Mother Milucra

Mother Milucra is one of The Cailachan. Her true name is Cailach Bel. Since The Flood she has resided in a swampy part of the forest in the centre of the island of Aird.   Like all the Cailachan she is tall - around 7ft - and usually wears clothing that obscures her face and body, with the exception of her hands, which she needs to have free for her craft. Specifically, she wears a thick, grey, full body veil, which due to the conditions of her home is permanently slightly damp and mildewed. She knits constantly, a formless, endless project, using silvery wool and her exceptionally long fingernails as needles.  

Lair

Mother Milucra adapted into her home a small upturned boat, wrecked during The Flood and left in the swamp after the flood waters receded. She stays mainly within the one 'room', in which she has installed a heavy table and lined with shelves. The shelves are crowded with bottles and containers holding potions, magical ingredients, and the gently glowing souls of those she has persuaded into deals.   The surrounding swamp is the most treacherous part of the already dangerous forest which covers most of the island. It is infected by her magical aura which daylight can never fully penetrate. Mortals who wander within it are likely to experience disturbing hallucinations or meet their end by one of the many predatory creatures who lurk there.  

Making Deals

Mother Milucra engages actively in the trading of mortal souls , using them either as currency in deals with other immortals or as components in her own magic. At the most basic level, she uses souls trapped in bottles and jars as lighting in her home.   Though by mortal standards Aird sees infrequent visitors, as an immortal who has existed for many hundreds of years Mother Milucra is satisfied to wait for curious adventurers or unfortunate sailors caught on the rocks surrounding the islands to find their way to her. When one does, she offers anything from simple information to rare items or boons. Her highest price is the relinquishing of one's soul to her ownership, but she is also open to lesser offers: rare magical items that pique her interest, or if the trader has nothing else, she can siphon from them the essence of strong negative emotion (usually generated by the recounting of a traumatic memory) which she can store and later use as a spell component.   Many of those who do business with her ultimately meet their death on the island, though rarely at her direct hand unless she is attacked first. Those who die after trading their soul are subsequently reanimated and wander the island as conscious undead, until time as Mother Milucra has use for them.   During The Folly's first visit to the island, Nev Dardian befriended and ultimately freed one such individual, the skeletal Corso.