Witch

*"Eye of newt? No, no, Lilith! Eye of dog! Dog! No wonder it’s frothing blue!"*

## Advanced/Special

(RoS) Witches are Hedge Wizards who survived practicing their fumbling arts without going completely insane or dying. They have a broader repertoire of homegrown spells to work with and many dabble in areas best left alone. In other words, by merit of their ignorance as to the occult workings of the Winds of Magic, many Witches begin to use Dark Magic without even realising it. As a result of trial and error, Witches’ spells are more diverse and more powerful than the petty spells of other Hedge Wizards, possessing elements of many of the Winds of Magic. However, Witches that use the power of Dark Magic inevitably take a terrible toll upon their minds and souls.

**Note:** If you have been trained in the Colleges of Magic (i.e. you have ever been in the Apprentice Wizard career), you cannot enter this career.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Animal Care or Intimidate, Channelling, Charm, Common Knowledge (any two), Gossip, Haggle, Heal, Magical Sense, Perception, Ride or Swim, Search, Trade (Apothecary or Herbalist)

**Talents:** Dark Magic or Mighty Missile, Witchcraft

**Trappings:** Healing Draught, Healing Poultice, Trade Tools (Apothecary or Herbalist)

### **Career Exits**

Apprentice Wizard, Charlatan, Outlaw, Vagabond, Warlock

## The Dark Art

When country folk want a lost goat scried for or a wound healed with a touch, they cautiously turn to a hedge wizard for help. However, when someone wants to fulfill a petty act of vengeance against an enemy, they visit a witch. Witches usually live in seclusion, for their presence is unsettling to normal folk. Although few live up to reputation of old Bloody Bones, a mythical hell-hag used by parents throughout the Empire to scare children into behaving, most bear the marks of their undisciplined use of magic – disfigurement and eccentricity. It takes a brave soul to trek to the isolated cottage of a witch. For a few pennies, the witch will work her magic for the petitioner; sometimes she will use her art to heal, but usually it will be to curse an enemy or ruin a rival.

For some witches, the power to cause fear and harm becomes an intoxicant, and they will begin to abuse their gift, and tyrannise their neighbours for personal gain. Such blatant misuse of dark magic sometimes attracts warlocks, who recruit witches to help them perform unspeakable rituals. A warlock will organise his minions into a coven, fashioning their erratic art into a tool of evil. There is no hope for witches who are beguiled in this way; although the most talented members of a coven might be favoured with the secrets of the warlock’s power, all ultimately face either the damnation of their souls or the flickering pyres of the witch hunters.

## Gammer Moonsight

Gammer Moonsight’s tumbledown cottage in the hills of Stirhügel is a beacon for those who seek miracle cures or want an enemy cursed. Fashionable gentleladies arrive in disguise from distant Altdorf to buy tinctures from this blind, half-deaf old woman, to bewitch their beaus or curse rivals. It is rumoured that the Gammer was once visited by an admiral of the Emperor’s navy, who purchased a pouch of wind to scatter an invading Norse fleet.

Luckily for the Gammer, her reputation has yet to reach the ears of priests and witch-hunters; events in this backward province are of little interest to those beyond its borders. However, the longer the authorities remain ignorant of her powers, the more dangerous the old woman will become.

Gammer Moonsight, through no evil intent of her own, manifests dark magic whenever she carries out the desires of her clients, the majority of whom, selfish and spiteful, want her to harm rather than heal. Her use of petty curses has attracted an imp of Slaanesh, that has begun to worm its way into her soul. Eventually, she will be consumed by the evil demands of her petitioners, and her body will become a vessel for this vile daemon, imperiling everyone she comes into contact with.