Wraith

Avatar of Suffering

Summoned Elementals can be wild and chaotic creatures sometimes, but few unleash a primal dread upon all within their vicinity, like the Wraith. Powerful and untamed creatures who will inflict as much suffering upon the world as they can for the simple pleasure of it. Ritualists and researchers steer clear of these monsters whenever they can, for the path of the Wraith is soaked in the blood of the innocent.

Morphology

Wraiths are tall, bipedal creatures standing between three to four meters tall. Their skin is pitch black, often described as feeling wooden or charcoal-like. Sprouting from their arms are long, wispy hairs that emanate small clouds of fog and allow the creature to phase into fog. Their torsos' are wrapped in tattered and torn rags, and their hands are adorned with razor-sharp claws. Their most notable feature is their heads, which are the skulls of the animal used to create the Wraith. These skulls are marked with arcane symbols that give them life. Their skin is tough and regenerates quickly, making their only true weak point their skeletal heads. Some believe that the animal skull used to create a Wraith can determine its form and behavior, though these claims are yet to be proven.

Summoning

The summoning ritual for a Wraith requires very little to perform. All that is required is the skull of an animal placed at the center of the Wraith Sigil. Once fed the proper amount of Anika from the summoner, the Wraith will begin to form and tether its will to the summoner.

Abilities

These creatures are quite strong and surprisingly agile for their size. Their primary way of killing is by impaling and shredding all who stand in their way with their massive claws. The true terror of a Wraith is their ability to turn into a cloud of fog that can't be harmed and allows them to ambush or outmaneuver their victims. One strange thing the Wraith is capable of is mimicry, recreating the sounds of their dying victims to terrorize the living or to trick the unknowing.

Behavior

"Every son of a bitch whose summoned a Wraith is always arrogant enough to believe they could control it. They thought that everyone else before them just missed something, that they would be the one to figure it out. You can guess what happens soon after."

The best advice when summoning a Wraith is not to do it, as these creatures are highly dangerous and unpredictable. They will look for any excuse to kill their summoner and untether themselves from them, allowing them to act on their own accord. These monsters are cunning and sadistic, killing anything they encounter in the most brutal fashion possible. They especially enjoy toying with human victims, often tormenting them for weeks at a time before finally killing them. When untethered, they produce a fog that slowly envelopes the world around them, which Wraiths often use to mark their territory.

Notable Incidents

The Beopeka Massacre

It was a quiet day in Beopeka, a small town located along the Sijajući river of Krallum. Overlooking the town on a nearby hill was an old tower belonging to a summoner named Mitar Ristovic, a reclusive individual obsessed with his work. His only true interactions with the town were when he would occasionally come down to grab supplies from the town's markets and replenish his supply of liquor. The town and Mitar's relationship could best be described as like two distant neighbors who rarely interacted but still got along well enough, at least in the eyes of the townsfolk.    In 731 1E, tragedy struck the riverside town under the cover of night. An old guardsman counting down the time until his shift could end spotted a large figure with two horns and sharp claws hiding within the shadows. Within a flash, the figure faded into mist, and the killing began. The Wraith, believed to have been created by Mitar himself, slaughtered all who crossed its path, leaving a trail of bodies and a river of blood lining the streets. Only a small handful of people escaped the town with their lives and completely abandoned the town in a single night. Survivors recounted what had happened to Beoteka and warned all to avoid it if they valued their lives. It wouldn't be until decades later that people would enter the ghost town again. Mitar and the Wraith were never seen again, leaving all to wonder where the monster and its potential master went.

The Battle of Ovaraluk Pass

In the first year of the Second Era, forces of Hanladi pushed on the contested region of the Ispyan river valley along the southeastern border of Nelakash. Before the clash on Ovaraluk Pass, the conflict was regulated to small skirmishes between to the two armies. The Battle of Ovaraluk Pass proved to be the longest and bloodiest battle in the region. The pass was a vital supply route for the region; whoever maintained full control of the region stood a good chance of securing a tight hold on the river valley. As the battle raged on, the tides seemed to turn in the favor of the Nelakashi forces until a Wraith adorned with the skull of a tiger began its slaughter. The monster tore through the Nelakashi soldiers and battlemages until they were forced to retreat to save their lives.    With Ovaraluk pass secured, the Hanladi soon took the entire region for themselves. As for the Wraith, who swung the battle in their favor. The Hanladi troops were forced to destroy it to prevent it from turning on them and making their effort pointless.

The Norbois Wraith

The most recent incident involving a Wraith was in 214 2E in the small logging town of Norbois. Early in the autumn, as the leaves became a vibrant orange, a strange fog enveloped the forest bordering the town. The strange fog lingered and flowed unnaturally, causing worry and panic among the town's inhabitants. All logging came to a halt as locals feared what lurked within the fog. Baron Rastofer, the town's overseer, dismissed the claims and attempted to force his workers to continue production to little avail. As the weeks went on, the shroud blanketed the woodland, and soon people went missing, though such reports fell on deaf ears.   Tired of the stalling, the baron hired four mercenaries to take care of the matter. The four sellswords, Niklas, Amira, and the two knight errants, Marc and Gauthier, traveled into the fog to dispel the horrors plaguing the town. Soon they were face to face with the Wraith, which created the fog. The sellswords would eventually kill the sadistic elemental, though only Amira would leave the woods alive.