Busen

Every busen has slick black skin that shines like oil under torchlight. In its true form it has no face whatsoever, no eyes, nose, ears, or mouth, and in place of bones it has strange ridges that strain against the skin as if about to break through. At rest it takes the form of a smooth, seamless, jet-black humanoid, but it reshapes itself to suit its surroundings and duty, so one posted in a cave might be a dark-skinned humanoid while another in a mountain pass becomes a drooling wolflike beast. A full change takes 5 rounds, far too long to try mid-fight.

Buseni speak by telepathy. In darkness they stay invisible until they choose to be seen, and while motionless in their plane's dark tunnels they cannot be surprised. A hiding busen's skin goes dull, but it catches any stray light the moment it moves.

Weapons sprout from its body as needed, made of something neither bone nor metal and shaped to suit its current form: a 4-foot blade that cannot be knocked from the humanoid's grip, say, or claws and joint spurs on the wolf. Whatever their shape, a busen attacks twice a round for 1d10 per hit.

Hard-pressed, it can unleash its feared whirlwind, covering itself in blades and spinning for 1d6 rounds. Enemies attack it at -2 during the spin, and it makes four attacks each round for 2d8 apiece. If the foe is still standing afterward, the busen is in trouble, since it must then rest one hour for every round it spun. Buseni are immune to charm, sleep, and paralysis spells, take half damage from cold spells and double from fire, and are unaffected by lightning. At will, they can use know alignment and detect magic.

Buseni guard the way to the second layer of a lawful, orderly upper plane. They pace the passages that link the caverns of its two layers, slipping into shadows to wait for some fool to challenge them, while others watch the plane's misty heights with their inner senses. Each stays near the portal it is assigned to.

When strangers approach the gate, buseni emerge at a moment chosen to startle and silently grow their weapons as a warning. Travelers who attack on that slim provocation are fought to the death, since the buseni figure such lawless beings are better off dead. Those who talk instead are contacted telepathically and questioned about why they want to pass. Satisfactory answers lead to the next step: the group must strip off all clothes, jewelry, and weapons so the buseni can check every member's alignment. Like everyone native to that plane, they will not tolerate evil, and only a group free of it may go on.

Who commands them, and what society they have, is unknown. No more than three have ever been seen together, and those three moved like a single clockwork machine from the plane of perfect order.

Nothing natural explains their form or their existence. Some think the plane itself spawned them; others say a power made them to prove that a fearsome look need not mean an evil heart, and some sages credit a gentle god of tolerance, though others insist it is not so simple. Their appearance would suit the Lower Planes, yet their beliefs clearly belong to the Upper Planes. They seem to be nourished simply by carrying out orders and need neither food nor prey so long as their missions succeed.

On the lawful lower planes, busen skins sell for absurd sums at open auction. The hide stretches without tearing and makes superb clothing for stealth; a properly crafted busen skin adds 25% to a rogue's hide in shadows chance. Anyone caught wearing one on the buseni's home plane, or seen in one by a native of that plane anywhere, is usually attacked on the spot, and some reparation is always demanded, even if pursuing it gets the accuser killed.