Caerith Manslayer

Over the centuries his skin has turned ash gray, like cold marble, and his eyes have lost iris and pupil, leaving blank white orbs that blaze with light when he is enraged. He ranks among the mightiest of the blood-corrupted abominations of the old imperial heartland, surpassed by only one.

When he readies for battle his whole realm senses it, as a charged stillness or a low rumble in the ground. He wears Bladeward (elven plate +4) and Wrath's Return (shield +3) and wields Heartdrinker (bastard sword +4 of life stealing) or Swiftdeath (long bow +3). He needs no quiver, conjuring glowing blue bolts out of the air. These have no attack bonus but count as +5 weapons for striking creatures immune to ordinary arms, and anyone hit takes 1d6 extra damage unless a save vs. spell succeeds.

The dark god's blood made him immune to arrows, quarrels and all other propelled missiles; thrown daggers, axes and catapult stones still hurt him. His milky eyes see anything invisible and strip away illusion and deceit, forcing enemies into the open. But bright light pains them, so he fights at -4 in well-lit areas and can no longer walk by day. Now a being of dusk, he resents those who enjoy the sun.

He is also a powerful wizard who can cast in plate as long as his hands are free. From the top down, his memorized spells are prismatic spray (7th); freezing sphere and disintegrate (6th); telekinesis, dismissal, conjure elemental, animate dead and contact other plane (5th); polymorph self, ice storm, plant growth, fire shield and minor globe of invulnerability (4th); haste, fly, blink, lightning bolt and dispel magic (3rd); web, levitate, blindness, stinking cloud and fog cloud (2nd); and two magic missiles plus jump, chill touch and charm person (1st). Rumor says he binds beings of the lower planes and learns secrets from them. That may be a tale for scaring children, but it adds to his menace.

As a young elf in a great southern forest, he watched human tribes arrive on the continent. Relations were uneasy but not hostile, and elves and humans united against a rising goblin horde. He became fascinated with the newcomers and befriended some, showing them the land's wonders. When the humans began ravaging the forests and his friends laughed off his pleas, he joined the elven hunt against humankind and killed with such zeal that the hunters dubbed him Manslayer.

When the dark god offered the elves a plan to wipe out humanity, he joined gladly, and he stayed when the other elves abandoned the god upon learning his true nature, baffled that they could let go of their hatred so easily. For that loyalty he was soaked in the dark god's essence and transformed.

He has harried humankind for close to 1,500 years humans from a strategic pass between two mountain ranges. His fortress stands on the shore of a lake fed by mountain snows: a blackened tower rising from an immense tree stump, encircled by thorn hedges pierced by a single guarded path to the portcullis. From its ledges dangle cages holding the bones of traitorous elves and humans who came to destroy him. He has gathered hundreds of elves and trains them to conquer neighboring kingdoms.

He has changed over the ages. Devoting himself to preserving and spreading elven ways at the expense of his own enjoyment, he has grown steadily more lawful, drifting from the typical chaos of his people to neutrality. Some argue that this makes him no true champion of elvenkind and no fit leader for expelling humankind.