Needler in the brush

A needler is a skirmisher that fights entirely at range, shooting sharp needles in self-defense rather than for sport — it would rather not be approached at all. Traders who survive a hit remember the puncture and never see the shooter; the Guild’s contracts describe the wound, not the creature.

It lives in brushline margins, where hazel and thorn break a straight walk into a hundred hiding places. Closing the distance costs a party hexes it doesn’t want to spend, and staying back doesn’t put anyone out of range either — the only real defense is not being the target it prefers.

Two needlers appear together in The Unseen Shooter, the site’s second contract. They’re the same wildlife family as the well’s slimes (“iron,” in Guild speech) with a longer reach, and there’s no cluster to punish here for grouping up — hugging a needler does nothing.