until forgotten as a 
  feeling of contentment washes over them. Here, there is 
  no hunger, no thirst, no want. There is only bliss. A living 
  creature that is not a faerie must make a Will challenge 
  roll each time the creature completes a rest. For each day 
  after the ﬁ rst, the creature makes the roll with 1 bane. 
  On a failure, the creature becomes dazed until it leaves. 
  A creature dazed in this way will not willingly leave 
  Elysium, and if it dies here, its soul becomes bound to 
  the kingdom as a lares.
   Aside from the lares, who are the most numerous 
  creatures in Elysium, some faeries have remained here 
  to entertain the lares and themselves by recounting their 
  deeds, playing elaborate games, and engaging in acts of 
  love and lust. Among them are nymphs, elves, dryads, a 
  few pixies, and others. They are suspicious of outsiders 
  and intercept people passing through the gates to judge 
  their worth. The boorish and savage become oﬀ erings to 
  Gunyain, the tree that devours the corrupt and profane. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  32
  The Gunyain
  At the center of Elysium grows a great, gnarled tree, its 
  uppermost branches reaching 120 yards into the sky. The 
  Gunyain has the shape of a willow tree, but the leaves on 
  its waving branches are blood red, and the patterns in its 
  bark have an eerie resemblance to humanoid faces. 
  THE GUNYAIN 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 10 plant
  Perception 20 (+10); truesight
  Defense 15; Health 300; Corruption 10
  Strength 18 (+8), Agility 5 (–5), Intellect 18 (+8), Will 18 (+8)
  Speed 0
  Immune gaining Insanity; asleep, blinded, dazed, fatigued, 
  frightened, stunned; being moved against its will
  Corruption’s Doom Each creature with a Corruption score 
  of 1 or higher and that is within extreme range of the 
  Gunyain is impaired.
  Devour the Damned When a creature becomes 
  incapacitated from an attack made by the Gunyain or 
  goes mad from gaining Insanity from the Gunyain, the 
  ground opens up and drags the creature into the earth, 
  at which point the opening closes to kill the creature 
  instantly. One round later, the creature’s likeness appears 
  somewhere on the Gunyain’s trunk, and the Gunyain 
  increases its Health by the creature’s Corruption score.
  Fire Vulnerability The Gunyain takes double damage 
  from ﬁ re.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Branches (melee + 5) +8 with 2 boons (3d6 plus Snare, or 5d6 damage 
  against an immobilized target)
  Snare If the target is on the ground, it must get a success on an Agility 
  challenge roll with 2 banes or become immobilized. An immobilized 
  creature can use an action to make a Strength challenge roll with 2 
  banes to remove the aﬄ  iction. 
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Flurry of Branches The Gunyain attacks up to ﬁ ve creatures 
  with its branches, making each attack roll with 1 bane. 
  Pronounce Doom The Gunyain makes a Will attack roll 
  against the Intellect of one creature within long range. 
  On a success, the creature gains 1 Corruption and gains 
  fortune. If the creature already has fortune, it now can 
  use it one additional time. On a failure, the creature 
  becomes immune to Pronounce Doom until it completes 
  a rest.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Crushing Grasp Each creature immobilized by the Gunyain 
  takes 1d6 + 2 damage from being constricted by the 
  branches.
   The Gunyain is an old terror, having taken root in the 
  rich soil of Elysium when the faeries ﬁ rst fashioned the 
  place. Growing from a seed stolen from the mortal world 
  that was later stained by the Void’s inﬂ uence, it became 
  a horriﬁ c thing, one that craved mortal souls. Rather 
  than destroy it, the faeries of Elysium oﬀ ered up to it the 
  corruption in the souls they preserved, to cleanse those 
  souls and keep them pure. From these gifts, the tree grew 
  wise and powerful, able to peer into the distant future 
  and oﬀ er guidance to the petitioners who came before 
  it. But the tree craved darkness, and from those cravings 
  blossomed hatred. So, rather than revealing the truth 
  of the future, it oﬀ ered guidance that most often led to 
  sorrow and destruction. And with each mortal who fell 
  to its cruel advice, its power and malevolence grew.
   Now, lares and faerie alike avoid the Gunyain, coming 
  into the area of its inﬂ uence only when they need to rid 
  themselves of unworthy intruders that have discovered 
  their paradise.
   The Gunyain can communicate telepathically with 
  any creature that knows at least one language and is 
  within extreme range of the tree. 
  Isle of Forever
  The Isle of Forever rises from the waters of Sapphire 
  Lake, a body of water found in the Grand Duchy of the 
  West. Thick fog blankets the island at all times, making 
  the place foreboding and uninviting to all. The brave or 
  foolish who dare set foot on the enchanted land must 
  navigate tricky mists, cackling shadows, and nightmarish 
  trees if they would reach the magical realm beyond. 
  Many who try soon afterward ﬁ nd themselves turned 
  around, emerging from the confounding mists to stand 
  once more on the rocky strand. Others simply vanish, 
  never seen again.
   The land beyond the mist looks more fantastical than 
  does the terrain around it. The light here is brighter, 
  the smells cleaner, the colors more vivid. Trees grow to 
  impossible heights, while ﬂ owers look unlike anything 
  in the mortal world. Faeries of all kinds make their 
  homes in this place, using magic to mold the landscape 
  into living spaces without ever having to cut or kill. They 
  live in the boles of massive trees, accessed by walkways 
  and paths made from their enormous roots.
   The Isle of Forever is a relatively small kingdom, 
  conﬁ ned to the island and the surrounding waters, in 
  which one can ﬁ nd all manner of strange things. It is 
  ruled by the Horned King—the same being worshiped
  as a god by mortals. A cold and distant monarch, the 
  Horned King roams the forests of the isle, surveying 
  his realm and tending to the needs of his people. Long 
  ago, the Horned King was a violent being, warlike and 
  bloodthirsty, but as mortal perceptions of him have 
  evolved, he has tempered his anger and devotes his 
  attentions to preserving his realm and shielding his 
  people from harm.
   Although mortals have softened the role of the Horned 
  King as a god, many mortals living near the island recall 
  the old ways and customs from a time when the faeries 
  would gather to raid the lands for miles around the lake. 
  Loosed from the god’s control, they burned settlements 
  and carried children oﬀ  to the hidden kingdom, either to 
  replenish their own diminishing numbers or to give up 
  as oﬀ erings to Hell. It has been years since the last such 
  episode, but mortals live in constant fear of a resumption 
  of those wild and terrifying times.
  Maze of the Goblin King
  When the Goblin King stole a kiss from the Faerie 
  Queen, he took away something of her magic as well. His 
  act of thievery, combined with the goblins’ unceasing 
  mischief, led to the mass exile of their kind and their 
  relocation in the mortal world. The Goblin King, who 
  is an elf rather than a goblin, used the stolen magic to 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  33
  fashion a mazelike kingdom for himself and those loyal 
  subjects who followed him. In this realm, the Goblin 
  King established his dominion, and from it he carries 
  out all manner of wickedness.
   Unlike other hidden kingdoms, the Maze of the 
  Goblin King can be entered from anywhere by using a 
  golden key forged by the Goblin King himself. Many 
  such keys exist, and the king’s servants have spread them 
  far and wide across the world. To use the key, one must 
  merely place it into the lock of a closed door, twist the 
  key three times to the left, and then open the door to 
  reveal the king’s domain.
   The Maze of the Goblin King, when viewed from 
  above, spreads across a rolling landscape 66 miles 
  square. It consists of a vast, open-topped labyrinth of 
  stone walls that reach 20 yards in height and feature 
  high towers here and there, guarding 
  crumbling keeps and courtyards that feature 
  statuary, small gardens, rubbish heaps, and 
  bogs whose stench has no rival. At the 
  center of the maze rises a great crowded 
  city, where goblins, hobgoblins, and 
  other faeries gather to serve the mad 
  king who rules from a fantastic castle 
  perched at the top. Under it all, the maze 
  descends into the depths, reaching far 
  below the earth to a depth no one has 
  yet to plumb.
  Building the Maze
  The maze changes often. Walls slide 
  out from the sides to close oﬀ  passages, 
  while opening new ones that lead to 
  places sprung from the great fey’s 
  feverish dreams. Bizarre creatures 
  roam the passages, plaguing visitors 
  with riddles and tricks, all to mislead 
  them and keep them trapped inside 
  the circuitous mind of the kingdom’s 
  maker. 
  Everything below is intended for 
  the Game Master. Players read at 
  their peril.
  Entrances
  Entering the maze can be as diﬃ  cult as 
  exploring it. Illusions conceal most of 
  the openings, making the outer walls 
  appear seamless and unbroken, though 
  characters with the ability to perceive 
  magical eﬀ ects, such as with the sense magic 
  spell, can spot openings with ease. Other 
  characters can ﬁ nd an entrance with a success 
  on a Perception challenge roll made with 1d3 
  banes.
  Maze Sections
  Once the characters enter, they must contend with the 
  maze itself. It consists of overlapping passages that twist 
  and turn, end abruptly, or lead to unexpected dangers. 
   Rather than map the whole thing out in one go, you 
  can create the maze gradually, revealing sections one 
  at a time, starting with the section the characters enter 
  when they ﬁ nd their way inside. A section consists of 
  1d3 + 1 passages, each 2d6 yards long and 1d3 yards wide. 
  The passages connect to each other, often at 90-degree 
  angles. 
   Perils: The maze sections can be dangerous to 
  explorers. For each section, roll 3d6 or choose an option 
  from the following table. Come up with a few encounters 
  of varying diﬃ  culties ahead of time to populate the 
  maze. Faeries are obviously appropriate creatures for 
  the environment, but monsters, animals, and perhaps a 
  demon or two can also be suitable encounters. 
  high towers here and there, guarding 
  crumbling keeps and courtyards that feature 
  statuary, small gardens, rubbish heaps, and 
  bogs whose stench has no rival. At the 
  center of the maze rises a great crowded 
  city, where goblins, hobgoblins, and 
  other faeries gather to serve the mad 
  king who rules from a fantastic castle 
  perched at the top. Under it all, the maze 
  descends into the depths, reaching far 
  below the earth to a depth no one has 
  yet to plumb.
  Building the Maze
  The maze changes often. Walls slide 
  out from the sides to close oﬀ  passages, 
  while opening new ones that lead to 
  places sprung from the great fey’s 
  feverish dreams. Bizarre creatures 
  roam the passages, plaguing visitors 
  with riddles and tricks, all to mislead 
  them and keep them trapped inside 
  maker. 
  their peril.
  Entrances
  Entering the maze can be as diﬃ  cult as 
  exploring it. Illusions conceal most of 
  the openings, making the outer walls 
  appear seamless and unbroken, though 
  characters with the ability to perceive 
  magical eﬀ ects, such as with the 
  spell, can spot openings with ease. Other 
  characters can ﬁ nd an entrance with a success 
  on a Perception challenge roll made with 1d3 
  banes.
  Maze Sections
  
  Terrible Beauty
  34
  Perils
  3d6
  Peril
  3
  Hard combat
  4–5
  Challenging combat
  6–8
  Average combat
  9–12
  Nothing
  13–15
  Trap chosen from the sample traps found in 
  Shadow of the Demon Lord, pages 202–205.
  16–17
  Average combat
  18
  Easy combat
  Exits: Each passage has 1d6 – 1 exits, with a result of 0 
  indicating that the group must backtrack to a previous 
  maze section. For each exit, roll a d6 or choose an option 
  from the following table. 
  Exits
  d6
  Exit
  1
  Dead end. The exit extends a few yards and then 
  stops at a deadfall or a blank stone wall.
  2
  A descending staircase.
  3
  An opening straight ahead or on the right.
  4
  An opening straight ahead or on the left.
  5
  A staircase going up.
  6
  A hidden exit. Characters can ﬁ nd this exit with a 
  success on a Perception challenge roll made with 
  1d3 – 1 banes.
   Destination: An exit leads to a place, usually to 
  another section of the maze. For each exit, roll 2d6 or 
  choose an option from the following table.
  Destination
  2d6
  Destination
  2
  The exit leads out of the maze and whisks 
  characters to a random location in the mortal 
  world. 
  3–4
  The exit leads to an interesting location.
  5–9
  The exit leads to another maze section.
  10–11
  The exit leads to an interesting location.
  12
  The exit leads to the Goblin City at the center of 
  the maze.
  Interesting Locations
  The maze is home to many interesting locations to 
  explore. Some can be havens for the characters to rest, 
  shortcuts that lead to other regions of the maze, lairs of 
  powerful creatures, or just oddities that confound and 
  befuddle. An interesting location can be any size, and 
  should have 1d3 – 1 exits. Come up with your own, or use 
  the following sample locations as written or to inspire 
  your own design.
   Chessboard: The ground appears as a great chessboard 
  of eight rows and eight columns, each square 1 yard 
  across. Arrayed on the side opposite the one from which 
  the group entered are a full set of giant black chess pieces.
    The spaces nearest to the characters are empty until 
  the ﬁ rst character moves onto the board. At that point, 
  the near edge of the board is populated with a full set of 
  white chess pieces, and the bodies of all the characters 
  disappear. 
   At the start of the game, each character is embodied 
  within one of the white pieces, determined by rolling 2d6 
  and consulting the Player Pieces table. If the indicated 
  piece is no longer available, the character is represented 
  by a pawn instead. Once each character has been assigned 
  a chess piece, the game can begin.
  Player Pieces
  2d6
  Piece
  2–7
  Pawn
  8
  Rook (maximum 2)
  9
  Bishop (maximum 2)
  10
  Knight (maximum 2)
  11
  Queen (maximum 1)
  12
  King (maximum 1)
   Resolve the match using the rules for chess, except as 
  noted below. Each player takes a turn to move one white 
  piece, either the one that represents the player’s character 
  or a piece that doesn’t belong to another player. Once 
  each player has moved a piece, the GM moves an equal 
  number of black pieces. When the GM ﬁ nishes, the 
  players all take another turn, and so on. 
   The characters remain in their chess-piece forms until 
  one character’s piece (if a pawn) reaches the opposite side 
  of the board, until one character’s piece takes three other 
  pieces, or until the white pieces checkmate the black king. 
  If any of these events occur, all the chess pieces disappear 
  and the characters resume their normal forms alongside 
  the board. The characters also resume their normal 
  forms when the opponent checkmates the white king or 
  incapacitates all the members of the group, at which point 
  the characters all reappear in open spaces within medium 
  range of the white side of the board.
   If a player’s piece becomes captured, the piece crumbles 
  to dust and the player becomes incapacitated in its space, 
  making fate rolls as normal. If the character heals any 
  damage, the character becomes stunned until the game 
  is over.
  Terrible Beauty
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  35
   The Bog of Horrid Stench: A vast bog stretches across 
  the area, a reeking pond redolent of human waste and 
  rot. Great, brown-green bubbles form on its surface and 
  burst, splashing the area within 1d3 yards with the foul 
  droplets. Any character that touches the ﬂ uid becomes 
  cursed. A character cursed in this way reeks of the bog 
  and makes attack rolls in social situations with 3 banes 
  until the curse is lifted, either by the remove curse spell or 
  by destroy magic (in which case the eﬀ ect counts as a rank 
  3 spell).
   The Hall of Dancing: Weird dancers (as medium 
  constructs) and lively music ﬁ ll an ornate dancing hall 
  accessed through one or more mouth-shaped archways. 
  Any living creature that enters the room and can hear 
  the music must get a success on a Will challenge roll 
  or become cursed. While cursed, the creature must 
  take a fast turn each round and use its action to dance, 
  moving up to half its Speed in a random direction. Each 
  minute the creature dances, it gains 1 Insanity. When 
  it goes mad, it physically transforms into a construct 
  of its Size with a bizarre and unsettling appearance. 
  When transformed in this way, the creature can never 
  leave the hall. A creature cursed by the music can be 
  freed by magic (the curse counts as a rank 4 spell, and 
  thus cannot be removed by using destroy magic) or 
  by stopping the creature’s ears with wax or a similar 
  substance. Dancers do not defend themselves if attacked, 
  and any that are slain return to life and heal all damage 
  1d6 hours later.
  The Midnight Lands
  At the heart of the tangled forests covering Balgrendia, 
  an old and storied province of the Empire, stand the 
  ruins of the Midnight Lands, a place dimly remembered 
  as Niﬂ heim. The Midnight Lands are accessed by the 
  Great Mirror housed inside the Stone of Sorrow, a great, 
  drum-like tower at the center of the province. The 
  Mirror opens only on nights when Tarterus looms full 
  in the sky, permitting passage to the hidden kingdom at 
  those times.
   The Queen of Dreams and Shadows has not been 
  seen in a century, but people believe she still rules the 
  Midnight Lands. Mortals remember her as a cold and 
  detached monarch, one with little interest in the aﬀ airs 
  of mortals after her lover, Diabolus, was exiled to Hell. 
  Her disregard for humanity blinded her to the threat 
  posed by the Witch-King, and thus she and her people 
  were unprepared for the barbarians hordes that spilled 
  into the forest bent on rapine and plunder. They sacked 
  the lands, ravaged the countryside, and when they 
  discovered the Stone, they passed through the Mirror 
  and laid waste to the lands beyond the milky surface. 
   Caught unprepared, the faeries fought to drive back 
  the invaders, to force them back into the mortal world. 
  Undeterred by the fey witchery, the men of Gog released 
  demons from the Void, sending the howling freaks to rip 
  and rend the faeries. Proximity to the Void made it easy 
  for the warlocks and demonologists to call forth their 
  minions, and so the Queen of Dreams and Shadows 
  unraveled the magic that created the kingdom and 
  returned everyone and everything in it to Balgrendia’s 
  woods.
   The desperate act destroyed much of the invading 
  force, their mortal forms too fragile to withstand the 
  return, and the scant survivors ﬂ ed, driven mad by the 
  horrors they witnessed. Niﬂ heim was destroyed. Many 
  faeries ﬂ ed to Hell to pledge service to the Dark Lord, 
  but most remained in the remnants of their homeland, 
  plotting their vengeance against all humans for the 
  wickedness of their ancestors.
   Mortals living on the Midnight Lands borders live 
  in fear of oﬀ ending the faerie living there, for they are 
  a spiteful and hateful race. More than anywhere, the 
  faeries steal children, steal animals, and drive mad the 
  people who cross their paths. The midnight faeries 
  appear malformed and grotesque, all traces of their 
  former beauty stolen by the evil in their hearts.
   Little remains of the Midnight Lands’ former beauty. 
  Visitors ﬁ nd a bleak and foreboding forest littered 
  with the ruins of a once great city. Of the spires that 
  crowned it, they became twisted into weird corkscrew 
  shapes or shattered into wreckage. The canals of sweet 
  water became tainted with blood, and one can still see 
  the ghostly corpses of dead elves ﬂ oating in the murky 
  depths. Gardens lay dead, streets choked with creepers 
  and weeds, and not a star shines in the sky at night. 
  Sorrow and Dread
  All faeries from the Midnight Lands have the frightening 
  trait. In addition, characters exploring this ruined 
  kingdom make challenge rolls to resist the frightening 
  and horrifying trait with 1 bane.
  Rewards
  Many are the rewards for those who brave the dangers 
  and strangeness of the faerie realms. One can ﬁ nd great 
  stores of gold and jewels, trinkets humming with magical 
  power, and more. The following section describes new 
  rewards that might come into the hands of characters 
  who survive forays into these magical places.
  Favors of the Great Fey
  The great fey sometimes grant their favor to mortals 
  and immortals who serve them well. Favor takes many 
  diﬀ erent forms, some lasting, others ﬂ eeting. Some gifts 
  of this sort come with a terrible price, while others might 
  seem strange, almost useless. Regardless of the form 
  a favor takes, the great fey are miserly with their gifts, 
  and receiving such a blessing is an honor reserved for 
  the greatest heroes. If a character earns this reward, that 
  player can choose a favor from the following table, or the 
  GM can let the dice choose one.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  36
  Favors of the Great Fey
  d20
  Favor
  1
  Immortality. You grow no older, physically 
  remaining at your present age until violence or 
  mishap abbreviates your life. You are immune to 
  any effect that would age you.
  2
  Fey Sight. You have the shadowsight trait, and 
  you can see invisible faeries.
  3
  Riches. You receive a gold coin worth 1 gc. If you 
  spend it, another gold coin appears somewhere 
  on your person after you complete a rest.
  4
  Good Luck. You make attack rolls and challenge 
  rolls with 1 boon. Each time you complete a rest, 
  roll a d20. On a 1, you lose this gift.
  5
  Faerie Helpers. A number of invisible faeries work 
  to keep your clothes mended and clean, your gear 
  in good, working order, and food prepared and 
  ready for your consumption. You never need to 
  purchase food or drink, and you never have to 
  replace worn-out equipment.
  6
  Enchanted Object. You gain one enchanted 
  object of the GM’s choice.
  7
  Refuge. You gain a small, smooth stone. You 
  can use an action or a triggered action to call 
  upon the stone’s power to transport you and any 
  number of creatures within short range of you 
  to the hidden kingdom where your benefactor 
  resides.
  8
  Beauty. You physically transform to become one 
  of the most beautiful people in the world, granting 
  you 1 boon to attack rolls made in social situations 
  when you are interacting peacefully with people 
  who would ordinarily be attracted to members of 
  your ancestry and gender.
  9
  Tongues. When you speak, anyone who hears you 
  that knows at least one language understands 
  what you say. Similarly, when a creature speaks, 
  you automatically understand what the speaker 
  says.
  10
  Magical Knowledge. You learn one spell. It must 
  have a rank equal to no more than half your 
  Power score. The spell can be from any tradition 
  and is chosen by the GM.
  11
  Animal Form. You learn the animal shape 
  Transformation spell, if you haven’t learned it 
  already, and you increase by 1 the number of 
  castings you have of that spell. When you cast 
  the spell, you can choose to expend an additional 
  casting to extend the duration to 1 hour.
  12
  Perfect Health. You are immune to damage from 
  disease and to the diseased afﬂ iction.
  13
  Extra Life. When you die, you are immediately 
  restored to life with damage equal to your Health 
  – 1. Once you use this gift, it is lost.
  14
  Unbound. You can use an action to open any 
  locked or stuck object that can normally be 
  opened that you can see within short range. Each 
  time you use this gift, roll a d20. On a 1, you lose 
  it.
  15
  Might. You are granted great strength. Increase 
  your Strength score by 1. Each time you complete 
  a rest, roll a d20. On a 1, you lose this gift.
  16
  Dexterity. You are granted great reﬂ exes. 
  Increase your Agility score by 1. Each time you 
  complete a rest, roll a d20. On a 1, you lose this 
  gift.
  17
  Cunning. You are granted great cunning. Increase 
  your Intellect score by 1. Each time you complete 
  a rest, roll a d20. On a 1, you lose this gift.
  18 
  Courage. You are granted great courage. Increase 
  your Will score by 1. Each time you complete a 
  rest, roll a d20. On a 1, you lose this gift.
  19
  Swiftness. You are granted great speed. Increase 
  your Speed by 2. Each time you complete a rest, 
  roll a d20. On a 1, you lose this gift.
  20
  Health. You gain a +5 bonus to Health. Each time 
  you complete a rest, roll a d20. On a 1, you lose 
  this gift.
  Enchanted Objects
  Enchanted objects found in the hidden kingdoms 
  might have properties beyond those found in the mortal 
  world. When randomly determining the nature of 
  an enchanted object, the following table can be used 
  instead to determine the object’s properties.
  Enchanted Object Properties
  d6
  Table
  1
  Table 1 (Shadow, page 208)
  2
  Table 2 (Shadow, page 209)
  3
  Table 3 (Shadow, page 209)
  4
  Table 4 (Shadow, page 210)
  5
  Table 5 (Shadow, page 211)
  6
  Faerie Object Properties
  Faerie Object Properties
  d20
  Property
  1
  You can use an action to activate the object, which 
  causes it to play soft, melancholy music for 10 
  minutes or until you use an action to shut it off. The 
  music carries out to long range.
  2
  You can use an action to cause the object to 
  release 1d6 + 1 glowing motes that each move up 
  to 20 yards in a direction you choose and remain 
  there for 1 hour. This object has 1 use.
  3
  The object bonds to you and remains bonded until 
  you die or it is destroyed. The object counts as a 
  construct of its Size and has 3d6 + 3 feet. It cannot 
  use actions, however. When placed on the ground, 
  the object moves to within short range of you on 
  each of its turns, unless prevented from doing so.
  4
  The object is a reservoir of magical power. You can 
  use an action to regain a casting of a spell you have 
  learned. The object has 1d3 uses.
  5
  When you place the object in a ﬁ re, it grows warm 
  and remains warm until you complete a rest. 
  While you carry it, you are immune to the effects 
  of exposure caused by being in extreme cold 
  conditions. 
  6
  You can use an action to activate the object, which 
  causes your Size to change. Roll a d6. On an odd 
  number, halve your Size. On an even number, 
  double your Size. You remain at the new Size for 
  1 hour. The object has 1d3 uses. When you use it 
  the last time, the magic ﬂ ees from the object and it 
  becomes an ordinary object of its kind.
  7
  The object is immune to damage, but disintegrates 
  if submerged in water.
  8
  The object issues a piercing scream when brought 
  to within medium range of a troll.
  9
  If you have the iron vulnerability trait, you lose it 
  while you wear or carry this object.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  37
  10
  You can use an action to place the object into an 
  extradimensional space, causing it to disappear. 
  The object remains in that space until you use an 
  action to retrieve it, which causes it to reappear in 
  your hand.
  11
  While carrying or wearing the object, you can walk 
  across liquid surfaces as if they were solid ground. 
  You can submerge yourself in liquid, using an 
  action to swim up to your Speed. At the end of the 
  round, however, you ﬂ oat 1d6 yards back to the 
  surface.
  12
  You can use an action to activate the object, which 
  causes you to ﬂ y 2d20 yards in any direction and 
  then land safely. The object has 1d3 uses.
  13
  You can use an action to see and hear from the 
  object’s space as if you were in its space, using 
  your normal senses, regardless of how far away you 
  are from the object. The special perception lasts 
  for 1d3 hours, and, until it ends, you are effectively 
  blinded and deafened with respect to your own 
  space. The object has 1d3 uses. When you use it 
  the last time, the magic ﬂ ees from the object and it 
  becomes an ordinary object of its kind.
  14
  You can use the object to loose a wave of fatigue 
  from a point within its space. The wave spreads out 
  across a 5-yard radius. Each living creature in the 
  area must get a success on a Will challenge roll or 
  fall prone and go to sleep for 1d6 days. The object 
  has 1d3 uses, and when you expend the last use it 
  becomes an ordinary object of its kind.
  15
  You can use an action to touch the object and 
  transform it into a compelled small animal. It 
  remains in this form until it becomes incapacitated, 
  at which point it dies and the object is destroyed. 
  If the animal is within short range of you, you can 
  an action to return it to its normal form. The object 
  has 1d3 uses, and when you expend the last use it 
  becomes an ordinary object of its kind.
  16
  Upon touching the object, you become cursed. 
  While cursed, you must wear or carry the object 
  at all times. If the object is taken from you, you 
  gain 1 Insanity each minute the object is out of 
  your possession, until you go mad, at which point 
  the curse is lifted. If you retrieve the object before 
  then, you stop gaining the Insanity. While the 
  object is in your possession, you make attack rolls 
  with 1 boon, but you make challenge rolls with 2 
  banes.
  17
  When placed against a surface, the object changes 
  color to match that surface. If the object is 
  wearable, it grants you 1 bane on challenge rolls 
  made to become hidden.
  18
  You can use an action to touch the object to the 
  surface of another object. The enchanted object 
  bonds to that surface and cannot be removed by 
  any means until you touch it and use an action to 
  remove it.
  19
  The object contains 1d3 boons and 1d3 banes. 
  Whenever you make an attack roll or challenge 
  roll, you can use a triggered action to use the 
  object. Roll a d6. The object grants you 1 boon
  on an even number or imposes 1 bane on an odd 
  number. Each time you use the object, deplete 
  the remaining number of boons or banes by 1. 
  Once the object runs out of either boons or 
  banes, it loses its magical power and becomes 
  an ordinary object.
  20
  The object is haunted by a poltergeist. 
  Whenever you become incapacitated, the 
  poltergeist slips free and attacks the nearest 
  creature to it (other than you) each round 
  until you die or are no longer incapacitated, 
  at which point the poltergeist returns to 
  the object.
  Faerie Steed
  The steeds of the hidden kingdoms are among the 
  most prized beasts in the world. Fleet as the wind, with 
  quivering nostrils and eyes of ﬂ ame, they possess great 
  intelligence and courage, making them valuable allies in 
  battle. They typically live for a century or longer.
   Such steeds are never sold, but the faerie might oﬀ er 
  them as gifts to mortals who do them great service. 
  A faerie steed uses the statistics of a horse, with the 
  following adjustments, and counts as a talking animal 
  while it is within the boundaries of a hidden kingdom. 
  Perception +2; shadowsight
  Defense +2; Health +5
  Agility +1, Intellect +2, Will +2
  Speed +2
  Immune frightened
  Relics
  Many relics found in the mortal world as well as in 
  the hidden kingdoms originated with the faeries. The 
  following relics represent a sample of the kinds of 
  enduring magic one might ﬁ nd in the realms of the fey.
  Circe’s Ring
  This band of white gold set with a bright green emerald 
  retains the magic vested in it by its ﬁ rst owner and 
  maker, a nymph of vast and terrible power. Circe 
  despised mortals and would use her magic to twist their 
  minds and make them her slaves. The 
  ring bestows similar powers on its 
  wearer, even as it feeds on the 
  wearer’s life force.
  Circe’s Inﬂ uence The ring 
  grants you 1 boon to attack 
  rolls made to deceive, 
  persuade, or seduce for as 
  long as you wear it.
  Circe’s Magic If you make 
  the ring your implement, 
  add the following spells 
  from the Enchantment 
  tradition to the list of 
  spells you have learned: 
  charm, compel, and 
  enslave. If you have 
  already learned these 
  spells, increase the 
  number of castings 
  you have for each 
  by 1, and you 
  make attack rolls 
  when casting 
  these spells 
  with 1 boon.
  Circe’s Curse 
  You must make 
  a Strength 
  challenge roll 
  each time you 
  complete a 
  rest. On a 
  failure, you 
  permanently 
  reduce your 
  Health by 1.
  Terrible Beauty
  While cursed, you must wear or carry the object 
  your possession, until you go mad, at which point 
  the curse is lifted. If you retrieve the object before 
  object is in your possession, you make attack rolls 
  When placed against a surface, the object changes 
  You can use an action to touch the object to the 
  surface of another object. The enchanted object 
  bonds to that surface and cannot be removed by 
  any means until you touch it and use an action to 
  on an even number or imposes 1 bane on an odd 
  minds and make them her slaves. The 
  ring bestows similar powers on its 
  wearer, even as it feeds on the 
  wearer’s life force.
  Circe’s Inﬂ uence The ring 
  grants you 1 boon to attack 
  rolls made to deceive, 
  persuade, or seduce for as 
  long as you wear it.
  Circe’s Magic If you make 
  the ring your implement, 
  add the following spells 
  from the Enchantment 
  tradition to the list of 
  spells you have learned: 
  charm, compel, 
  enslave. If you have 
  already learned these 
  spells, increase the 
  number of castings 
  you have for each 
  by 1, and you 
  make attack rolls 
  when casting 
  these spells 
  with 1 boon.
  Circe’s Curse
  You must make 
  a Strength 
  challenge roll 
  each time you 
  complete a 
  rest. On a 
  failure, you 
  permanently 
  reduce your 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  38
  Glass of Seeing
  A sphere of polished crystal, 9 inches in diameter, a glass 
  of seeing contains swirls of silvery mist that can reveal 
  faraway places to those of strong mind. Some believe 
  the object to be a tear shed by the Maiden in the Moon. 
  Individuals who use the relic experience melancholic 
  feelings that can grow strong enough to unsettle the 
  mind.
  Far Sight You can use an action to peer into the mists that 
  churn inside the sphere. If you concentrate for at least 1 
  minute, make a Will challenge roll. On a success, you cast 
  the clairvoyance spell from the Divination tradition. On 
  a failure, you gain 1 Insanity. Regardless of the outcome, 
  the glass cannot be used again until the sun next rises.
  Paranoia If you gain Insanity from this relic and then go 
  mad, you gain a quirk when the madness abates. You 
  believe that everyone covets the relic, and so you hide it 
  among your possessions. You won’t use the relic openly 
  and refuse to use it on behalf of another character. 
  You are impaired while the relic is not among your 
  possessions.
  Heart Kill
  The Queen of Dreams and Shadows fashioned this 
  thornwood bow after the destruction of her kingdom, 
  then bestowed it upon her youngest son, charging him 
  to use the weapon to slay humans until the numbers 
  of their dead equaled six times the numbers who died 
  at the hands of the Witch-King’s vile servants. The elf 
  prince who carried the weapon into battle slew many 
  innocent men and women, each kill staining his heart 
  with the evil he did until he could no longer bear to 
  touch the weapon. He ﬂ ung the bow into a deep ravine 
  somewhere inside the lands of the Empire. Since then 
  it has surfaced from time to time, claiming the souls of 
  mortals who dare to try commanding its lethal power. 
  Enchanted Longbow When you attack with this weapon, 
  you make the attack roll with 1 boon and the attack deals 
  1d6 extra damage.
  Killing Whispers You can use an extra action on your turn 
  to choose one creature you can see and call upon the 
  bow’s power. You gain 1 Corruption, and the next time 
  you attack the target with the bow before the end of the 
  next round, you make the attack roll with 5 boons. On 
  a success, in addition to taking the normal damage, the 
  target must make a Strength challenge roll, with 1 bane 
  if it’s human. On a failure, the target takes extra damage 
  equal to its Health.
  Moonlight Cloak
  The Faerie Queen wove the Moonlight Cloak from threads 
  of shadow and moonbeams as a gift for a mortal whom 
  she hoped to keep safe after his courage and boldness 
  won her heart. But the mortal died of old age before he 
  could receive the gift, and so the Faerie Queen discarded 
  it. This hooded cloak of pale gray looks to be made from 
  soft and supple material of unknown origin. Drawing 
  the cloak around one’s shoulders causes the cloak to 
  blend in with its surroundings.
  Moonlight Mantle While you wear this cloak, you can 
  attempt to hide when you have any degree of cover or 
  are at least partially obscured. In addition, when you 
  attempt to hide, you make the Agility challenge roll with 
  2 boons.
  Fading Power Each time you become hidden using the 
  cloak, roll a d6. On a 1, the cloak loses its power until 
  the sun next sets. On a 6, you become you take half 
  damage from all sources and your attacks deal half 
  damage for 1 round.
  Wooden Boy
  A strange manikin made of wood and carved to resemble 
  a little boy, complete with feathered hat, this relic is 
  believed to house the spirit of a mortal child who was 
  stolen by an elf and later died in the realms of faerie. 
  It’s actually a nasty demon who enjoys pretending to be 
  a child and causing the sort of mischief it can perform 
  while in this role. 
  Cursed Manikin The manikin is a Size 1/2 object made of 
  wood. It is immune to all damage. It can be claimed only 
  by a creature that takes 1 damage from an edged or 
  pointed weapon and smears the blood on the doll. The 
  creature gains 1 Corruption and becomes cursed until it 
  dies or the manikin is destroyed. 
  A Real Boy If you are cursed by the relic, you can use an 
  action to call upon its power, causing the manikin to 
  animate and function as a small demon for a number 
  of minutes equal to your Power + 1. The demon obeys 
  your verbal commands half the time (the GM rolls a d6 
  for each command, an even number meaning the demon 
  obeys you). If it doesn’t obey, it does the opposite of 
  what you ask. Once the duration expires, the manikin 
  stops moving, and you cannot call upon its power again 
  until you complete a rest.
  Vorpal Sword
  The Vorpal Sword was forged by the elves to ﬁ ght against 
  the evil embodied by the jabberwock, a monster lurking 
  on the edges of the hidden kingdoms. The blade is made 
  from silvery metal and features a broad guard and a 
  handle wrapped in white leather. The sword sits in a 
  scabbard made from enchanted leaves that never lose 
  their bright red color.
  Star Metal The sword is forged 
  from meteoric iron and 
  does not count as iron for 
  the purpose of the iron 
  vulnerability trait.
  Snicker-Snack Each time you 
  attack with this weapon, you 
  have a chance of severing 
  the target’s head. If the total 
  of your attack roll is 20 or 
  higher and exceeds the 
  target’s Defense by 5 or 
  more, you cut the target’s 
  head from its body or slice 
  its body in half, causing it 
  to take damage equal to 
  its Health. If the total of your 
  attack roll is 0 or lower, you 
  instead cut off your own 
  head and take damage 
  equal to your Health.
   The sword is forged 
   Each time you 
  attack with this weapon, you 
  the target’s head. If the total 
  head from its body or slice 
  its Health. If the total of your 
  attack roll is 0 or lower, you 
  
  Tales of the Desolation
  Tales of the Desolation
  39
  The creatures of faerie demonstrate great variety in form 
  and agenda, with some beautiful to behold and others 
  horriﬁ c. This section describes several examples of the 
  creatures one might ﬁ nd in or near the realms of the Fair 
  Folk.
  Other Creatures
  Shadow of the Demon Lord presents 
  several faerie creatures suitable for 
  adventures set in the hidden kingdoms 
  and their borderlands.
   Difﬁ culty 1: goblin, small animal, tiny 
  animal
   Difﬁ culty 5: animal swarm, gremlin, 
  hobgoblin, redcap
   Difﬁ culty 10: changeling, large spider, 
  medium animal
   Difﬁ culty 25: bloody bones, elf, large 
  animal, nisse, spriggan
   Difﬁ culty 50: bear, boggart, dire wolf, 
  fungal hulk, fungal mite, great cat, griffon, 
  harpy, huge animal
   Difﬁ culty 250: jack-o’-lantern, leshy
   Difﬁ culty 500: hag
  Asrai
  Seemingly sweet and innocent faeries that inhabit 
  watery places, asrai use their magic against mortals who 
  disturb them. 
   If an asrai is forced to defend itself, the creature uses 
  its corrosive touch to thwart its enemy—but often a 
  mortal doesn’t even get close enough to feel the burn of 
  that attack. Asrai prefer to dispose of their enemies by 
  compelling them to enter the water and then rendering 
  them helpless until they drown. Fishers who ply waters 
  touched by the hidden kingdoms sometimes pluck one 
  of these diminutive sprites from the depths. The wise 
  ones throw back such a catch, while the foolish ones ﬁ nd 
  themselves scarred by the creature’s touch or drowned 
  by the angry asrai who come to their companion’s aid. 
   Asrai stand about 6 inches tall and weigh almost 
  nothing at all. They have thin, delicate bodies of pale 
  blue or green, long hair that swirls about them when 
  they are submerged, and bright, shining eyes, like the 
  sun’s reﬂ ection on wavelets. They emerge only under 
  the cover of dark, for they ﬁ nd the sun’s light lethal. If 
  captured or slain, an asrai collapses with a faint cry into 
  a small puddle.
   Asrai speak Elvish.
  ASRAI 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/12 faerie
  Perception 12 (+2); darksight
  Defense 12; Health 5
  Strength 5 (–5), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (–1), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 8; swimmer
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense An asrai takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking an asrai with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability An asrai is impaired while in contact with 
  iron.
  Liquefy When an asrai becomes grabbed, it takes damage 
  equal to its Health and collapses into a pool of water.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Burning Touch (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d6 from acid plus 
  Scar on attack roll 20+)
  Scar If the target is a living creature, it becomes dazed for 1 
  round after being burned by the asrai’s touch.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Watery Doom To use this special attack, at least three 
  other asrai must have chosen this asrai as the target of 
  their Lend Essence special action, and this asrai must 
  be in a space containing at least 1 inch of water. The 
  asrai makes a Will attack roll against the Will of one 
  creature within short range that can see it. On a success, 
  the target creature must take the next available turn to 
  move toward the asrai and fall prone. If it falls prone in 
  a space containing at least 1 inch of water, it becomes 
  defenseless, inhales the water, and becomes subject 
  to suffocation (Shadow, page 202). At the end of each 
  round, a creature affected this way can make a Will 
  challenge roll. On a success, the effects of Watery Doom 
  end. 
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Lend Essence The asrai commits its essence to one other 
  asrai within short range for 1 round.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Undone by the Sun If an asrai is in an area lit by sunlight, 
  it takes damage equal to its Health and collapses into a 
  puddle of water.
  Banshee
  In lands blighted and forlorn, amid trees blackened 
  and warped, the brittle brown of dead things litters 
  the places that banshees haunt. Their weeping drifts 
  through the still air, evoking a keen sense of loss and 
  horror. The sound grows angry and vengeful when the 
  spirits sense the nearness of the living, then becomes a 
  lethal scream when they ﬁ nd the intruders and descend 
  on them. 
   Formed from the corruption left by particularly 
  evil faeries after death, banshees are hateful entities, 
  monsters that visit death and madness upon living 
  things. Their mere presence is noxious to such creatures, 
  suﬃ  cient to kill plants and small animals. They have 
  nebulous forms that they gather on occasion into 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  40
  humanoid shapes. Inside the shifting darkness that 
  constitutes a banshee’s body ﬂ oats a translucent white 
  face, twisted by madness, its eyes wide and its mouth 
  agape. When a banshee is incapacitated, it unravels into 
  tendrils of foul-smelling smoke that re-forms when the 
  sun sets next.
   The noises banshees make sound like words, but have 
  no meaning.
  BANSHEE 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 1 horrifying spirit
  Perception 15 (+5); truesight
  Defense 17; Health 80
  Strength —, Agility 17 (+7), Intellect 12 (+2), Will 15 (+5)
  Speed 12; ﬂ ier
  Immune damage from cold, disease, ﬁ re, poison; gaining 
  Insanity; asleep, blinded, deafened, diseased, fatigued, 
  immobilized, poisoned, slowed
  Spell Defense A banshee takes half damage from spells 
  and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. 
  A creature attacking the banshee with a spell makes the 
  attack roll with 1 bane.
  Insubstantial A banshee takes half damage from weapons, 
  can move through solid objects and other creatures, 
  and ignores the effects of moving across difﬁ cult 
  terrain.
  Fatal Horror A creature that gains Insanity from 
  a banshee must get a success on a Strength 
  challenge roll or take damage equal to its 
  healing rate. A creature that goes mad from 
  Insanity gained from a banshee instead takes 
  damage equal to its Health.
  Life Sense A banshee knows the location of 
  each living creature within 1 mile of it. Such 
  creatures cannot become hidden from the 
  banshee, and the banshee’s attack rolls 
  against living targets ignore banes imposed by 
  obscurement.
  Impaired by Sunlight A banshee is impaired 
  while in an area lit by sunlight.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Chilling Touch (melee) +7 with 1 boon (4d6 
  plus Sorrow on attack roll 20+)
  Sorrow The target must get a success on a Will 
  challenge roll or gain 1 Insanity.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Keening The banshee screams. Each living 
  creature within medium range that can hear 
  must get a success on a Will challenge roll 
  with 2 banes or take 8d6 damage and gain 1d6 
  Insanity. Once the banshee uses Keening, it 
  must wait 1 minute before it can use it again.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Drift The banshee can use an action or a 
  triggered action on its turn to move up to its 
  Speed without triggering free attacks.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Lethal Presence Each living creature within short 
  range must get a success on a Strength challenge 
  roll or take 1d6 damage. Plants in the area wither 
  and die.
  Epic Recovery The banshee removes one afﬂ iction 
  from itself.
  Epic Adversary Roll 1d3 + 1 to determine how many 
  actions the banshee can use during the next round. The 
  banshee can use these actions during any turn and can 
  do so before its enemies act. Each time the banshee uses 
  an action, it can move up to its Speed before or after the 
  action.
  Bean-Nighe
  Among the most dreadful and malevolent faeries 
  to haunt the misty borders of the fey realms are the 
  washerwomen known as the bean-nighe (ben-niyyeh). 
  Although they are faeries, rustic folk believe them to be 
  the ghosts of women who died in childbirth, doomed to 
  scrub the bloody linens of their birthing beds. Others 
  say they are malevolent spirits who cleanse the clothing 
  of those about to die. The bean-nighe’s hatred of mortals 
  and the delight these creatures take in committing 
  murder and bestowing vile curses only reinforce the 
  legends about them.
   A bean-nighe appears as a somewhat human woman 
  with heavy breasts and pale skin, ﬂ ecked with blood. She 
  typically wears a sodden green dress. Her face is ghastly, 
  with gouges for eyes and a sagging mouth from which 
  leaks bloody spittle. Her red feet end in clawed, webbed 
  toes.
   
   A banshee takes half damage from weapons, 
  can move through solid objects and other creatures, 
  and ignores the effects of moving across difﬁ cult 
  against living targets ignore banes imposed by 
  with 2 banes or take 8d6 damage and gain 1d6 
  Each living creature within short 
  range must get a success on a Strength challenge 
  roll or take 1d6 damage. Plants in the area wither 
  The banshee removes one afﬂ iction 
   Roll 1d3 + 1 to determine how many 
  actions the banshee can use during the next round. The 
  banshee can use these actions during any turn and can 
  do so before its enemies act. Each time the banshee uses 
  an action, it can move up to its Speed before or after the 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  41
  A creature might get a bean-nighe to stop ﬁ ghting by 
  moving to a spot between it and the water in which the 
  faerie works. If she halts her attack, she can be asked up 
  to three questions about any subject, and she answers 
  each truthfully. But, after each time she is asked a 
  question, she asks a question of her questioner in return. 
  Her question must be answered truthfully, or else the 
  questioner takes damage equal to its healing rate as 
  lacerations appear all over the liar’s body.
   A bean-nighe speaks Elvish and High Archaic.
  BEAN-NIGHE 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1 horrifying faerie
  Perception 11 (+1); shadowsight
  Defense 13; Health 25
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 9 (–1), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from disease; gaining Insanity; charmed, 
  diseased
  Spell Defense A bean-nighe takes half damage from spells 
  and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. 
  A creature attacking a bean-nighe with a spell makes the 
  attack roll with 1 bane.
  Dire Portent A creature that gains Insanity from seeing a 
  bean-nighe must get a success on a Will challenge roll or 
  come to believe that the bloody clothes the bean-nighe 
  washes are its own. The creature is afﬂ icted by a curse 
  that renders it impaired and causes it to take 1d6 extra 
  damage whenever it takes damage. The cursed creature 
  can use an action to pass the curse to a creature 
  within short range that has 0 Corruption (no attack roll 
  necessary). Passing the curse causes the creature doing 
  so to gain 1 Corruption. The curse persists until the bean-
  nighe uses an action to end it. 
  Iron Vulnerability A bean-nighe is impaired while in 
  contact with iron.
  Foster Child A creature that has the bean-nighe grabbed 
  can use an action to suckle on one of the faerie’s hanging 
  breasts. The bean-nighe becomes compelled until it 
  takes damage or until the sun next rises. The bean-nighe 
  believes the creature that compelled it to be its child.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Clawed Toes (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6)
  Bloody Linens (melee + 1) +3 with 1 boon (1d3 plus 
  Hobbling Curse)
  Hobbling Curse The target must get a success on an 
  Agility challenge roll with 1 boon or be knocked prone 
  and become cursed until the bean-nighe uses an action 
  to lift it or until the bean-nighe dies. A creature cursed 
  in this way can also lift the curse by bathing in the blood 
  of a stillborn child, gaining 1 Corruption as a result. While 
  cursed in this way, a creature cannot stand, walk, run, 
  swim, or use an action to rush. If the creature has the ﬂ ier 
  trait, it also cannot ﬂ y.
  Cu Sith
  The cu sith (coo-shee) are the great hounds of the 
  hidden kingdoms, massive beasts, the size of young 
  bullocks, with thick and shaggy coats of green fur, long, 
  tightly coiled tails, and enormous paws, each as broad 
  as a man’s hand. They do not excite easily and usually 
  remain quiet as they move silently through their sylvan 
  homes. 
   When a cu sith barks, the sound carries for miles, 
  ﬁ lling listeners with dread. Cu sith sometimes serve 
  nymphs as companions and guards, or run with the 
  elves when hunting in mortal lands.
  CU SITH 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 14 (+4); shadowsight
  Defense 13; Health 30
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 (+1)
  Speed 12
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense A cu sith takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking a cu sith with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Silent Stride A cu sith makes no sound when it moves 
  unless it chooses to do so.
  Iron Vulnerability A cu sith is impaired while in contact 
  with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Teeth (melee) +4 with 1 boon (1d6 + 3 plus Take Down on 
  attack roll 20+)
  Take Down The target, if it is a creature of the cu sith’s Size 
  or smaller, must get a success on an Agility challenge roll 
  or fall prone.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Bay The cu sith uses an action to bay three times, the 
  sound of which carries 1d3 miles. Each creature within 
  long range that hears the cu sith must get a success on 
  a Will challenge roll or become frightened for 1 minute. 
  Once a cu sith makes this attack, it cannot do so again 
  for 1 minute.
  Elf
  Elves live in the hidden kingdoms as lords and ladies, 
  passing the centuries in pleasurable pursuits. The elves 
  described here expand on the presentation in Shadow 
  of the Demon Lord and represent elves commonly 
  encountered in the hidden kingdoms instead of the rare 
  elves found in the mortal world. 
   Elves speak Elvish, and most speak the Common 
  Tongue and High Archaic as well.
  Highborn
  The highborn among the elves come from ancient 
  and storied families, lines esteemed by other elves and 
  faeries alike. Most highborn live in the courts of the 
  kings and queens of the hidden kingdoms, enjoying 
  luxury undreamed of in the mortal world. They tend 
  to be arrogant and cruel, too consumed by their own 
  importance to see the harm they do to those of lesser 
  station.
  ELF HIGHBORN 
  DIFFICULTY 50
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 12 (+2); shadowsight
  Defense 15; Health 21
  Strength 9 (–1), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 14 (+4), Will 12 (+2)
  Speed 12
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense An elf highborn takes half damage from 
  spells and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 
  boon. A creature attacking the elf with a spell makes the 
  attack roll with 1 bane. 
  Bewitching Presence An elf highborn makes attack rolls 
  in social situations with 1 boon. Contact with an object 
  made from iron removes this trait for 1 minute.
  Iron Vulnerability An elf highborn is impaired while in 
  contact with iron. In addition, if the elf touches or is 
  touched by an object made from iron, it loses spell 
  defense for 1 minute.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  42
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bone Scimitar (melee) +5 with 2 boons (2d6 + 1 or 4d6 + 1 
  to a dazed target)
  Scourge (melee) +5 with 2 boons (2d6 or 4d6 to a dazed 
  target)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Majesty Each creature that is not a faerie and is within 
  short range that can see the elf highborn must make 
  a Will challenge roll. On a failure, the creature gains 
  1 Insanity. Creatures that gain this Insanity become 
  dazed instead of frightened. On a success, the creature 
  becomes immune to this attack until it completes a rest. 
  Battle Casting When the highborn uses an action to cast a 
  spell, it can use a triggered action to make an attack with 
  a weapon.
  MAGIC 
  Power 3
  Fey mislead (4), fade (2), will-o’-wisp (2), slumber (1), 
  bewilder (1)
  Teleportation fetch (4), swap (2), remove (1)
  Knight-Errant
  Some elves of the hidden kingdoms are fearsome 
  warriors, dressed in outlandish armor that mimics the 
  appearance of wild animals such as boars, birds of prey, 
  and wolves. Most of these knights-errant undertake 
  grand quests, to win fame and accord for slaying trolls, 
  giants, and drakes. They use their martial prowess for 
  glory and to feed their dark appetites. In battle, they 
  laugh at and mock their foes, their verbal barbs as sharp 
  as their strikes with spears.
  ELF KNIGHT-ERRANT 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 10 (+0); shadowsight
  Defense 17 (bronze scale, small shield); Health 18
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 9 (–1), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 12
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense An elf knight-errant takes half damage from 
  spells and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 
  1 boon. A creature attacking the elf with a spell makes 
  the attack roll with 1 bane. 
  Bewitching Presence An elf knight-errant makes attack 
  rolls in social situations with 1 boon. Contact with an 
  object made from iron removes this trait for 1 minute.
  Iron Vulnerability An elf knight-errant is impaired while 
  in contact with iron. In addition, if the elf touches or 
  is touched by an object made from iron, it loses spell 
  defense for 1 minute.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Spear (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6 plus Cutting Mockery 
  on attack roll 20+)
  Heavy Shield (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6 plus 1d3)
  Cutting Mockery The target, if it is a living creature and 
  not a faerie, must get a success on a Will challenge roll 
  or become impaired for 1 round. If the target is already 
  impaired, it falls prone instead.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Battle Dance When a creature gets a failure on an attack 
  roll against the elf knight-errant, the elf can use a 
  triggered action to move 1 yard provided its Speed is 
  at least 1.
  Reveler
  The centuries pass easily for elves, many of whom are 
  content to spend their days and nights in pleasure, 
  cavorting in the forest, copulating under the stars, 
  drinking, eating, and creating. These elf revelers do 
  whatever they want, and, though they are joyous and 
  free-spirited, their obsession with pleasure can make 
  them dangerous to people who stumble into their midst. 
  They infect mortals with their joy and recklessness, 
  causing such creatures to become nearly intoxicated by 
  the intense pleasure they experience. 
  ELF REVELER 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 10 (+0); shadowsight
  Defense 12; Health 10
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 9 (–1), Will 9 (–1)
  Speed 12
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense An elf reveler takes half damage from spells 
  and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. 
  A creature attacking the elf with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane. 
  Bewitching Presence An elf makes attack rolls in social 
  situations with 1 boon. Contact with an object made from 
  iron removes this trait for 1 minute.
  Spread Revelry Creatures that are not faeries and are 
  within the elf’s reach are impaired.
  Iron Vulnerability An elf is impaired while in contact with 
  iron. In addition, if the elf touches or is touched by an 
  object made from iron, it loses spell defense for 1 minute.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bronze Sickle (melee) +2 with 1 boon (1d6)
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Fey Dance The elf moves 2 yards provided its Speed is 
  greater than 0. This movement does not trigger free 
  attacks.
  Fachen
  The inﬂ uence of the Void on the faerie realms 
  sometimes alters the nature of creatures living there, 
  warping them into strange forms. The fachen are one 
  such breed, a vile, monstrous race with hatred for the 
  fully formed. 
   The half-men, as folklore calls them, have but one 
  arm, one leg, and one eye. The lack of limbs proves 
  no impediment to the creature—it can hop about on 
  its muscular leg and bend the arm emerging from the 
  center of its bony chest with great ﬂ exibility. Atop the 
  creature’s thick neck is an ugly head that has a wide maw 
  ﬁ lled with dagger-like teeth under a bulging eye. Tufts of 
  black feathers crown the head, deeply rooted and stiﬀ  as 
  steel.
   Fachen speak only their own gurgling language, 
  though they seem to understand Elvish.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  43
  FACHEN 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 horrifying faerie
  Perception 10 (+0); shadowsight
  Defense 11; Health 15
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 9 (–1)
  Speed 8
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Heart-stopping Horror A creature that goes mad from 
  gaining Insanity as a result of seeing the fachen takes 
  damage equal to its Health.
  Spell Defense A fachen takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking a fachen with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability A fachen is impaired while in contact 
  with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Claws (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6)
  Teeth (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Hop and Rake The fachen ﬂ ies up to its Speed and must 
  land at the end of this movement or fall. When it ﬁ nishes 
  moving, it uses its claws to attack one creature within its 
  reach.
  Faun
  Fauns are the misbegotten oﬀ spring of faeries and 
  mortals, the products of trysts with elves or other 
  forest folk. Neither human nor faerie, fauns live 
  between two worlds. 
   Their fey heritage reveals itself in their 
  appearance. Fauns have the upper bodies of 
  human men and women, with horns sprouting 
  from their brows, and the lower bodies of goats. 
  They range in appearance from alluring, with 
  bestial features subtler than found in other fauns, 
  to monstrous, their animal natures exaggerated 
  and menacing. All fauns, however, tend to 
  be weak-willed. They ﬂ ee danger rather than 
  confronting it head on.
  All fauns speak the Common Tongue and 
  Elvish.
  FAUN 
  DIFFICULTY 1
  Size 1 faun
  Perception 12 (+2); shadowsight
  Defense 12; Health 10
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 11 (+1), 
  Will 8 (–1)
  Speed 12
  Quick Step When a faun uses an action, it can 
  move 1 yard before or after the action, provided 
  its Speed is greater than 0.
  Skittish A faun makes Will challenge rolls with 
  1 bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Spear (melee) +2 (1d6)
  Imp
  Imps ﬁ nd humans so interesting that they spend much 
  of their time watching them, learning humans’ customs 
  and languages, and gathering up their secrets as if they 
  were treasures. When imps grow bored with the people 
  they’re observing, they test their targets, using magic and 
  tricks to see how they react. 
   Imps think nothing of stealing small, important 
  possessions or revealing a person’s deepest, darkest 
  secrets through a bit of damning evidence left in plain 
  view. The way humans react to such troubles—the 
  resulting anger, grief, and violence—fascinates these 
  cruel fey. 
   Like most faeries, imps prefer to stay out of sight lest 
  their human “subjects” discover them and put an end to 
  their mischief. Imps stand between 6 and 8 inches tall 
  and have ugly features with pronounced yellow teeth 
  and overlarge noses. They wear suits and dresses in the 
  latest human fashions, though such attire is always ﬁ lthy, 
  smeared with feces and dirt.
   Imps pride themselves on their extensive knowledge 
  of human tongues and call upon their impressive 
  vocabulary when interacting with mortals. All imps also 
  know High Archaic and Elvish.
  FACHEN 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Faun
  Fauns are the misbegotten oﬀ spring of faeries and 
  mortals, the products of trysts with elves or other 
  forest folk. Neither human nor faerie, fauns live 
  between two worlds. 
  Their fey heritage reveals itself in their 
  appearance. Fauns have the upper bodies of 
  human men and women, with horns sprouting 
  from their brows, and the lower bodies of goats. 
  They range in appearance from alluring, with 
  bestial features subtler than found in other fauns, 
  to monstrous, their animal natures exaggerated 
  and menacing. All fauns, however, tend to 
  be weak-willed. They ﬂ ee danger rather than 
  confronting it head on.
  All fauns speak the Common Tongue and 
  Elvish.
  FAUN 
  Size 1 faun
  Perception
  Defense
  Strength 
  Will 
  Speed
  Quick Step
  move 1 yard before or after the action, provided 
  its Speed is greater than 0.
  Skittish
  1 bane.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Spear
  Imp
  Imps ﬁ nd humans so interesting that they spend much 
  of their time watching them, learning humans’ customs 
  and languages, and gathering up their secrets as if they 
  were treasures. When imps grow bored with the people 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  44
  IMP 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1/4 faerie
  Perception 15 (+5); darksight
  Defense 18; Health 15
  Strength 8 (–2), Agility 18 (+8), Intellect 13 (+3), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 6
  Immune damage from disease, poison; gaining Insanity; 
  charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense An imp takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking an imp with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability An imp is impaired while in contact 
  with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Teeth (melee) +8 (1d3 plus Poison)
  Poison The target, if it is a living creature, must get a 
  success on a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane or 
  become poisoned for 1 minute. If the creature is already 
  poisoned, it instead takes 1d6 damage and falls prone.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Mockery When a creature within medium range gets a 
  failure on an attack roll or a challenge roll, the imp can 
  use a triggered action to cause the triggering creature to 
  become impaired for 1 round.
  MAGIC 
  Power 3
  Fey mislead (4), fade (2), slumber (1), bewilder (1)
  Jabberwock
  In some forgotten corner of Alfheim, in a bleak and 
  blighted forest known as the Tulgey Wood, lurks a 
  dreadful monster, a vicious beast—perhaps a dragon, 
  possibly a demon, but certainly a monster, through 
  and through. 
   With eyes of ﬂ ame, fangs as long as swords, and 
  curving claws perfect for catching prey, the jabberwock 
  rumbles and burbles in its hate, the sounds it makes 
  echoing throughout the forlorn place it calls home. Even 
  the faeries fear to enter this wood, because it is said the 
  monster within cannot be slain—a fact that the many 
  who have tried could attest to if stirred from their graves. 
  Legend holds that only the Vorpal Sword is equal to the 
  monster, though that ﬁ ne steel was lost long ago.
   The jabberwock is a unique horror spawned from the 
  intrusion of the Void into the veritable paradise that was 
  a hidden kingdom. It resembles a dragon in many ways, 
  with great leathery wings sprouting from its back and 
  grotesque features perched on a long, snaky neck. It is a 
  thing of madness and fear, to be avoided at all costs.
  JABBERWOCK 
  DIFFICULTY 500
  Size 4 horrifying monster
  Perception 13 (+3); truesight
  Defense 20; Health 100
  Strength 19 (+9), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 12; ﬂ ier
  Immune damage from disease, poison; gaining Insanity; 
  charmed, diseased
  Iron Hide The jabberwock takes half damage from 
  weapons.
  Spell Defense The jabberwock takes half damage from 
  spells and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell 
  with 1 boon. A creature attacking the jabberwock with 
  a spell makes the attack roll with 1 bane.
  Eyes of Flame When the jabberwock uses an action to 
  attack a creature, the target must get a success on a 
  Will challenge roll with 1 bane or become immobilized 
  for 1 round. 
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Jaws (melee; reach +2) +9 with 3 boons (4d6)
  Claws (melee) +9 with 2 boons (2d6 plus Catch on attack 
  roll 20+)
  Catch The target is grabbed, and the jabberwock can use 
  a triggered action to attack it with its jaws.
  END OF THE ROUND 
  Burble The jabberwock constantly mutters, gibbers, and 
  whines, a burbling noise that drives mad anyone who 
  hears it. Each creature within medium range that can 
  hear the noise must make a Will challenge roll. On a 
  failure, the creature gains 1 Insanity. On a success, the 
  creature is immune to the jabberwock’s Burble until the 
  creature completes a rest. While a creature is frightened 
  from gaining Insanity in this way, everything the creature 
  says is gibberish. 
  Epic Recovery The jabberwock removes one afﬂ iction 
  from itself.
  Epic Adversary Roll 1d3 + 1 to determine how many 
  actions the jabberwock can use during the next round. 
  The jabberwock can use these actions during any turn 
  and can do so before its enemies act. Each time the 
  jabberwock uses an action, it can move up to its Speed 
  before or after the action.
  Kobold
  When the other faeries left the mortal world ages ago, 
  the kobolds stayed behind inside their mines deep in 
  the earth. Too preoccupied with their deep delving, they 
  didn’t realize that the world above had changed. In the 
  aftermath, many kobolds felt they had been abandoned 
  by their kin, left by the arrogant elf lords and ladies 
  to make their own way in a world overrun by violent, 
  rapacious mortals. 
   The kobolds’ resentment over their situation 
  blossomed into hatred, so when mortals began to 
  dig into the earth and pry forth the stinking iron, the 
  kobolds worked to oppose them, hun  ting the invaders 
  through dark subterranean passages, collapsing their 
  tunnels, venting poisonous gas into chambers, and 
  otherwise leading foolish mortal miners to their doom.
   Kobolds appear as short, grubby males and females, 
  with green skin and features exaggerated in some way—
  an overlarge nose, eyes as large as saucers, large teeth 
  thing of madness and fear, to be avoided at all costs.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  45
  Terrible Beauty
  an overlarge nose, eyes as large as saucers, large teeth 
  pushing out from a small mouth, and so on. Unlike 
  other faeries, kobolds lack the fey’s vulnerability to iron, 
  having become adapted to it from living underground 
  for centuries. 
   Kobolds prize pretty, shiny things, and can be 
  distracted by a glittering jewel. They also respond to 
  gifts; a miner who leaves a pie for the kobolds earns 
  a day or more of respite from the kobolds’ mischief. 
  Kobolds speak their own language, which is a debased 
  version of Elvish. 
   Kobolds communicate with each other by tapping 
  on rock walls. The sound of their tapping travels up to 
  long range, and by changing the frequency and intensity 
  of the taps, the kobolds can communicate a wide 
  range of concepts. Miners and others who travel 
  through kobold-infested ground sometimes ﬁ nd the 
  odd tapping unnerving.
  KOBOLD 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/4 faerie
  Perception 11 (+1); darksight
  Defense 11; Health 8
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 9 (–1), Will 9 (–1)
  Speed 8
  Immune damage from disease, poison; gaining Insanity; 
  charmed, diseased
  Wriggle A kobold can move through cracks in earth and 
  rock wide enough to permit the passage of air.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Stone Club (melee) +1 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Collapse Tunnel To use this special attack, at least three 
  other kobolds must have chosen this kobold to be the 
  target of their Lend Essence special action, and this 
  kobold must be underground. The kobold makes a Will 
  challenge roll. On a success, cracks spread up to 5 yards 
  out from a point on the ceiling that the kobold can see 
  within medium range. At the end of the round, the entire 
  section of cracked ceiling falls, and everything under 
  it takes 4d6 damage. Each creature in the area must 
  make an Agility challenge roll. A creature takes half 
  the damage on a success, and falls prone and becomes 
  buried on a failure. 
  A buried creature is blinded, deafened, and 
  immobilized, cannot stand, and is completely covered 
  by the rubble. The creature is also subject to suffocation 
  (Shadow, page 202).
  A buried creature can use an action to dig itself free 
  by making a Strength challenge roll with 2 banes. On a 
  success, the creature is no longer buried. 
  A creature that isn’t buried can clear a 1-yard cube of 
  space using an action and frees any buried creature in 
  that space when it does so.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Lend Essence The kobold commits its essence to one other 
  kobold within short range for 1 round.
  MAGIC
  Power 1
  Earth earth spike (2), shape earth and stone (2), tremor (1)
  Lares
  The lares are the shades of mortal souls stolen by 
  the faerie and left to spend eternity in the paradise 
  of Elysium. Most earned their place in this bright 
  realm because of some great deed they performed in 
  life—defeating a terrible threat to the faerie, creating 
  a piece of lasting art, or stealing the heart of a fey lord 
  or lady. The faerie rewarded these mortals by plucking 
  their souls from the cycle of life and death to preserve 
  their minds and memories against the decay of the 
  Underworld. The life of eternity bestowed upon these 
  shades is one of bliss and wonder, their every need 
  met and their every want quashed by the waves of joy 
  that permeate the realm. Their smiling faces and easy, 
  dreamlike nature belie the horror of their existence. 
  Nothing changes in Elysium, and there is no escape.
   Lares appear as humans, halﬂ ings, and other kinds of 
  people, all in the prime of life, their features and bodies 
  sculpted to perfection. They wear diaphanous clothing 
  of purest white, and laurels crown their heads. All lares 
  look happy, even blissful, but their grins are actually 
  grimaces, and tears spill from their squinting eyes.
  LARES 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/2 or 1 spirit
  Perception 8 (–2)
  Defense 10; Health 12
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 10 (+0), Intellect 8 (–2), Will 7 (–3)
  Speed 8
  Immune damage from cold, disease, ﬁ re, poison; gaining 
  Insanity; diseased, fatigued, immobilized, poisoned, 
  slowed
  Eternal When a lares becomes incapacitated, it dissolves 
  into a sparkle of lights. It re-forms in Elysium 24 hours 
  later with no damage.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Club (melee) +2 (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Heavenly Bliss A wave of pleasure spreads 3 yards out 
  from a point in the lares’s space. Each living creature 
  in the area must get a success on a Will challenge roll 
  or gain 1 Insanity and become dazed for 1 round. Once 
  a lares makes this attack, it cannot do so again until it 
  completes a rest.
  Flood of Pleasure The lares makes an Intellect attack roll 
  with 1 boon against the Will of one creature within short 
  range. On a success, the target becomes stunned for 1 
  round.
  Minor Faeries
  Minor faeries live in great numbers throughout 
  the hidden kingdoms. They are tiny things, of 
  Size 1/12 or smaller. Some can ﬂ y. Some have 
  animalistic features—a robin’s legs, for instance, 
  or a beetle’s head. Others resemble mushrooms, 
  hiding among the undergrowth, silently 
  watching. 
   
  Whatever form they take, minor faeries pose 
  no great danger to travelers, having Health 1 and 
  no real means to harm larger creatures. They 
  are as clever as other faeries and observe much 
  about the world around them. They might be 
  helpful allies or cruel mischief-makers. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  46
  Merrow
  Merrow are the faeries of the deep places, the ocean 
  depths and the bottomless lakes. Although of one kind, 
  males and female have greatly diﬀ erent forms and 
  dispositions.
   All merrow speak Elvish. 
  Merrow Male
  Merrow males have bodies covered by thick green 
  scales, manes of black-green hair, and bright red 
  noses. They have humanoid bodies, with long, 
  snakelike tails growing from the base of their 
  spines between their stubby legs. They hate 
  land dwellers, especially humans, and they like 
  to raid coastal settlements and capture slaves to 
  drag under the waves.
  MERROW MALE 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 frightening faerie (aquatic)
  Perception 10 (+0); darksight
  Defense 13; Health 23
  Strength 13 (+3), Agility 12 (+2), Intellect 8 (–2), 
  Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10; swimmer
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense A merrow male takes half damage 
  from spells and makes any challenge roll to 
  resist a spell with 1 boon. A creature attacking a 
  merrow with a spell makes the attack roll with 
  1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability A merrow male is impaired 
  while in contact with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Harpoon (melee or ranged) +3 with 
  1 boon (1d6 plus Reel on attack roll 20+)
  Claws (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d3)
  Reel The target must get a success on a 
  Strength challenge roll or be moved 
  1d6 yards toward the merrow that 
  attacked it.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Darting Claw The merrow male swims up to its Speed and 
  makes an attack at any point during the movement. The 
  merrow does not trigger free attacks when he moves 
  away from the creature he attacked.
  Merrow Maid
  Merrow maids are as attractive as males are ugly. They 
  have the upper bodies of fetching human women, with 
  long tails covered in ﬁ ne silvery scales. Female merrow 
  use their beauty and their songs to lure sailors and 
  ﬁ shers to their dooms, and some take mortal lovers, 
  keeping them prisoners under the waves. 
  MERROW MAID 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 faerie (aquatic)
  Perception 12 (+2); darksight
  Defense 14; Health 16
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 
  (+1)
  Speed 12; swimmer
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense A merrow maid takes half damage from 
  spells and makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 
  boon. A creature attacking a merrow with a spell makes 
  the attack roll with 1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability A merrow maid is impaired while in 
  contact with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Bone Knife (melee) +4 with 1 boon (1d3)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Enchanting Song The merrow maid uses an action to sing 
  to a creature she can see within medium range. If the 
  creature can hear her, the merrow makes a Will attack 
  roll with 1 boon against the creature’s Will. On a success, 
  the creature becomes compelled for 1 minute. On a 
  failure, the creature becomes immune to this merrow’s 
  Enchanting Song until it completes a rest.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Gift of Water Breathing A merrow maid can use an action 
  to kiss one air-breathing creature she can reach. The 
  creature becomes cursed until the merrow uses an action 
  to lift the curse or until the merrow dies. While cursed 
  in this way, the creature becomes aquatic, gaining the 
  ability to breathe water and the swimmer trait. Such a 
  creature is subject to suffocation when on dry land.
  Merrow are the faeries of the deep places, the ocean 
  depths and the bottomless lakes. Although of one kind, 
  males and female have greatly diﬀ erent forms and 
  Merrow males have bodies covered by thick green 
  scales, manes of black-green hair, and bright red 
  noses. They have humanoid bodies, with long, 
  snakelike tails growing from the base of their 
  spines between their stubby legs. They hate 
  land dwellers, especially humans, and they like 
  to raid coastal settlements and capture slaves to 
  DIFFICULTY 10
   8 (–2), 
  damage from disease; charmed, diseased
   A merrow male takes half damage 
  from spells and makes any challenge roll to 
  resist a spell with 1 boon. A creature attacking a 
  merrow with a spell makes the attack roll with 
   A merrow male is impaired 
  MERROW MAID 
  DIFFICULTY 10
  Size 1 faerie (aquatic)
  Perception 12 (+2); darksight
  Defense 14; Health 16
  Strength 11 (+1), Agility 14 (+4), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 11 
  (+1)
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  47
  Nymph
  It is said that the nymphs were born into the world when 
  the Faerie Queen peered into a mirror and dropped it. 
  From each shard sprang a unique nymph, fully grown and 
  possessed of such beauty that to lay eyes upon one is to go 
  mad with desire—a madness that results in blindness or 
  death. 
   The nymphs live in places pristine and unspoiled, 
  where they pass the years marveling in their beauty and 
  surrounding themselves with gorgeous things, sometimes 
  making lovers of people they ﬁ nd comely. Nymphs 
  eventually lose interest in their treasures, living or not, 
  and discard them when something new comes along.
   Nymphs tend to be vain, willful, and even petty. They 
  love to torment ugly creatures, such as dwarfs, and might 
  use the adoration they instill to make slaves of their 
  victims. Wondrous treasures litter their homes, gifts given 
  to them by former paramours, scattered among the bones 
  of those lovers the nymph forgot to feed.
   Nymphs speak Elvish, but many also know High 
  Archaic and the Common Tongue.
  NYMPH 
  DIFFICULTY 250
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 19 (+9); shadowsight
  Defense 15; Health 20
  Strength 10 (+0), Agility 15 (+5), Intellect 17 (+7), Will 19 
  (+9)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from disease, poison; gaining Insanity; 
  charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense A nymph takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking a nymph with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability A nymph is impaired while in contact 
  with iron.
  Merry Chase When a nymph moves, she can move any 
  creature charmed or compelled by her and that can see 
  her up to its Speed in her direction.
  Slave to Beauty A creature driven mad by gaining Insanity 
  from the nymph becomes cursed. A creature cursed in 
  this way is compelled. Each time the creature completes 
  a rest more than 10 yards from the nymph, it takes a 
  cumulative and permanent –1d6 penalty to its Health. 
  The nymph can use an action to lift the curse.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Nails (melee) +5 with 1 boon (1d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Awful Glare When a creature that can see the nymph 
  attacks her, she can use a triggered action to make a 
  Will attack roll against the triggering creature’s Strength. 
  On a success, the creature becomes cursed until 
  the nymph uses an action to lift the curse. While 
  cursed, the creature is blinded. If the total of the 
  nymph’s attack roll is 20 or higher, the target 
  instead takes damage equal to its Health.
  Dominating Charm One creature 
  charmed by the nymph and within short 
  range of her becomes compelled for 1 
  round.
  Intoxicating Presence Each living 
  creature within short range of the 
  nymph must get a success on a Will 
  challenge roll or become impaired 
  for 1 round.
  MAGIC
  Power 6
  Enchantment bewitch (7), presence 
  (7), charm (3), command (3), mind 
  bondage (2), cower (2), enslave (1)
  Fey mislead (7), drunkenness (3), 
  slumber (2), erase memory (2), 
  hallucinations (2), twisted crown (1), 
  beget changeling (1)
  END OF THE ROUND
  Captivating Beauty Each living 
  creature within medium range of the 
  nymph that can see her and is not 
  already charmed by her must make 
  a Will challenge roll with 1 bane. 
  The number of banes increases 
  by 1 if the creature is mortal and 
  by 2 if the creature is ordinarily 
  attracted to members of the female 
  gender. On a failure, the creature 
  gains 1d3 Insanity and becomes 
  charmed instead of frightened from 
  gaining the Insanity. If the total of 
  the creature’s roll is 20 or higher, it 
  becomes immune to this nymph’s 
  Captivating Beauty until it completes 
  a rest.
  Awful Glare When a creature that can see the nymph 
  attacks her, she can use a triggered action to make a 
  Will attack roll against the triggering creature’s Strength. 
  On a success, the creature becomes cursed until 
  the nymph uses an action to lift the curse. While 
  cursed, the creature is blinded. If the total of the 
  nymph’s attack roll is 20 or higher, the target 
  instead takes damage equal to its Health.
  Dominating Charm
  charmed by the nymph and within short 
  range of her becomes compelled for 1 
  round.
  Intoxicating Presence
  slumber 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  48
  Pixie
  Pixies ﬂ it between the mortal world and the realms of 
  faerie at will, drawn by curiosity or malice. Although 
  they are invisible to most people, supernatural creatures, 
  animals, children, and the witless can see through the 
  illusion that conceals these diminutive faerie. Pixies 
  tend to avoid such creatures as a result, but they might 
  befriend a child or torment an animal with their tricks. 
   Pixies stand a few inches tall, and most look like tiny, 
  winged elves. They tend to have exotic skin coloring, 
  with pink, blue, and green being the most common hues. 
  They make their clothing from leaves or animal furs, and 
  they carry tiny weapons. 
  All pixies speak Elvish.
  PIXIE 
  DIFFICULTY 5
  Size 1/8 faerie
  Perception 10 (+0); shadowsight
  Defense 13; Health 5
  Strength 5 (–5), Agility 13 (+3), 
  Intellect 9 (–1), Will 8 (–2)
  Speed 10
  Immune damage from disease; 
  charmed, diseased
  Flutter A pixie can move by ﬂ ying, but 
  if it ﬂ ies higher than 5 yards above the 
  ground, it falls.
  Naturally Invisible Pixies are invisible 
  to most creatures other than 
  themselves. Animals, demons, faeries, 
  monsters, children, creatures with 
  Intellect scores of 7 or lower, and 
  creatures with 5 Insanity or more can 
  see them clearly. Pixies lose this trait 
  from noon to one in the afternoon and 
  from midnight to one in the morning, 
  as well as at dawn (until the sun fully 
  rises) and at dusk (until the sun fully 
  sets). If a pixie comes into contact with 
  iron, it loses this trait for 1 hour.
  Iron Vulnerability A pixie is impaired 
  while in contact with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bone Dagger (melee) +3 (1)
  Bow (medium) +3 (1d3)
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Glow A pixie can use an action on its 
  turn to become visible and illuminate 
  the area within 2 yards of it. The pixie 
  remains visible until it uses an action to 
  become invisible once more.
  MAGIC 
  Power 1
  Fey shrink object (2), will-o’-wisp
  Satyr
  Male fauns who spend time among the 
  elves can become true faeries, known as 
  satyrs. But the transformation gives them a 
  form of madness, amplifying their appetite 
  for anything pleasurable—food, drink, or 
  carnal pastimes. Satyrs are ﬁ ckle creatures, their 
  moods swinging from one extreme to another. 
   Satyrs retain a hybrid appearance similar to that of 
  their faun relatives, but tend to be hairier and more 
  attractive than fauns, with great ram’s horns curling out 
  from the sides of their heads. Satyrs go about naked 
  in their homeland, unconcerned about revealing the 
  obvious signs of their arousal.
   Satyrs typically speak Elvish. Some know the 
  Common Tongue.
   One out of ﬁ ve satyrs carries a set of magic panpipes. 
  The instrument loses its magical properties in the hands 
  of anyone other than a satyr.
  Pixie
  PIXIE 
  Size 1/8 faerie
  Perception
  Defense
  Strength 
  Intellect
  Speed
  Immune 
  charmed, diseased
  Flutter
  if it ﬂ ies higher than 5 yards above the 
  ground, it falls.
  Naturally Invisible
  to most creatures other than 
  themselves. Animals, demons, faeries, 
  monsters, children, creatures with 
  Intellect scores of 7 or lower, and 
  creatures with 5 Insanity or more can 
  see them clearly. Pixies lose this trait 
  from noon to one in the afternoon and 
  from midnight to one in the morning, 
  as well as at dawn (until the sun fully 
  rises) and at dusk (until the sun fully 
  sets). If a pixie comes into contact with 
  iron, it loses this trait for 1 hour.
  Iron Vulnerability
  while in contact with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Bone Dagger
  Bow
  SPECIAL ACTIONS 
  Glow
  turn to become visible and illuminate 
  the area within 2 yards of it. The pixie 
  remains visible until it uses an action to 
  become invisible once more.
  MAGIC 
  Power
  Fey 
  Satyr
  Male fauns who spend time among the 
  elves can become true faeries, known as 
  satyrs. But the transformation gives them a 
  form of madness, amplifying their appetite 
  for anything pleasurable
  carnal pastimes. Satyrs are ﬁ ckle creatures, their 
  moods swinging from one extreme to another. 
   Satyrs retain a hybrid appearance similar to that of 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  49
  SATYR 
  DIFFICULTY 25
  Size 1 faerie
  Perception 12 (+2); shadowsight
  Defense 15; Health 28
  Strength 12 (+2), Agility 13 (+3), Intellect 11 (+1), Will 14 (+4)
  Speed 14
  Immune damage from disease; charmed, diseased
  Spell Defense A satyr takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. A 
  creature attacking a satyr with a spell makes the attack 
  roll with 1 bane.
  Quick Step When a satyr uses an action, he can move 1 
  yard before or after the action, provided his Speed is 
  greater than 0.
  Drunk A satyr is impaired until it takes damage, after which 
  this trait is removed for 1 minute.
  Iron Vulnerability A satyr is impaired while in contact with 
  iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Club (melee) +3 with 1 boon (2d6)
  Horns (melee) +3 with 1 boon (1d6, or 3d6 if the satyr 
  attacked as part of a charge)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Beguiling Music A satyr who has a set of magic panpipes 
  can use an action to play the instrument, choosing as 
  its target one living creature within medium range that 
  is not a satyr. If the target can hear the music, it must 
  make a Will challenge roll with 1 bane. On a success, 
  the creature becomes immune to this satyr’s Beguiling 
  Music until it completes a rest. On a failure, the creature 
  becomes charmed, impaired, frightened, or asleep (the 
  satyr’s choice). The afﬂ iction lasts for 1 minute or until 
  the target takes damage.
  Unicorn
  Unicorns live in the forests of the hidden kingdoms, far 
  from other fey, in places magical and wondrous. These 
  fantastic creatures resemble horses with silvery-white 
  coats that sparkle in the moonlight. A single twisting 
  horn extends out from the center of a unicorn’s forehead. 
  The faeries believe that unicorns embody all that is 
  good and noble about their kind and that when the 
  last unicorn fades from the world, the rest of the fey 
  shall surely die. Although most unicorns are peaceful, 
  gentle creatures, they too can be corrupted and turned 
  to darkness, as demonstrated by the vicious, ﬂ esh-eating 
  beasts found in Niﬂ heim.
   Unicorns understand Elvish, though they never speak.
  UNICORN 
  DIFFICULTY 100
  Size 2 faerie
  Perception 16 (+6); shadowsight
  Defense 18; Health 45
  Strength 14 (+4), Agility 16 (+6), Intellect 10 (+0), Will 18 (+8)
  Speed 18
  Immune damage from disease, poison; gaining Insanity; 
  charmed, diseased; spells from the Curse, Death, and 
  Forbidden traditions
  Heightened Awareness Creatures within medium range of 
  a unicorn cannot become hidden from it.
  Spell Defense A unicorn takes half damage from spells and 
  makes any challenge roll to resist a spell with 1 boon. 
  A creature attacking a unicorn with a spell makes the 
  attack roll with 1 bane.
  Iron Vulnerability A unicorn is impaired while in contact 
  with iron.
  ATTACK OPTIONS
  Horn (melee) +6 with 1 boon (2d6, or 6d6 if from an attack 
  made as part of a charge)
  Hooves (melee) +6 (3d6)
  SPECIAL ATTACKS
  Kick and Gore The unicorn attacks with its horn and its 
  hooves.
  SPECIAL ACTIONS
  Vanishing Escape When a creature attacks the unicorn or 
  when the unicorn moves, it can use a triggered action to 
  teleport itself and anything it carries to an open space 
  within short range.
  END OF THE ROUND
  Vanishing Step The unicorn and anything it wears or 
  carries can teleport to an open space it can see within 
  short range.
  New Creatures by Difficulty
  Name
  Descriptor
  Difﬁ culty
  Faun
  Faun
  1
  Asrai
  Faerie
  5
  Elf reveler
  Faerie
  5
  Kobold
  Faerie
  5
  Lares
  Spirit
  5
  Pixie
  Faerie
  5
  Fachen
  Faerie
  10
  Merrow maid
  Faerie
  10
  Merrow male
  Faerie
  10
  Elf knight-errant
  Faerie
  25
  Imp
  Faerie
  25
  Satyr
  Faerie
  25
  Bean-nighe
  Faerie
  50
  Cu sith
  Faerie
  50
  Elf highborn
  Faerie
  50
  Unicorn
  Faerie
  100
  Gunyain
  Plant
  250
  Nymph
  Faerie
  250
  Banshee
  Spirit
  500
  Jabberwock
  Monster
  500
  beasts found in Niﬂ heim.
   Unicorns understand Elvish, though they never speak.
  
  Tales of the Desolation
  Tales of the Desolation
  50
  An Adventure for Expert Characters 
  In this adventure, the player characters happen upon 
  a young woman searching for her father, whom she 
  believes has been ensorcelled by faeries. The characters 
  complete the adventure when they discover the man’s 
  fate and free him from the nymph’s clutches.
  Background
  Arlo Pleen’s parents were trappers who worked the 
  Soldier Forest. They taught him to keep to their lands 
  and to avoid the Mistwood to the west. But when Arlo 
  came of age, married, and had children, he found the 
  pickings from his family’s traps growing slim. Fearing 
  starvation, he gathered up his wife and children, headed 
  west, and built a shack and workshop on the edge of the 
  Mistwood. There, he found great success for a time. But 
  the Lady of the Wood did not tolerate poachers in her 
  forest, and so she sent her minions to deal with the man. 
  Pleen would see bits of black ribbon tied to branches, 
  ﬁ nd his traps and snares broken, and his tools vanished. 
  Pleen suspected he had angered the faeries and that 
  they were trying to drive him oﬀ , but he ignored their 
  warnings, placing his family’s welfare above the feelings 
  of tricksters. By ignoring the warnings, he drew the 
  attention of the Lady herself, an ancient nymph, and 
  soon afterward he lost his heart and mind to her. 
  Getting Started
  You need to make a few decisions before you start.
   First, set the adventure somewhere. The background 
  suggests the Mistwood, but any forest will do.
   Second, come up with a reason for why the group 
  is in the area. Base your decision on what has been 
  happening in the campaign. If needed, come up with 
  a short scenario that draws the characters to the place 
  where they can participate in the adventure.
   Third, the adventure’s plot depends on the characters 
  taking pity on a hungry young woman and being willing 
  to help her. If the group consists of unscrupulous types 
  who would butcher or harm a young woman they meet 
  in the woods, come up with an alternate opening. Maybe 
  the characters seek Arlo Pleen because he owes them 
  money. Perhaps the characters are following a treasure 
  map that takes them to the Trader’s Moot, and there they 
  discover Arlo Pleen is missing. Use a hook that won’t 
  immediately result in Tyna Pleen’s death or maiming.
  A Thief in the Night
  The adventure starts late at night, while the group is 
  camped somewhere near the Mistwood. Assuming 
  someone is awake, one or more characters spot Tyna 
  Pleen creeping through the shadows. She’s young, about 
  sixteen years old. She’s skinny, her face pinched with 
  hunger, hair hacked short. She’s been on the road for 
  about a week, and it shows in her dirty clothing and in 
  the twigs tangled in the tufts of hair on her head. 
   Bandits robbed Tyna a few days ago. Now, hunger 
  has made her reckless, and the smell of the characters’ 
  ﬁ re drew her to the group. If no one is awake or moves 
  to stop her, she riﬂ es through the characters’ things, 
  looking for food. She steals a few days’ worth of food and 
  might take some useful equipment, such as a lantern, oil, 
  matches, and whatever money she can ﬁ nd. If someone 
  confronts her, she retreats to the edge of the ﬁ relight, 
  though she doesn’t run oﬀ  unless she’s attacked, at which 
  point she ﬂ ees for safety, never to be seen again.
  Befriending Tyna
  Eﬀ orts to make Tyna feel safe succeed—she’s desperate, 
  so she accepts any food oﬀ ered. If the characters ask 
  what she’s doing out in the wilds, she tells them she’s 
  searching for her father, who left home a week ago. 
  His disappearance left her bedridden mother, her, and 
  her younger siblings in danger of starving to death. 
  With no neighbors to care for the family, Tyna has 
  taken it upon herself to bring her father home.
   Pressing her for more information gets her to reveal 
  the following facts, revealed through roleplaying the 
  scene.
  • Her father is a trapper who has worked the edges of 
  the Mistwood for a year.
  Tales of the Desolation
  50
  50
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  51
  • He is a stubborn man, working the woods even 
  though the people at the Trappers’ Moot warned 
  him against doing so. Taking animals, no matter 
  how small, without the faeries’ permission risks 
  raising their ire.
  • Life had become quite strange at the house. Tyna 
  saw black ribbons tied to tree branches. Her father 
  complained that someone was interfering with his 
  traps. The goat’s milk spoiled, and then one day later 
  the animal was gone. Her father, she admits, either 
  was not very bright or thought himself wiser than 
  the faerie folk and persisted in his work.
  • About a week ago, her father came home empty-
  handed. He acted strangely, distracted, muttering. 
  After dinner, he retreated to his workshop and 
  stayed there. Tyna went out to check on him and 
  discovered him naked, abusing himself, and she left 
  him in horror. The next morning he was gone. 
  • She looked around his shop after he was gone and 
  found a strange veil. She shows it to the characters if 
  they ask. It’s a 6-foot length of some kind of silvery 
  silk. Faerie characters recognize it as being made 
  from moonbeams.
  If the characters oﬀ er to help Tyna, she is grateful and 
  is happy to join the group. If the subject of a reward 
  comes up, Tyna says that she has nothing to oﬀ er as 
  recompense other than her gratitude. 
   If the characters decide not to help her, Tyna goes 
  on her way, ﬁ nds her father, and then falls under the 
  nymph’s power. Tyna is encountered with her if the 
  PCs eventually come across the nymph. A group that 
  opts not to help might be steered back into the plot 
  through any of the keyed locations and random events 
  described on the following pages.
  TYNA PLEEN 
  Size 1 human
  Perception 11 (+1)
  Defense 12 (soft leather); Health 9
  Strength 9 (–1), Agility 11 (+1), Intellect 11 (+1), Will 10 (+0)
  Speed 10
  ATTACK OPTIONS 
  Long Knife (melee) +1 (1d6)
  Bow (long) +1 (1d6)
  Exploring the 
  Woods
  Whether the characters travel in Tyna’s company or not, 
  the Mistwood is a dangerous place. The hex map depicts 
  part of the forest and shows locations important to the 
  adventure. 
   Visibility: The Mistwood is gloomy by day and utterly 
  dark at night. The trees and curls of mist rising from the 
  forest ﬂ oor block visibility beyond short range. 
   Travel: It takes about an hour to move from one hex to 
  another hex, or half this time if the characters follow one 
  of the twisting paths.
   Foraging and Hunting: Characters can live oﬀ  the 
  bounty of the forest for as long as they travel through 
  it. There are plenty of berries, edible mushrooms, and 
  roots to sustain them. Water is also plentiful, so the 
  characters can replenish their stores easily. 
   Wildlife is rampant in the woods, but the faeries who 
  watch from the trees take oﬀ ense if the characters take 
  the life of any animal in the forest. If they kill an animal, 
  any further foraging becomes dangerous. Henceforth, 
  any plant life the characters gather is poisonous. A 
  character who consumes this poisonous food must 
  get a success on a Strength challenge roll with 1 bane 
  or become poisoned for 1 hour (or take 1d6 damage if 
  already poisoned).
   Combat: Fights in the forest can be diﬃ  cult. Targets 
  beyond an attacker’s reach but within short range are 
  half covered, while targets beyond short range are totally 
  covered. Most hostile creatures start a ﬁ ght 2d6 yards 
  from the opposing group or segment of a group. 
   Faerie Tricks: There are faeries everywhere in the 
  Mistwood, and they watch the group from hiding. 
  Whenever the total of a character’s attack roll or 
  challenge roll is 0 or lower, the faeries play a trick. Roll a 
  d6 to see what happens.
  Faerie Tricks
  Roll
   Trick
  1
  A ﬂ ash of colors appears before the triggering 
  character, imposing 1 bane on all attack rolls and 
  Perception challenge rolls for 1 round.
  2
  An invisible force knocks the triggering character 
  prone. 
  3
  A small object worth no more than 1 ss that the 
  triggering character carries disappears, lost 
  forever.
  4
  The triggering character hears a loud ringing and 
  becomes deafened for 1 round.
  5
  The triggering character feels drowsy and 
  becomes fatigued for 1 round.
  6
  The triggering character disappears, falling into 
  a faerie realm, where he or she sees something 
  terrible and then reappears in an open space 
  1d3 minutes later in an open space of the GM’s 
  choosing within short range of the space the 
  character left. When the character returns, he or 
  she must get a success on a Will challenge roll or 
  gain 1 Insanity. 
   Mistwood Events and Encounters: The group has 
  a chance of experiencing weird events and stumbling 
  across dangerous foes while traveling through the 
  woods. Each time the group moves into a hex, roll a d6. 
  On a roll of 5 or 6, roll a d20 and ﬁ nd the result on the 
  Mistwood Events and Encounters table. On any other 
  result, the hex is clear. Clear hexes remain that way until 
  the group completes a rest, at which point you roll again 
  when the group reenters the hex. 
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  52
  Mistwood Events and Encounters
  Roll
  Event or Encounter
  20
  The character with the highest Perception score 
  spots black ribbons tied to a tree’s branches. Any 
  faerie character or a character versed in folklore 
  knows that this sign indicates displeasure, anger, 
  or a warning. 
  18–19
  The wind picks up and sighs as it passes through 
  the trees. Flower blossoms rain down across an 
  area with a 100-yard radius for 1 hour, during 
  which time the area is partially obscured.
  16–17
  The character with the second highest Perception 
  score notices a disarmed animal trap on the 
  ground. Inspection reveals blood and fur, but also 
  that the trap has been damaged beyond repair.
  14–15
  The characters move across an area containing an 
  animal trap and might spring it. See Animal Traps, 
  page 54, for details.
  8–13
  A group of 1d3 spriggans guarding the routes into 
  Alfheim lurch out of the forest 1d6 yards away. 
  Each character must make a Perception challenge 
  roll with 1 bane when the spriggans appear, 
  becoming surprised on a failure.
  4–7
  A lost giant lumbers through the forest, knocking over 
  trees and creating so much racket that the characters 
  hear it when it moves to within 20 yards of them. If 
  the characters slay the giant, they do not encounter it 
  again. The giant carries a sack ﬁ lled with dead animals, 
  a smattering of valuables worth 1d6  5 gc, and one 
  enchanted object.
  3
  A band of 2d6 hobgoblins are out on patrol. They 
  are unfriendly to mortals and encourage them to 
  quit the forest.
  2
  A rowdy band of 1d6 + 2 satyrs come tumbling 
  drunkenly out of a patch of trees. Obviously 
  aroused, they attempt to ply the characters with 
  drink and seduce them. If the characters spend 
  time getting drunk with the satyrs, one mentions 
  that he has been courting the Lady of the Wood, 
  a nymph whose beauty is greater than that of the 
  Faerie Queen. If she would deign to give him a 
  kiss, he says, he would die content. He can tell the 
  group where she lairs (see area 7) in exchange for 
  a kiss. The characters encounter this group once.
  1
  A jack-o’-lantern attempts to lure the group into 
  danger, likely toward the giant described above. 
  This encounter occurs if the characters enter the 
  hex at night. Otherwise, nothing happens.
  The Lady’s Servants
  A band of 8 pixies watch over the woods and act 
  on the nymph’s behalf. The pixies sabotaged the 
  trapper’s snares and were the ones who lured him 
  into the nymph’s clutches. Characters who explore 
  the woods eventually attract the pixies’ attention. The 
  pixies are invisible and hide in the group’s immediate 
  surroundings to determine whether the characters are 
  friends to the wood or foes.
  Friends to the Wood 
  The characters can become friends to the wood by 
  leaving three gifts for the local faeries. Suitable gifts 
  include tying colorful ribbons in the trees, oﬀ erings of 
  food or milk, or leaving shiny trinkets on faerie tables—
  ﬂ at stones sometimes found in the forest. The group can 
  also earn the faeries’ friendship by rescuing the bear 
  as described under Animal Traps on page 54, killing 
  the troll, or by other acts you believe the faeries would 
  regard in a favorable light.
   Once the characters earn the faeries’ friendship, a 
  pixie appears in the midst of the group to declare that 
  the characters have honored the old ways and have 
  earned safe passage through the woods. If the characters 
  ask about Arlo Pleen, the pixies laugh and say the Lady 
  has him now. If pressed, the pixies explain that the Lady 
  of the Wood is a nymph of unsurpassed beauty who 
  holds sway over this area. The pixies will not lead the 
  group to the Lady, even with further gifts, but they warn 
  the characters that it would be bad for them if they met 
  her. 
   Earning the pixies’ friendships spares the group from 
  some of the hardships presented by the woods. The 
  characters are not at risk of triggering “Mistwood Events 
  and Encounters” until the adventure ends or until they 
  do something to anger the pixies, as you decide.
  Enemies to the Wood
  The player characters can become enemies to the wood 
  through reckless, irreverent action. Killing an animal, 
  collaborating with Callakgh the troll (see The Troll 
  Cave page 54), despoiling the forest in any way, or doing 
  anything else of similar sort immediately angers the 
  pixies. Once angered, the pixies harass the characters 
  until they leave the Mistwood, with the following eﬀ ects:
  • The chance for a Mistwood Event or Encounter 
  increases. One now occurs on a roll of 3 or higher 
  on a d6.
  • When the characters camp in the Mistwood, 
  the pixies steal small items from them. After the 
  characters complete a rest, any time someone tries 
  to draw an item from a container, roll a d6. On a 1, 
  the item is gone. Items lost in this way might 
  be recovered in the Lady’s Hollow.
  • The pixies steal the group’s food the next time they 
  rest in the forest.
  • For 1d3 rounds, the pixies help any other creature 
  encountered in the Mistwood that ﬁ ghts the player 
  characters.
  • The faeries set animal traps in the group’s path to 
  waylay the characters (see Animal Traps, page 54). 
  Each time the group enters a hex, there’s a 1 in 6 
  chance that the hex also contains a trap as if you 
  had rolled on the Animal Traps table.
  • The pixies enlist help from an embittered nisse 
  and its giant pig (as a large animal) to attack the 
  group. The nisse and its companion lumber out 
  of the woods and attack the group.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  53
  Keyed Locations
  The following locations correspond to those shown on 
  the map.
  0. The Group’s Camp
  This location isn’t shown on the map; instead, you 
  decide where the player characters begin the adventure. 
  Make you note the location before the adventure begins.
  1. Trappers’ Moot 
  Just beyond the edge of the Mistwood stands Trappers’ 
  Moot, a ramshackle collection of buildings that serve the 
  needs of trappers working the woods east of Mistwood, 
  beyond the range of the faeries’ concern. Since most 
  people snaring game in the Soldier Forest do so from 
  the opposite side, the speck of a community has just a 
  few people. Four buildings make up the Moot, which are 
  described here.
   Old Man Frent’s House: Frent is a one-legged, portly 
  human with a goiter bulging out from the side of his 
  neck. He has long gray-black hair, bristles on his cheeks, 
  and a calm, know-it-all air about him. He sees himself 
  as the community’s leader. His home, a one-room shack, 
  is lightly furnished and loaded with animal skins worth 
  about 2d6 silver shillings in all. He has a key to the 
  creepy shed, described in the following paragraphs.
   Trading Post: This building is little more than a roof 
  held up by four log posts, covering a couple of bins ﬁ lled 
  with animal traps and gear, though all are shoddy and in 
  poor condition. Mari Bestertoﬀ , a ghastly woman with 
  green teeth and a milky eye, oversees the place. She’s 
  known for her quick hands and her skill with a skinning 
  knife. She’s also quite handy with a set of lock picks.
   Barracks: The third building is a low-roofed, smoky 
  shed in which trappers and hunters can stay the night 
  for a few coins. Currently, it’s unoccupied.
   Creepy Shed: The last building stands a bit away 
  from the rest. It looks new and hastily assembled, with a 
  heavy iron padlock on the door. Inside is Gelerum Pud 
  (as a cultist), a man driven insane by his brush with the 
  Lady of the Wood, his behavior so odd and disturbing  
  that Frent tossed him inside and locked the door until he 
  can ﬁ gure out what to do with him. Mari slips him food 
  and sometimes sneaks inside while Frent is asleep to 
  take advantage of the madman’s insane libido. 
   Characters listening at the door hear awful sounds of 
  his self-abuse. Opening the door reveals a naked man, 
  aroused, covered in ﬁ lth and surrounded by squirrel 
  bones gnawed clean. If anyone other than Mari opens 
  the door, he tries to escape, screaming, “The Lady, the 
  Lady, she calls!”
  Chatting up the Locals
  No one at Trappers’ Moot has seen Arlo Pleen for over a 
  week, and they are generally tight-lipped unless Tyna is 
  with the group. If the characters have the girl with them 
  or if they bribe Frent or Meri with coin or drink, they 
  can obtain the following information:
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  54
  • 
  The last time Pleen came to the Moot, he 
  complained about someone interfering with 
  his traps.
  • 
  Pleen hinted he was going to set traps deeper in 
  the Mistwood, though Frent warned him against 
  “angering the haints.”
  • 
  There’s a nasty spirit in the woods, a thing locals 
  call the Witch Woman of the Hollow. Frent claims 
  she is “a devil ’scaped from Hell, making men slaves 
  to her lust.” Frent has never seen her, though a 
  character with a Perception score of 12 or higher 
  notices that he shoots a look at the creepy shed. 
  2. The Pleen Shack
  The Pleen family lives in this shack, tucked deep in the 
  woods. Foot traﬃ  c has worn down the undergrowth, 
  clearing the area within 5 yards of the building. It has a 
  chimney made from river stones, a sloping roof, green 
  with moss, walls made from logs mortared with mud, one 
  door, and a couple of shuttered windows. Animal bones 
  hang from bits of string tied to the frame of an open door. 
   The interior reeks of rotting ﬂ esh. Tyna Pleen’s mother 
  has succumbed to her illness and lies on the cot where she 
  died, covered in ﬂ ies, her body bloated. Characters who 
  view her corpse must get a success on a Will challenge roll 
  or gain 1 Insanity.
   There’s no sign of Tyna’s brothers. The eldest went oﬀ  
  to get help, but was stolen by bandits and will likely never 
  be seen again unless you decide otherwise. The baby was 
  left with the corpse, but a group of pixies found the crying 
  child and led it deeper into the woods, where they played 
  with him until he died.
   If Tyna is with the group, she breaks down when she 
  ﬁ nds her mother, inconsolable for a few minutes until she 
  remembers about her brothers. Unless she is stopped, she 
  uses her skills to ﬁ nd the tracks left by her baby brother 
  and follows them until she discovers his remains.
   Behind the house is Arlo’s shed, where he skinned 
  animals and cured the hides. It resembles the shack but 
  is much smaller with a single door and no windows. The 
  dark interior holds a worktable covered in sharp knives. 
  Bones hang from the ceiling. Drawn in blood on the 
  table’s surface, framed by a circle of blades, is the crude 
  likeness of a woman.
  3. Animal Traps
  Somewhere in these hexes are animal traps. When 
  the group enters one of these hexes, roll a d6 to see 
  what’s there.
  Animal Traps
  Roll
  Trap
  1
  An intact trap or snare designed to catch small 
  game. It’s empty.
  2
  A broken trap or snare designed to catch small 
  game. It’s damaged beyond repair.
  3
  A bear trap, in which is caught a bear. It roars 
  in pain and thrashes against the jaws holding its 
  paw. If the characters help the bear by freeing and 
  healing it, they earn respect from the pixies who 
  watch invisibly. If they harm or kill the animal, the 
  pixies become angry and torment the characters 
  for as long as they remain in the Mistwood. See 
  The Lady’s Servants (page 52) for details. The 
  group can ﬁ nd this result only once. Treat future 
  rolls of 3 as if you had rolled a 1.
  4
  A broken bear trap that’s damaged beyond repair.
  5–6
  A hidden bear trap. The next time anyone in 
  the group takes a step, roll a d6 again. On a 
  5 or higher, the characters pass through the 
  area containing the trap. Have one randomly 
  determined character make a Perception 
  challenge roll with 2 banes. On a failure, the 
  character steps on the trap, which snaps shut 
  around the character’s limb. The character takes 
  damage equal to twice his or her healing rate and 
  becomes slowed until he or she heals all damage. 
  The trapped character cannot move until the 
  trap is released, which requires a success on an 
  Intellect challenge roll to disable it or a success 
  on a Strength challenge roll made with 3 banes to 
  pry the jaws open. 
  4. The Troll Cave
  The trees in this area have been hacked down and piled 
  over a great sinkhole, covering it completely. Nailed with 
  iron spikes into the stumps are the carcasses of dead 
  pixies. It is quiet here, and the air reeks of excrement.
   A big scary troll named Callakgh lives in the hole. 
  During the day, the troll sleeps. At night, there’s a 3 in 6 
  chance that he is inside the hole or nearby. Otherwise, the 
  troll roams the forest. The pixies fear the troll enough to 
  leave it alone.
   Callakgh stands 12 feet tall and weighs just shy of a 
  thousand pounds. He has a stooped posture and a large 
  head with broad, ugly features. Stone patches, spotted 
  with lichen, stand out against his brown, mossy skin. 
  His eyes are ragged black holes, as if something had 
  burned out the organs. (Replace Callakgh’s darksight 
  with truesight.)
   Like most trolls, Callakgh hates faeries, but he hates the 
  Lady of the Wood especially, having once fallen victim to 
  her wiles. He broke the curse, thanks to a wicked hag, and 
  has returned to the Mistwood to kill and eat the nymph.
   During the day, anyone who interferes with the logs 
  covering the pit rouses the troll’s anger. Callakgh rises up 
  and attacks, even as its skin slowly turns to stone. The troll 
  ﬁ ghts until it drives the characters oﬀ , at which point it 
  climbs back into the hole, drawing the logs back over 
  the top.
   At night, encountering the troll ﬁ nds him unfriendly 
  but not immediately hostile. He needs help ﬁ nding the 
  nymph, and if the group treats him with respect and 
  possibly oﬀ ers food, he agrees to help the characters ﬁ nd 
  Arlo Pleen. In return, he demands that the characters help 
  him kill the Lady of the Wood. The troll knows where the 
  Lady of the Wood resides and will lead them there if the 
  characters make the bargain. Otherwise, the troll refuses 
  to help and might turn violent if the characters become 
  annoying.
   The troll has assorted valuable worth 50 gc and two 
  enchanted objects.
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  55
  5. Faerie Portal
  A shimmering curtain of light hangs perpendicularly 
  a few inches above the ground in the center of this hex. 
  The portal is an oval 3 yards tall and 2 yards wide in the 
  middle. It has two sides. Passing through it from either 
  side causes a character to vanish and reappear in a hex 1d6 
  miles away in a direction you choose. At night, if the moon 
  is full, the portal whisks characters to the edge of Alfheim 
  (or some other hidden kingdom). Characters might 
  become stranded in the faerie realm or might be able to 
  return through the portal so long as the moon remains 
  full, as you decide.
  6. Jealous Dryads
  In the center of this hex stands a pool covered by a slick of 
  bright green algae. Standing at each cardinal point along 
  the edge of the pool is a birch tree, each of which happens 
  to be home to a dryad. 
   The dryads are jealous of the Lady of the Wood, for she 
  steals all the worthy men, leaving only the wretched and 
  unclean. If the group includes male humans, the dryads 
  emerge and use their magic to ensnare them. Otherwise, 
  they remain in the trees until the characters do something 
  that would make them enemies of the wood, which 
  angers the dryads, or friends of the wood, which attracts 
  them pleasantly.
   If the dryads are angered, they emerge from their trees 
  and attack, casting form of the oak guardian to tear the 
  characters apart. 
   If the dryads are friendly, they come out shyly and oﬀ er 
  the characters berries and fresh water. The dryads are 
  pleasant, charming, and intelligent. If asked about Arlo 
  Pleen, they suggest he’s probably dead at the hands of the 
  Lady. If questioned about the Lady, they reveal that she’s 
  a spoiled nymph and that they hate her. If the characters 
  explain that they are trying to rescue Pleen, the dryads 
  reveal the route to the Lady of the Wood’s lair, and they 
  gift the characters with one healing potion apiece to help 
  them on their way.
  7. The Lady of the Wood
  The Lady of the Wood, a nymph, lives in a stretch of 
  pristine, sylvan woods, with a rotunda made from white 
  stone, a modest-sized pond on which ﬂ oat enormous 
  lily pads capable of holding a couple of Size 1 creatures. 
  Littered around numerous statues in various, erotic 
  poses are the baubles given to her by former lovers.
   Guarding the way into this area are 2 spriggans. 
  They allow characters to enter it but come to the Lady’s 
  defense if attacked. In addition, present are 1d6 + 2 pixies 
  and 2d3 commoners or professionals, of which one is 
  Arlo Pleen. Talking animals come and go, chattering at 
  characters who intrude on this idyllic scene.
  Dealing with the Lady
  The characters must contend with the nymph’s 
  Captivating Beauty ability. If they manage to resist her 
  charms, they can talk to her. She entertains peaceful 
  conversation so long as it isn’t boring. She behaves as 
  a petulant child—aﬀ ectionate one moment, pouting 
  the next.
   The nymph has no real designs on the trapper. She 
  ﬁ nds him ugly and boorish and had planned to rid herself 
  of the troublesome man anyway. If the characters come 
  without the troll and beg her to release the trapper, she 
  will give him to them but only if they slay the troll that’s 
  hunting her and bring proof of his death.  
   If the characters bring the troll with them or if they 
  take hostile action against the nymph, the pixies scatter 
  and the nymph uses her full power to protect herself. As 
  well, her charmed companions rise up to protect their 
  true love. Finally, the spriggans show up at the end of the 
  second round to defend their mistress. 
   The nymph ﬂ ees if she becomes injured, diving into 
  the waters, swimming into their depths and surfacing in 
  Alfheim or another hidden kingdom you choose. The 
  battle could spread to that place, but the faeries there will 
  not take kindly to violent intruders. The nymph’s thralls 
  ﬁ ght to the death.
  The Nymph’s Treasures
  In all, 100 gc worth of valuables is scatter ed around the 
  area. Other items were once valuable but have become 
  ruined after long exposure to the elements. Sorting 
  through the baubles turns up one enchanted object per 
  member of the group.
  Conclusion
  The adventure can end in several diﬀ erent ways, many of 
  which are sad or awful.
   Arlo Pleen is under the nymph’s curse. Killing the 
  Lady of the Wood dooms him—he won’t eat, drink, or do 
  anything else. He wastes away until he dies. He can be 
  freed if the nymph lifts the curse, which she will do only 
  under very speciﬁ c criteria—either one of the characters 
  must volunteer to take his place, the characters must give 
  the nymph a gift worth 50 gc, or the group must perform 
  some ludicrous service on her behalf as you decide. 
   Capturing the nymph and touching iron to her body 
  causes pain suﬃ  cient to make her lift the curse from the 
  trapper. It also makes the group an enemy of the Lady 
  forever. She seeks retribution against the characters 
  by any means—sending faeries to torment the group, 
  wreaking havoc on the people of the woods with her 
  magic and monsters she compels, and so on. If she fails 
  to get revenge against the group, her hate transforms her 
  into a hag and then she steps up her eﬀ orts.
   If the characters slay the troll and present his head to 
  the Lady, the nymph releases the trapper, but she doesn’t 
  lift the curse, unless the characters think to ask her to do 
  so. The trapper is not willing to leave, so he’ll have to be 
  subdued. The trapper tries to escape the ﬁ rst chance he 
  gets and spends the rest of his days trying to ﬁ nd the Lady 
  of the Wood, who has pulled up stakes and moved oﬀ  to 
  live somewhere less dangerous. 
   Unless Arlo is freed from the nymph and his curse 
  lifted, Tyna Pleen, if she survives, resents the characters’ 
  failure to help her. Her anger becomes hatred and she 
  might become a problem for the characters in future 
  adventures as you decide. 
   Finally, if the characters manage to lift the curse and 
  restore Tyna’s father, Arlo Pleen gives up his trade and 
  heads to Crossings with Tyna to make a new life for 
  themselves. Unless the group escorts them, bandits kill 
  father and daughter, and the pair of them are never 
  seen again. 
  
  Tales of the Desolation
  Tales of the Desolation
  56
  A
  Adventure ...................................................................................50
  Alfheim ........................................................................................29
  Ancestries  ....................................................................................6
  Elf  ..................................................................................................7
  Hobgoblin  ...................................................................................9
  Pixie  ............................................................................................ 11
  Asrai ............................................................................................. 39
  Avowed .........................................................................................13
  B
  Backgrounds ................................................................................6
  Banish (spell) .............................................................................22
  Banshee .......................................................................................39
  Bean-Nighe ................................................................................40
  Beget Changeling (spell) ........................................................ 20
  Beguiler (path) ...........................................................................14
  Bewilder (spell)..........................................................................19
  Black Cat ......................................................................................15
  Bliss (spell) .................................................................................. 21
  Borderlands ................................................................................25
  C
  Call Steeds (spell) ..................................................................... 21
  Cat Sith (path) ............................................................................15
  Changelings .................................................................................4
  Children of Magic.......................................................................3
  Circe’s Ring (relic) .....................................................................37
  Circle of Stones (spell) ............................................................. 21
  Controlled Flame .....................................................................16
  Create Flame (spell) .................................................................16
  Create Secret Door (spell) ..................................................... 20
  Creatures .....................................................................................39
  Asrai  ...................................................................................................... 39
  Banshee  ............................................................................................... 39
  Bean-Nighe .........................................................................................40
  Cu Sith ...................................................................................................41
  Elf ............................................................................................................41
  Fachen ...................................................................................................42
  Faun  ...................................................................................................... 43
  Imp ......................................................................................................... 43
  Jabberwock ..........................................................................................44
  Kobold ...................................................................................................44
  Lares  .......................................................................................................45
  Merrow .................................................................................................46
  Nymph .................................................................................................. 47
  Pixie .......................................................................................................48
  Satyr ......................................................................................................48
  Unicorn .................................................................................................49
  Cu Sith .........................................................................................41
  Cursed Apple (spell) ............................................................... 20
  D
  Drunkenness (spell) .................................................................19
  E
  Elf ..................................................................................................41
  Elysium ........................................................................................ 31
  Enchanged Objects ..................................................................36
  Enthralling Song (spell) ..........................................................22
  Erase Memory (spell) .............................................................. 20
  Eternal Guardian (path) ...........................................................15
  Eyebright Ointment ...................................................................5
  Expert Path ................................................................................. 13
  Avowed .................................................................................................13
  F
  Fachen ..........................................................................................42
  Fade (spell) ..................................................................................19
  Faerie Gold (spell) ....................................................................19
  Faerie Music ...............................................................................22
  Faerie Rings ................................................................................23
  Faerie Steed ................................................................................37
  Faerie Tricks ................................................................................51
  Faun ..............................................................................................43
  Favors , Great Fey ......................................................................35
  Free Faeries...................................................................................4
  G
  Glass of Seeing (relic) ..............................................................38
  Gods ............................................................................................... 5
  Gunyain ....................................................................................... 32
  H
  Hallucinations (spell) .............................................................. 20
  Harbinger (path) ........................................................................ 15
  Heart Kill (relic) ..........................................................................38
  Hell Tithe .................................................................................... 30
  Hidden Kingdoms .....................................................................26
  Hidden Space (spell) .................................................................22
  Hobgoblin ......................................................................................9
  Hollow Hills ................................................................................23
  
  Terrible Beauty
  Terrible Beauty
  57
  I
  Imp ...................................................................................................43
  Imprison (spell) ............................................................................22
  Interesting Characters ................................................................28
  Iron Abhorrence ..........................................................................19
  Iron Loathing ..................................................................................3
  Islands of the Fey ........................................................................ 24
  Isle of Forever ...............................................................................32
  j
  Jabberwock ...................................................................................44
  K
  Keeper of the Flame (path) .......................................................16
  Kindred Soul (spell) ....................................................................21
  Kobold ...........................................................................................44
  L
  Lares ................................................................................................45
  M
  Master Paths ..................................................................................14
  Beguiler ....................................................................................................14
  Maze of the Goblin King ...........................................................32
  Merrow .......................................................................................... 46
  Midnight Lands ............................................................................35
  Minor Faeries ................................................................................45
  Misdirect (spell) ...........................................................................19
  Moon Bridge (spell) ....................................................................20
  Moonlight Cloak (relic) ..............................................................38
  Morrigan (path) ............................................................................16
  Muse (path) ................................................................................... 17
  N
  Nameless City .............................................................................. 29
  Nature of Faeries ............................................................................3
  Nightstalker (path) ...................................................................... 17
  Nymph ............................................................................................47
  P
  Phasing Missile (spell) ...............................................................20
  Pixie ........................................................................................... 11, 48
  Professions .......................................................................................5
  Protection from Faeries ................................................................3
  R
  Remove Curse (spell) ..................................................................22
  Relics ...............................................................................................37
  Circe’s Ring .............................................................................................37
  Glass of Seeing ..................................................................................... 38
  Heart Kill ............................................................................................... 38
  Moonlight Cloak .................................................................................. 38
  Wooden Boy .......................................................................................... 38
  Vorpal Sword ........................................................................................ 38
  S
  Satyr ............................................................................................... 48
  Secret Roads ................................................................................. 24
  Seeking Missile (spell) ...............................................................20
  Shrink Object (spell) ...................................................................19
  Slumber (spell) .............................................................................19 
  Song of Revels (spell) ..................................................................22
  Spellweaver (path) .......................................................................18
  Spriggans ...................................................................................... 26
  Starting Equipment ......................................................................5
  Stones, Boulders, and Monuments ....................................... 24
  Strange Sights ...............................................................................28
  Stray Sod ........................................................................................25
  T
  Talking Animals ...........................................................................27
  Trees and Forests .........................................................................25
  Troll Hunter (path) ......................................................................18
  Twisted Crown (spell) ................................................................20
  U
  Unicorn.......................................................................................... 49
  V
  Vorpal Sword (relic) ....................................................................38
  W
  Wasting Sickness .........................................................................27
  Weird Events ................................................................................ 29
  Will-O’-Wisp (spell) ....................................................................19
  Wooden Boy (relic) ......................................................................38
  
  www.schwalbentertainment.com
  
  SKU: SDL1014e 
  PDF $12.00 / POD $12.00
  Terrible Beauty is ©2016 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved.
  Shadow of the Demon Lord, Terrible Beauty, Schwalb Entertainment, and their associated 
  logos are trademarks of Schwalb Entertainment, LLC.
  SCHWALB ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
  PO Box #12548
  Murfreesboro, TN 37129
  info@schwalbentertainment.com
  www.schwalbentertainment.com
  All across Urth stand doorways to hidden places. These are 
  the realms of the faerie, entire worlds of magic and wonder, fear 
  and horror. No friends to mortals, the faeries abandoned Urth 
  long ago, leaving their homelands to humankind to do with as it 
  wished. Now, with the Demon Lord’s shadow casting a pall across 
  the land, the faeries have begun to return from their self-imposed 
  exile, to join the ﬁ ght against the darkness and purge the world of 
  the evil that grips it. Terrible Beauty presents tools for players and 
  Game Masters to introduce faerie stories, mechanics, and themes 
  into Shadow of the Demon Lord campaigns. Inside, you’ll ﬁ nd:
  • The elf, hobgoblin, and pixie ancestries.
  • An assortment of new paths such as the Avowed expert path 
  and the eternal guardian and troll hunter master paths.
  • The Fey tradition, and new spells for existing traditions.
  • Overviews of several sample faerie kingdoms.
  • New relics such as the Vorpal Sword and a new enchanted 
  object table.
  • New creatures ranging from the fair nymph to the foul jabberwock.
  • A complete adventure for expert characters.
  Terrible Beauty opens new doors to adventure and horror in a dying 
  world, and the options presented here will leave your game forever 
  changed!
  All across Urth stand doorways to hidden places. These are 
  Heed the 
  Call of The 
  Faerie Queen!
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadow of the Demon Lord/Supplements/SotDL - Terrible Beauty (dewm).pdf