The Autumn Huntress

The Huntress is a wild and cruel protector of the Arcadian woods. She respects only strength, and delights in hurting those who cannot defend themselves, while taunting them and twisting words to make them believe it is their own fault for being weak. On the other hand, if a creature is capable of standing up to her or display some strength at least, she will happily offer it a chance to be her vassal. She likes to make deals with mortals that she takes an interest in to trap them into eternal servitude to her. She also likes to test those she thinks have potential by sending a troupe of Yeth Hounds after them, and observing whether they can grow and adapt or if they will fail and die. Autumn is a more dangerous season than most for mortals to travel to the Arcadia as they may suddenly find themselves being hunted in one of her tests.

She has green eyes with vertically slit pupils and a calculating, predatory look about her. Her body consists of moss, living branches and leaves as much as it does skin and it shifts in strobe-like colors from moss-green to daffodil-yellow. Her vine-hairs are braided into a long tail that sweeps around her and reaches the ground. She always carries her bow Abharta with her, which is said to be the prototype of and first of all Oathbows. Rather than arrows, she fires thorny branches that she magically forms. These can also further grow into iron-hard branches upon impact, entangling and her prey On the rare occasion that she does send out an avatar, it usually appears as a giant, thorny and rotten blight. A twisting mass of dead leaves, vines and thorns that can launch a rain of spiky thorns on others, or crush them into its powerful, thorn-covered limbs.

Seasonal Effect on Arcadia

Autumn is a season of changes, and it is marked by the awakening of the Huntress. She aims to bring terror in her wake, believing that hardship will make the Fae strong and that pushing out strangers will leave them safe. The light and vitality of summer begins to fade, and the eternal twilight of the realm becomes just a tad darker. Life and death are important forces in nature and this transition is truly exemplified by the season of autumn, when the departed roam more freely in Arcadia, haunting woods and harrying travelers.