#aroden

[wormsanduba]

(Not so) lost omens

[onehobgoblin]

Okay, head cannon time:

Does anyone know if the whispering tyrant did something big after failing to take over Absalom the last time?

Because if not I have a theory: Aroden was his biggest enemy and he fucking died while the lich was sealed away. Imagine getting to the city with a brand new undead army, ready to kill your nemesis just to discover that someone else already did it.

If he didn't make anything big after this is because the lich is fuckin depressed, megamind style, after losing his enemy.

Imagine Iomedae approaching him and calling him for a fight and the Whispering Tyrant being like "IT'S NOT THE SAME THING!"

[adraveins]

I want to put this stupid Aroden meme in its own post because it makes me laugh every time I see it

[thronealigned]

iomedae girl i think you're inheriting the wrong things. girl i think there's a cycle

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: The Norn

CR 18

Lawful Neutral Large Fey

Bestiary 3, pg. 202 (pic from 2e Bestiary 2, pg. 184)

Among the most powerful and mysterious of any Fey being, the Norn are ancient guardians (or perhaps creators) of Fate itself. They have an understanding of destiny and futures to come that makes them functionally omniscient... or it did, before Aroden went and bit it. Now prophecy is frayed and unwoven, destiny is severed and uncertain, and the future as it was once known is cast into question. Now more than ever, the Norn may be encountered by the races of man and elf as the ancient Fey wander the cosmos in an attempt to understand the Age of Lost Omens. The majority of their kind are attempting to come to terms with this new age of uncertainty, but some of them are becoming... desperate to reclaim what they once had, or correct what they perceive as an error, sometimes even taking drastic measures.

In most cases, fighting against a Norn is unthinkable and often unneeded. No, a party is more likely to seek a Norn's assistance than its assassination, because even with fate being unwoven, the wisdom of a Norn is valuable indeed. They're able to use both Divination and Vision at will, with the latter impossible for them to fail and the former such child's play for them that even the most cryptic of answers the spell could provide are parsed and solved with the ease of a physicist looking over a child's book of math problems. They're likely a quest-giver, if not a quest objective in and of themselves in the hopes that their foresight will allow a calamity to be averted. Be warned, though, that Norn rarely give out prophecies for free, and they do not accept gold. No, a party seeking one's assistance can be expected to be put under a Geas (which the fey can cast at will) and forced to undertake a specific task as payment for the masters of fate, either before or after they've provided their prophecy. Those who refuse to play along suffer from the fey's at-will Bestow Curse or, if they've been especially offended, the Norn may simply wave her hand and cast Weird on the entire party and be done with it.

Anyone that hopes to force a Norn to reveal its secrets has their work cut out for them. The fey have such a powerful understanding of What Is To Be that they have eternal Foresight, giving them glimpses of 6 or so seconds into the future on demand which, with Foresight covering short-term and Divination covering long-term, assures they're impossible to ever catch off guard. They're also protected by an eternal Mind Blank, True Seeing, AND Death Ward, all of which resume automatically on their turn if the effects are ever ended, dispelled, or expended, and all of which give them extreme resistance or even effective immunity to three of the eight schools of magic! Or, if you want to be generous, FIVE of the eight schools of magic; Enchantment crashes into Mind Blank, Illusion is thwarted by True Seeing, Necromancy struggles against Death Ward, Evocation has to contend with SR 29, as well as 30 Resistance to Fire, Acid, and Electricity (as well as outright immunity to Cold), and Divination cannot be effectively used against a Norn (because she's better at it). Adding to it, they have Moment of Prescience at 1/day and little reason not to use it at the start of the day to add +18 to any one d20 roll or to their AC in case of emergencies.

With magic struggling against these agents of feat, their DR 15/cold iron is comparatively tame. Don't rely on buffing a single combatant and sending them into melee, though, because Norn can shunt a target into a Maze 1/day to give her very dangerous room to think. Besides having Weird 1/day, to potentially oneshot the entire party, they also have 1/day Quickened Phantasmal Killer in case the full-party version misses someone... and these two are often all they need, because Norn can Shift Fate once per round as an immediate action, forcing any creature within 120ft to reroll a saving throw. Nice natural 20 against her PK! Unfortunately, roll again. There's no per-day limit or targeting restrictions on Shift Fate besides distance, making any Save-Or-Suck she throws out far more nerve wracking than it has any right to be. Thankfully, there's only the three; PK, Weird, and Bestow Curse. This is Paizo showing mercy, because PK and Weird require TWO saves, and Shift Fate can only affect one. Imagine if they came equipped with different ones... or had allies with more threatening spells at hand.

Shift Fate even works for the Norn herself, and once her 1/days are expended it's likely she'll be gifting herself with fresh saves every single round for the rest of the fight, making it even harder to affect one with spells! Or, really, any power that relies on saving throws. They have high saves already (18/18/21), making failure unlikely for them, so a level-appropriate party is going to struggle to get anything but basic weapon attacks to stick. Her weapon attacks are likely to stick, though, in more ways than one; their golden Shears act as +5 Mithral Keen Speed Scimitars in their hands, inflicting 1d8+12 damage up to three times a round... while having a crit modifier of 15-20, critically striking one out of every four attacks! In addition, being struck by the Shears, or even just by the touch of a hostile Norn (they can do both as part of a Full-Attack; watch out!), imparts 2 negative levels via Energy Drain. Here's a fun fact: Energy Drain doubles if the attacker confirms a critical hit! And with the high crit rate on their Shears, a Full-Attack from a Norn could saddle someone with anywhere from 8 to 16 negative levels! Though more realistically, it's "only" going to be maybe 6 to 10, but "only" 6 to 10 negative levels still means -35 HP and -6 to all rolls!

And between those terrible save penalties and being made to reroll saves, victims may find their fates severed. Three times a day, a Norn can unspool a length of golden thread and snip it as a single standard action, and this action inflicts catastrophic damage directly to the life force of any creature of the fey's choice within 120ft. This metaphysical severance inflicts 20d6 untyped damage (average: 68!) that cannot be dodged or resisted, only reduced by half by succeeding a DC 30 Fortitude save (and good luck with Shift Fate). If this damage kills the creature, they're gone for good. Only Wish, Miracle, or the intervention of a deity can restore someone who's thread was cut by a Norn.

What did you expect, trying to fight Fate?

You can read more about them here.

[dailycharacteroption]

Juggler (Pathfinder Second Edition Archetype)

(art by Dmitri Burmak on Artstation, featured in Magic the Gathering)

There are plenty of characters and options for them in rpgs that are based around agility and dexterity, about demonstrating incredible reflexes and hand-eye coordination, from acrobats to finesse combatants, but it’s sometimes easy to forget one of the best demonstrations of hand-eye coordination that we have, and that is juggling.

Perhaps it’s because it’s considered a small-time trick (until you see someone VERY good at it), or that it’s “Circus Fare” (and therefore, low art), but the art of keeping multiple objects in the air, often more than one has hands, is an impressive feat on its own.

While it doesn’t happen often, there are characters across fiction that utilize juggling as part of their skill set, and often add in the related art of weapon throwing to the mix. After all, the motion of juggling can draw the eye and leave a foe open when one of those juggled knives suddenly is delivered to their vital points.

It should come as no surprise, then, that an archetype for juggling showed up in the Extinction Curse Adventure Path, which among it’s other themes (troglodyte invasion, dinosaur attacks, Aroden’s legacy of causing problems for others) is also circus-themed! It only makes sense that this archetype would be among those that let the heroes use their skills in both adventuring and on the stage.

It’s also worth noting that this is also an archetype that made the jump from First to Second Edition, where it started out as a bard archetype, but is now available to all sorts of classes.

The base dedication for this archetype grants skill at performance and also the ability to juggle, allowing them to effectively have more items “in hand” than they have hands to hold them as long as they maintain it, though naturally they can tire out eventually. Also, most of the feats for this archetype also increase the total items they can keep aloft.

Another feat allows them to maintain their juggle as a free action, freeing them up to utilize these items with more of their normal actions.

Many also learn to add more items to their juggle at once, allowing them to replenish as they lose items much faster.

They can even catch falling items or thrown weapons that would miss them and add them to their juggle as well.

With a high lob, some can toss a juggled thrown weapon at an arc that surprises foes and leaves them open to it.

Some master jugglers can even reflexively throw one of their juggled items at targets at close range, punishing them for leaving themselves open.

If you’re planning on doing a thrown weapon build, this archetype is extremely tempting, allowing you to have your arsenal of thrown weaponry at your disposal without having to spend as many actions to draw them. As such, this works very well with bomb-focused alchemists, rogues, bards, swashbucklers, and even magi, though I’m sure most any class that wants to play with throwing weapons might find it useful. Alternatively, if you’re not going for thrown weapons, juggling could also be used to have multiple potions or other magic items ready at the same time.

While some may consider a few archetypes that are introduced in certain APs, including Extinction Curse to be awfully specific and gimmicky (Lumberjack? Really?), this archetype makes perfect sense for the adventure it’s introduced in, is general enough to be used by any dexterous performer, and even pays nice homage to the original version!

On the note of roleplay, consider reading up on how performers use not just their acts, but their behavior to establish showmanship and keep eyes on them. How does the character act on stage, or off the stage?

The circus is in town, and one of the performers is a hobgoblin juggler and clown named Progg. What most don’t know is that he was once a sergeant in the army of the hobgoblin nation of Vekus, where he retired due to an injury. However, the local authorities recognize him from the war, and wonder if old habits die hard. They might not wait long enough to prove he is a spy before they make their move.

What should have been a routine performance has turned to murder when a knife-catching trick turns deadly. A minor cut from catching one of the knives she used in her performance rapidly turned into a deadly complication due to poison on the blade… poison sourced from the selection of poisonous spear frogs that the carnival keeps on display in their menagerie.

A street performance turns into a deadly ambush when the party is ambushed by a group of mercenaries that double as street performers, with juggled and thrown knives, illusions that turn into very real hostile magic, and the like. After the party survives the attack, they have to figure out exactly who ordered the hit on them and why.

[spyridonya]

Of the important deities of the Inner Sea, everyone loves, respects, or leaves Shelyn alone.

Desna and Sarenrae adore her, and she adores them. I headcanon their polyam as open seeing as Desna and Sarenrae take on masculine lovers at time, but Shelyn hasn't taken any masculine lovers at present. Cayden Cailean attempts to win her over, bringing her art and violins, but she's not been moved. Cayden respects that for the most part, not considering the gifts he gives her as something 'owed'.

She's admired and liked by Abadar because how love and art helps establishes communities and civilizations… though sometimes flights of love can break a marriage contract. But love of friends, family, and and community makes him over look that. Erastil thinks the very same, though he really wishes she settle down and start a family, because he's the local boomer.

Shizuru thinks Shelyn is pretty wonderful, too. Though not an Inner Sea goddess of major popularity, Shelyn is also worshiped in Tian Xia, and thus has good connections with them as well. She's very good friends with Brigh, who is a goddess of invention, though most people think they'd have little in common save artistry. She's even allies if not friends with the mercurial Calistria, because love and lust often take hands. Calistria says love make you weak, but she'll be among the first to throw hands for touching Shelyn. Aroden admired Shelyn, who smiled, said thank you, and really wished he liked low art as much as 'high arts'. Shelyn's relationship with Iomedae isn't well known, but likely she would try and support Iomedae considering Shelyn's personality.

She even has debates with Pharasma over philosophical issues, with Pharasma winning when she points out flowers grow from dead things. Very likely, Shelyn knows this, always remembers it, but likes to drop by on Pharasma because Pharasma is rather isolated.

None of the evil gods bother her. None. Amsodeus might have deep seated issues about the chaos of Love, though Shelyn would point out that love is not a lawful or chaotic force. Sarenrae and Desna give him nasty looks if he is too Lawful and Evil in Shelyn's direction. The only evil god she fights with is with Urgathoa over execess and corruption, and Urgathoa won't do anything because Callistria would get cranky.

As for the other evil gods? She rarely fights and most of her clerics are not ones to fight. Besides, bothering Shelyn would make Zon-Kuthon Not Happy, and few want to make Zon-Kuthon Not Happy. And despite it all, despite how much he says he hates her and the grief between them, Zon-Kuthon refuses to hurt her or allows his clergy to do the same with her flock. (Eventually in Starfinder, Shelyn gives up her duties to try and find how to save her brother.)

I headcanon that she has issues with Socothbenoth and Belial due to their corruption of love among mortals (femme vs fuckbois). However, I headcanoned she's welcomed the self redeemed Nocticula with open arms. Nocticula is a little confused by this because she's a former demon and her current profilo, but she's a little lonely and never really had a friend.

Only Rovagug hates her, but Rovagug hates everyone.

Basically, Shelyn is Lesbian Jesus and I love her.

[the-faramir]

Midori's Story

Niji-iro Midori: The Reluctant Ringmaster (Midori's Backstory)

Could contain spoilers for the Extinction Curse Adventure Path!

Preface: The Niji-iro Family

Chapter 1: We Are On a Diplomatic Mission to Absalom

Chapter 2: The Circus Arrives Without Warning

Chapter 3: Hi-Diddle-De-Dee, a Carny's Life for Me

Chapter 4: Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

Chapter 5: One Does Not Simply Walk Into Abberton (Coming Soon [Really!])

Chapter 6: The Circus of Wayward Wonders (Coming After)

Bonus: Midori's Backstory: TL;DR

Extinction Curse (The Story Continues)

Contains spoilers for the Extinction Curse Adventure Path!

"Come one, come all! Humble performers become leaders of the Circus of Wayward Wonders when tragedy strikes. But as these heroes lead their motley band of performers and roustabouts around the Isle of Kortos, they uncover a sinister plot to exterminate life from the Starstone Isle. The dead god Aroden may be gone, but his legacy lives on, as do his old enemies who would destroy the wonders he raised from the sea. Spectacle meets savagery as the heroes strive to stop the Extinction Curse!"

Book 1: The Show Must Go On (Coming Later)

Book 2: Legacy of the Lost God (Coming Later)

Book 3: Life's Long Shadows (Coming Later)

Book 4: Siege of the Dinosaurs (Coming Later)

Midori's Details

Midori character summary

Family and Friends

Niji-iro Sakura (Midori's mama)

Niji-iro Tetsu (Midori's papa)

Wedding of Sakura and Tetsu

Niji-iro Siblings All Grown Up

Hanami Ume (Midori's auntie)

Extras

Kitsune udon recipe

Niji-iro tōgarashi recipe

More Characters

Original Characters

Challenges

Creatuanary 2024 (#creatuanary)

Foxgirl February (#foxgirl february)

My Artwork

Old drawings

New drawings

[thesolemnhour]

What about ♡: Accidentally falling asleep together for Agria and Woljif?

great minds think alike @gutterspeak! ❤️❤️

CW: The Mercy sidequest in Act IV, Latverk is a capital c Creep

Latverk was… an uncommon horror, even for the Abyss. Please, won’t you help those girls? He begged. Send them to me—I can help them.

Agria had opened her mouth to—she’s not really sure what she had meant to say, looking back. Placate him? Agree? But something had stopped her dead in her tracks. Something cold had opened up in the pit of her stomach, a sense of overpowering dread. And Agria hadn’t known that man from Aroden, could never have guessed what was wrong with him, but… she knew exactly what that feeling meant. Every young woman does, she imagines, but aasimar girls would do very well indeed never to ignore that gnawing unease. 

She can still picture her mother’s face the first time someone had asked for a lock of Agria’s hair.

It’s all in the past now. 

They can’t stay at the Nexus for long. There's only enough time for the briefest of reprieves. There’s just too much to do. She has to go back out into that gods-forsaken city; she knows she does. She just doesn’t know if she has the strength.

Agria lays on her back, staring at the cave ceiling and desperately imagining the way the stars looked back home. She traces the shapes of the familiar constellations with her eyes. She could still see some of them even in Alushinyyra, but they were alien, wrong, placed at strange angles and pointed in wrong directions. Picturing the Cosmic Caravan--her Cosmic Caravan, Aunt Dalla’s, not another mockery this place makes of something dear to her—makes her so homesick that her chest squeezes with the weight of it.

Lost in thought, she never notices one of her companions joining her.

When she turns her head languidly away from the ceiling, she finds one Woljif Jefto assessing her intently. The look is—concerned, and not in the way his looks once were. It doesn’t say, ‘Does my only ticket out of here really have what it takes to get the job done?’ She knows what that feeling looks like even more acutely than she knew Latverk’s hunger. His distress is not clinical; it looks ready to crawl up his throat and suffocate him.

He’s worried about her. They hold eye contact for long enough for her to realize he has no idea how to ask her if she is okay.

“Tell me—“ She begins, but the words catch before she can finish. For a moment, she doesn’t want to live in their horrifying present; she wants to think of a beautiful future. Flicking her eyes back to her imaginary stars, she continues, “Tell me about what you’ll do once we get out of here.”

If he is surprised by stubborn avoidance of the elephant in the room, he doesn’t show it.

“Fight more demons, looks like.” When Agria heaves a most beleaguered sigh, he continues, “I dunno! I’ve never had options before.”

She abandons the cave ceiling—her misbegotten imagination—to roll onto her stomach and face him directly. “Yes, but it could be exciting! You could do anything you ever wanted to do.”

“Eh… You know how it is,” he drawls. For tieflings, he means but doesn’t say. “You don’t wanna get too hung up something somebody could take away in a second.”

“Live in the dream with me, just for a minute.”

“Maybe I could… start that magic shop? Seems like we’ve already got a decent start on the merchandise.”

Agria nods enthusiastically, “There’s an open niche for jewelers now that Sunhammer is gone. You could Fyllemen out of business.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight?” He asks with a laugh. “Then he’d be the one sneakin’ in to see my stuff.”

“I like it,” she says approvingly, “but we could think even bigger, too.”

“Bigger like what?”

“Well… What’s something you always wished Kenabres had but never did?”

Woljif is quiet for a moment, lost in thought. His eyes dart away from her, but she can see the look in them all the same. “What, like start a charity or something? You really think I could do that?”

“Yes,” she insists softly. “Isn’t that the point of all of this? To make things better?”

“Well, sure, chief, but not even you can fix all of Mendev’s woes.”

“No, not me,” she agrees, “but I think we could get a damn good head start on them.”

“Whatever you say,” he snorts, but his eyes are soft. “How about you?”

“Hm?”

“What are you gonna do once we get outta here?”

Agria hums in thought, picking at a nail thoughtfully. “I’ll finally work up the nerve to go to Ustalav—“

Woljif stops her with a feigned wretch, “Ustalav? Your grand dream if you get out of here is to go… to Ustalav?”

“I almost went once, but I was too afraid to go by myself. I keep hoping I’ll meet someone who can tell me how to move around there without--stepping on anyone’s toes.”

“Why?” He asks, bewildered.

“A lot of the Old Sarkorians fled there! I think that their descendants might have interesting things to say.”

“Ustalav. You might as well just stay here!”

“No,” says Agria, voice firm and optimistic. “It will be fun. I will enjoy it.”

Woljif scoffs, “After this? Someone oughta take you somewhere nice.”

“I invite you to it!” Agria chirps, thoroughly delighted by the opportunity to flirt shamelessly. 

He barks a laugh, as genuinely amused as he is nervous. He surprises her, though; he rises fearlessly to her challenge: “We should hit the beach! Folks say Augustana is nice in the spring.”

She gazes at him, arms tucked under her pillow, as he props himself up onto his side, both of them lost in the joy of the fantasy. The moment is impossibly soft for a cavern in the Midnight Isles.

“It’s a date,” she declares, offering her hand to shake on it. She is embarrassingly hesitant to let go. When she finally does, she returns it under the pillow where she squeezes it for a moment with her other hand. The relief of the moment fades away when she says somberly, “We have to go back there.”

“Of course,” he says in a placating tone that she recognizes as her own, one she has used on him one too many times. “We’ll get back out there in just a minute. But for now, we’re takin’ a break. Just give it a few minutes more, huh?”

“Okay,” Agria answers to find she can’t raise her voice above a whisper, as she lowers her head into her pillow. It couldn’t hurt to rest for just a minute, could it? She feels a curl wander haphazardly onto her forehead. She blows air at it for a moment, determined to clear it without needing to open her eyes, before she feels a fingertip tuck it gently behind her ear.

“Okay.” Woljif whispers back emphatically. She drifts away into a dreamless sleep only seconds after the word leaves his lips.

[lordcaptains]

i wonder how much of the hand of the inheritor's nature is - not an act, but a conscious decision on his part. 

he's made of the stuff of heaven, the essence of the upper planes, true, but that encompasses a whole host of ideals. and before he served as iomedae's herald, he served as the empyreal lord ragathiel's - before he was the hand of the inheritor, he was the hand of vengeance. 

after aroden died and iomedae ascended, he asked to be released to serve her. baphomet says the angel has never been forgiven for "leaving ragathiel and joining iomedae" and that "heaven never rewards its traitors with trust." that's only the word of a demon lord, true, but the most dangerous words of demons are the half-truths.

so…why? iomedae didn't request his service - it was a choice the herald made of his own free will. and iomedae embodies justice, while ragathiel embodies vengeance. 

does the herald's nature tend that way too, then? towards vengeance, towards anger untempered by righteousness, towards wrath, just as ragathiel's does? and when he asked to serve iomedae, it was because he wanted to be different. he wanted to change.

in iomedae he sees ideals he himself wants to strive for - "righteous justice, valor, and honor", as he tells the knight-commander. he's given thought to this, and he's decided how he wants to be - still very much a warrior, but maybe something…kinder than what he was before.

[wearepaladin]

Liberty by JohnnyD

Until the death of Aroden in 4606 AR, the goddess Milani was simply one of dozens of saints within the Last Azlanti's faith. She was the beacon of hope to all those who fought against repressive regimes, giving courage to those who had little but their desire to live a free life. The death of her patron, combined with the tremendous upheaval and suffering that followed his death, gave her a focus and attracted many new followers. Those devoted to her found the courage to organize the rebellions against the infernal takeover of the Chelish Empire, helping many of her outlying territories break free of its control. They fought against the slow slide into barbarism, restoring people's hope that a just and good society could be restored...

[onehobgoblin]

I went into r/BatmanArkham

[skelevenn]

Repostober #4

From around this time last year. All the main characters from that time I DM'd Curse of Strahd. The first 4 are the players: Lucretius von Castonburg, Human* Blood Hunter; Reese Hawking, Human Ranger; Aroden Foxtarrow, Half-Elf Cleric; Gonbri Weregeld, Dwarf Monk. The next two are twins Mirabel and Korga Nimrovitch, their escort NPCs. (if you know CoS, they are reincarnated Ismark and Ireena. Swap the genders tho.) And of course the man himself, Strahd.

I explained more but it ended up kind of depressing lmao so its under the cut.

Around this time last year I got REALLY into trying to revive a DnD podcast my group... attempted. I was DMing Curse of Strahd. We always talked about that campaign really fondly and sort of promised to go back (and record again even if it was never processed and posted) and it would come up every now and then as the dropped campaign people most wanted to revisit but... it hasn't come up in a long time now.

But I was proud of the storytelling and my DMing and junk... also it had a fair bit of homebrew because at the time I was very near the end of a CoS campaign with a different group where I was a player. Where I was Tethys, in face. So I did this whole thing where it was like... 18 years after my group had defeated Strahd (though we hadn't gotten there in real life yet... also then... that campaign died too... SIGH) and a bunch of important NPCs (and a couple PCs) that died were reincarnated and... yadda yadda.

Really out of the blue I just kind of dove into re-editing it myself, and then they turned into videos because I know youtube and not anything about podcast sites, so then I did a bunch of art...

And the rest of my group just kinda didn't care. But I was mostly doing it for myself, at the time. But I don't exactly enjoy editing audio, so it petered out... I did complete and post 3 one-hour episodes. I think the 4th was pretty close too. idk. thinking about it makes me sad now. whoops.

[greaterstolenlandspolycule]

The more I read about Arazni and Iomedae’s relationship, the more I become fascinated with it and sure that I will riot if the latter dies. Iomedae was originally a paladin specifically of Arazni (Inner Sea Gods, 77), back when she was Aroden’s herald—and Iomedae was also the leader of the Knights of Ozem (who considered Arazni their “patron saint” (Knights of Lastwall, 8)) who bound her and forced her to lead the Shining Crusade against Tar-Baphon* (Knights of Lastwall, 9), who ended up killing her, allowing her to eventually be transformed unwillingly into a lich by Geb (Knights of Lastwall, 9). Arazni’s whole thing (okay, not her *whole* thing, that’s a bit reductive), of course, is that she doesn’t forgive (see, for instance, her edicts in Gods and Magic, 54). And yet there’s no specification of her holding the hatred one might expect towards Iomedae (although she absolutely has a grudge and is resentful, she doesn’t seem to *blame* her)—in fact, “a small part of her takes comfort and even pride in Iomedae’s achievements” (Eulogy for Roslar’s Coffer, 72).

*I’m not sure if Iomedae was the one who bound Arazni, or if she even gave the order for it, but there’s no specification that she didn’t, and frankly, it would be weird for something this big to happen under the leader’s nose. The idea that Iomedae gave at least tacit approval to binding Arazni is supported by their creator, Erik Mona, in this thread, although, as he himself notes, messageboard posts are generally only “quasi-canonical”.

[offsidekineticist]

And now we take a breath, because Giliys needs to figure out how to get Theo home, and even he needs a break from angsting every now and then. Here's part 4 of the (Completely Platonic!) Breakup arc.

Interlude

The Temple of Aroden in Rego Cader is a fucking wreck, but in comparison to the rest of the district it's prime real estate. The place has been abandoned for decades–maybe even since the death of Aroden–so there's a thick layer of grime on everything. The altar is gone, probably stolen, and the pews are rotting. The glass has been taken from the stained glass windows, and the gaping holes that remain in their place have been boarded up with wooden planks that are also half-rotted. The sacking of the temple is so complete that you can only tell whose temple it was because Aroden's holy symbol was chiseled into the floor–it was probably leafed with gold once upon a time. The gold is long gone, of course, along with the tiles that probably used to cover the rest of the floor, but they couldn't steal chisel marks. Not yet, anyhow.

"Where have you been? What part of 'emergency' was unclear?!" Qweck hisses at you when you finally arrive, and you scowl at her. 

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to travel with this fuckin Reclamation bullshit going on?" you demand. "Fuckin altar boys have the ports locked up, and every city in the plains is locked down. I had to detour to fuckin Absalom to find smugglers who would take me anywhere near here, and that meant stopping in every Garundi port between here and Absalom, and then I had to figure out a way to get into this horror show of a district–"

"Alright, yes, you are very brave and strong, Giliys, thank you for enduring this odyssey for us," she interrupts. "Now please come over here and look at our plans."

"Plans for what?" you ask as you follow her through the sanctuary. "And who's 'us?' You still haven't told me what the fuck I'm doing here."

"Theoven Derenge," she says, "the children's librarian at the Brastlewark Public Library, has been arrested by the Order of the Rack. They're holding him in Citadel Rivad."

Your brain seems to freeze for a moment. And then it goes into overdrive. They got Thay. You don't understand how–you were the only connection he had with any resistance cells. He did what he could to support your work with the Bellflower Network, but that was as direct as he was willing to get. "I've had a hand in raising so many of Brastlewark's children that I shudder to think what would happen if the powers that be ever felt they had to purge my influence from the city," he explained once. Not even Qweck had known he was involved in resisting Thrune in any capacity–hell, she didn't even know you and Theo had met. You were the only one who knew, and you certainly didn't tell anyone, so–

Does he know that?

You feel the blood drain from your face and your stomach turn over. You were the only one who knew. You know you didn't betray him–but does he? Is he sitting in Rivad, cursing your name because he thinks you're the one who sold him out? He must be–what else could he think? In his eyes you're devil-worshiping scum. He wouldn't be surprised to find out paladins can smite you. Betrayal isn't much of a stretch from there–you did it to every one of your victims after all, why not him?

"Giliys? Giliys!" Qweck's voice startles you out of your thoughts. She's glaring at you, her arms crossed and hip canted. "Could you at least pretend to care that the fate of an innocent man is at stake?"

"Well, excuse me for being confused about why the fuck the Rack would drag a children's librarian halfway across the country for interrogation."

"He had banned books."

In other words, his paranoid insistence of keeping his very illegal collection on his person at all times finally bit him in the ass. Shit, this means the Rack is probably keeping his mom's bag, too, doesn't it? He'll be heartbroken over that if you can't get it back for him.

"Hold up–doesn't your king have a deal with dear old Abby that keeps the Rack out?" You ask, the thought occurring to you suddenly. She shrugs, just as lost as you are.

"It didn't apply here I guess? They were looking for someone specific. I assume Thornfiddle let them in as a show of good will and just didn't expect that they'd arrest someone quite so beloved."

Looking for someone specific, and left when they grabbed Thay. It certainly sounds like someone tipped them off about his books. Yeah, Thay probably thinks you sold him out. Hell, you'd think you'd sold him out if it wasn't for you…uh…being you.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"So you can probably guess where this is going," Qweck continues, oblivious to your thoughts. "There are three of us already willing to do something about this, but none of us have ever done anything like this before, and…we…need your help."

It almost sounds like it was physically painful for her to say that. You put a hand to your ear. "Sorry, I didn't catch that–I'm middle aged, now, you know–could you say that again?"

She closes her eyes and sighs, and you can tell she's praying or reciting mantras or whatever shit she does when she's worried she might crap out the stick up her ass. "I need your help," she repeats, and your eyes widen on their own. She really is desperate.

Of course she's fucking desperate! Someone she loves is in Citadel Rivad, you fucking asshole.

You drop your hand from your ear. "Well, I guess if you really need me, I can lend a hand." You cross your arms. "You said there were three of you?"

Five minutes later you're struggling not to gape at this crew made of, apparently, three of Thay's favorite students, because, gods, Thay likes the weird ones. The first, obviously, is Qweck–the gnomish devotee of a god obsessed with self-control and discipline even though she was literally born bleaching. But you already knew about Qweck. You did not know about Kob or Vrakka.

Vrakka is a half-orc–her mother is an orc, her father is a human, and both parents still live in Brastlewark. You get the feeling that growing up in Brastlewark was a pretty shitty experience for her, partly because she's more than six feet tall and feels even bigger, partly because when she came of age she wandered into the woods and never came back. Apparently she did it on Thay's advice, which feels weirdly irresponsible of him.

"Mr. Theo knew what I was capable of," she says with a laugh at the sight of your face when she tells you this. "It was he who took me for my first walks through the wilderness around Brastlewark. He used to say the bleaching took the color of the First World from him so that he could be more sensitive to the color of this world. Not that he's done anything to hone that skill, mind you."

"So you came back cuz you heard he was arrested?" You clarify.

"Yes. The birds brought Tidings of his ordeal."

You're not sure if she's a druid or crazy. She might be both. You should clarify that point before you set out to infiltrate one of the most secure facilities in Cheliax.

Kob, on the other hand, is definitely crazy. "BEHOLD, LESSER CREATURE: THE MIGHT AND POWER OF A TRUE DRAGON!" he says in the most self-aggrandizing manner you've ever seen.

He is not a dragon. He is a gnome. He is covered in black scales, with black wings on his back (which, during his introduction, he flared out to great dramatic effect) and long claws, but he is a gnome covered in black scales, with black wings and long claws.

"Uh…huh…" you say, eying Qweck and Vrakka. Play along, Qweck mouths to you while Vrakka rolls her eyes and shrugs. "And, uh, why would a creature so Great and Powerful as you want to help us 'lesser creatures?'"

Kob scowls. "I OWE A GREAT DEBT TO THE ONE CALLED 'MISTER THEO.' FOR, LOATHE AS I AM TO ADMIT IT, I WAS NOT BORN A MEMBER OF MY NOBLE RACE, BUT AS A LOWLY GNOME. THE ONE CALLED 'MISTER THEO' GUIDED ME IN MY QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE, AND IT WAS UNDER HIS TUTELAGE THAT I FIRST HEARD THE NAME OF THE ANCIENT DRAGON WHO WOULD SEE MY POTENTIAL AND TRAIN ME TO ASCEND TO THE HIGHEST HEIGHTS OF DRAGONKIND: LATHIMAS."

From what you can gather, Kob's lifelong hyperfixation (most gnomes have at least one) was that he wanted to be a dragon. You vaguely recall Thay telling story about his first couple of years as a librarian involving a little boy the town had nicknamed Kobold because he wanted to be a dragon when he grew up, and how the kid tracked gold glitter all over the library after he seemingly bathed in the stuff trying to turn himself into a gold dragon.

Apparently little Kobold grew up to study dragons and magic and travel the world in search of a way to chase his dream. Eventually he met the ancient black dragon Lathimas and submitted to his tutelage, and in time he became worthy of ascending to dragonhood. Because he is definitely a dragon now, and certainly not a gnome whose mind has shattered under the weight of a careless infusion of draconic magic. (You decide that if this Lathimas guy exists, he's a dick)

That said, Kob can fly, he's stupidly strong, and apparently Vrakka did see him turn into an actual dragon for a couple of minutes once (though he refers to it as "BEARING THE ASPECT OF DAHAK," which isn't concerning in the slightest). And that, combined with Vrakka's reassurance that she is, in fact, a druid, piques something in your mind. Something that begins to spin itself into a plan.

"Ok," you finally say. "I have an idea."

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Milani: Courage Heart

CR 15

Chaotic Good Medium Outsider

Adventure Path: Reign of Winter: The Shackled Hut, pg. 84-85

The baby of the bunch among the Heralds, Courage Heart here also has the dubious honor of serving the youngest of the gods we've seen thus far, with Milani becoming a full-powered deity only a century ago with the death of Aroden, for whom she formerly served as a saint. Courage Heart is even younger, being only a few decades old, having perished as a mortal in the upheavals of Galt, only to have her soul rescued by Milani and transformed into a being of divine freedom. She is so young that she still has immediate mortal family, as in brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, parents... but she refuses to ever see them if she can help it, and has cast aside her past name in favor of her divine title so that no connections can be made between her and her family. Not out of shame, or pride, or hatred, but because Galt isn't a very nice place to live, and if anyone ever found out who her mortal family is, that's a weak point that could be exploited.

She still remembers being mortal and will sometimes return in the guise of one to avoid suspicion from fiendish onlookers, taking on the shape and abilities of a Ranger of 4th or higher level, staying only long enough to fulfill whatever mission she saw fit to accomplish before departing, never revealing her divine form or purpose until she's safely back in Elysium. She never stays long enough to form attachments and purposely hardens herself against any attempts to know her, not wishing to put any allies (or potential friends) through the grief of watching a beloved companion vanish without a trace. One must imagine it a terribly lonely existence, but at least she has the benefit of friends she's made in Elysium waiting for her between missions.

Despite her appearance preceding Inner Sea Gods by a full year, Courage Heart really benefits from the two-page spread she's afforded in the book. Compared to the rest of the Heralds who have their stats, art, and lore crammed onto single pages with no room to breathe or stretch, CH has a fully realized lore block, beautiful art, and a statblock that puts an enormous number of other Heralds to shame despite being younger and, thus, much less experienced than any of them. There's a few Heralds who punch above their weight class, and CH is one of them. Let's see just what that looks like...

Almost immediately, one's eyes are drawn to CH's weapon of choice: A +3 Anarchic Morningstar, a weapon a full +1 tougher than any other Herald's. Her attacks are both highly accurate (+29 to the first hit, +14 on the last) and powerful, dealing 1d8+11 damage (+2d6 vs Lawful targets) up to four times a round, or 2d8+11 once via Vital Strike if she can't make a Full-Attack... though if you stay out of her melee range, she may instead decide to swap to her even more intimidating ranged option.

Oh yes, from a distance, her silly little rose may not seem all that impressive as a weapon, but anyone who knows anything about Milani knows just how dangerous a rose can be in the hands of her believers (that link to her article above? scroll down a bit until you read what she does to Wall of Thorns). Indeed, CH's Bloody Rose is not just a token she can hand out, but a shockingly potent weapon: A +1 Anarchic Dart, meaning it deals 1d4+9 damage on a hit (+2d6 vs Lawful) and it can hit up to four times a round, as CH can conjure as many as she wishes as a free action. While seemingly less damaging and less accurate than her melee morningstar at first, she has two to back it up: Point-Blank Shot and Rapid Shot, the first adding +1 to attack and damage rolls vs nearby creatures, and the latter giving her an extra attack if she Full-Attacks with her dart... And ALL of her weapon attacks benefit from her Favored Enemy ability, to which she has +8 vs Lawful Outsiders, +6 vs Evil Outsiders, +4 vs Undead, and +2 vs Humans giving her even more damage than she first appears to have when opposing tyrants and fiends.

Her dart isn't her only ranged option, just the only one that can critically strike: she's also got both Chaos Hammer and Holy Smite at-will to deal a burst of damage to multiple Lawful or Evil targets... but her true power lays not in what she can do on her own, but what she adds to an ongoing rebellion. As servant to the goddess of uprisings, Courage Heart gives hope to the hopeless and bolsters them with the strength to fight back against their oppressors; allied soldiers will feel the most benefit from CH's presence, but even peasants and commoners will feel new strength welling up inside them.

CH's Rebellious Aura quite literally gives hope to the hopeless, granting every ally within 60ft a +4 to saves versus fear effects and a permanent, undispellable Good Hope effect, granting a +2 to every d20 roll and weapon damage roll they make until they're no longer in the aura. In addition, her spell-like abilities benefit others far more than they benefit her, as she can grant Darkvision out despite having it herself, Magic Vestments and Magic Weapon when she already has fully magical equipment, and Protection From Arrows when she's already got the Deflect Arrow feat. All of the mentioned spell-likes can be cast 3/day, and they're not nearly all she can do to aid an ongoing cause; if she can help it, no one will die in her care. She does have Cure Moderate Wounds 3/day, but that pales in comparison to her Martyr's Blood, granting her the power to lower her own Fast Healing 10 by 1 to grant Fast Healing 1 to an ally for an hour, meaning the target regains 600 HP over the course of that hour, one round at a time. There's no limit to how many times she can grant someone her blood, just that she's restricted to only marking 10 targets at a time (lowering her own healing to 0/round for an hour), basically allowing her allies infinite out-of-combat healing. If you can't kill someone under her protection, they'll be back on their feet at full health an hour later.

But a true uprising isn't built on defenses alone, her fellow freedom fighters must be ready to take up arms when needed. Not everyone in her makeshift militia will have proper weapons, but whatever they grab off the ground will serve as a fine weapon thanks to her 3/day Peasant Armaments, a spell unique to Milani followers which allows anyone nearby using an improvised weapon to A) do so without penalty, and B) treat them as their closest equivalent simple weapon. The spell amusingly states that even a butterknife or broken chair leg can be treated as a dagger and a club (respective) while under the effects of this spell, letting a group of peasants fight back against trained soldiers with planks torn from the ground, tree branches, silverware, and furniture. With Magic Vestments and Magic Weapon being handed out, even people in scavenged armor can have a better chance at surviving long enough to escape a tyrant's grasp. Anyone who cannot or will not fight can be shrouded by her 1/day Mass Invisibility to sneak around what cannot be fought.

Also, when I say 'handed out' in regards to her magic, I mean it literally. CH can't be everywhere at once, but she can freely use Imbue With Power to grant anyone she touches the ability to cast one of her 3/day spells, expending one of her uses but allowing the target to cast it themselves at a later time. She can hand out quite the lengthy list: Cure Moderate Wounds, Magic Weapon, Peasant Armaments, Protection From Arrows, Shield Other, and Status! With the power to divide the workload between herself and her allies, it leaves her hands free to go on the offense while other people 'holding' her magic for her can get it to the ones in need, removing any potential for her enemies to try and split her focus. About the only one she might want to keep for herself is Shield Other, as it allows her to take damage meant for a chosen champion, with that damage crashing into her long list of defenses: DR 10/Lawful, and 20 Resistance to Acid, Cold, Electricity, and Fire. With Fast Healing 10 ticking her up each round, she's an excellent Shield Other battery, and even beyond all this she STILL has more tricks!

She can use Tactician to grant all allies within 30ft of her the use of her Outflank, Lookout, and Swap Places feats for 11 rounds, giving them additional DPS, initiative, and maneuverability in a single action. All the while, her allies are benefiting from her long list of buffs, both active and passive. Were it not for the shackles of divine law requiring her to operate in secrecy, there's little doubt in my mind that Courage Heart would actually whip Galt into proper shape in a matter of weeks, if not days... were it not for some factors assuring that her homeland remains in its tumultuous state. But who's to say those factors wouldn't allow CH to shed her disguise and fight at full power? Perhaps, over the course of a specific module, the players see fit to call the Herald of Freedom back to her homeland to finally free it from the parasites that have been ruining it...?

You can read more about her here.