This will be the first of many posts about villains I have created for the games I have run. Today, we start with one a few of my players have met, Lon Lethen. While technically not a true villain in my world, his followers tend to cause mischief and collect teeth, which can lead to issues in civilized lands. What started as a random improvisation when the party did not set a watch in an enemy infested ancient forest has now become local folklore in several campaigns. A fifteen-foot-tall animal skulled and cloaked figure with giant antlers stood within the embers of the fire pit. The party, asking what he wanted, were informed they were trespassing in his domain. The party watched as the sun started to rise over the nearby mountain range and this creature lifted his hand and stopped the sun in its tracks. The group denied the trespassing charges and the barbarian attacked the beast, his hammers passing right through hum. Lon Lethen laughed and fades into mist, leaving a few teeth in the fire pit and the sun started to move again.
Later on, after defeating a banshee the same group found a crown and rod made of black teeth. The warlock, prone to this sort of thing, put on and attuned to both items and could feel a pull to the base of the tower they had raided. They fought a golem and its goblin boss and in the fight the fighter was kicked in the head, loosing a tooth. The party looked at what the goblin had been working on and found a strange patch of loose tiles. It led to a pit full of elf skulls without any teeth and on the wall, they could hear a strange sound, investigation proved it to be the fighters tooth spinning against the one wall. the warlock focused with her new found bone crown and rod and saw a door. Using the tooth as a dowsing rod as well the group made their way down stairs that seemed to go on forever, leading them past strange pictographs on the wall, mostly showing elves giving something to a horned figure. At the bottom there were three doors, two of them were broken and unusable. The last door was the one the teeth pulled towards.
Upon opening the door, they heard a rush of air, having broken the air seal in the chamber. within was nightmare fuel, the buildings were all large house sized teeth, molars made up the city streets. they fought some guardians, used an elevator and found the horned figure Lon Lethen on his dire throne. He granted them a boon. If they would deliver teeth to his agents, he would let them live and send them to their target destination and out of his realm. The group, being reasonable, each sacrificed a tooth, agreed to his terms, and carried on their way.
The next group to encounter Lon Lethen killed numerous strange cultists that had removed their own teeth as well as were stealing teeth from their slain foes. These cultists were mostly pale elves and satyrs preying upon the wilderen, my worlds wolf headed humanoids, that had taken over sections of the Narhold-Lethe forest as well as the elven city of Kelenesdrel . The party killed off groups of both wilderen and cultists and were amazed at the levels of teeth they were finding, entire bags full. They ran into a troll full of swords on a bridge and it told them the toll was teeth. They handed over their teeth satchels and fled to the other side. Later they contemplated going back and fighting the troll but that is a different story. They ended up meeting up with a group of wilderen and their changeling boss and hired a wilderen as a guide to get out of the forest. After a few hours of guided travel, they made camp. The last person on watch fought against sleep and just before dawn a strange form raised out of the camp fire again. Dark cloaked figure, large horns on an animal skull, stood around fifteen feet tall. He warned them to leave payment, a fine, for killing some of his minions in the woods and demanded any teeth from their adventures be thrown under bridges, his minions would take them from there. The party handed over any of the teeth they still had and stayed away from the woods the rest of the campaign, a few still holding on to a tooth or two. This same campaign had an end of days scenario where the group was shunted into the far flung future of my world and had to help Lon Lethen resurrect a dead god by killing titans and collecting their teeth for the greater good. They had a time of it, not the best time but they had to deal with very large crunchy monsters.
In one of our home games the party was sent to deal with a few magical item thieves in the Narhold-Lethe forest and encountered some tooth cultists as well. After a scuffle the group had a few bags of teeth. The group dealt with the thieves and were looking to free the stolen children when they saw something moving throughout the bodies of the thieves. It was a tiny troll that currently was wrenching teeth out of the heads of the slain. They attempted to corner it but it did not seem phased. It told them to be careful, its boss was already watching the group. The group also found one of the kidnapped children had lost a tooth and a strange masked man that looked “silly” showed up and asked to trade for the tooth. The child traded his lost tooth and the creature grabbed two guards and left with them, muffled screams followed by silence and the creature returned and gave the child a knife and disappeared into the darkness. The boy was returned safely to his family.
The same campaign but different adventure led the group back into the forest to look at the old ruins of Kelenesdrel, the old elf city taken over by wilderen and other foes. two historian wizards had gone missing examining the city and the party was there to sus things out. they found a dead wilderen, raving about crystal men and illusions. He died in their arms. They entered the city to find Nabesh crystal mages harvesting magical energies from the inherent ley lines to grow crystals for their flying machines. The group posed as interested potential Nabesh recruits. They made their way to a big fight with the leader and when they killed him, he broke into crystal shards, having been a simulacrum. The real wizard was converting the giant amber encrusted tree in the city center into a giant anchor point and huge portals started opening in the sky allowing the Nabesh to transport their large crystal flying fortresses through to this side of the world. Fearing there was no way to stop this the group performed a hail mary and threw all the teeth they had accidentally collected over their adventures under their magical collapsible bridge. A troll showed up and asked what the party needed and the pointed him to look out the window. He told them he would get the boss and they watched as the horned figure of their nightmares rose from the night shadows and ripped the wizard in half, claiming his teeth in the process. His trolls took to the streets and the party found the missing historian wizards. When they looked back outside the town was spotless, there was no trace of the crystal mages from Nabesh, and there were notes floating in the breeze requesting the elves return to their old city.
One of the best things about making my own villains is pulling inspiration from numerous sources. Lon Lethen was born from a moment of panic and squirrelly ideas. The tooth fairy thing came as a bit of a shock when I imagined this massive creature using delicate arms to collect teeth. I had just started Girl From the Other Side and Ancient Magus Bride, two manga series with horned figures as secondary protagonists as well as finished up Over the Garden Wall the tv series with the Beast as the villain. All three sources have the strange dream like fairy tale quality mixed in with something dark beneath the surface. Lon Lethen Evolved from that. The trolls came along later in the planning as well. Trolls have the ability to regenerate lost parts, which would include teeth, they became a tooth factory for Lon Lethen to gain strength again to start influencing the world around him. He now also used the trolls as messengers and scroungers. The smaller trolls haunt battlefields to remove teeth from the dead. I also developed a tragic back story for him as well, which involves the creation of the Narhold-Lethe forest.
If using Lon Lethen as a warlock patron in 5e Dungeons and Dragons I would allow characters to pick the fey or hexblade pacts. The blade would of course be made of teeth or have teeth hidden within the design and a tooth on a chain would be his token or conduit for communication with a character. Depending on the campaign I would also let the player petition for assistance by throwing teeth under a bridge, allowing for possibly a small troll with goblin stats or if the situation is dire, a full troll. The summoned troll would be reluctant to fight for the group but more would be there to advise or take information to the higher powers. Lon Lethen himself seeks to restore the elves to their old city of Kelenesdrel, they once ruled these lands and their ancient laws tied them to his protection. They also would leave him offerings of their young one’s teeth.
So, if you are looking for a creepy thing to throw at your adventuring party when they forget to set watch, look no further then Lon Lethen, the tooth terror of the Narhold-Lethe forest. Thanks for checking this out and enjoy! More content is on the way!
