Fantasy NPC: The Ghost of The Singing Nanny

You can now support Shaper Of Worlds on Patreon.

The Ghost of The Singing Nanny

A little old halfling lady, wrapped in mismatched pieces of clothing adequate for a servant, with a few pieces adapted from courtly attires.

CR pitiful non-combatant, though rather hard to find and catch

CG Small Undead Humanoid (halfling)

Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +32

Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size)

hp 50 (20d8–40)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +16

Offense
Speed 20 ft.

Melee cane +12 (1d4–4)

Ranged sling +18 (1d3–4)

Statistics
Str 2, Dex 14, Con 6, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 18

Base Atk +15; CMB +10; CMD 27
Feats Alertness, Defensive Combat Training, Dodge, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Run, Skill Focus (Perform [sign]), Skill Focus (Profession [midwife]), Skill Focus (Profession [nanny]), Skill Focus (Stealth)

Skills Climb +21, Knowledge (history) +26, Knowledge (local) +26, Knowledge (nobility) +26, Perception +32, Perform (sing) +7, Profession (midwife) +32, Profession (nanny) +32, Sense Motive +30, Stealth +35

Language Common, Duc, Elven, Halfling, Sylvan

Notable Gear ring of invisibility

While only a few servants in The Queen's Wing of the castle claim catching a glimpse of The Ghost of The Singing Nanny before she vanishes into thin air, many more heard her singing—inhabitants of the castle remain divided whatever that is a good or a bad omen... After all, the good old Nanny died of grief after the Queen fell to her death leaving behind her three young  children and the heartbroken Prince-Consort, and the castle wasn't the same afterwards...

Despite what everyone thought, though, the old Nanny didn't die at that time, or at all—nor was the Queen's death a mere accident. She was pushed out of the tower's window by her husband after he learned of her affair, and that at least one of the children was sired by someone else. The Prince-Consort never learned which, though, which remained thorn in his heart from then on.

The Nanny, being the witness for both the affair, and the murder, appropriated the ring of invisibility that the Queen had been using to sneak away for her trysts, and vanished before she could have been questioned. She had nowhere to go outside of the royal castle that was her home for more than a century, so she decided to stay in its shadows, sleeping in hidden passages, taking food, clothing, and whatever else she needed–which she considers a pension earned by decades of faithful service to the royal family.

With age, her memories and caution slowly deteriorate, and occasionally, servants, or more rarely courtiers might notice her here and there, or hear her singing nursery rhymes to herself, echoing through the corridors.

Her senile head does hold the secrets that would shake the very foundations of the royal family, and could trigger a dynastic crisis if revealed—and who knows who is aware of the skeletons in the closet, who would be willing to seek them, and who would try to reveal them, and what others could do to keep them hidden forever, or at least until the opportune moment.