Veilsect

'Subtle, stealthy kidnappers and poisoners who have no respect for walls or any other boundaries; the Veilsect make no such distinctions in the course of their transgressions.'

Veilsect
No. Enc.: 1 (1d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120'
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 1 (Bite) or 1 (Web)
Damage: 2d4+Aging or Paralysis
Save: T4
Morale: 7


Special: Use Passwall freely, cast Planeshift once per day per HD. Also have 1d4 random spells per HD that they cast at 4th level ability.


[Optional: Treat as a Thief (HD=Level).]


Fortresses mean nothing to the Veilsect. Distance is a meaningless concept, a bad joke promulgated by lesser mortals. Barriers, trenches, pits or mazes--none of them deter these creatures in the slightest. They go where they will, freely and unfettered by such petty considerations as gravity, obstructions or defenses. Veilsects make no such distinctions, nor do they abide by them. They reject all such considerations and constraints.

Veilsects strike when least unexpected and wherever they choose, then simply fade away as they scuttle  back across the insubstantial barriers between different worlds, realms and planes. No one is entirely sure how many limbs a Veilsect has, nor how many eyes it might possess--they are visually ambiguous, surrounded by murky auras that obscure their features and form (treat as perpetual Blur and/or half-strength Darkness spell). Most commonly they are referred to as 'arachnomorphic,' or having the aspect of spider-like beings, but this point is contested vociferously by the Arachnarchs of Lijjidia who vigorously assert that the Veilsects are pretentious, upstart crustaceans with delusions of grandeur and not true arachnids.

Veilsects are malignant, inhuman creatures motivated by an insatiable, invidious desire to accumulate forbidden knowledge. Veilsects prowl the underworlds, interstices and by-ways of countless planes, dimensions and realms in search of scholars, scientists, sorcerers and such-like to abduct, imprison and interrogate. They care nothing for jewels or the trappings of power. They only care about learning new spells, mastering every ritual, solving every riddle or learning the deepest secrets and darkest lore. Thus Veilsects rarely kill their chosen prey, but instead seek to subdue and spirit them off to distant, murky regions known only to themselves in order to wring and wrest each syllable, sigil or symbol from their victim's brains.

Those who do manage to eventually win their release from captivity within the dim domains of the Veilsect are never the same ever again. Some are diminished, lessened in some vital sense. Others are drained of their vigor, or afflicted with distinctive sores that never quite heal and from which tiny iridescent blue-green spider-like mites emerge from time to time. Even those who escape relatively unscathed from the notorious 'hospitality' of the Veilsects tend to have lost years, if not decades from their life-span, having been prematurely aged by the vicious fangs of their tormentors.

The bite of a Veilsect not only inflicts damage, it either ages or paralyzes the victim at the Veilsect's discretion.

A typical Veilsect Bite inflicts 2d4 damage and forces the victim to make a Save (at -2 penalty) or age 2d6 years -or- suffer the effects of paralysis (as with the touch attack of a Ghoul). Note: if the Veilsect attempt to age their victim and the victim succeeds in their Save, then they must roll a second Save (no penalty) to avoid being paralyzed. If the Veilsect is attempting to paralyze the victim and they make their Save, there is no additional effect.

For some, this loss of years is no real matter of concern, having mastered longevity or some other form of self-renewal or survival. To one who does not worry over-much about the loss of a few decades from their lifespan it is possible to negotiate with these creatures...