Hama

When someone dies, the spirit normally leaves the corpse as a bird and flies on to the afterlife. A person slain by violence, or with a vital duty left undone, is held back on the Prime Material Plane as a hama until matters are put right. Owls and eagles are typical, though vulture, peacock, falcon, sparrow, parrot and nightingale forms have all been reported, and the bird always reflects the moral bent and temperament of the spirit within.

In daylight a hama looks like an ordinary bird, if one that behaves strangely. After dark it turns semi-transparent and glows faintly, its eyes lit with fire. It cannot talk, but its songs and croaks sometimes hint at its goal. Speak with animals does not reach it; tongues does. It understands every spoken language.

A hama strikes with a flurry of misty claws, beak and wings, the equivalent of two attacks each round. Only partly anchored to this world, it is hard to hit (AC 2), though in the Ethereal it is merely AC 7.

Meeting one is like meeting a ghost: henchmen and hirelings check morale, and those who fail run as if under fear. Three times a day, by concentrating, it can turn immaterial and drift through solid walls or doors for as long as its focus lasts. It can fly while doing so, but any successful hit breaks its concentration and blocks the change that round.

Having no link with the Negative Material Plane, a hama is classed as a lingering spirit, not undead, and cannot be turned. It rarely strays from where it is found.

Hama are always alone and always driven, most often by plain revenge. Some wait for a loved one or a lost belonging to return, some for an inheritance to be properly settled, and some refuse to abandon children they loved too much to part from. The task nearly always centers on one person or place.

A good hama that is helped may reward its helpers. True-seeing wise women and mystics always know it for a spirit, and it can show such holy folk that it feels indebted to someone; their aid to that person may be anything from wise counsel to restorative magic. It may even delay its departure several days to repay the favor, carrying messages, scouting, keeping watch, or performing tricks before a crowd for its benefactor.

Until its work is done, a hama pays heed only to creatures bound up in its task or able to help. Then it flies on to its rest in the outer planes.