Sphinx

[hcobb]

I've got a bit of a backstory on these critters.

Their charm ability depends on mutual affection towards their pets and as immortals they can't afford to linger on grief, bitterness or boredom.

So when Sphinx needs a new patio she abducts a random human rather than getting her own paws dirty. She trains him to do the job exactly the way she wants it done and then once the job is done she sends her pet back to live with the humans. She tends to forget exactly which group of humans she picked him up from, but aren't they all the same?

She can't keep her pet forever and she doesn't want to deal forever with the grief of having watched him grow old and die. So she sends him back no worse for wear and has a lovely patio to remember that summer for thousands of years, until she grabs another human to turn that spot it into a garden or whatever.

If the first human she encounters is ugly, unpleasant or disobedient then it's lunch time, but he asked for it. A brief moment of anger that's quickly forgotten.

The scenario use is to have a Sphinx show up once during a campaign to grab an NPC that the PCs were counting on to give them some specific information. The players can either side quest for a few months while they wait for the return (and then search all over again), find some other source, or arrange a raiding party against a well protected and well shielded unknown location.