Aimush

“It’s not a Wildling. Let me get that out of the way right now. Other people will tell you that it must be a Wildling. Other scholars…” *spattuh*

“Just becomes something has a deer head doesn’t mean it is automatically one of those sons-a-bitches. Plenty of deer in the world and ain’t nobody call’n ‘em Wildlings.”

“I mean, Wildings, you can talk with ‘em. You don’t wanna, but you damn well can if they are in the talk’n mood. This thing. It don’t talk.”

…

“Well, that ain’t ‘xactly right. It talks, but you can’t talk with it. It’s hard to explain, but either way, that’s why it ain’t no Wildling either.”

“If that ain’t enough for you, there ain’t no record of it in all the library in the Spire. Talk with them Ministry folks. They all agree, this thing, it ain’t their problem. They keep the secret ways of the Wildlings guarded, see. If they thought it was a threat, well their threat…”

“Or maybe better to say their charge. Duty! Their duty to hunt Wildlings. If this thing was one, they would be all over it like stink on an aurochs. Believe you me.”

“What? Oh, the talk’n thing? Yeah. It can talk, if you fool enough to listen. But see, it don’t have no voice of it’s own. Can sound like anyone… anything even, but can only repeat what it heard. Like one them birds I hear they got at the God King’s court… only it ain’t no fucking pet.”

“No it’s big. Gotta be ten feet tall at least, and that ain’t counting the antlers. What? No I don’t know exactly. You think I’m idiot ‘nough to get that close?”

“I swear, you ain’t bright. I know your uncle said you was… what was that word he used?”

“Promising. Promising to get your head caved in may be.”

“Don’t grumble like a child. You’re a grown ass man. Ask grown ass man questions, not little kid ones. I swear.”

“What? Speak up. Oh. Oh see, now that is a good one. A grown ass man question. Fuck yes, you should run the hell away if you see it. Not unless you got a whole crew much tougher than you.”

“Like I said, it’s huge. Blot out the sun huge, with it’s big ass wings. Make you go all cold when it does that shit. I pissed myself. By the bloody damn Tree it’s true. Scare your bladder dry too.”

“You still want to see it don’t you? Damn fool. You uncle ain’t no judge of character, I tell you what. Go on into them hills with your idiot friends. Don’t you worry. He will find you and take one of you at a time. Like plucking cherries from a tree…”

“Or fools from the hills I suppose.”

~ From Taubha’s Lesser Book of Names

Aimush is a powerful and terrifying member of House Gwhenegh, slowly picking off prey from a group like a lion hunting the sickly gazelle in a herd. He speaks only in phrases he has heard, mimicking his prey to draw them into traps. It is not clear if he was a mortal, a bird, a deer, or all three prior to the Madness striking, but the end result is a Horror that wields fear as effectively as it wields its talons and antlers.

As an opponent to adventurers, Aimush operates much like any ambush predator. He uses his vast wings to set himself above his prey, to study them before finding the right time to strike. He delights separating the weakest if possible, slaying them, and using their mimicry to draw the rest into traps.