The queen of birds is an ancient fairy who lives on the southern face of Mount Hornugg. In the high age she was a beautiful Sidhe who teamed the kites, eagles, and ospreys of the region. They told her everything that came and went in the area for miles below her rookery.
She trained a order of rangers in the arts of falconry, listening to the language of birds, and would inform The druids with the closest relationship to her of dangers moving through the woodland.. in return, the people send fifth sons to be her disciples and learn the arts, who would ate her in regular Dragon Hunt for the heart and blood of the creatures.
She also took sacrifice of goblins, bogarts, and red caps to feed her own special breed of enchanted osprey, the Wherries.
In time, the reverence at the locals gave to her allowed her to ascend the status of a Petty regional goddess.
When the crusade began it's indiscriminate purges of Faye folk, followers of the queen of birds for some of the first targeted. Her druids, her rangers, several local falconers, and village Wise women were put to the sword in the name of breaking her influence. Once the magic that gave her Divinity was weakened, 38 crusaders went up the mountainside to finish the job. To a man the worries through them off the cliffs or Hawks tore out their eyes while they were in the middle of a climb. Sending all of them to grizzly deaths. The queen of birds retreated to higher peaks and was not heard from again for three generations.
The grief and mourning over The mortals who loved her twisted her into a fearsome unsealy hag. Noble birds of prey that once served her were replaced by cruel mutations, scavengers such as the condors and Ravens of the region.
She watched from on high as the people at the base of the Hornugg that once loved her dwindled, eventually leaving only a handful of die hard followers, as the rest were forced to head to the cities to find work and sustenance.
In fact, The villages you once watched over were all but forgotten by the king of tassia for years. When he did remember, he sent a mix of inquisitors and armed tax collectors to ensure that these wayward peasants paid their back taxes and had not kept the old ways. And militarized Abby was established to ensure that the people heard the words the confessors, and continued to honor the state.
The brutality with which they were treated finally inspired the wicked old hagged to come down from her roost. She lured the most and bittered and he'll treated amongst the villagers and offered to teach them her arts once again. This time, however, she taught them very different skills. The ability to warp the woods. To conjure fogs and move and shadow. The ability to conjure crows to tear out the eyes of their enemies.
She lain with some of the men and hatched a brood of herpes, which are cultists can call down. Soon, his cult of the red talon Purge the abbey, the taxman, and the witch hunters who followed them. They went higher into the mountains, taking their families with them and formed a cult that has since waged a guerrilla War on the cult of the confessor, and the crown.
In the intervening decades, the people of the mountain have mixed with herpes and dark fairies drawn to the queen of birds. The people there have become more hatebreed than human. They occasionally kidnap people from villages that have remained loyal to the crown for sacrifice to the queen and her Wherries. They offer protection and magical aid to those who give them sacrifice. And occasionally serve as mercenaries in house and guild warfare, at the price of gold, blood, and silence.
The activities of the cult of the red talent have served as a pretext for the bell and Hammer to move into the region. However, they have done little to actually Purge The cult, preferring instead to Target political enemies of the crown on the other side of the mountains.
Deathtrap Lite Style
Red Talon Cultist
HD 3 Arm +1 Dam 1d6 ×1 CLOSE or 1d6 x1 FAR
Mor: +1 AL -2; Intellect: +1
Ranged Combat: Trained; Recall Arcane Lore: Expert
Survival: Expert Perform Cantrip: Expert Stealth: Trained
Weave a Spell: Trained
The Queen of Birds demands eyes and tongues in pay for what the Godless have done. Those who trespass on our land cannot see our secrets, and cannot tell others what they have seen.
Red Talon Cultists are twisted by the Queen of Birds' magic, and by their own interbreeding with harpies and other monsters of the wilderness. They wear armor of hardened bark, branches twisted into sinew, and layers of feathers. They know few spells, but are usually served by raven familiars. They are armed with heavy stone knives and hunting bows.
- Old School Magic: If you are using Old-School Magic, the cultists know the following spells: 1st level: Conjure Familiar, Entanglement, Phantasm Minor; 2nd Level: Call of Beaks and Talons, Speech of Beasts.
- Simple Spells: If you are using simple spells, they know Bird Person, and Conjure Familiar.
- Free-Form Magic: If you are using free form magic, Cultists of the Red Talon have +2 when casting spells to control birds, move stealthily, or manipulate plants and animals. They are at -2 for all other forms of magic.
New Spell: Call of Beaks and Talons: Conjures a swarm of spectral ravens that attack up to three NEAR targets who are CLOSE to one another. Targets must roll: Reflexes + DEX or take 2d3 damage. If they are wounded by this damage, it is an injury to the eyes of the appropriate severity.
Old-School Style
Red Talon Cultist: AC 8; HD 3; Atk: Stone knife (1d6) or shortbow (1d6); SA: Spells; SV: MU 3; Mov: 120' (30'); AL C; ML: 8; Int 14; XP: 50; TT: P, Q
Spells: Red Talon Cultists cast spells as 3rd level Magic Users. They have the following spells prepared: darkness, entanglement, call of beaks and talons;
New Spell:
Call of Beaks and Talons
Duration: 1 round
Range: 30'
The caster creates a 30' cone of clawing, pecking phantasmal crows.
- All creatures caught in the cone must make a Save vs. Death or take 2d3 damage.
- Creatures that take 5 or more damage must also Save vs. Death a second time or be temporarily blinded.
- If using material components, this spell requires a raven's skull stuffed with noxious herbs and feathers. The herbs and feathers are consumed by the casting of the spell.
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