In Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lords of Chaos, James Jacobs describes the Abyss, its demon lords, and special powers mortal characters can gain if they worship these evil beings. These latter are called boons, the weakest of which are spell-like abilities, though those powerful mortals who delve deep into this evil gain even stranger powers. Access to the boons requires taking the Demonic Obedience feat.
Demonic Obedience
You physically defile yourself, others, or holy objects in order to prove your blasphemous devotion to a demon lord and gain special boons. Prerequisites: 3 ranks in Knowledge (planes), must worship a demon lord. Benefit: Each demon lord requires a different obedience, but all obediences take only an hour to perform. Once the obedience has been performed, you gain the benefit of a resistance to some element or attack associated with your demon lord, as indicated in the "Obedience" entry for the demon lord.
If you have at least 12 Hit Dice, you also gain the first boon granted by your demon lord upon undertaking your obedience. If you have at least 16 Hit Dice, you also gain the demon lord's second boon. If you have 20 Hit Dice or more, you also gain the demon lord's third and final boon. Unless a specific duration is listed, a boon's effects are constant.
If you ever fail to perform a daily obedience, you lose all access to resistances and boons granted by this feat until you next perform the obedience.
Here are just a couple of boons from the more than 30 demon lords presented in the book.
Abraxus: 1st boon: Secret Lore (Sp)identify 3/day, augury 2/day, or illusory script 1/day 2nd boon: Heretical Revelation (Su) Up to three times per day, you can whisper terrible secrets to an adjacent target as a standard action. The target can resist with a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Charisma modifier). If the target fails its save, it is stunned for 1 round, then confused for 1d4 rounds, and then nauseated for 2d6 rounds. This is a mind-affecting effect. 3rd boon: Penultimate Incantation (Sp) Up to three times per day, you can affect a single creature within 60 feet with a targeted greater dispel magic. Each spell or effect dispelled inflicts fire damage to the target equal to the result of your caster level check made to dispel that effect.
Pazuzu: 1st boon: Whispers on the Wind (Sp)charm person 3/day, enthrall 2/day, or fly 1/day 2nd boon: Possession (Sp) You can cast magic jar once per day as a spell-like ability. You can use a holy symbol of Pazuzu or a statue of Pazuzu as your receptacle—if you do so, you can determine the exact creature type and position of all potential life forces you're capable of possessing. 3rd boon: True Temptation (Sp) If any creature speaks Pazuzu's name aloud three times with a single breath, and that creature is within 60 feet of you, you can cast quickened charm monster on that creature as an immediate action. You can use this power up to three times per day. Creatures with fly speeds take a –4 penalty on saves against this effect. If a creature that fails its save against this effect has protection from evil or a similar effect activated, that effect is immediately and automatically dispelled.
As for what the actual obediences are, you'll have to just wait and see....
August is always a weird time for us, as we alternate between manic, panicked productivity and post-Gen Con recovery. As a result, sometimes we get so wrapped up in our projects that we forget to tell you what it is we're even working on! Such was the case with Elaine Cunningham's new Pathfinder Tales novel, Winter Witch, which after a long run-up finally shipped to the printer two weeks ago!
While I won't spoil the plot, (which you can check out here), Winter Witch is primarily the story of two characters: Ellasif, a shield maiden from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings who's determined to rescue her little sister from the witches of Irrisen, and Declan, a young Korvosan wizard-turned-mapmaker who gets drawn to Irrisen's capital of Whitethrone when the girl he's infatuated with gets kidnapped by weird ice magic. Together with the help of a Varisian caravan, gruff Ulfen barbarians, and a plucky pseudodragon named Skywing, the two make their way across hundreds of miles of dangerous landscape in order to infiltrate the witches' stronghold. Yet it quickly turns out that nothing about their quest is as simple as it appears...
Speaking as the editor, this book is a lot of fun. Though I adore Dave's Prince of Wolves and the gritty, noir-ish feel Radovan and Jeggare brought to Ustalav, I was glad that this book presented a very different voice. In my opinion, Winter Witch has more of a traditional epic fantasy flavor, with a solid dose of Slavic fairy tale thrown in there. I think people will enjoy the characters a lot, and particularly Skywing—it's hard to resist falling for a tiny, overconfident dragon.
And since the subject of Prince of Wolves came up, I think it's high time to reveal a closely guarded secret: Elaine wasn't working alone. It's true! Though the book was originally solicited as being by Elaine, back when she created the characters and outlined the plot, as the writing went on—and as she saw her old friend Dave's excellent work on Prince of Wolves—she decided to bring him in on the project as well, turning it into a collaboration. Given how happy we were with Prince of Wolves, the idea of having two awesome authors on the book sounded fine to us, and together Dave and Elaine wrote what I think is going to be an instant fan favorite.
This post also wouldn't be complete without mentioning that in Winter Witch, and in each Pathfinder Tales book going forward, there's also going to be an excellent new map at the front of the book, detailing the areas where most of the action takes place. For Winter Witch, that map was hand-drawn by our own Crystal Frasier, and it looks marvelous!
Winter Witch should be available in November in time for the holidays, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy it as much as I have. Elaine and Dave have done a bang-up job, and I can't wait to see what they do next!
So, we're finally wrapping work on Lords of Chaos. As with the first volume of Book of the Damned (last year's Princes of Darkness), the chapters of the book will be separated by actual in-game entries from the Book of the Damned, complete with creepy illustrations. I'm showing off two of those pictures here—both great examples of why you might want to schedule your next vacation for the Abyss. Look how scenic it is, there? So what if that mountain over yonder might get up at any moment and come eat you? That's part of the fun!
After a long hiatus because of convention season, the drow nobles game continued with a hunt for the kidnapped acting matron of the House Azrinae—and split into two groups of PCs when Ylvirixna (Rob McCreary) and Alivora (James Jacobs) decided the matron (decerebrated by mi-go) was no longer in charge and ran off with her body. Confounded by this betrayal, Rackutio (Josh Frost), Phyxafein (Tim Nightengale), and Verandia (Jodi Lane) returned to the drow city of Far Parathra to plan their next move. Or so they thought.
The group couldn't find Zwimessa (Crystal Frasier) when they left to find the matron that morning (Crystal missed that session). Zwimessa, meanwhile, couldn't find any of the others when she woke—their rooms were empty, and the drow commoner prisoner they had taken from their occupied house was dead in one of the rooms. Hiring a diviner in Far Parathra, Zwimessa found that her family members had been kidnapped, and paid the mage to teleport her to where they were held, bringing two mage-called demons (Kelly Marie and Troy Siefker) with her for extra muscle.
Zwimessa, Fumerott (Kelly), and Poograh (Troy) arrived just outside of a strange laboratory where three mi-go had Alivorah, Phyxafein, Rackutio, Verandia, and Ylvirixna strapped to tables, with needles in their skulls connected to strange metal canisters. After routing the mi-go, Zwimessa's team freed the others, though Ylvirixna's brain had been removed and had to be put back in her skull with some powerful healing magic. Retrieving their gear from a nearby nook, the drow followed an escape tunnel (with a comatose Ylvirixna riding Alivorah's snake-like phantom steed).
The tunnel opened up into a cavern with several mi-go crates (each marked with magical runes) and a strange underground lake. While investigating the crates, they spotted movement in the murky water, and something hurled a rock at Zwimessa.
What followed was a furious battle with a pair of giant fish-men and two mutated, skinned ghouls. Fumerott grabbed and hurled one of the ghouls to the shore so Alivorah, Rackutio, and Verandia would have something to fight. Rackutio cast hungry pit on it, pulling in the wounded creature as well as two of the crates, which exploded on impact. OM NOM NOM! On the other side of the battle, the two giant fish-men deal horrendous damage to Poograh, but the stubborn demon continues to fight.
Fumerott and Zwimessa make short work of the remaining mutant ghoul, prompting the demon to eat her fallen enemy. Delicious!
The giant fish-men turned their attention on 20, Rackutio's eidolon, and managed to tear it apart, sending it back to its home plane. As the rest of the group converged on these foes, Rackutio summoned a greater water elemental (represented by a fire elemental in this picture, recolored blue with the magic of photo manipulation) to pound on the slimy things, and Verandia ended the fight with a controlled burst of channeled negative energy. Time to rest and loot... which, in Poograh's case, included eating the dead fish-men!
Tip: If you have players who are new to the Pathfinder RPG (as Kelly and Troy were) or gaming in general, all the choices for a classed character can be overwhelming. Sometimes it's easier to have them play an allied monster, which has fewer options for the player to learn. In this case, I copied the stats for a hezrou demon onto a character sheet, removed references to rules they didn't need to know about (like Improved Initiative, which is built into the stat block), summarized other complex abilities (like greater teleport), and didn't include other abilities they wouldn't need (like summon). This let them focus on playing their monster characters and dealing with dice rolls for attacks, damage, skills, and saves. Because these players are only present for this one high-level session, using conjured monsters allows them to play without devising a complex in-game story for why these two characters would show up and leave after a short time.
Though we've put out a lot of awesome titles in the Planet Stories line in the past few years—not a few of them stellar classics in the genre—the debut of the first-ever Planet Stories Double Feature in a couple months has really got the editorial team here stoked. And for good reason—the book features two exciting sword and planet novellas by literary grand masters Michael Moorcock and Joe R. Lansdale!
Illustration by Kieran Yanner
Sojan the Swordsman features the adventurous tales of Michael Moorcock's first published character, which originally saw print in serial form in an impossible-to-find fanzine in the 1950s. Mike has revised Sojan especially for the Double Feature, so if you're looking for the definitive edition of the work, this is it. Mind you, Sojan Shieldbearer is an incarnation of Mike's recurring Eternal Champion, of whom Elric of Meniboné is another personification. Plus, Sojan carries a mean retro-futuristic steampunk air-gun—how can you beat that?
Joe Lansdale's novella Under the Warrior Star is not only an astoundingly well-executed homage to the rollicking pulp adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Otis Adelbert Kline, it's also the first original fiction published by our Planet Stories book line. Whether it's battling giant spiders in the miles-high trees of the forest world of Juna or taking on that planet's Cthulhu-like overlord with but a sword in hand, Joe's hero Braxton Booker, a former Olympic fencing champion with a shady past, makes the perfect counterpart for Moorcock's sword-wielding Sojan.
Now that you know a little bit about the Double Feature, check out the pulp hero goodness of Kieran Yanner's cover art for the book. Get your swords sharpened and your air-guns primed—the Double Feature releases this fall!
We’ve mentioned it before, but in case you’ve forgotten, the Pathfinder Chronicler fanfiction contest is in full swing! There’s still plenty of time to enter, however, and the winner will still receive the grand prize of a $100 Paizo store gift certificate and publication in Wayfinder, with two runners-up receiving $50 Paizo gift certificates. You've got until September 12th to get your entry in, so why not use that 3-day weekend over Labor Day to whip up a story and send it in? Contest details can be found here.
Why do I bring this up now? Well, in addition to offering a reminder while there's still time to get your submission in, the Pathfinder Chronicler folks were kind enough to interview me recently about judging the contest, writing advice, and all things Pathfinder fiction, so if you're feeling almost up to it but could use a little extra encouragement, hopefully some of my ramblings can be of use.
Greetings, delicious humanoids! What's the scoop? My name is Tom. Tom Rex. Tom normally doesn't talk to Tom's lunch, but Boss Sutter said Tom has to in this case, and since Boss Sutter is all skin and bones and beans and peanut butter, and thus not edible to Tom's discerning palate, Tom has no recourse but to do what Boss Sutter says. So here Tom is, talking to things that should be screaming as Tom chews them. But Tom is okay with that, because Tom needs his paycheck.
Boss Sutter said Tom should put James Jacobs's original map turnover on this blog, so that you squawking morsels might be able to use it as a handout in your Serpent's Skull games, but Tom can't find the map. Tom thinks it's at the back of one of the shelves, and Tom's arms can't reach that far, and anyone who makes fun of Tom's arms WILL be eaten. That's the scoop on that.
So instead, Tom just kicked in the door to the map archive room, ate the guards, stepped on their stupid robot defenders, and picked up the big untagged map of Smuggler's Shiv in Tom's teeth. Then Tom put it behind the spoiler button on this post. If you're a player in a Smuggler's Shiv game, Tom will kick your ass. Right up into Tom's mouth, where Tom will eat you. So don't peek! The map behind the spoiler button is for GMs only, who want to present a blank map to their players once they find a map of Smuggler's Shiv during the course of the adventure. GOT IT?
Spoiler:
Cartography by Robert Lazzaretti
As for what Tom thinks of the triceratops/torosaurus debacle... doesn't matter to Tom. They're equally delicious whatever their names are. That's the scoop on that!
Today's blog was supposed to be from James Jacobs, something to do with a map for Smuggler's Shiv. Unfortunately, Mr. Jacobs has allowed himself to be trapped in meetings all day, and was unable to get us the required information. Since we all understand that flagrantly placing the good of the company over the needs of the messageboards is flatly unacceptable, Mr. Jacobs has been placed on temporary suspension to think about what he's done. As such, I'd like to introduce his replacement.
I hope you'll all join me in welcoming Tom Rex to the staff. Tom's been angling for Mr. Jacobs' job for years, and though his editing skills are understandably a bit out of date, he's shown a remarkable level of enthusiasm and can-do spirit. A former newspaperman, Tom is already adjusting to his new role, and his trademark catchphrase—"What's the scoop, chief?"—will surely never get old. Welcome, Tom!
Let me start this off by saying that our fans and friends are freakin' amazing. Seriously, folks—when Tiffany started this whole costume contest thing two years ago by showing up at the Gen Con booth dressed as a cleric of Desna, we were flat-out flabbergasted. The fact that Pathfinder cosplay has grown by leaps and bounds since then—enough to justify a full-fledged costume contest—is one of the greatest compliments our game could receive. If you've never seen what goes on in our hotel rooms after a long day of working the Gen Con booth (and I sincerely hope you haven't, as we were told those door locks were secure), there's a whole lot of summer-camp-style giggling that goes on late into the night as we marvel at all the folks we've met that day. The costume contest only compounds that.
This year we had a number of strong contenders. In fourth place, Kelly's amazing Harsk outfit (complete with badger and authentic handmade crossbow!) tied with Blake's fabulous depiction of Nethys, the two-faced god of magic. In third, Tiffany's Harrower costume was a spot-on recreation of the art from the campaign setting hardcover, while Jason's potion-covered homage to the iconic alchemist exploded into second place.
Yet there can be only one winner of the Third Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest, and this year the landslide victory went to Lora as the iconic witch. The level of detail on this costume was simply stunning. As art director Sarah Robinson pointed out, given the number of illustrators who complain about having to draw all the little pouches, fetishes, and other bits and pieces Wayne Reynolds likes to load up the iconics with, seeing someone actually make them to this level of detail is amazing. For her dedication, Lora receives the grand prize of $50 in Paizo store credit, as well as bragging rights until next year, when she'll have to defend her title.
When the time comes, will you be the one to take it from her?
If you're reading this blog on paizo.com, rather than aggregating through some sort of high-tech feed to your personal mobile command unit, or beaming it directly to your personal communications satellite—as one of the last Paizonians without a smart phone, I really have no idea what such things are capable of these days—it's likely you've already seen the little tab just above this that says "Web Fiction." And if you're a fan of freebies, you've probably even checked it out, and already read through the excellent free Pathfinder Tales stories by folks like Dave Gross, Rich Ford, and J. C. Hay.
Yet while the fiction itself is easy to find, it's come to my attention that people might not know that new installments in our free fiction series go live every single Wednesday, with several thousand words of new free content each week! Perhaps even more importantly, I've realized that while we've been slaving away bringing you the stories, we've been totally bereft of a forum in which to tell you about them.
All of which stops today! Going forward, I'm going to make it my mission to announce each new story on this blog as it launches, the better to preview things for you and let you know what's coming down the line. And as it turns out, I couldn't have picked a better time to start. (Well, except for the very beginning, but that's beside the point.)
This week sees the first installment of "Certainty," a new story from up-and-coming fantasy novelist Liane Merciel. The author of The River Kings' Road and its forthcoming sequel, Liane really understands how to bring some grit and realism to a fantasy world. Fortunately for us, she's also a fan of Pathfinder, with a grasp of the history and feel of the setting that's simply astounding. In the new story, Liane follows Ederras, a former paladin of Iomedae who's lost his faith (or at least, his self-righteous conviction), on his journey to the Worldwound to reclaim a sense of right and wrong—or die trying. But it turns out that even in Mendev, light and dark aren't always clear, and the hand that smites the demon might be just as corrupt, in its own fashion, as the demon itself...
Click here to read the first chapter in this new free short story, and don't forget to check back every Wednesday for more adventures on Golarion!
If you know anything about me (and I'm not saying you should), you probably know that I'm Paizo's fiction editor as well as one of the developers. What you may not know is that, in addition to working on the campaign setting and making sure authors like Dave Gross are fed and walked regularly, I'm also a musician involved in variousextracurricular bands and projects. Usually that doesn't affect my job at Paizo much, save for that one time when Jacobs and I, in the first and only performance of Operation Banjo Thug, ambushed Wes with some impromptu talkin' blues. (An experience from which he's never entirely recovered and which, without witnesses, he can't verify as having actually happened.)
A while back, however, Jacobs and I were sitting around after work talking about what a Paizo theme song would sound like. We decided that it would really need to have two distinct elements: a big industrial section like Nine Inch Nails' "Just Like You Imagined" (300 had just come out), and a classic, Conan-style orchestral piece. And of course, no soundtrack would be complete without an homage to The Omen's big choral theme, which we in the office will forever refer to as "Sawhorse Middle School," for reasons I won't go into here.
The idea never quite left my head, and a few months ago I sat down on a Saturday and decided to do something about it. The resulting track was received with much hilarity at the office—which was really what I was going for—and people ended up liking it so much that they voted to use it as the theme song for Paizo at the ENnies this year.
While it's hard not to be proud of the awards we won—Best Publisher? Best Game? It literally does not get better than that—in my secret heart, my favorite part of Gen Con this year was hearing the fight song blasted over the PA every time someone from Paizo went up to accept an award.
Now that we're home, it occurs to me: why stop there? Hopefully some of you reading this blog would be equally amused by the track. As such, I give you my attempt at a Paizo fight song, "Pathfinder Est Domine."
Gen Con 2010 Promotional Paizo Mini from Reaper Miniatures
Monday, August 16, 2010
Not only did Reaper Miniatures bring miniatures of the six new Advanced Player's Guide iconics to Gen Con, they brought a promotional mini of half-elven venture-captain Varian Jegarre—a Pathfinder of Egorian and protagonist of Dave Gross's Pathfinder Tales novel Prince of Wolves—which con guests got for free if they spent $50 at the Paizo booth. If you couldn't get one at Gen Con, though, don't worry—we'll have some for sale here at paizo.com in the near future.
One really nice thing about this mini (above and beyond the nice sculpt and detailed face) is it's a one-piece mini, which makes it nice for people new to painting minis—there's no assembly required!
Painted miniature by Meg Maples
Sean K Reynolds
Developer and Miniatures Aficionado
As you've probably heard, we went to a convention last week—an especially well-documented convention thanks to pretty much every staff member having a camera phone and shutterbug fever. Here's the download.
The Paizo Booth: Before the Storm
The wall of books! This is the only time we really see all the stuff we do in one place. Geez that's a lot!
And MORE books! Not many of these brave soldiers came home.
Veteran game designer Greg Vaughan takes his turn at running the Pathfinder Delve. Brandon Hodge, author of From Shore to Sea, decides to finally learn how to play. (Just kidding!)
Because we're so pretty. When Judy, Sutter, and I start that jug band we always never talk about, this will totally be the cover.
The phenomenally talented folks at Reaper Miniatures spent the whole show sculpting! Behind the painted minis of Arael, Varian, and Damiel are greens of upcoming Shazathared and Pact Master minis!
Gen Con's notoriously elusive Sarah Robinson.
James Jacobs employs the Paizo banner against Jeff Alvarez in a life-sized version of Mouse Trap.
Even Cosmo, now sans innards thanks to surgery he underwent in Indianapolis (SERIOUSLY!), helps wrap up things after the show.
Greg Vaughan and James Sutter "help" take apart the Paizo booth. Chris Self is appreciative.
Chris Carey learns the hard way never to fall asleep around his coworkers (probably right as he's editing this blog). [Edit: To be fair, that eerie hooded figure in the background cast sleep on me. Fortunately for him, Erik was just out of range. —Chris]
Okay. That's it for random photos. I promise some day soon we'll stop talking about Gen Con... but not quite yet.
We’re back from Gen Con, and in addition to the usual scramble to meet deadlines and recovery from horrifying illnesses contracted by shaking hands with approximately ten bajillion people, that means it’s time for everyone to vote on the contestants in the Third Annual Gen Con Pathfinder Cosplay Contest!
We had an extraordinary number of contestants this year, and all of them did bang-up jobs! Yet only one can be the official winner of the grand prize (both a pile of Paizo store credit and bragging rights), which is where you come in. At the bottom of this blog, you’ll see a link for comments. Sound off and place your vote for the best costume in that thread. You have until the end of the weekend to make your selection. On Monday morning, we’ll tally all the votes, and announce the official winner in a blog post next week.
Ready? Here are this year’s fine contestants, in no particular order:
Lora as Feiya, the iconic witch.
Jason as Damiel, the iconic alchemist.
2009 contest champion Kelly as Harsk, the iconic ranger. (Maybe he’s a little tall for a dwarf, but how can you say no to a hand-made crossbow and his adorable animal companion, Biter?)
Blake as Nethys.
David as a paladin of Iomedae.
Corienne as a Tien monk.
2008 contest champion Tiffany as the Harrower from the campaign setting hardcover. (You can’t see her wayfinder here, but it came with its own ioun stone!)
Noel as Trifaccia from Pathfinder Adventure Path #12. Look out, he's got a whip!
Honorable Mention: Jodi as Amiri, the iconic barbarian, who despite her amazing costume has removed herself from the running, on account of already being Sean Reynolds' girlfriend (and isn't that prize enough?).
Crystal: Oh, hey... I just figured out what smells so good. I think I'm in Wes' office.... but, there's a flying car parked outside!
Sara Marie: Please be careful! This is getting dangerous; they'll be back from Gen Con any minute now! Porcupine.
Crystal: I think when we got separated, I went to the future... This must be where Sarah got those covers from! Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: I'm getting kinda nervous about this... but if it's the future maybe you'll be safe...
Crystal: Don't you see, Sara? If leaking some bits of art makes us famous, then what happens if I leak entire future supplements! We'll be IMMORTAL! Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: If you think immortality is safe...
Crystal: Now, let's see.... "Classic Game Designers Revisited," "Flumphs of Golarion," "Adventure Path 12: Samurai Cowboys Ride Again".... Oh!
Sara Marie: Are you all right?
Crystal: More than just all right!... I think I just found the Bestiary 2! The whole thing, complete and bound!
Sara Marie: No way!
Crystal: We'll leak this and then the fans will... the fans will.... Uh oh...
Sara Marie: Crystal?...CRYSTAL!
Crystal: There's tripwires, Sara!
Sara Marie: Get out!
Crystal: Everywhere.
Sara Marie: GET OUT!!! (Carefully!)
Crystal: They're even on me!
Sara Marie: OK. Don't. Move.
Crystal: Oh, well played, Mr. Schneider. Well pl-
Sara Marie: Crystal? Hedgehog?
...
Sara Marie: do you read me
...
Sara Marie: Hedgehog!? Porcupine?! DO YOU READ ME?!!!
...
Sara Marie: HEEEEDGEHOG!!!!
* * *
Dear Fans,
I apologize that we could not bring you the entire Bestiary II, however, I feel it is my duty as a fellow fan and adventurer to bring you one last piece of artwork, another Misfit Monster, snatched off of James Sutter's desk as I ran fleeing from the dungeon that is the Editorial Pit and Development offices.
A very tired, very hungry, but ultimately satisfied and successful bunch sit down for a lovely after-show dinner.
Thanks to everyone who visited our booth, came to our seminars, gamed in our Pathfinder Society room, stopped us in the halls to thank us, or voted for us in the ENnies. You made this yet another great Gen Con. See you next year!
With Society games at an end, I popped over to The Arsenal, a Society store in Indianapolis that serves as a game store, gaming area, and cafe. They have some cool themed gaming rules in the basement, a lot of Pathfinder Society games each week, and they can bring you food right to your table while you do it. All-in-all, a fun visit.
Crystal: Stuff from the future, huh? Sounds neat! Open it and see if a paradox destroys us all! Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: Wow! These are amazi-- ...Umm... I just heard a "click" sound. Is that bad? Porcupine.
Crystal: You've either stepped on a mine, or else let her lucky cricket out of its cage. Possibly both. I'm not certain if the cricket explodes. Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: PORCUPINE IS LEAVING THE NEST! REPEAT PORCUPINE IS LEAVING THE NEST!
...
Crystal: Sara? Sara, are you okay?
...
Crystal: SARA?!
...
Sara Marie: I'M OK! COPY THAT? I AM OK!
Crystal: Stop yelling or the cave raptors will find us again. Hedgehog.
Sara Marie: Where ever you are... Watch out! These people know how to lay traps! On the up-side, I made it out with two incredible pieces of artwork!
Flayleaf may ease your mind. Pesh may invigorate your humors. Yet as any sage and scholar can tell you, knowledge is the most addictive drug. And once the quest for learning has its hooks into you—once your eyes have been opened—there’s no tearing free.
Illustration by Wayne Reynolds
Damiel Morgethai was born, as so many elves are, in the nation of Kyonin. One of innumerable scions of the prestigious Morgethai family, he grew up in the picturesque town of Riverspire, where the southwestern border of Kyonin’s great forest gives way to fertile, rolling plains. When finally old enough to pursue a trade, the exceedingly precocious young elf was loaded up with what funds his family could spare and packed off to the shining capital of Iadara, to study alchemy under several of the art’s great masters. And it was here that the trouble started.
Damiel took to alchemy immediately, reveling in the idea of transmutation—the changing of one thing into another, by means chemical or arcane. “Alchemy,” he was fond of proclaiming to his friends, “is pure magic, even when it isn’t.” Within a few short years, the brilliant and studious Damiel had learned enough from his instructors that they set him loose to pursue his own studies, becoming advisors and respected colleagues rather than true masters.
Yet he had learned more than just strange formulae in Iadara. As cheerful and innocent as it seemed on the surface, Damiel’s obsession with what he called “the Change” went beyond the simple curatives of an apothecary, beyond even the magical and explosive concoctions of those alchemists trained for battle. In his eternal quest to understand his theories better, Damiel gave himself literally to his studies, and began to use his concoctions on his own flesh, striving to unlock the full potential of his body. What emerged from those long, sleepless nights was someone new. Someone dangerous.
Officially, Damiel’s banishment from Kyonin was the result of plagiarizing another alchemist’s discoveries, or perhaps siring an illegitimate son with an embarrassed noble. The documents don’t speak of the way his former friends noticed the change in his eyes, which became increasingly wild as lack of sleep and increasing amounts of “invigorating aether” took their toll. They don’t note the sudden rash of crimes in the districts he frequented, daring thefts and capricious arson. And they certainly don’t mention the young woman found in the alley behind his apartment, her face burned near away in an ultimately successful attempt to hide her identity—and the identity of her killer. In truth, the later would be difficult to decipher anyway, as even the killer himself might have trouble recognizing the monster that would take a girl’s life simply for seeing something she shouldn’t.
For Damiel was no longer the man that he once was. In his thirst for ever-greater secrets, he had unlocked enormous potential—strange tinctures that quickened his movements to a blur, or twisted his constitution to survive any poison or malady. Yet while he gained ever-increasing control over the vagaries of his flesh, these discoveries took their toll on his mind. He fell deep into addiction, deeper than even the aether he was so fond of could match. He would lose himself to the Change, only to wake from a maddened stupor and find that he’d done terrible things. And worse, that he no longer cared.
Exiled from his homeland, Damiel wandered for many years, slowly learning to control and live with his addictions. Gone were the blackouts, the uncontrolled and senseless violence. In their place grew a hard and haunted-eyed young man, handsome save for his wild look and the puckered scars along his veins. Seeking to peddle his secret knowledge, he traveled to Daggermark in the River Kingdoms, joining up with that city’s Poisoners’ Guild. For a time, his unique concoctions made him a minor celebrity in certain circles. But as the months passed, Damiel’s control over his base nature slipped, and the old lust for the beautiful chaos of unconscious (and unconscionable) action took over, loosing the beast of the Change to walk the streets. In the end, the Poisoners’ Guild took terminal offense to Damiel’s “exploits,” and though the elf argued hard that his deviant handiwork—being unpaid—was none of the guild’s concern, he was forced to go his own way once again.
Today, Damiel has grown further, into a man of two minds. The first—the greatest remaining shadow of the Damiel Morgethai That Was—truly repents for the arbitrary and senseless suffering he’s caused, and attempts to keep his darker urges in check. The second is that man brought forth by the Change, the mad and capricious soul that holds all other creatures in contempt, and exists only to feel the heat of the explosion on his face or see the shifting colors of poisoned flesh. This latter comes forth primarily in combat, where Damiel’s potions push his body faster than it has any right to move, flitting through the fray to fling corrosive ash or nick warriors so delicately with his poisoned injection-blade that many don’t know they’ve been cut until they find themselves unable to breathe. Though Damiel no longer gives his vile tendencies full rein, and carries himself well in social situations, most who look into those bagged and bloodshot eyes quickly understand the truth of his nature: unbalanced, unstable, unpredictable—and totally indispensable in a fight, which is why he still manages to fall in with other adventurers from time to time. And as he continues to mature, some of them even survive his companionship.
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