Geist

Content Warning: Description of violence, manipulation

Geists are horrifying Hatelings found roaming the Demented Glen and as such are, thankfully, exceedingly rarely encountered when not part of a Host incursion. These tall, gaunt humanoid figures have elongated arms and legs, lending them the appearance of a living scarecrow, which is only compounded by the black wings that unfurl at their backs.

As encounters with these horrors are so few, details about them are equally sparse. An interview conducted with a Seeker scout sent to map out the Black Forest with his partner and who wished to stay anonymous described one such encounter. He reported feeling a buzzing or droning in his skull before the gangly creature emerged from the shadows of the glen. It then took a few swaying steps towards the duo before it simply vanished before his eyes.
His partner was adamant that he had seen nothing, and the two argued for a while before they continued their mission. Before long the buzzing returned. When the Geist showed itself again, it did so by brutally tearing the arms of the scout's partner from their sockets. He reports taking off running, all the while his partners screams echoing at his back. When he eventually came to a stop and sat down to weep, it did not take long for his partner to catch up to him, both arms intact and bewildered at his sudden departure. After this point, the Geist continually tormented the scout with increasingly horrid and realistic visions of his or his partners demise.
Eventually, he was carried out of the forest by his partner and consigned to a mental care institute operated by the church of the Resounding Truth, where the interview was conducted. At the time, the scout had gouged out his eyes and spent his days bedridden.
Despite mangling himself in such a manner, he reportedly ended the interview by claiming to ”still see it”. This interview took place seven years after his interment.
From this interview, it can be inferred that Geists pose a spiritual or perhaps a memetic threat rather than a physical one.

Don't look at it!

by AI-generated

_{An artist's rendition of a Geist, based on witness testimony}