Borda
The Borda is an aggressive, free-roaming fiend that frequents gloomy ponds, miserable swamps and misty moors. While active in fully overcast conditions even at middday, it hides from the hateful sun and won't risk the sight of sunlight if it can help it. Riding a thin border between angry undead and vile demon, this truly evil spirit may be created by a murderous injustice committed against an innocent woman in her youth, though the Borda itself is not the spirit of the victim - rather it arises as a result of this injustice, and propagates even more injustice into the world as a result. It will kill anyone unfortunate enough to find himself or herself in the region of the pond it frequents, but it will also roam far and wide in the dark wood specifically hunting for other innocents. While intelligent and able to converse in common as well as Abyssal, the Borda usually speaks only nonsense or hideous rhymes meant to further disturb its unlucky victims.
The notable characteristics of the Borda are its ability to change form at will into a thin mist, as long as it's not in direct sunlight - the better to move through foggy fens unseen; and when in its true form, the Borda is obsessed with ropes and string; it often wears them around its neck, knotted impossibly tight and leaving deep divots in its sickening grey-green flesh around the neck, wrists, or both. This obsession is so great that if a would-be victim is able to drop a rope or string or length of necklace or the like before the Borda has attacked, the Borda has a 50% chance of forgoing its attack in order to snatch up the beautiful item and play with it in its thin hands and long, sharp fingernails.
For a fiend, its attacks are fairly straightforward - It will effortlessly remove the rope around its neck and seek to wrap it around the a victim of its choosing within 15', and then reel that creature up to 10' to bring it within the range of its vicious fingernails. The rope is technically a psychic effect that actually exists in the mind of the victim, but even if the victim sees a weapon pass clean through it and cause no damage, the illusion is compelling and requires no to-hit roll - a victim's only chance is to break free using their strength. All the hate-magic of other sorts of demons is compressed into the convincing reality of the Borda's rope. Breaking free requires a DC15 strength save, which the victim uses to avoid being restrained and may repeat at the end of their turn f they fail it initially. Importantly, when so restrained, a victim cannot speak or use their hands, making it impossible to cast spells (Verbal, Material and Somatic components are unavailable), and invoking the suffocation rules which allow a character to hold their breath for 1 minute plus a number of rounds equal to their constitution bonus.
For most players this seems like plenty of time, at least ten rounds, but should they be rendered unconscious by the Borda's subsequent claw attacks (or any other damage source), the victim will automatically fail their death saves because they are unable to breathe, and any attacks the Borda lands against an unconscious opponent are automatically critical hits, which automatically count as two failed death saves; things can go from bad to worse very quickly. The rope is ephemeral and cannot be removed or cut by another person, but to the victim the ropes that bind it are entirely real, to the point that the victim dies of that belief - in fact, that's the only source of joy in the Borda's existence.
The Borda's claw attacks are nothing special other than it gets two of them on its turn, and it has advantage in its attacks against restrained victims within 5'. Restrained victims have few options as their move speed is zero and they cannot wield weapons or cast spells, or speak; they can attempt to escape at the end of their turn, but they may be retargeted and captured by the Borda; escape does not make them immune. The Borda can only restrain one victim in this way at a time.
Basic Information
Anatomy
In humanoid form, a Borda looks like a hag, inasmuch as hags have a 'type' - but the Borda is a fiend (So is a Night Hag, for that matter; 'hag' is a confusing and inexact term). Bordas are always distressingly ugly, and distressingly naked, women of indeterminate age. Bordas have charcoal gray skin puckered by the water, and their eyes are a whitish yellow, often with no discernible iris or pupil. They breathe hard, mutter incomprehensible nonsense or shriek wildly, and their teeth all seem to be loose in their grey-black gums. As a mist, well - they're a mist.
Biological Traits
Misty Nature. Bordas are dangerous creatures that hunt by altering their shape to form a cloud of mist. Using this technique, they hide in plain sight, waiting for unlucky prey
to come near before launching an attack. On sunny days, when they cannot hide in the mist and escape the burning sun (to which they are vulnerable), they hide below the
surface of the murky waters in which they lair, waiting for a more suitable opportunity to emerge.
Ecology and Habitats
The Borda is an evil spirit that is closely connected to abandoned fishponds and other depressing outdoor water settings. While they may be found around large bodies of water, large lakes or even oceans, the creatures are most strongly associated with small bodies of water, big enough for a few fish but not much bigger. The reason for this is very unclear, as is their fixation with ropes and strings. They are evil spirits with no need for food, water, sleep or air, and should they kill a victim, they evidently don't actually eat it, as a hag or ghoul might; they delight in the pleasure of watching the victim die, and then they dump the carcass in the water for the fish or for scavengers to deal with.
Biological Cycle
Arises, fully formed, as an extension of some great injustice. Importantly, these are not restless ghosts looking to avenge their death or to find justice - just the opposite, these are demonic beings drawn to the pain and terror of an unjust death and they delight in the prospect of creating even more of it. Sadly, more than one unwary do-gooder found themselves in the Borda's noose when they thought they were going to do the right thing, and rescue a restless spirit; these beings arise from injustice but are demons, not undead.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Hates all other life, other fiends, undead, fey, aberrations, even animals; is always found alone, and should another evil creature happen along into the encounter, the Borda will regard it as just as deserving of strangulation and murder as everyone else - though of course anything that doesn't need to breathe may not actually die of strangulation, and its claw attacks are not considered magical so it may not be able to do much against certain opponents.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
In any climate where one might find a gloomy body of water large enough for fishing. In hot climates, folklore tells of the Borda of the Oasis; in frozen climates the Ice Borda comes out of the mists to rule the months of darkness, stealing innocents outdoors. At the same time, sightings are so rare that most 'civilized' people consider the Borda a cryptid at best, and an old wive's tale to frighten children most of the time. Unfortunately like the Capcaun and the Alzatho, Borda are very real, but their preference for only the gloomiest ponds and their tendency to remain in mist form for months at a time means that sightings that anyone lives to report are very infrequent and poorly documented.
Average Intelligence
Quite clever (INT averages 16, a +3), and they sometimes will put some guile into their traps laid for curious lost children and the unwary. However their constant hostility and the fact that they hold virtually all other life in contempt means they're not going to stand around making speeches or patiently waiting for victims to complete puzzles.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
The Borda has darkvision to a range of 120' in her humanoid shape, and blindsight 60' when in mist form.
Hear the lullaby it sings,
While it binds you with its strings,
Ties the knot and tugs the rope,
The air escapes and so does hope.
With tightened rope and evil will,
The borda sings; now watch it kill.
While it binds you with its strings,
Ties the knot and tugs the rope,
The air escapes and so does hope.
With tightened rope and evil will,
The borda sings; now watch it kill.
Origin/Ancestry
Abyssal Fiend (Demon)
Lifespan
Indefinite
Average Height
medium
Average Weight
medium
Average Physique
The Borda is either a nondescript mist or, when attacking, an absolutely foul creature with dysmorphic female features - sagging breasts, corpulent hips, and flyaway long hair tangled with algae and mud, as well as jet-black fingernails and loose teeth. The skin is puffy and charcoal-green as if the creature has spent a lifetime underwater - but in fact, they rarely actually go in the water at all; they may spend weeks or months as an area of mist hovering at the surface of their favored pond, ideally mingling with the natural mist and all but invisible in that state, though their shape-changed forms do give off a faint aura of magic that can be detected as transmutation magic by the spell.
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