Madame Grands Doigts

“Madame Long Fingers” - Hag of the Attic Shadows

Medium Fey

Hit Dice: 7d6+28 (52 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 20 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +3 / +7
Attack: Claw +9 melee (1d4+4 plus weakness)
Full Attack: 2 claws +9 melee (1d4+4 plus weakness)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Weakness, mimicry, attic whisper
Special Qualities: Change shape, mimicry, attic passage, swamp attunement, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +8
Ability Scores: Str 19, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 15
Skills: Bluff +12, Climb +12, Hide +10, Listen +8, Move Silently +10, Spot +8, Use Rope +4
Feats: Alertness, Ability Focus (weakness), Stealthy
Environment: Warm marshes and bayous (and inhabited structures)
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 8–10 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —

Weakness (Su)

A hit from Madame Grands Doigts’ claw forces a DC 16 Fortitude save or the victim takes 1d4 points of Strength damage.

Mimicry (Ex)

Madame Grands Doigts can imitate the voice of any child or familiar adult she has heard (DC 14 Sense Motive to detect).

Attic Whisper (Su)

Within a structure, she may project faint voices through ceilings and walls. Children (typically under 12) must succeed on a DC 15 Will save or become fascinated for 1d4 rounds.

Change Shape (Su)

As a green hag; typically assumes the form of a frail Cajun grandmother, veiled penitent, or masked celebrant of La Fête Humide.

Attic Passage (Su)

Madame Grands Doigts can move through attics, crawlspaces, rafters, and wall gaps without penalty, ignoring squeezing restrictions and passing through openings as small as 6 inches while within a structure.

Swamp Attunement (Ex)

Within 1 mile of swamp or bayou, Madame Grands Doigts gains a +2 bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks and may track by scent.

Description

Madame Grands Doigts appears as a gaunt, elderly woman stretched unnaturally thin, her limbs elongated beyond human proportion. Her most horrifying feature is her hands - impossibly long, jointed fingers like skeletal branches, each digit bending at too many angles, ending in yellowed, splinter-like nails.

Her skin has the pallid, waterlogged quality of something steeped too long in swamp water, faintly gray-green and drawn tight over sharp bone. Sparse strands of damp, wiry hair hang across her face, often obscuring her expression - though when visible, her eyes gleam with a patient, knowing malice.

She moves with disturbing silence, often clinging to beams or crouched in upper corners like a great, thin insect. Most never see her clearly. Instead, they hear her first - soft creaks overhead, dragging fingertips across wood, or whispers slipping through ceiling boards in voices that should not be there.

Behavior

Madame Grands Doigts is a patient and ritualistic predator. She selects homes with children - especially during times of excess, distraction, and noise - and infiltrates the upper spaces where she can remain unseen.

She is most active during La Fête Humide, when households are consumed by celebration. Music, drink, and masked revelry below create the perfect cover for her movements above. Doors are left open, routines break down, and children wander.

She does not strike immediately. Over several nights, she cultivates fear - footsteps overhead, voices calling softly, objects shifting where no one has touched them. She tests boundaries, waiting for a child to respond.

A child who climbs toward the attic, answers a whisper, or separates from the safety of others becomes her target. Only then does she act - extending her long fingers through cracks, stairwells, or ceiling gaps to seize her prey with sudden, silent violence.

Lore

In the parishes of your setting, Madame Grands Doigts is a warning spoken quietly to children as La Fête Humide approaches. She represents the danger that comes not from sin or judgment, but from losing control in the midst of celebration.

Where the festival encourages masks, indulgence, and chaos, she is the thing that does not play along.

Folklore claims she listens for certain signs: children calling into empty spaces, laughter where no one stands, or voices answered when they should be ignored. Some traditions insist she cannot take a child who remains grounded among family - but any child who climbs, hides, or answers a voice from above risks inviting her in.

Scholars and rootworkers believe she is a localized manifestation of Green Hag malice shaped by cultural fear, bound to the liminal space between celebration and neglect. During La Fête Humide, when identity blurs and attention falters, that boundary weakens - and she slips through.

There are darker whispers still: that she does not merely kill, but collects. That somewhere between attic and swamp exists a place that belongs to her - a warped, impossible space of beams and shadows where the taken are kept.

And in some homes, before the music begins, the old warning is still given:

“Dance all you like… but don’t go climbing where the house creaks.”