Chaneque

These insidiously malicious fey lurk in the untainted depths of primeval forests. As nocturnal creatures, chaneques spend their days burrowed into the highest hollows of rotten trees. When night falls, they unfurl themselves from their resting places to hunt the forests for fairy heads and mortal souls.

Chaneques are ambush predators, preferring to stalk their prey to study its habits before attacking. Despite being a clumsy flyer, the batlike chaneque maneuvers well in the forest canopy, leaping about and using its winglike skin folds to glide from tree to tree, just waiting for an opportune moment to strike. When a chaneque attacks, it pops out without warning, attempting to startle victims before pelting them with tiny skulls capable of stealing their souls.

Driven by malice, chaneques see themselves as dutiful punishers of the fey. They hunt heads of brownies, pixies, sprites, and nearly any other fey they encounter. They collect these creatures' skulls and through dark rituals transform them into powerful, soul-stealing weapons. The chaneques then hurl the skulls at any creatures that dare transgress upon their territories. Anyone struck by a skull risks having his soul ripped from his mortal body and imprisoned within the fey skull.

These skulls are created in a special ritual that involves nearly all of the chaneques in the colony. But first, the skulls must steep in a special stew prepared from mashed fairy brains, a rare variety of black mushroom, and a magically potent nectar that chaneques secrete and collect over time.

Once a chaneque uses the skull as a weapon, it then collects the foul instrument and uses it to control the victim of its attack. Chaneques typically enjoy sending the victim off on some false and fruitless quest to recover his soul in a far-off location, while in reality the chaneque simply buries the skull in some unknown region of the forest. Those who fall prey to a chaneque's attack are doomed to walk aimlessly about the woods, vacant and driven only by the purpose set out by the chaneque, until they starve to death or fall prey to wild beasts.

A typical chaneque stands about 3 feet tall, with blackish-red, rubbery flesh. It has long, filthy claws it uses to cling to trees. Between the creature's legs and arms hang wide, webbed flaps it uses for gliding. A chaneque also has long, ridged, batlike ears and needlelike teeth.

mythic power (1/day, surge +1d6), steal soul

Toughness, Weapon FinesseM

Acrobatics +9, Bluff +5, Climb +12, Fly +3, Perception +8, Sense Motive +8, Stealth +13 (+17 while in trees)