Vinterweir
We marched through the whipping winds, barely staying upright as walls of snow buffetted us. The only thing keeping the crew from freezing solid was our multilayered fur, enchanted handily by our friendly local mage. Nothing the mage could do about the snow, however. We were looking for the previous expedition that had gone through this area. The Seochtian Explorer Corps. had assured us that their locator stones had them in this area, and that we would be paid handsomely for our efforts. I was still suspicious of the task. After all, what manner of beast could not only survive this cold but take out an entire platoon of hardened Seochtian Explorers? This was either a wild goose chase or... far above our paygrade. Just as I was in the right mind to turn back, we finally stumbled upon the expedition, or at least what remained of them. They had encamped deep in the wilds, with some kind of enchantment in the center on a pole forming a bubble of force against the snow. This, alongside the runes on the tents, spoke of a talented mage in the group. Once more not a good sign. We stepped into the protective bubble, thankful for a break from the endless torrent. We began our examination, our hands resting on our guns and swords nervously. The camp was seemingly abandoned, with clumps of solid ice in the tents and mounds of snow around the edge of the bubble. The ice and snow was a strange sight, considering the protective bubble still erected, but not unheard of. Still, I stepped over to one of the mounds to examine just in case they buried notes or equipment in the snow. I wiped the snow from the mound, revealing instead the desiccated corpse of an expedition member encased in solid blue ice. I suddenly understood what we were dealing with, and gave the order to move quickly back into the storm. As we ran back through the white, we heard a roar behind us. I only caught a glimpse of that thing, it's eye sockets burning with a hateful green flame. Even still, it haunts my deepest dreams to this day.The beast in the blizzard, the horror in the white-out, the roaming bora. This undead monstrosity has many names, but most simply know it as the Vinterweir. A beast born of the life-sapping nature of the northern winds it stalks just out of sight, plucking lost travelers from the cold and sapping the heat from their very souls. Not even magical fire can survive in the path of the Vinterweir, with even the strongest of blazes falling to a simple spark in its skeletal maw. Even if you can avoid it's hunger for heat, few last long in the cloak of snow that follows the Vinterweir. Legend says that these beasts were originally created by ancient Teutanic druids who worshipped the cold itself, used these beasts as a vessel for frost itself. Others say that these beasts are more modern inventions, created by necromancers and druids who weave the corpses of animals and humans who have perished in the cold to assist them to some end. In the few cases that this has been documented, said mages has never been able to control the sheer primal wrath of the Vinterweir. As such, there is a saying amongst necromantic circles in regards to these creatures: "one does not leash the north wind." Regardless of its murky origins, one does best to avoid the areas that are haunted by these terrors. For every cold-snap, for every blizzard, it could be waiting just beyond the pale. Lurking, waiting for just one weary traveler to drop its guard and lose themself in the snow.
Description
Vinterweir take a number of shapes, mostly depending on their constituent materials. The most common form is that of a rotting deer corpse with exposed skull filled with the guts of several people. Through the animation process, the souls of all constituent materials combine in a wretched amalgam, forming blazing green spectral limbs and matter to replace limbs and entire halves of the deer that its corpse might be missing. This spectral replacement does not extend to the skull, however the beast does gain a pair of cutting green fires that rest in each of its eyesockets. With this addition of new spectral material, the deer usually also grows several feet in height, towering over all but the tallest of humanoids. The spectral parts of a Vinterweir are hazily described by even the most descriptive of scholars, but all seem to agree that Vinterweirs can change the shape and hardness of their limbs. Some describe Vinterweirs using the to float above the ground, leaving no track and plucking people up into the air before stealing their heat. Some describe them creating limbs like a mountain lion, stalking prey before pouncing and quickly leaving their target a dessicated corpse. All agree that no matter the shape of these limbs, the Vinterweir can remain surprisingly hidden even despite the glowing nature of their bodies. A Vinterweir is defined by its hunger. A Vinterweir needs heat, and will act as a starving animal should they be deprived of it. Its generally agreed upon that the Vinterweir uses this heat to maintain the body and souls that make itself up. Without it, a Vinterweir would likely fall to pieces and once more become inert corpses, releasing their souls. As with most parts of the Vinterweir, how exactly it steals heat is not exactly known. The most common consensus agrees that it somehow pulls any and all heat from a source by literally eating its kinetic or magical energy. This leaves flame-magic as a whimpering spark, animals as desiccated viscera, and people as frozen statues. A well-fed Vinterweir is a sight to behold, with a cloak of frost and spectral limbs and an body size increase that makes it look like tyrannical royalty of the cold. A starving one, however, is a frightening vision, gaunt by corpse standards and with the instincts of a frightened animal. The Vinterweir also begins to produce a cold-snap or blizzard upon its creation. The epicenter (and coldest point) of this storm follows it as it roams the country-side, but even the weakest of Vinterweirs can cause miles of land to be reduced below freezing temperatures, even in temperate climates. The Vinterweir will also instinctually create an area of whiteout near it, causing the area in at least a mile-and-a-half around itself to be reduced to almost no visibility. This assists its hunting, but can also passively create an area of extreme danger just by being in its presence. Even just traveling in the area of a Vinterweir becomes an insurmountable challenge.Lairs
Vinterweirs tend to construct lairs to which they can retreat to if injured or preparing for another hunt. These lairs tend to be carved from preexisting geological structures. The most common lair that Vinterweirs pick are caves or karsts near where they were created, sometimes in the very spot of their birth if the ritual was conducted inside a cave. The Vinterweir then uses its energy-sapping powers to turn the rock in its cave to a brittle dust, allowing it to carve intricate (if primative) castles from even the most shallow of caves. Vinterweirs often try to replicate the dwellings and memories of its constituent souls, often imperfectly due to a lack of full memories. To accomplish this, the Vinterweir will take some of the corpses of its victims to arrange like statues. These horrid dioramas it creates are often done to imitate some scene from its patchwork memory, icebox dioramas all to imitate some scene from a life it hardly connects to. It's unknown if this is instinctual or purposeful, but many argue that these arrangements show some kind of aesthetic attention. A hint of intelligence to a beast that functions more as a force of nature.Banishment
Vinterweirs are difficult at best to destroy. Even a skilled group of adventurers can be stopped in their tracks by the just the inclement weather that follows this beast. If said group is targeted by the Vinterweir, they stand little chance. However, there are methods for properly fighting these beasts, however difficult it may be. The first, and most straightforward, is any type of elemental magic other than flame magic. Although the Vinterweir can still eat the energy of a magic, its far from proficient at absorbing anything other than flame magic. A powerful bolt of electricity or a fountain of acid can disintegrate the body of a Vinterweir and release the souls contained within. The second, and less straightforward, usually involves a cleric or paladin of some kind. Vinterweirs, for all their primal fury and terrifying powers of undeath, still contain the souls and minds of people. Often scared and confused people. A proficient cleric or paladin skilled in the arts of deduction and communication could, in theory, breakthrough to the consciousness underneath a Vinterweir and convince it to stand down and let the cleric or paladin release the souls. And if that doesn't work, the cleric or paladin could always hit the beast with copious amounts of divine magic. Should someone fail to fully dismantle the body of a Vinterweir, they must beware. Anything less than a killing blow to the Vinterweir will cause it to reassemble itself, replacing missing parts with spectral replacements. Some of the oldest and hardiest Vinterweir are almost fully spectral, looking like greenish blazing wraiths hiding in the fog.
Elvish Name: Vihlawi
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