ECOLOGY

Environment any urban
Organization solitary
Treasure double (four masterwork darts, 5 doses of blue whinnis poison, other treasure)

Nogitsune are created when oni spirits take over the bodies of kitsune (sagacious humanoid fox-creatures). The resultant possession creates a creature with the kitsune’s foxlike grace and cunning and infuses it with the destructive power of an oni. Nogitsune are always female, and resemble shapely humans with a covering of fur and a fox’s head. A nogitsune’s fur color varies and can be orange and white, grey, pure white, or even black. Whenever nogitsune use their shapechanging abilities to assume a humanoid form, they still evince somewhat pointed, vulpine features. In addition, any hair on their assumed form betrays the natural coloration of their pelts. Nogitsune stand between 5 and 5-1/2 feet tall and weigh just over 100 pounds.

Oni manifest themselves in different ways based on the creatures they take as vessels for their depraved wrath. They take particular joy in corrupting kitsune to form nogitsune, delighting in turning the mystical creatures into deadly killers and spreaders of woe. Most nogitsune become spies or assassins. Though they need no real reason to kill others, the coin they receive for their services allows them to afford the other vices they enjoy, such as pleasures of the flesh and excesses of drink and narcotics (when available). Nogitsune are deft killers because of their speed, grace, and spell-like abilities. Those who have seen them and lived tell tales of these oni running toward walls at blinding speed and then simply continuing upward to vault the wall’s crown as if it were no more difficult to walk on than the ground. Still others claim that nogitsune can dive into a shadow like a pool of water and disappear, while others mention the cloud of smoke that nogitsune often use to escape pursuit, even when running full speed.

Although they often don human form to disguise themselves for the purpose of infiltration, nogitsune prefer to stalk and kill prey in their natural form. This gives the creatures the choice of whether to use manufactured weapons or their own sharp claws and deadly bite. When wielding weapons, all nogitsune enjoy using poison, whenever possible employing toxins and venoms that do not kill outright (unless a contract so requires it) but rather render the victims unconscious or helpless. This gives the oni the joy of dealing the killing blow with their jaws and slaking their bloodlust in abject savagery.

A nogitsune’s most feared weapon, however, is its contagious whisper. This powerful compulsion, often whispered into the victim’s ear in honeyed tones, not only forces the targeted creature to believe whatever lie the nogitsune crafts, but also infects the subject of the contagious whisper with a corruptive echo of deceit that causes the victim to unknowingly pass on the nogitsune’s suggestion to others. Nogitsune may use this ability to convince a successive series of servants to open all of the doors to a well-guarded castle, or to make a host of witnesses believe they saw an innocent man commit a brutal crime that was really the oni’s own handiwork.

Habitat & Society

Nogitsune inhabit large urban areas, where they can have their pick of a nearly endless stream of victims. Occasionally they will inhabit a town or village in the countryside, but such locales are always in the shadow of a large castle or estate that can provide additional opportunities to stalk and murder others. Wherever they choose to dwell, nogitsune lair in the seediest districts, where drugs, brothels, and crime are rampant. These areas not only discourage chase by would-be pursuers, but also place the oni in the midst of people who society generally doesn’t miss if and when a contract doesn’t slake the creature’s bloodlust.

Those looking to hire a nogitsune can do so, but such a practice is both costly and dangerous. Although little binds a nogitsune to its accepted contract when it receives payment, most nogitsune happily carry out their orders for the sheer joy of bringing death to another. But many who foolishly hire nogitsune to do their killing find themselves the next victim once the initial target is slain. Nogitsune have little honor, and such treachery not only feeds their bloodlust, but also leaves fewer witnesses.

Nogitsune prefer to lead solitary lives and be in command of their own foul fates. Thus, most avoid associating with more powerful creatures, other oni, or even other nogitsune. Those honorable samurai and good ninja who have fought and killed nogitsune recount seeing a conflicted and turbulent anger within the creatures, as if the once-righteous kitsune within a nogitsune constantly battles to reassert control. Although there is no record of such a reversal occurring, many believe that these malevolent oni drown themselves in death and bloodshed in order to extinguish the last vestiges of the creatures they were before.