The Dread Huntress

Who was the Dread Huntress

Few people know the real name of the Dread Huntress, only knowing her a leather-clad archer who appears riding a demonic unicorn accompanied by a retinue of fallen female archers (former heroes who perished in dungeons but were resurrected as dungeon spawn and gifted to her for services rendered) mounted on dark unicorns, wearing similar sets of leather hunting gear and equipped with spears, bows, and long knives.

She was born Dineke 'Dinny' Boddewaard, the middle daughter of an Upper Tadaridan noble house. She attended the Presentation of Brides, having been overjoyed to be accepted. Dressed in her finest, the unicorn that attended snorted and made it obvious she was not selected, she was actively rejected. Heartbroken and shamed she flew home, to be rejected in such a manner was a sign that she was sullied and unclean, a slattern. This was profoundly untrue and it let her scandalized and her position in the family hierarchy rapidly plummet. She became last in line, her parents refusing the believe her protests. They had no idea their daughter was a filthy whore.

She left home at 14 and joined the Tadaridan chapter of the Guild of Heroes Upon Return and took up an adventurer's life. Her father gave her a small gift of gold so she could equip herself and make her death worthy and not pathetic. None expected her to return. She spent a short amount of time in the Guild before transferring from AuR to the Forestal's Guild and took up hunting. She would spend several years learning to stalk and kill without hesitation or remorse and became an accomplished hunter. This counted with AuR as well, and her standing with the Guild was good. Everyone likes to eat, and rare game commands respect and a good payout.

With nearly a decade gone, she returned home, technically a hero. She had even gone so far as to slay a dragon. A small one, but it is no mean feat for a lone woman to slay a dragon with naught but wits and a bow, even if it was a young one. Her father greeted her cooly, but her mother refused to meet her at all and demanded the whore stay elsewhere. Crestfallen she took a room at the local inn and found her younger sister's childhood paramour now worked as a barkeep. A far cry from the noble warrior the lad had aspired to be when younger. Over too many pours of turnip wine, he confessed. Before the ceremony, her younger sister had convinced him to lay with her. They had fornicated in Dinny's bed, and her younger sister had made sure to clean up his mess with Dinny's underclothes. The unicorn could smell his essence and rejected Dinny. What harlot would attend the ceremony with a man's seed dried in her clothing?

Distraught she tried to confront her sister over this to find that she had since become wed and was the wife of a high-ranking Tadaridan noble.

She would spend half a year in the lower case d dungeon of her sister's new castle home. There she was subjected to routine physical abuse, long periods of isolation, denial of food and drink, and even being forced to not sleep for days at a time. Her sister hated her and had carried out her plan to get Dinny thrown out so she would instead gain the inheritance she thought she deserved instead of being bustled off to a convent or married to a wealthy but non-noble to enhance the financial status of the family and raise up filthy commoners with her loins.

She was visited by the Midnight Dahlia who mended her wounds, helped her escape from captivity, and gave her safe passage to the last place Dinny ever imagined she would go, the Land of Shadow. With her pass she made her way to the gates of Doomguard, on the shoulders of the Lichelight volcano. Emerald lava erupted into the air and roiling green smoke billowed as she found herself before Hjarta, the Screaming Lover, one of the leading demonic generals in the Land of Shadows. Knowing something of betrayal, Hjarta took Dinny in, and gave her a refuge, a path, and a purpose. She spent another decade in the Land of Shadow where she honed her skill as a huntress, and gained honor and renown among the Land of Shadows. Though Lichelight and Doomguard were places of immense evil, she was not tortured, she was not raped, she was not starved for amusement.

Under the kindness in shadow, Dinny was laid to rest, and the Dread Huntress was raised.

Fell Archer Abilities:

Dusk Arrow - deals regular damage per bow and arrow being used, but also reduces the target's essence by an amount equal to the damage, transferring the essence to the Fell Archer. When the arrow strikes a living target with essence there is a flash of purple radiance shaped like a beast's talon.

Shadow Arrow - deals regular damage per bow and arrow being used, but also transfers a portion of the damage inflicted to the Fell Archer as restored health.

Concentration - by foregoing all actions and movement, the archer can automatically hit a target that they can see. In game terms, this takes two rounds, with the attack automatically hitting last in initiative order. Useful when concealed, less so in a battle or melee.

Arrow Guard - bonus ability to avoid ranged attacks

Beast's Heart - can sometimes automatically recover from being knocked out, or recover from critical injury that would normally require another's aid

Barrage - fire up to 4 arrows but each only inflicts half damage, attack favors speed and volume of fire over maximum damage

Disabling Shot - inflict a wound to deliberately disarm an opponent. Likely to leave a permanent cripple effect unless treated with magic.

Demobilizing Shot - inflict a wound to slow or immobilize an opponent. Likely to leave a permanent cripple effect unless treated with magic.

What Terrible Deed Did She Commit

The border kingdom of Upper Tadarida was locked in a generational conflict with the barbarian clans of the Citrin Steppe. The barbarians were long allies of Tir an Scathana, the Land of Shadows, while Upper Tadarida was a lawful good kingdom with ranks of strong mounted knights, well-trained footmen, and a stoic frontier military-aligned society. Tir an Bas had long relied on Tadarida and other border kingdoms to keep the interior of the gelid region relatively safe. This was of great importance, as sharing a border with the Land of Shadows is never a good thing. The Dread Huntress and her retinue were lent to the barbarian clans to deal a blow against Tadarida, as their border patrols were interfering with minions of the shadows moving between the two regions, and the Land of Shadows has long considered Tir an Bas to be part of its domain, coveting the hoary ancient might of the craggy mountains, frozen moors, and its vast wealth and peoples.

One of the pillars of Tadarida was the veneration of the unicorn. The creature was part of its royal heraldry, it flew on the king's flag, and the anointing of queens was done in a ritual that involved summoned unicorns. The young prince would summon a unicorn and it would attend and inspect the potential brides of the prince and then, it would bless one to become the next queen. Scandal had erupted from this twice as in one generation the ritual had to be done twice because the creature refused all of the potential brides and all were sent away in shame. In a different year, the unicorn selected two brides. The prince took two brides, and it was later determined that one of the new princesses could not bear children but was accorded one of the best queens of Tadarida, while the other bore the prince and then king strong sons and beautiful daughters. In support of this great tradition, Upper Tadarida had long maintained the Damascena Cascades, a series of rapids, whitewater, and multiple waterfalls, as a sanctuary for the unicorns. The creatures largely didn't need this protection, but they understood the gesture and the cascades became the wonder of Tir an Bas, and a place where worthy applicants sought the blessings or the healings offered by the magical creatures. Other magical creatures came and settled, and made the cascades and the forested hills around it a fairie garden.

Gejima, the Avatar of Pain and the actual dungeon avatar of the Boudoir of Agony, had an interest in weakening Upper Tadarida. It's business in depravity and dungeon economics needed a steady flow of trade with the Guild Dominion of Van Zoelon. To this end, Gejima put out a contract for hunters, murderers, assassins, blackguards, and chevaunchers. Many came to show interest in the contract, but they scoffed and left seeing it was a hit against the Damascena Cascades. Fight through the ceremonial Tadaridan Guards, then assault a magical nature/fairie stronghold, no thanks.

The Dread Huntress was among those who attended. Rather than immediately taking the contract, she challenged the Boudoir of Agony and plumbed the dungeon. Where the others saw a contract that paid out on completion, the Dread Huntress saw a dungeon that had become *ahem* cocky, and decided to first kick its ass, take her due, and then take the contract. To the shock and horror of Gejima and the Boudoir of Agony, the Dread Huntress did just that. With the Bow of Golmarr (a Gulerodian magic bow) and a quiver of anodyne arrows, she fought her way through the Boudoir dungeon. She fought Gejima one on one, hand to hand, and decapitated the Avatar of Pain with her dagger Sweet Release. Most of the monsters in the Boudoir fed on pain, allowing it to make them stronger, and the Huntress afflicted them with numbness and weapons that dealt damage, but no pain.

After this, the Huntress took her reward from the dungeon, demanding the services of the Knightmare Lor'singer, and the Panoply of the Unicorn Hunter.

With this gear and her own terrifying skill as a Fell Archer, she passed unseen through Upper Tadarida and entered the Damascene Cascades. With her bow and its lethal arrows, she swept around the edge and killed a horrific number of unicorns, pegasi, noble griffins, and the Damascene Enclave of centaurs. Sensing something was amiss, the unicorns concentrated on the cascades themselves and made a defensive herd. The unicorn stallions started casting wards and palings around the cascades, but it was too late. The Dread Huntress was already within the range of the defenses and when they saw Lor'singer and sought to welcome their unknown brother, she fell on them. Combining her fell archer abilities with the Bow of the Rainbow Dawn, she slaughtered the unicorns. She left several crippled but alive, so she could take them captive.

After the massacre, the herd of Tadarida was gone. The corpses of the slain were harvested for their horns, and beast cores. Given the isolation of the Cascades, she had time to skin several of the slain and harvested their bodies of valuable organs, and viscera, as well as partaking in the absolutely unforgivable and horrific Feast of the Unicorn ritual. The Dread Huntress hacked the lead stallion's corpse open and pulled its heart out, and ate it, letting the blood cover her body. Laughing, dripping with gore, the Dread Huntress stood, having become an ascendant.

Following the Massacre, the morale of Tadarida took a major blow. They couldn't fathom such reckless hate. The wounded could no longer be brought to the Cascades to be healed just by the ambient presence of the unicorns. Without this passive protection, diseases started appearing across the border of the kingdom. The barbarian clans sensed this weakness and redoubled their efforts and quickly started gaining ground.

The Dread Huntress returned to the Boudoir of Agony and after accepting the submission of a reincorporated Gejima, she turned in her trophies and completed the contract. The dungeon accepted the unicorn materials and used them to create the first Dark Unicorns (rather than unicorn-shaped things), Spiral Wands (white spiral wands cure wounds and remove disease, black spiral wands cause wounds and inflict disease). The dungeon also added Unicorn Leather to its crafting materials and concocted the Elixer of Unicorn Blood. The Huntress took her share of these treasures, holding the dungeon to its word, under the threat of its own destruction. She murdered Gejima again just to make a point, and left with her loot.

After this, spiral wands, unicorn leather armor, and dark unicorn mounts were sent to the barbarians. Able to heal their own, and move more quickly with their dark mounts, the barbarians swept across Upper Tadarida. The farmlands were sacked and burned. Towns were put to axe and flame. Prisoners were taken, defenders were butchered, and the kingdom was reduced to two fortresses, and became a satrapy of Lower Tadarida, which afterward became just the Unified Kingdom of Tadar.

How Did She Do it? 

There were three major tools that allowed the Dread Huntress to successfully carry out the Damascena Cascades Massacre: the Knightmare Lor'singer, the Bow of the Rainbow Dawn, and the Unicorn Poacher Panoply.

The Knightmare Lor'singer appears as a purple unicorn of such a dark hue and metallic interference that it appears black, but can flash in the least amount of light. The beast is very much NOT a unicorn, but a hedonistic demon of the Boudoir of Agony. Its horn is a meter long and glows with a bloody carnelian light. The miasma that emanates from this light is deeply demoralizing, causing lethargy and weakness in those not strong enough to resist it. This is one of the things that made Lor'singer invaluable in the different wars and battles the Boudoir fought, but not what made it valuable to the Dread Huntress. What made the beast valuable to her was that it appeared as a UNICORN, and as it approached other unicorns and affiliated creatures, they did not sense it as anything other than a rare male unicorn. As most of the species are female, the appearance of a male tends to not just draw down their collective defenses but also attracts said female unicorns. Despite its tremendous combat power, easily a match for a team of heroes itself, Lor'singer's most important contribution was its basic mobility and its ability to bring lawful evil-aligned beings into close proximity to unicorns and their kin.

Paralyzing Fear - Lor'singer can focus on a single target and keep it from fleeing

Unerring Tracker - like a shark, Lor'singer can detect the scent of blood from miles away

Shadowstep - the beast can move from shadow to shadow with its rider, allowing for incredible speed and ambush attacks

Impale - can make a called attack to impale a foe through the heart with its horn, inflicting fatal damage

The Bow of the Rainbow Dawn, despite its name, is a tool of terror. The bow is considered an Unholy Relic and it was crafted from the remains of a greater pegasus. The bow itself is laminated layers of bone, the adhesive made from the hooves, and the grip wrapped in pegasus leather. The bowstring was made from the tail. The bow comes with a quiver filled with thirteen arrows, fletched with the feathers from the pegasus' wing. The quiver itself is also magical and the arrows fired are returned to the quiver, clean and repaired. Seven of the arrows are large curved broadheads, specifically for dealing bleeding damage to large targets, originally for hunting large game. These are devastating against Large creatures, like horses and horse-shaped creatures. Five of the arrows are armor-penetrating triangular bodkins, a common type of war arrow. These do less overall damage but can penetrate armor with ease, depending on type and distance. The last two arrows are unique. The arrow Demenis is a moon silver needlepoint arrow that has the ability to penetrate magical armor and protection. This arrow is known and feared as a Princess Slayer. The soulsteel chisel tip arrow Phantadas is not intended for hunting or war, it is intended to be used against magical constructs like golems, war engines, and the like. The arrow deals staggering effects to magical creations, constructs, and summoned beasts.

True Strike or +20 to an attack role with one of the seven hunting arrows, double damage against Large creatures.

Ignore Armor 50% when using the bodkin arrows

Demenis has True Strike and Ignore Magic Armor 100%

Phantadas doesn't deal damage but hits the target with a Disrupt Magic effect. This makes golems and artifact creatures to become inactive or dormant until magically recharged. Summoned creatures have to make a saving throw or be banished. Magical wards are diminished.

Limitations - it would be easy for the archer bearing the Bow of the Rainbow Dawn to walk around and just fire Demenis over and over as it returns to their quiver. There are two catches, the arrows returning to the quiver is not an instant effect. It can sometimes take hours for an arrow to return, depending on where it was shot, what happened to it, and so forth. The other is that shooting one of the thirteen magic arrows takes a toll on the archer, taxing their constitution score. A normal person could shoot two or three of the magic arrows and be exhausted. A professional archer could fire half the quiver before giving out. A professional archer with marathon runner levels of endurance could empty the quiver and then be exhausted.

The Unicorn Poacher Panoply is an equipment set that was crafted in the depths of the Boudoir of Agony chaotic evil dungeon, concealed somewhere in Tir an Bas, the frozen wastes. It is composed of eight pieces that individually are good but if all eight are equipped double all the items effects.

1. Leather Hat

2. Collar

3. Cloak

4. Tunic

5. Girdle

6. Stalkings (leggings)

7. Boots

8. Bracers

If all eight pieces are equipped, the wearer gains Damage Reduction Major/Beasts, meaning most mundane attacks from animals, creatures, and beasts is reduced to nothing. Magical attacks and spell like abilities are reduced in effectiveness by 50%. The wearer also gains Pass Without Trace at will. As an unintended feature of the set being made of leather and being form fitting, the charisma of a female wearer is increased by +8. The equipment doesn't offer magical protection or serious armor bonuses, so is not horribly useful in fighting other humans, demihumans, or monsters that are classified as demons, aberrations, horrors, elementals, etc. Against a bear, you're golden. Against an orc warrior or a monstrous beholder, this isnt the set.

I had the stats in mind when I wrote out the list of items, but the site glitched and dumped my last round of writing. This is most likely on my end, having the page open too long and timing my connection out. Having a chunk of something lost like this makes me inclined to not retype it, so if you want specific details on the equipment set, let me know. Otherwise, no worries.