Non-Player Characters
the calico cat.
A talking cat who hangs around the barracks a lot. She's kind of a snarky bitch, but what cat isn't? If you can get past the snark, she's incredibly helpful to know. She has no special powers - except those every cat has - but she can offer more than a century's worth of knowledge about Babylon Wood and its inhabitants. However, she'll rarely tell you anything straight out - it may be that she can't, only offering hints and leading you to conclusions as best she can.
the criers.
These spiderlike beings put the beasts of Harry Potter to shame with their size and viciousness. Equipped with a ninth leg designed as a lure, they attempt to bring their prey in close and attack. The ninth leg looks like a human, and reflects the sex and age of the beast in question. They also have hallucinogenic or paralytic venom that can be absorbed through the skin. They can be killed, and aren’t particularly invulnerable. Get them through the mouth or eyes and they’ll go down fast. That said, they usually keep their eyes shut when they’re on the attack and hunt by scent and vibration. Vision is a last resort and their eyelids are extremely thick and protective. They travel and hunt in family groups, and are extremely protective of their own.
jack and goldie.
Just a barman and his daughter, really, living deep in the Wood where only the lost can find them. Stop in for a drink if you ever lose your way - if you can make heads or tails of what's being said, you might be better off for getting lost in the first place.
the kitsune girl.
Capable of appearing in a multitude of guises, she runs the carnival and doesn't miss a bit of what happens there. She can offer almost anything to those willing to pay the price. And the bigger the prize, the more vicious the toll. The only certainty with Kitsune is that she's stronger than she looks - and she's hiding more than your life is worth on its best day.
the lake.
The largest body of water near the barracks, it's just that: a body of water. Sentient, irritable, savage, and inclined to eat whomever appears on its shores, there's a reason helpful fae have posted signs all around it reading 'Warning: don't break the surface'.
Of course, that was when visitors to the Wood were common. Most of the signs are either gone or so worn down that only select words are readable. 'Break' and 'surface' being two of them.
mama crier.
The Queen of the Criers, who makes her home in the darkest part of the Dark Wood. According to Lore, she sewed the wailing bodies to the first Criers herself. She resembles a cross between a scorpion, a spider and a serpent; her main body is that of a scorpion, while a snake’s body and tail sprout from just under her torso. She’s capable of both walking or, at need, lifting her scorpion-body free of the ground and slithering with terrible speed. As a result, she has two tails - one topped with a scorpion’s stinger, the other, a silent snake’s rattle.
The ‘stinger’ of the scorpion’s tail actually produces a thick, thread-like substance; her scorpion legs are viciously sharp. She employs them as living needles, a sort of nightmare sewing machine. To catch her prey, she poisons a weaker creature and then sews it to her serpent tail, binding its mouth shut with her thread. She then allows the body to try to drag itself to help. When someone comes to investigate, she attacks and feeds on the victim. She prefers to capture prey in pairs so that she can always have one to use as a lure for later.
miranda.
While she appears in the form of a child, Miranda is actually far older and far more dangerous than many of the fae in the wood. Once a powerful member of a fairy court, she fell in love with a married mortal and ruined her reputation in pursuit of him. When he refused to be her lover, she took the form of the man’s child, acting innocent when he was around and torturing his wife when he was not. At night she came to him in her true form to try and seduce him.
Eventually his wife killed herself. Stricken with grief, the man fled into the Wood and vanished. Miranda kept the child’s form, and has since plagued the wood, torturing and driving mad any she comes across. She has no grander motives, no deeper desires - she simply wants all who come to the Wood to realize the futility of their situation. To give up and die.
nomee.
Pronounced "No, me." This Nymph - more specifically, Naiad - lives in the Amaranth Stream and regularly emerges to steal things from people around the barracks. Distract her with something shiny and you can usually get your belongings back without much trouble - or trade her something shiny and you'll get them back without any trouble at all. Even those things that end up in the bottom of her stream won't be damaged; if and when she returns them, they're always completely dry and unharmed.
She's a very minor spirit of the Wood, but still has enough juice to turn soft ground to mud, create small, temporary springs, and heal those who enter her stream if she feels so inclined.
the pixies and the trolls.
Mortal enemies, the pixies and trolls engage in regular and semiharmless bouts for control of their respective territories. The pixies are a bit airheaded, not unhelpful if approached the right way, and prone to random acts of tiny violence if provoked. The trolls are large, stupid, cat-headed, and extremely powerful - and also given to marveling at the simplest of tricks. All in all, not the biggest threat the Wood has to offer.
the shades.
The Shades are the memories of former Wood-dwellers, left behind in places of great joy or sadness. Given life and substance by the Wood, they’re trapped in a single moment, living out the script of their memory over and over again. If you happen along during one of these 'plays', they will incorporate you into it and expect you to play along. If you don't, they turn violent fast, and only become corporeal enough to fight at the height of the memory’s most severe emotions.
the walkers.
Nightmare beasts from the darker parts of the Wood, they occasionally venture into other areas to hunt and terrorize the locals. They feed off the fear and pain of their victims, not the flesh - though a little meat every once in a while is tasty enough that nutritional value doesn't really matter. They can shapeshift, though they generally bastardize the form of whatever animal they take. And only the more powerful fae in the Wood stand a chance of killing them.
Psychic and cruel, they have an ability to bind a person’s spirit with thorny, incorporeal vines. Escape is possible, but you have to tear yourself free--and leave a portion of your spirit behind in the process.
the wanderers.
A traveling troupe of merchant fae, these oversized animals are generally helpful. Generally. While they'll trade you all manner of useful things should you happen to run into them, they don't trade in coin - they trade in value. Whatever you want, you must part with something of equal worth.
And one of their number has a habit of trying to kidnap and sell people.
white eyes.
A shapeshifter, The Man With The White Eyes can appear in any form he wishes, male or female, human or animal. Masculinity happens to be his default form - though few have ever seen it. The only way to tell it's him is by his eyes. No matter his shape, his eyes are the same - white, with a hint of oil-slick rainbows.
He's Kitsune's loyal servant, and while he has his own preferred types and motives, one of his primary goals is helping create a need for Kitsune herself to fill. He does have the unfortunate habit of turning people into those animals they most resemble, if they cross him.
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