The Uninvited

Basic Information

Alternative name(s) Watchers Threat High Tactics Watching, followed by aggression Subspecies None discovered Locations Gatherings of potential victims

Physical description

Size Similar to targets Distinctive features Misshapen proportions, lack of features

Out-of-character information

Image source Ryan Alexander Lee

Where there is one, they are always more. Encounters first began a few years ago; each different from the last, but sharing similarity in traits and features. Some have mused they are the result of an occult ritual gone awry, others believe them to be foul spirits. Some believe them to be many, and some believe all reported instances to be the same group.

What they truly are remains unknown, as their form shifts from night to night as a grotesque emulation of whomever they have been watching. For whatever purpose is best left undiscovered.

Initially vague and indistinct, The Uninvited eventually take forms that are grotesque imitations of whomever happens to be the current target of their attention. Proportions are most always distorted, and features exaggerated. The physical form will always clothed in crude imitation sharing the same style, but these will be as garish a likeness as their physical bodies. They will always stand at a similar height to their subject, generally within a few inches.

Facial features tend to be the most disconcerting. At best, eyes may be missing, and there may be up to three rows of teeth or none at all. Ears are almost never where they should be, if they are even present. At worst, the form will not even have a clear face, with a head-shaped mass of flesh and skin where it ought be. Teeth, ears, or even eyes may be located in random locations without rhyme or reason. Most any combination in between is possible, but in all instances there will be a disturbing lack of detail, exaggeration of proportions, or both.

Their first discovery was in the Bayou Garramarisma, but they wander far and all stick near one another. They tend to congregate around small gatherings of people and rarely hunt when there are more than a dozen present. In this phase, they might be perceived as unusual sounds similar to whatever they might have heard: footsteps, doors opening and muffled, unintelligible speech are all common. They are rarely seen at this point, and quickly scurry from view when discovered.

The longer The Uninvited linger, the more confident they become. Signs of their presence will become more noticeable and frequent, and eventually The Uninvited will visit in shifted form.

They will stumble in an attempt to emulate the natural walking gait of their given subject. If unaware that they themselves have been noticed, they might be seen displaying inquisitive curiosity, though they rarely tarry long at this stage. When they do present themselves, they will not hesitate to approach their targets at a casual and non-threatening pace. Speech and dexterous motions are an impossibility for them – limbs will flail and utterances will be guttural and disturbing.

Any reactions of aggression or disgust will elicit a feral rage and prompt attack. It is possible to avoid angering them, but it is unlikely to do one much good. One account tells of an adventurer who remained too frozen in fear to elicit such a response from them, only to have his head twisted off his body once one it had concluded its slow, shambling approach.

Should they lose sight of their targets, The Uninvited will immediately begin a search. They move deceptively fast when they believe no one is present to watch. Most will utilize all four limbs with joints bent at unnatural angles to climb or scurry in their search, moving faster than most can sprint. At any sign that their quarry is nearby enough to observe them, they will return to their shambling bipedal gait.

Unlike creatures of flesh and blood, The Uninvited have no vital organs that can be used to kill them quickly. Only one piece of the entity can carry motion – any severed limbs will fall lifeless, and bisection will always leave one half of the remnants inanimate, until the other's destruction. Though flesh will twist to mend wounds, any parts separated in this way can rejoin the host, either back where it was or wherever the individual deems suitable.

The Uninvited are strangely resistant to magic, able to twist incantations cast by others. Initially, magic might function correctly giving the mage false confidence, but with further use magic will become horribly twisted. Any means by which an incantation might bring harm to its caster is a potential effect. Pyromancers have been known to spontaneously bust into fire, and illusionists have struck themselves blind from this effect. Magic does not need to target The Uninvited for them to corrupt its use, nor need they rely on proximity or even line of sight.

Destruction through fire or corrosive substances is known to kill one, though both are disturbingly time-consuming processes. Without complete physical destruction of their bodies however The Uninvited will not expire. Thus, use of either method is highly recommended, if one is able.

The Uninvited are in fact a group of corrupted former humans, and rumours of occult origin are accurate. All were once involved in a ritual. As slaves, they were selected and struck blind and deaf at birth to be denied knowledge of, or interaction with the world around them. It was hoped that they would make suitably harmless thralls, as they would simply not have any knowledge of the world that could be carried with them once the process was carried out. Beings they could shape to their whim and influence to do any sort of tasks they were bid to, with bound souls that could suffer excruciating torment, safe to sacrifice as they could never seek vengeance against what they could not comprehend.

Suffering without reason, and existence without perception.

Naturally, this hopeful assumption turned out to be a catastrophic error. All involved died, horribly.

They then slept for decades until disturbance by travellers aroused their curiosity. Once others in the world were learned of their activity resumed, and in the string of sightings they have been referred to as 'The Uninvited' Superstition abounds that dabbling in the wrong magic at the wrong location will trigger a visit, though this rumour is far from fact.