Demon, Swaithe

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Abyss)
Organization solitary, pair, or gang (3–5)
Treasure standard

The eyeless swaithes are skulking agents of fear and unprovoked beast attacks, formed from sinful souls who, in life, used animals as tools of violence and murder. Swaithes often lure those who seek their aid and advice into falling victim to the darkest secrets of demonology and forbidden magic.

If left unsupervised, a swaithe charms animals and drives them toward villages, often under the influence of rage, further stoking the flames of fear and distrust between settlements and the wilderness.

Swaithes prefer stealth and subterfuge to direct confrontation, and these foul creatures delight in creating a sense of dread in their prey. Swaithes have been known to slip into a village under the cover of night, use their slumber hex on lone villagers, leave a grisly token (such as a bloody organ or strange twig doll) on its body for the victim to discover later when they wake clueless as to why they fell asleep in the first place. They delight in later repeating these attacks with strange cackling noises, invisibly “haunting” a victim’s home at night, and driving the target to paranoia and outright panic.

Swaithes can join hag covens and contribute to the coven’s cooperative magic. Because of its smaller size and weaker power, a swaithe is often treated as a little sister or daughter by the rest of the coven. Any coven that includes a swaithe can add giant vermin, animal growth, and insect plague to the spells the spells they can cast together.

Small and slight, most swaithes stand about 3-1/2 feet tall and weigh 50 pounds.