Something that lives in the woods

[Eckhart_Von_Musel]

__QUICK STATS
Name: "Something"
Age: Unknown, but her story has been told for maybe a decade now.
Gender: Generally referred to as female, but nobody's actually checked.
Species: Nobody knows for certain, but the terms "skinwalker", "fleshgait", and "wendigo" get thrown around a lot.
Ethnicity: Varies
Height: Varies
Weight: Varies
Occupation: Leading you off the beaten path
Residence: The forest surrounding Zantaric, but she's been wandering dangerously close to town lately...
Favorite Food: Human bones
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Art by me!
Character Theme:
A Tale of Outer Suburbia

__IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description:
While "Something" can look like anybody in theory, her true form is one of a small, almost spritely being with antlers and hooves. Her skin is pitch-black, and her snowy white hair covers her body like a cloak. Her glowing eyes are almost hypnotic, and once you've seen them it's difficult to look away. It's rare for people to get a close look at the rest of her face, and the few who have seem unwilling to talk about it.

Something can talk, but unless you want to have a discussion about why you should be following her into the woods you aren't likely to get much out of her.

Something exclusively eats bones, and leaves the rest of her victim's bodies to rot.

Personality:
While clearly an intellegent being, Something's thought processes cannot be called "human" in any sense of the word. She's an animal first and foremost, primarily driven by instinct and self-preservation. That isn't to say she's not self-aware however- she's clearly picked up the fact that she's been given a name, and will actually respond to it when called (which has become detrimental to her as of late).

Interestingly enough, Something seems to follow very strict rules when hunting prey. She will not attack you if you're on a well-traveled path, or if she's in her true form. Additionally, if you ask her to follow you, she's apparently obligated to humor you for a while. While it's possible that this is merely instinctual behavior, Something seems intelligent enough to have a reason for it- however alien it may be.

Relationships:
Not really a "relationship" per say, but Something has become somewhat of a local legend in Zantaric. Nearly everybody in town has heard the stories about her- which is becoming a real problem for her, since now people know how to deal with her.

Magic/Abilities:
Something has incredibly potent shapeshifting abilities. If she hears a name being called three times in sucession, she will instinctively transform into that person and attempt to lead whoever was calling into the woods.

Of course, since Something has no idea who she's turning into, and in general has a pretty shaky understanding of human behavior, she's bound to act completely out of character. Trying to lead your friends deep into the forest is something people generally don't do, after all. This makes it incredibly easy to tell when a person is really just Something in disguise, especially now that her story is popular.

Since Something doesn't like been seen without a disguise, returning her to her true form is the easiest way of getting her to leave. There are two ways to accomplish this:
-Cracking a chicken's egg over her head
-Calling her name when you're lost in the woods- her power always turns her into who you're looking for, even when it's inconveniant to her.

History:

The woodsman took a step back, gripping his axe tightly. "W-who are you?" he asked, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck. "Are you lost?"

The girl remained silent, her back to the man. Her chest heaved as if she was laughing, but no sound came from her. "Answer me damnit!" the man snapped, now beginning to panic. "You've got to be named something, right?"

The girl's body went completely still. Slowly she turned her head to look at him, neck twisted to an impossible angle. "Something" she said simply, lifting her arm to point in the direction of the forest. "Come with me. It's nice in there."

Often whispered in bars and back alleys, the story of "Something" was initially met with fear and uncertainty. While there had always been ghost stories about Zantaric's forest, none of them had ever been this unsettling before. Soon more and more people were claiming to have encountered the creature, and the influx of these frightening stories made Something a bit of a cultural phenomenon in the city.

As the years passed by, the legend of Something began to go mainstream. Mothers used the creature as a cautionary tale to keep their young ones out of the forest. Said children would then use her as the bad guy in their games of make-believe, and eventually it seemed that everybody knew who Something was, what her true form looked like, and how to escape if she tried to lure you into the woods. Now firmly cemented as a piece of Zantaric's folklore, Something's legend will live on for eternity...

***

There is a monster living in the woods. A monster who, for reasons beyond her understanding, is now too well-known to hunt effectively. These days, nearly everybody she comes across immediately realizes that she's not who she's disguised as and calls her out on it- some people seem to go into the woods for the sole purpose of finding her, getting scared, and running away!

Something may live on through the stories she's inspired- but if something doesn't change soon, the monster herself will die. Normally a single kill provides Something with enough bones to last her a few months, but the gaps between sucessful hunts have been getting longer and longer. Being hungry for more than a few days is scary for her, and the creature has been behaving noticably desperate as of late...

__THREAD TRACKER
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