Нелл Чернодушная

In the dank murky expanse of the Bilebog of eastern Anhelt, there lurks a terrifying predator in the guise of a kindly patron. That ghastly being is known as Nell Blackteeth and a generation of Telerian children are lucky enough to know of the danger she presents. They repeat horrifying tales of her around hearths and campfires and chatter with fear. But this is far from the first name she has taken on, for she changes her hunting grounds and identity with every new generation of potential victims, to prevent the infamy of her deeds stopping new innocent souls wandering too far into her domain.

Nell is in fact a Fae, once known among her peers as the Marquise of Young Innocence – a matronly godmother figure who gave gifts and comfort to lost and frightened children who sought out the idyllic cottage where she lived. She was a friend and ally of Eostrid Dreamsong, sharing a spirit of carefree generosity. But when the Sylvan Corruption struck, the Marquise of Young Innocence became a warped, vile monstrosity known to the Fae as the Wretch of Dark Hunger.

Throughout the centuries since, Nell has moved from one fringe of civilization to another, vanishing when retribution seemed nigh and reappearing with a new name. The purpose of her endless roving and scheming has always been the same: to capture, butcher, and devour children from any of Teleria’s sapient species. Witchhunters and scholars ponder why – to power her shocking transformations and spells? To remain eternally youthful? The Sylvan know she is a Corrupted Fae, but even they are left with questions. Is the Corruption alone responsible, or was there a darkness in her soul all along, waiting to be awakened? Perhaps her motherly instincts were twisted by Corruption into possessive obsession, her madness making her believe that by beguiling and devouring children she is keeping them safe and sound by her side forever? Perhaps she just enjoys eating the young.

Nell is a master of glamor magic and shapeshifting. She creates the illusion of a safe haven in the Bilebog: a charming cottage with a welcoming hearth – an oasis of light and warmth in a dark and dangerous setting. In reality, her cabin is made of the tiny bones of her victims, lashed together with thorny vines and mortared with bloody mud. She presents herself as a kind, graceful, beautiful woman, adorned with flowers and bright-colored clothing and bearing a ribboned walking-stick, offering shelter and refreshment for wayward children. Her offerings of multicolored candies, biscuits, pastries, gingerbread, and relaxing herbal tea are in fact noxious swamp plants and brews disguised with magic, which sicken or stupefy the unsuspecting child. When she has finished toying with her prey and her vile hunger peaks, she casts off the form of charming hostess and reveals her true self: leering, sharp-fanged, goat-legged, bristling with spines and claws, and with four arms, all the better to dismember her prey with.

A vague, clouded, hereditary awareness of Nell lingers in the popular consciousness. Young children are warned against straying far from home for fear of ‘hags’ and ‘witches’, their parents dimly recalling second-hand tales of nameless flesh-eating evils. When children go missing thanks to Nell, innocent women young and old are sometimes caught up in the panic that follows, falsely accused and subjected to horrible torture and summary execution. Almost no one has ever encountered Nell and lived. Once they enter her illusionary home, her physical strength and enchantments both magical and alchemical usually seal the child’s doomed fate. Adults who have successfully tracked her down in search of missing children are more resistant to her illusions, but no more immune to her weapons.

To Nell's shock and dismay, a pair of potential morsels were on the threshold of succumbing to her beguilement in recent years, but overcame her illusions and hypnotic influence. Worse for her, they held their own in a physical struggle even when she reverted to her natural form. In the scuffle, one of the youths stripped off one of Nell’s prized enchanted bracelets. Made of painted beads formed from Human bones and containing the souls of devoured children, it was a magic charm and keepsake that she was furious to have stolen from her.

These children grew to become the Sacred Order adventurers, Hansel Witchhunter and Gretel Hagbane. They harbor an undying loathing of Nell, and joined the Order to gain the skills and blessings needed to hunt and destroy her. For her part, Nell is intrigued by the strength of their wills and longs to one day finish what she started and devour them down to the bone. Like the fisherman who rues the magnificent catch that broke free from his net, Nell pines wistfully for these children who got away, imagining that there is something special about them that will make them an exceptional meal when she one day ensnares them once again.

She believes that the flesh of these impetuous and bull-headed Humans will taste all the sweeter after long years of anticipation, like a prized wine or aged cheese. While Nell usually finds the meat of adults to be musty and gristly, preferring the tender and unspoiled flesh of the young, she would gladly make an exception to consume Hansel and Gretel to tie up that loose end, stop their quest to destroy her, and find out at long last how they taste. She spends long hours fantasizing over which parts of them will be starter, main, and dessert. But Hansel and Gretel, backed by the Sacred Order, are formidable foes. Nell has been cautious in engaging them to end their long game of cat and mouse even though her string of beads calls to her, helping her track the pair. While she is obsessed with recapturing and consuming the siblings, there is a wistful hesitance to her efforts, as though she will miss the thrill of manipulating and hunting them when they are gone.