Duende

I had only just sat down when a hook, like a phantom, appeared from nowhere and ensnared my robe. I was spirited up to the fungal canopy, like a fish on some land angler's line. Confused, frightened, and more than a little perturbed at the hole in my robe, I looked upon my captor: a tall goblinoid with panther-like fur and mushroom growths over his shoulders.

— Archivist Marlowe, My Walk Through Rickar's Walk

Duende are sleek, dark-furred goblinoids with long tails and fungal scales covering their backs and arms. They are friendly and helpful — though outsiders rarely make it deep enough into the Madlands to encounter them.

Forced adaptations

The fallout from the Gray King's death was cataclysmic for the world at large, but those closest to the site of the fall were changed fundamentally. For the lucky ones, this resulted in a quick death. The winning strategy for those who survived the initial blast was to quickly find a niche in the brand-new environment that was the Madlands mushroom forest.

A small tribe of unknown goblins, after their magical metamorphosis — after the mushrooms attacked, after countless roving bands of terrified survivors — reached a place of peace within the Madlands. Their change gave them a furred hide. They found a symbiotic relationship with the mushrooms. They learned how to fade into the canopy using hooks. The Madlands offer little danger to the duende now; a duende hunter finds his prey among the horrors that once would have hunted him.

Fungal symbiosis

One of the first things people notice about duende are the fungal stalks that sprout from their head and the scale-like growths sprouting from their back. This symbiosis goes much more than skin deep. The fungus reaches down into the duende's lungs and allows them to filter even the most polluted air. The fungal antlers also store spores of their own, allowing the duende to release an obfuscating cloud on demand.

Land anglers

Duende learn early how to hunt in the Madlands. Using hooks and ropes, they are adept at traveling out of reach of the horrors that lurk on the forest floor. Often, a duende will wait atop a large mushroom and hook their unsuspecting prey before reeling it in. Hunting in this manner is an important part of duende life, and all members of a tribe practice it to some degree.

The largest duende settlement is Rickar's Walk, built across the tops of enormous mushrooms and linked by long bridges. Several other duende villages exist independently throughout the Madlands.

Names

Duende are given a name at birth, chosen by their parents. On their fifth birthday, a duende performs a ritual to learn their second name; during this ritual an ancestor of the young duende bestows their given name upon the child.

Male names. Artrix, Guillin, Lurtiz, Micio, Muzo, Sando, Survi, Vistur.

Female names. Agriet, Bufali, Egrill, Gonti, Izolla, Obal, Orizi, Salba.

Religion and deities

Like most goblinoids, duende practice ancestor worship. They often use hallucinogenic mushrooms in their rituals to commune with their ancestors. Duende clerics are uncommon; most members of a tribe share the shamanistic burden.

The duende connection to their ancestors is powerful enough that a tribe can bind and control minor vestiges — pieces of dead gods. Four such vestiges are bound in the underbrush beneath Rickar's Walk, serving as a wall of terror between the city and the Madlands proper.

Duende Traits

Your duende character has a number of traits in common with all other duende.

• Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Dexterity score increases by 1.
• Age. A duende ages at the same rate as a tiefling.
• Alignment. Duende typically fall within a neutral good to lawful neutral spectrum. It is considered virtuous to help those in need though foolish to endanger yourself; the focus is keeping the tribe safe first, yourself safe second.
• Size. Duende are prone to long limbs, making them slightly taller than their hobgoblin cousins — typically between 5 and 6 feet. Your size is Medium.
• Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision. You are accustomed to the little light that the dense canopy gives you. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Fungal Filter. The multitude of mushrooms that cover a duende work to keep its host alive, to the point where it will breathe for the host and deliver clean air directly to the lungs. You are immune to negative effects from breathing, though you must still be able to breathe.
• Prehensile Tail. You have a tail that can grasp objects and, if needed, could support your body weight. You can take the Use an Object action as a bonus action.
• Spore Cloud. When taking the Disengage action, you may choose to release stored-up spores from your antlers. A 10-foot radius sphere of dense spores erupts from your current location, heavily obscuring that area. After you use Spore Cloud, you cannot use it again until you take a short or long rest.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Goblin (Duendese) and a common language.