Abishai

Abishai, also known as scaly devils, were baatezu devils from the first two circles of the Nine Hells, who were servants of Tiamat. They were guards and torturers. "Tiamat is a force of Chaos bound to a place of Law. Are abishai her servants or her jailors?"

- Mordenkainen

Description
Abishais appeared to be the archetypal devils as they held a strong resemblance to gothic gargoyles. They were thin, clawed reptilians with large, leathery, bat-like wings and barbed, prehensile tails which constantly whipped around their bodies. An abishai's eyes were slanted and from their fanged, snapping jaws came a rasping voice. Atop their visage was a pair of small horns, snake-like hair, and pointed ears. Strangely, their presence brought with them the smell of vinegar and perceptible increase in the warmth of the air.

They came in five different colors:red, white, black, green and blue, but the scales that adorned their skin was duller than those of their true, chromatic counterparts. Their size was said to correspond to their station but in general they were devils that could reach heights between  tall.

Personality
Abishais were arrogant devils that viewed themselves as the purest children of Tiamat and as such viewed themselves as superior to both her other underlings and other baatezu. They drew both their philosophical stances and demeanor from their queen and swore fealty to her.

Their sense of rivalry extended not only to other devils but to different breeds of abishai, and due to their intense sense of classism they only interacted with abishais of immediately higher or lower rank, and even then on sufferance. At the same time they were irritated by their own low status and state of servitude, and so took great pleasure in tormenting not only the few baatezu lower in the infernal hierarchy than themselves but also a practically clinical fascination with discovering the depths of mortal suffering.

Abilities
Abishai's were naturally armed with teeth, claws, and stingers strong enough to defend themselves with and depending on the type of abishai, their tails caused a different effect tied to their chromatic type. By holding onto an opponent their scales and talons could also dig into their flesh, opening wounds. While capable of flight, theirs was clumsy and poor making it easier for them to land on the ground is fighting.

Like most low-level devils they slowly but surely regenerated from any wounds not caused by holy water of holy weapons, implements that could cause them particular pain. The spells change self, command, produce flame, pyrotechnics, and scare were also at their disposal as well as the ability to call a few abishai or a small force of lemures to aid them.

Combat
Before landing, abishais would attempt to use illusion and charm-based abilities to weaken their foes before fighting them properly. Often this included the use of scare and suggestion spells to divide large mobs of enemies before swooping down to destroy their foes on the ground.

History
During the Time of Troubles, a group of thirteen abishai were marooned in Unther. The Cult of the Dragon in Unther considered this a blessing from Tiamat. Each of the thirteen maintained a lair in the Underdark below the city of Unthalass. In truth, Tiamat did not send them as a blessing; the thirteen enjoyed their freedom from serving Tiamat, and the high priest of the Cult was blackmailing them into following his orders lest he send them back to Tiamat in Hell.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Dungeon #14: Masqueraider
 * Novels:
 * The Captive Flame
 * Video Games:
 * Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
 * Icewind Dale II
 * Planescape: Torment