← The Beleghost Bestiary · Boss Compendium
Wildlands (North) · area boss LXXX

Vessa Thornwake, the Silent Quarry

One Mark, Every Arrow

A tracker who learned, the hard way, that the wildlands' worst predators aren't the ones with claws — they're the ones who cast first. She hunts spellcasters specifically, and the North Wildlands have quietly gotten a lot safer for it.

CR 17Human · Ranger 12 / Nentyar Hunter 5resref wln3_vessaspawn table 169 · always, 12% · count 1

Stat Block

Race / Class
Human · Ranger 12 / Nentyar Hunter 5
Challenge Rating
17
Hit Points
145 (expected ~126)
Natural Armor
2
Str
16
+3
Dex
22
+6
Con
14
+2
Int
12
+1
Wis
16
+3
Cha
10
+0
Feats — Track, Rapid Shot, Improved Initiative, Blind-Fight, Weapon Focus (Longbow), Skill Focus (Spot), Alertness
Skills — Spot 18, Search 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Concentration 10
SpellsRanger L1 Entangle · Resist Elements · L2 Barkskin · Cat's Grace · L3 Neutralize Poison — Nentyar Hunter L1 True Strike

The Fight

Every round

Quarry Mark

She rescans the field for whichever living enemy carries the most spellcaster levels and paints them her Quarry (falling back to the nearest foe if no caster's present) - every shot into the Quarry, and only the Quarry, stacks a permanent -1 to all their saves.

Every 4th round

Trueshot

A called shot at the Quarry instead of a plain one - real bonus damage, and a failed Fortitude save leaves them dazed for a few seconds.

Once, at 25% hp or lower

Last Arrow

Every banked Hunter's Bane stack on the Quarry is cashed in for one massive single shot, scaled by however many she's landed all fight - then she permanently hastes herself.

Why These Numbers

Wildlands (North) already carries Kestrel Vane at CR15 as its established boss; Vessa is pitched one step above at CR17, its first second-boss addition. She's the bestiary's first Nentyar Hunter - a real dedicated `Nentyar` spells.2da column, not a borrowed Wiz_Sorc list - so unlike most non-domain-column casters before her, her spellbook is the genuine article for the class. No epic spell: only 5 levels of Nentyar Hunter, nowhere near a 9th-level slot.

How It's Wired

pattern
new build — cloned from rwranger (already ran real j_ai_* AI)
blueprint
wln3_vessa.utc
scripts
wln3_vq_inc.nss, wln3_vq_spawn.nss, wln3_vq_round.nss, wln3_vq_death.nss
area wiring
wildlands_n.git · sparky_variables, enc09 → 169

Recovered artifact

Thornwake's Quiet Arrow

Vessa Thornwake's black-fletched arrowhead, etched with the silent quarry mark. wln3_ves_art