Devil, Salikotal (Vengeance Devil)

On lean limbs the color of spilt blood creeps a being of sinister grace. Eyes like embers and a sneer full of needle-thin teeth gleam from an unmistakably fiendish visage. A pair of crimson wings sprout from the back of the hairless humanoid form, fluttering silently like an assassin’s cloak, while in one hand it clutches the twisted, dagger-like horn of some infernal terror.

Ecology

Environment any (Hell)
Organization solitary or team (2–8)
Treasure standard (+1 dagger, other treasure)

Prince-killers and assassins of souls, salikotals serve as the bloody chisels by which the lords of Hell subtly shape the mortal world to their whims. Soaring through the night on silent wings, these murderous devils care nothing for life or reason, knowing only a single, murderous goal. Cloaked by shadow and silence, few ever glimpse the sharp features of a salikotal, for Hell’s death-dealers reveal themselves only amid the haze of fading life.

Lean, deft hunters, salikotals move like terrible predatory birds, each taloned step measured, cautious, and full of deadly intent. Protected by an armor of sharp, thin scales, these agile devils universally stand 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and weigh 85 pounds, their barbed frames supporting the breadth of their 8-foot-wide, bat-like wings. They have full control over their slender tails, nimbly manipulating objects and even wielding deadly, Hell-forged blades in these dexterous, prehensile appendages.

Ecology

Salikotals rise from the tenebrous reaches of Erebus’s vaulted heights. Unblinking and endlessly patient, salikotals haunt the claustrophobic upper realms of the lightless labyrinth, stealthy and watchful but caring little for the doings of intruders or their lesser kin. Only the summons of conjurers or the diabolical elite rouse them from their eerie aerial stalkings, drawing them forth from the shadows for a chance to hone their death-dealing expertise in the name of Hell.

Naturally silent, salikotals never vocalize even the slightest sound, relying on their innate telepathic abilities for communication. Even when using such mental interaction, though, the devils prove terse and resistant to conversation.

For most summoners, a salikotal’s only communication is a slow nod acknowledging its orders, and a nod in answer to the question of its murderous success.

Habitat & Society

Salikotals have little to do with others of their kind, be they other salikotals or other lesser devils in general.

Emotionless and rigid even beyond the typical disciplines of Hell, these assassins realize they exist for but a single reason: to sow death. Their cold precision only wavers when they discuss payment for their most notorious murderous methods, wherein they demand specific types of gemstones in compensation for their grisly work. Few non-devils dare to suppose why salikotals request such precise payments, refusing to work for any other recompense, but among the damned spread rumors of vast vaults filled with glistening jewels, each a fabulous treasure and a representation of a life cut short by the blades of Hell.

Summoning Salikotals

As in all things, salikotals prove emotionless when it comes to being summoned. They have little reason to purposefully resist or accept a diabolist’s call, unless ordered to do so by their infernal masters. Once a salikotal is summoned, though, only murder interests it. Any Charisma check made as part of the spell planar binding to convince a salikotal to undertake a mission other than assassination takes a –2 penalty.

Once a salikotal has agreed to perform a murder for its summoner, it explains the signature vengeances its kind can inflict upon a victim and offers to exact one upon its summoner’s victim for an associated price.

The devil requests 1,000 gp for every Hit Die its target possesses (intrinsically gauging its victim’s prowess), to be paid entirely in one of three types of gemstones: ruby for fideicide, onyx for necrocide, and jacyinth for omnicide. Salikotals prove exceedingly particular in these payments, and if a summoner cannot pay the price in the type of gem requested, the devil refuses to exact one of its vengeances. If the summoner tries to force a salikotal to use one of its vengeances, the devil takes offense and all of the summoner’s Charisma-related interactions with it in the future take a –2 penalty.