[The first of Flashback Summer posted with the original art from the Monsters of Twilight PDF. The inspiration was the Shadow Beasts from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. These were originally written for my run-through of the Council of Thieves Pathfinder AP, and I used them to make sure “Shadow Plague” encounters had more variety than just shadow mastiffs and shadows.]
Fetch The darkness moves. Within the black sphere you can
barely make out the outline of an immense ape-like creature, its body covered
in a carpet of lashing tendrils. Its head turns towards you, a flat plate like
a shield, studded with a dozen irregularly placed glowing red eyes.
Hulking brutes native to the
Plane of Shadow, the fetch is a simple-minded creature concerned with little
more than the spreading of pain. A fetch stands about nine feet tall, although
their knuckle-walking gait hides some of that height, and weighs an average of
350 pounds. The fetches are composed of the very essence of shadowstuff—the
only truly solid part of a fetch is its iron-like skull. A fetch’s body is an
oily liquid that drinks in light, held into vaguely humanoid shape by a thick
membrane. This liquid surrounds the fetch with its characteristic aura of
shadows, and allows them to fit through tight places with remarkable ease. As a
being of pure shadow, a fetch does not need food or drink. They seem sustained,
however, by the causing of pain, at which they prove most proficient.
Fetches live on the Plane of
Shadow in strictly hierarchical organizations somewhat like the associations of
apes on the Material Plane. These fetch bands patrol a territory, which they
defend aggressively from intruders. The largest and strongest fetch controls
the group. Fetches have no language of their own, and are indeed mute, but understand
the Infernal tongue. This innate knowledge, combined with their dim intellect
and lawful tendencies, make them excellent followers. The kytons of the Plane
of Shadow often use fetches as slaves and menial labor. Any offering of a live
victim for the fetch to torture grants a summoner a +2 bonus on all Charisma
checks to control a called fetch.
The Shadowshield Although fetches carry little
if any treasure, their iron-hard skulls can be useful in the right hands. With
one day of work and a DC 20 Craft (armorsmithing) check, a fetch’s skull can be
turned into a masterwork heavy steel shield. This shield takes very well to
magical enhancements—a shadowshield can be enhanced with the slick or shadow
armor special abilities, and only costs half as much as an ordinary suit of
armor to bestow with these abilities. A shadowshield is worth 800 gp.
Fetches are common in the forests of Senksen, where they may serve as enforcers to beldams. More commonly, however, they are hunted by humans to produce shadowshields.
Shores of Swords 