Gwindrel was a malicious hag that artificially prolonged her life by devoured the souls and lifeforce of young girls brought to her through the malicious deals she made with desperate commoners. Due to her age, she knew a great deal of history and many secrets of the land.
Girls of the Pine
The folklore surrounding the Girls of the Pine were grim, but true. They were young girls and women dressed in white dresses who could be found in the Pinewood, although sightings of them remained exceedingly rare.
For centuries, Gwindrel had traded in magical trinkets and favors in return for precious gifts from those that sought her out. One of her favorite trades involved offering of a family's newborn daughter, whom she would adopt into her fold of other girls. Gwindrel had means of producing Vials of Soulblossom, which would greatly enhance the fertility of women and enable them only to produce girls, blessing them with many children, should they so desire. An iron token in the shape of a heart was given as part of the trade, and was to be worn by the woman giving birth, after which, it would merge with the soul of the newborn daughter.
Gwindrel would claim these girls, perform a dark ritual to split their life essence with her, and keep them in her lair, where they had to work for her, performing mundane tasks along with the rest of the girls. The older girls would look after the younger ones, and Gwindrel would often play them against each other, trying to instill a sense of viciousness in them. She was a cruel taskmaster who did not retort from physical violence and even murder if the girls disobeyed.
When the girls reached 13 years of age, Gwindrel would pull them from the flock and test their mettle. If she had little faith in their potential, she would simply drown them in the nearby lake and consume their flesh. She would tell the other girls that their sister had passed her trials, and that she was now free to pursue her dreams.
On rare occasions, Gwindrel would find potential in a girl, and devour her alive as part of a grim ritual that would have Gwindrel becoming pregnant with a hagspawn. The girl would grow up to look like the girl Gwindrel consumed, but at her 13th year, she would become a hag herself. However, on the rare occasions that this happened, Gwindrel quickly became paranoid and jealous of her new hag daughter, often ending in the death of her before she could become fully realized, and a possible threat.
Gwindrel had seven girls attending her most of the time.
Ulma
The oldest of the girls, Ulma were of dwarven descent and had icy blue eyes and blonde hair.
Aulrinn
An elven girl with raven black hair and purple eyes.
Chennie
A human girl with a grim scar across her face who was missing her left eye, possible due to mistreatment from Gwindrel.
Somina
A halfling girl with black hair and intense blue eyes.
Yngrid
A dwarven girl with silvery threaded hair and golden eyes.
Rigfridd
A human girl that were blind and extremely skinny with blonde hair.
Annie
The youngest girl, who were also the offspring of Gwindrel herself. She had harsh features, a gaunt face, and pitch black eyes to complement her black hair.
Relations with other entities of Pinewood
Despite her evil demeanor, Gwindrel remained on relatively peaceful terms with other powerful spirits and fey of the Pinewood, namely the wood elves of the region, whom tolerated her presence in exchange for occasional bargaining, charms or pieces of obscure lore that only she knew. Gwindrel bore a respect for other fey, such as the naiads, mostly to remain on good terms with the powerful archfey that occasionally visited the mortal realm.
Despite her diplomacy, Gwindrel secretly hated not being the most powerful sorceress and entity in the woods. Having sworn an oath to not assault the forest guardian, she secretly plotted other means of weakening the creature, to claim the woods fully without opposition. As of yet, she had been unsuccessful in this endeavor.
Appearances
Being a hag, Gwindrel was able to change her shape and appearance at will. For this reason, it is impossible to tell the full extent of her influence in the region. When she was not actively at work, she took her natural shape to install fear and respect in her daughters.
Rumors had it that Gwindrel enjoyed taking the shape of a beautiful woman or man during the celebration of Blazing, participate in the festivities, and try to charm one or several attendants to pleasure herself with them. She would sometimes take her true shape in the middle of such encounters to instill fear and despair in them, just because she enjoyed the look of horror on their faces. After this, she would usually attempt to modify their memory to make them think they just had a really poor sexual encounter with someone else from the druid circles.