Soot Wraith

They’re forgefire, rage, and brimstone with a sword…

- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

Where a salt wraith comes from rage and waves, the soot wraith is born screaming out of an inferno. A hot alloy of vengeful spirit melted into a primal elemental of fire that burst to unlife like a murderous, undead phoenix.

These wraiths are the most devious and daring of all. Similar to the sand wraith, they are most likely to have a hidden lair in a city or town. Soot wraiths often take on the disguise of a duelist, minor noble from another country, or well-off trade merchant. Often, the fashion they adopt is inspired by the culture of their past life.

A soot wraith’s love of finer things only equals their drive for murder and mayhem. A balance complicated by their hot temper. But older soot wraiths learn to stoke that fire of revenge, lashing out only when the time and place are right. Especially when there are no witnesses.

Soot wraiths will form some alliances with the living, but not as extensive as happens with a sand wraith. This acts like an extra layer to their disguise when their tempers get the better of them. Often these associates are a gang of thieves, pirates, or a small mercenary company known for their fighting skills.

But no matter their style, or what false life they wrap around themselves, they are bound to their nature. Their predatory ways and wraith’s chill hover around them and in their wake, like their trail of victims. Which is often their ultimate undoing.

Of Fire and Fury

A soot wraith’s natural form is a burning nightmare. Their eyes hold a blue-white flame that burns searing hot, while their body is a bronze-gray soot that conceals a semi-soft, molten core. When cut, they bleed, but it’s a molten liquid that will try to burn through anything but metal or stone.

Soot wraiths will heal from any wound given time. But the best bandage for them is touching warm soot, absorbing hot steam, or being caught in an open flame, even enchanted ones. That is one of, if not the most important, reasons many soot wraiths have a hidden lair near a blacksmith’s shop.

Appearance aside, soot wraiths have all the same abilities as other wraiths. Including, to the surprise of many, a wraith’s undead cold aura despite a soot wraith’s boiling blood. But there is one searing ability soot wraiths have that other wraith’s lack. For a few quick minutes, a soot wraith can make themselves temporarily insubstantial, magically turning themselves and anything they touch into boiling hot steam.

Soot Wraith by CB Ash *

Alternate Names

• wail walker
• boilblood
• flamerage

Lifespan

Unknown. Considered immortal as they are a corrupt melding of undead and elemental

Average Height

Varies by original victim in life

Average Weight

Varies by original victim in life

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They pass around and over their attackers or any obstacle, scalding anything in their wake. It’s a fast way to avoid being attacked or even escape, while leaving their attacker blistered and battered behind them. This boiling ability is what many believe contributes to the legend that all wraiths are nothing more than violent ghosts.

Death’s Black Blade

A soot wraith’s cursed weapon is hard to miss. Unlike their corrupt kin, soot wraiths prefer to keep their summoned weapon with them at all times. It’s an essential piece of their ensemble and a bloody promise to the world.

The weapon is often a sword blade, such as a cutlass or similar sword. But it’s more common for them to summon a rapier to carry instead. No matter which kind, they carry it with pride and use with a lethal and dashing flair. The blade is midnight black, splattered with specks of deep, blood red that glow the same color once the weapon is drawn.

White-hot sparks erupt when the blade touches anything, searing hot embers that scald the target. The sword’s edge is razor sharp and will cut skin, leather, or similar material like paper. Any wound it makes is deeper than normal, but rarely causes bleeding. The intense heat from the black blade cauterized every wound it makes, which makes healing twice as difficult.

Unearthly durable, the curse is wrapped through every fold of metal. They can’t simply be broken, but have to be melted down under the light of a cold, full moon. After that, the molten metal is poured into a pool of salt water to destroy the curse forever. This will also lift the curse from anyone foolish enough to claim the wraith-bound blade. Otherwise, the victim will explode to burning unlife as a new soot wraith after seven days of painful, overheated agony.

Soot Wraith in Disguise by CB Ash *

Embrace of Flame

Their touch can burn to the bone…

- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

A soot wraith’s touch is as hot as molten metal, able to burn even a grimling with that searing heat. Just a brush of their fingers puts blisters to skin, painful wounds that spread the wraith’s steaming dark rot into their victim a piece at a time. Given time, and enough wraith-blisters, it will destroy a victim, which could cause them to erupt like a bonfire as a new soot wraith.

These wounds can be lethal, but are curable. Boiling blisters from a soot wraith can be magically healed, depending on the healer’s skill with the Etherwave Arcana. They can also be treated through more alchemical means. Potions and salves made of salt, orange blossom mead, mixed with ground marigolds close the steaming wounds and help them heal quickly.

Blinded By The Light

Sunlight can disable or destroy most wraiths, save for a few like a soot wraith. For them it’s an inconvenience, an ever present irritation. It won’t destroy a soot wraith, but being caught in the sun can indirectly lead to their destruction. Sunlight temporarily robs soot wraiths of their unique and deadly powers.

But while the sun steals their burning abilities, it doesn’t take their skill. All soot wraiths are skilled duelists and practice daily. Anyone trying to challenge a soot wraith to a sword fight will easily find themselves in a desperate, if not lethal, situation. Especially since, while they have dark undead powers, a soot wraith prefers a duel of blades over magical abilities any day.

Sunlight isn’t their only weakness. True to their wraith nature, they have an alchemical weakness as well. Potions made of fresh boiled water, smoked salt using an enchanted flame, and honey soap are the bane of any soot wraith. Any part of a soot wraith hit with this elixir will bubble and dissolve like a warm paste. If hit with enough of the mixture, a soot wraith will melt screaming in pain until it’s nothing more than a gray slime paste.

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Game Notes

Soot Wraith

Threat: 3
Suggested Complications
Scalding Surprise. The soot wraith bursts into a hot blast of steam, then surrounds a victim for a second before appearing behind them. Their target is now scalded, but also in a desperate situation. Damp soot is smeared across their equipment and clogs the inner workings of clockwork based devices. Open flames or lights, such as oil lanterns, are snuffed out from the passing steam.
Hot Stuff. If a soot wraith is cut, the fiend’s molten blood splashes on a nearby opponent, burning a hole through armor or clothes, causing immediate harm. If the soot wraith touches a victim, this would be the same complication.
Wraith-Cursed. A burning cut slices deep through skin, infecting a victim with a wraith-curse. The victim overheats easily, with a faint curl of smoke rising out of their mouth. If the wraith or weapon isn't destroyed, or the victim cured during downtime, the victim will explode on the seventh day into a cloud of soot, then rise as a new soot wraith the following night.