Head Hunter

Picture a spider whose body has been swapped for a human head, carried high on long, jointed legs. Head hunters are thought to be the work of the drow, or of some kindred race darker still. They first appeared in a realm of the shadow fey and have since been sighted in a valley village, a poison-steeped domain, a mist-shrouded realm and a genteel southern domain. Drow, elvish and a few human tongues are all within their grasp, spoken as well as understood, and almost certainly have a tongue of their own, though no human has ever heard it.

Most victims meet the web before they meet the spider. It is spun the way a true spider spins, but its strands are incredibly tough, keen-edged, and nearly invisible. Anyone who blunders into it has a 75% chance of losing a limb. Roll 1d10: on 1-9 an arm or leg (choose randomly) is cut off, costing the victim one-quarter of his base hit points, enough to kill someone already hurt; on a 10 the head comes off and death is instant. The head hunter itself moves through its web without risk.

With its web's grisly job finished, the head hunter closes for melee only if the odds look good. It opens by spitting type N contact poison (onset 1 minute, death on a failed save, 25 damage on a successful one) at one target within 15 feet, up to three times a day. In close combat it bites for 2d4, and whenever the damage dice come up doubles the bite also delivers that poison.

Head hunters are immune to every poison and walk freely on any spider's web. Fire hurts them badly, dealing one extra point per die. Their sight blurs beyond about 20 feet, but they feel vibrations keenly and use them to track anything that moves or speaks.

These creatures loathe all humans and demihumans, elves most of all, and use their stolen bodies to spread misery among the fair folk whenever they can. A head hunter often lairs right inside a human or demihuman city, typically with at least one hidden room stocked with preserved corpses waiting to be worn.

The fight is not the worst of it. Afterward the head hunter collects any bodies its web has beheaded. Settling onto the neck stump of a still-warm corpse, it threads its slender legs deep inside and takes the body over like a pilot working an organic machine. The puppet moves as if alive, fighting and saving as a 0-level human. Over the following week or so (seven to ten days), it eats the organs from within while trying to pass as an ordinary person and stir up strife; then it climbs out, leaving a hollow husk like a snake's shed skin. Spare bodies are wrapped in webbing that quickly hardens, keeping them perfectly fresh for up to 12 months, and the creature can retrieve and animate one at any time in that span.