the dead Over time, their bodies began to mimic their souls, and they grew sickly and malnourished under the wan light of the dark reaches Having long since been cast out from their kin the far darrig, none other would have them due to their vile bent Chased from locale to locale, the black hats finally found sanctuary in the pits of Aralu where they were left undisturbed to practice their foul rites When Jasmine was bound to Aralu, she found herself already the unwitting liege to the black hats who had settled in the cavernous prison before her In her frequent bouts of bloodlust, Jasmine consumed many victims but also left numerous corpses for the black hats to experiment upon In return, the black hats swore fealty to Jasmine as first among her loyal servants and were allowed to remain in the caves they had settled before her arriva l Forming a codependent relationship, the black hats rely upon Jasmine to protect them and in turn serve as Jasmine’s connection to the world outside Aralu In this way, each happily uses the other for mutual gain, and the black hats consider it a position of honor to accompany Jasmine to court or drive her iron carriage drawn by their animated skeletal horses Black hats barely resemble their far darrig cousins anymore, their forms having warped over time to resemble goblins more than anything else Standing just over two feet tall, black hats are scrawny, emaciated things with sickly yellow eyes and crooked teeth Their skin is ashen and unhealthy in appearance, and the dark robes they wear perpetually stain their fingers and faces with fi lthy black soot All black hats carry concealed in their robes ceremonial sickles coated in a dire poison of their own creation, the secret of which they guard jealously Vicious and cruel, black hats are prone to lying and care only about themselves, even to the point of turning on one another if there is opportunity for gain in doing so Strategy & Tactics: Black hats are strong but dislike a face to face confrontation They stick to the shadows, attempting to gain an advantage against an enemy through guile and surprise before sticking a dagger in their back or unleashing their innate necromantic magic They rarely fight alone, relying on allies to distract a foe while they sneak up from behind GAUNTS As with everything involving Jasmine, there is a darker side to the seemingly lovely face she wears Those starvelings who have displeased her or committed some act of betrayal (either real or imagined) are transformed into hideous creatures known as gaunts Gaunts are little more than animalistic servants who retain a degree of bestial cunning and exist only to protect Jasmine Origin: Typically, when Jasmine determines one of her starvelings no longer deserves to bear the gifts she has granted them, she either sends other starvelings out to collect the — 60 —