The rural Raven Shadow assassins are less "perfect shadows" and certainly not genteel, disguised-anywhere murderers, but they are nonetheless extremely dangerous foes. They wield the typical shadow-enhanced weaponry of other Raven Shadows, but are far more rugged and equipped for combat in the wild. They bear a resemblance to the nomadic tribes. They retain the religious fervor and dedication of their city-folk siblings, but with additional tools linked to the wild places of the Tarrakhuna. Instinct: To guard the threshold

• Strike from shadow
• Create clouds of impenetrable darkness
• Call the desert to their aid
• The shadow blades wound body and soul
• Flank an opponent to isolate them

The succubus, Al-Zerris, who feeds on the high and low emotions of mortal-kind, hoping to ascend both the demonic AND devilish hierarchies. She cares nothing for the suffering she inflicts--indeed, she revels in it, and binds souls to her after their deaths to further exploit them and eventually consume them. Heartless and sadistic...but sensual as well. The kiss of death has never been so cold, nor so beautiful. Instinct: To feed on mortals

• Drain life and empower the dead
• Projecting illusory versions of itself
• Dabbles in necromancy
• It sups on the suffering it inflicts
• It can only be truly killed if cut off from the planes.

The true heart of the Song of Thorns, the infectious spirit-being that destroyed Zerzura and its Shi makers long and long ago. Only encountered if its primary anchor, the Body of the Song, has already been destroyed. In this form, it is both more vulnerable and more dangerous than ever. Its infectious powers are amplified tenfold; even against those immune to possession, its spirit-thorns can strip away parts of one's soul, potentially destroying who the victim is without ever invading the mind. Further, when exposed this way, the Song will be truly desperate--it needs a new anchor soon, or at least needs to repel or destroy its attackers. Should even this form of it be slain, however, the Song will truly end, its powers returning to the river of spirits that flows from birth, through death, to the Beyond, and back to rebirth. Instinct: Destroy structure and meaning

• Corrupt souls and spread itself
• Manifest multiple spirit-forms--with illusory appearance
• Channeling the essence of those it has consumed
• Its thorns weaken the souls of those they pierce
• It can only be slain by words and symbols, not force

The Body of the Song is the physical anchor of the Song of Thorns. It is not, properly speaking, a "body" at all, instead being the densest and oldest cluster of thorn-vines present in Zerzura--it may even be the original plant host for the Song. However, just because it is not a body proper does not mean it is unimportant; though powerful and well-defended, it is still a potential weakness, as it is in some sense the only "totem" of the Song. Few could approach the Body without being infected and subverted, becoming food and tools for the Song, but if anyone could do so, the Song will strive to destroy them with extreme prejudice. The Body lairs in what appears to be the very heart of the City proper, with enormous vines ten feet across rising from or buried into the ground, between the shattered remnants of arches and scattered cobblestones. Servants of the Song rarely go here, but anyone whose mind has been assaulted by the Song has seen this place in the mind-battles it fights. Instinct: Absorb powerful minds, crush opposition.

• Confuse and infect prey with illusions and deceptions
• Invoke the world-shaping magic of the Shi
• Call upon the denizens of Zerzura to aid it
• Separate the party into mindscapes/shards of spacetime

The aesthetician statues of Zerzura are strange beings that do not want "violence" in the proper sense, but will violently force transformation on anyone or anything they view as "ugly," or even "insufficiently beautiful." Such transformations can change one's clothing, appearance, or even species--painfully, and possibly lethally. Death is preferable to ugliness in the minds of its long-gone creators. Instinct: Force beauty upon the world

• Change its shape to defend itself
• Permanent alteration of body

The Icestorm Virago is a strange being, possibly a remnant of the ancient Shi that once called Zerzura home, possibly a curiosity they had held captive that now roams free. She appears to be immune to the Song of Thorns, just as winter's chill cares not what thorns the thicket bears--and her influence on the forest helps keep the Song at bay. However, she is also wildly dangerous, and attracting her attention is as likely to hurt as help. Other ice-linked creatures, like the ice spiders and wendigo, seem drawn to her presence, while others simply benefit from the "protection" against the song of thorns. She seems to stick to a relatively limited territory in the deep forest, perhaps because the only part of Zerzura she can enter is ever-burning. Instinct: Freeze the living to add to her collection.

• Summon a swirl of bitter arctic cold.
• Calling simulacra of ice
• Storm and ice heed her call
• When her ice drains you, she profits.
• She does not fear the Song of Thorns.

Though it is now known that the Shadow Druids truly exist, and that they work by infecting with the dark hive-fungus, the workings of its strongest and most fully-assimilated servants have remained a mystery. Until now. This horrifying caricature of a mortal is all that remains after the hive-fungus has deeply infected a living druid and absorbed them into the hive. Wielding the powers of putrefaction and darkness, they exist only to further the hive's twisted plans for the region. Stripped of anything vaguely resembling humanity, they are better understood as puppets of a vast, old, and wicked intelligence. Puppets that were people once--and who, then and now, would gladly make every other person in the region just like them. Instinct: Spread spores and decay

• Enforce the will of the Fungal Mind
• Becoming one with shadow when wounded
• Spells of rot and plague, curses of darkness and corrosion
• The fungal mind inside reaches out to touch its victims

A blood fiend is to demons what a vampire is to humans; even to other fiends they are terrifying, twisted abominations. They hunt other demons for their blood, tearing open even resilient demon-hide with vicious claws to get at the fresh, burning-hot blood within. They stink of days-old blood and their skin is red, raw and flayed. You'll want a strong stomach as well as a strong heart if you have to fight one. Beware, even if you shed much of its blood rather than the reverse, you're not out of the woods yet--a puddle of its blood can trip you up, or even strike you. Unless you have good reason, best to run, or try some kind of magic to stop them. Instinct: To drink deep the living wine.

• Slices flesh to feast on blood.
• Blood it takes grants it strength.
• Blood it sheds remains dangerous.