Bethusda's Curse

Bethusda the Goblin Princess garners favors from those under her influence through their will to live. She promises enhanced ability for weak-willed goblinoids under her protection, asking only that they force out any intruder to her lands, and occassionaly seek her favor through targeted attacks in the Feywild.

Hidden Mountain, so named by the less-than-intelligent goblinoids she reigns over, is bombarded by a constant storm of heavy snow and ice, making a difficult place for the inhabitants surrounding the base down in the valley. She uses this to enforce her dealings with the local goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears - if any clan of goblinoids wishes to rebel against her, she buries their huts and hovels in freezing ice. Pay tribute to her regularly and obey her commands, and you may find your lands calm and a bit more cozy to live on.

To access her mountain, one must first traverse find it, or, rather more likely, happen upon it. In the Feywild, a seemingly normal pond appears as calm and cool as any other. However, a creature that wanders a bit too far into the pond find it has no bottom, swallowed into a dark abyss, which soon leads to the sky above the Hidden Mountain. Most wanderers' lives end after a drastically high fall, breaking bones and rupturing vital organs upon its arrival at the icy floor. If they're lucky, they've already frozen to death in the ice storm raging throughout the air.

Arctic Bugbears

The bugbears once inhabitated the Hidden Mountain before Bethusda claimed it as hers and split it from the rest of the Feywild. When she arrived, she tricked the bugbears inhabiting the mountain slopes and caves, promising power advantageous to their ambushes and pillaging. However, she instead cursed them and morphed their physiology and psycology - no longer were they concerned for their own individual survival. They now relied upon each other, creating tribal families ruled by a patriarch, so that they may endure the harsh unending winter.

The result was the artic bugbears. With larger snouts like those of polar bears, and with fur of white and black, they can endure the cold in which they now lived, and found it easier to hide amongst snow banks. Superior strength allowed them to easily curb other goblinoids to their influence. However, now split from their normal hunting grounds of the Feywild, they rely on pillaging one another, familial tribe against tribe.

Bethusda will ask of the arctic bugbears sacrificial "heroes" - brutish warriors she sends back into the Feywild to perform violent missions. If they succeed, their tribe is rewarded, usually with magical trinkets and gold. Fail, and they may recieve a lashing on their lands from cold winds.

Arctic Bugbear

The generic arctic bugbear can easily hide in the frosty lands it calls home. Accustomed to the mountain around which they make their homes, difficult terrain is nothing more than an observation to an arctic bugbear. With surrounding frozen waters, the trident has become a favored weapon.

Stronger than their previous bugbear form, all levels of goblinoids treat arctic bugbears as their superiors. No rank of hobgoblin or bugbear outranks that of the lowest arctic bugbear, and as such, the arctic bugbears will spit upon any goblinoid for jests, sneering and barking as the spittle freezes on their faces with no rebuttle.

Arctic Bugbear Spearfisher

Training and perfecting the art of throwing a trident may earn an arctic bugbear high recognition. In some instances, one of enough skill can become extremely deadly with thrown weapons, and develop an ability to craft spears of ice from thin air - a by-product of training near a powerful hag's lair. These bugbears are the spearfishers. They are vital for any community of arctic bugbears as they are the only members of a family proficient enough with spear and trident for the purpose of fishing in the turbulent frozen waters surround the land. This additional food source is a must in the cold, and spearfishers are often captured rather than killed when one tribe conquers another.

Arctic Bugbear Avalancher

The most ferocious and near mad of the arctic bugbears is the avalancher. Chosen by Bethusda herself as guards along the cliff-edge paths leading up the mountain, these arctic bugbears possess the ability to create avalanches with their immense, intimidating roar. If they wish to be quiet about it and surprise intruders without sound, they instead hammer their axe into the mountain with powerful swings, sending shockwaves along its face, having the same affect as the roar. Stronger than they naturally should be, they wield very large weapons as though they were toys, dealing blows fatal to most any traveler.

Arctic Bugbear Snow Mage

Some branches of the family ruling a tribe have a knack for producing magically adept offspring. Given special tratment, the children of this family are trained in the art of spellcasting. Learning to complement raiding bands with their bright streaking projectiles and control of the surrounding elements, snow mages are used to make first contact in battle. They batter enemies with cold, creating unfavorable terrain that their own arctic bugbear warriors can easily move through. They appear from nowhere, disappear just as easily, disheartening the enemy with hard to hit targets and boosted allies