GM Knightmare's The Vulture Court [Mummy's Mask]

Game Master TheChelaxian

Senemheb
Human (Garundi) occultist (necroccultist) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Occult Adventures 46, 100)
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +1 Dex)
hp 9 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +3; +2 trait bonus on saving throws against curses and curse effects (including mummy rot and spells with the curse descriptor)., +2 trait bonus on saving throws against a mummy's aura of despair.
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee bardiche +3 (1d10+4/19-20) or
. . silver light mace +3 (1d6+3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with bardiche)
Implement Schools (5 generic focus)
. . Necromancy (Skull, 0 points) Resonant—necromantic focus; Focus—mind fear, necromantic servant
Occultist (Necroccultist) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +5)
. . 1st (2/day)—inflict light wounds (DC 15), ray of enfeeblement (DC 15)
. . 0 (at will)—touch of fatigue (DC 14)
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 14
Feats Heavy Armor Proficiency, Osiriontologist
Traits mummy-cursed, pragmatic activator, reactionary
Skills Acrobatics -3 (-7 to jump), Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (history) +8, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Linguistics +8, Perception +5, Spellcraft +8, Use Magic Device +8
Languages Aklo, Ancient Osiriani, Common, Infernal, Kelish, Osiriani, Sphinx
SQ implements 2, mental focus (5/day)
Combat Gear alchemist's fire, vermin repellent[UE]; Other Gear scale mail, heavy wooden shield, bardiche[APG], silver light mace, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, chalk (10), flint and steel, hot weather outfit[APG], ink, inkpen, journal[UE], occultist's implement[OA], occultist's implement[OA], pot, torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, 67 gp
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Special Abilities
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Implements (Su) Gain a series of items which grant access to schools and powers.
Mental Focus (5/day) (Su) You have a pool of points that activate your focus powers.
Mind Fear (DC 14) (Su) Target creature is frightened 1d4 rnds. if it has your HD or less, shaken if more (Will neg).
Necromancy (Skull) Implements that draw power from necromancy can control undead and harm the living.

Implements: Bone, coin, doll, drum, robe, skull.
Necromantic Focus (Su) Use implement as focus to command or create additional undead.
Necromantic Servant (0 servants, 10 minutes) (Sp) 1 focus: Raise human skeleton or zombie to serve you.
Osiriontologist +1 circ bon to some skills in Osirion, +5 to skills to learn about ancient Osirion.

Middle-aged Garundi man. Pox-scarred face, dark skin with a slight grey tint. Close-cut beard.
Slightly hunched posture. Wears a hooded burgundy robe on top of his armor, with a turban of matching color.
Parched voice, and a bit boring conversationalist - but knows what he is talking about.

The tavern door’s swung over with a swiftness that it bounces off the wall. Many would expect someone tall and either slender but intelligent, or quiet but intimidating, or slender but charismatic or intelligent. Instead, what they see is a peculiar sight-a little black kobold, wearing a tiny leather vest and an almost comedically large cavalier hat. With a slight smirk on his face, the little lizard strutted into the tavern with the swagger of a peacock. He passed by a few ladies and gave them a playful wink; he chuckled internally when one scoffed at a kobold doing such a thing. With acrobatic skills, he jumped a good four feet to stand on a barstool, tossing a small bag of golden coins on the counter.

“A good sized cup of your best ale, my good person,” the kobold said with a tone of cheeriness, “And a round for everyone on the house.”

The barkeep gave a raised eyebrow but gave the kobold his drink. He was enjoying the culture within the tavern-he’s never been to Wati, or Osirion, or even Garund, and he always appreciated taking in the everyday lives of the locals wherever he goes.

“Ey, lizard,” a burly, half drunk dwarf asked with a grouchy growl, “You’re a long way from the caves. What are you doing here?”

The kobold laughed; not the first time a local got suspicious of him. “Name’s Atirk, nickname the Scorpion,” he smiled, showing off his rapier, “I’m a traveler by nature. A treasure hunter, mercenary, rebel to tyranny, and a friend to all barkeeps, taverns, and churches of The Drunken God. Heard rumors that there’s opportunity here to find undiscovered treasures-a new challenge for me!”

“And you think we’re going to let you search our ruins?” a man, even more drunk than the dwarf, questioned Atirk with a glare.

“Oh don’t worry,” the kobold chirped, “Most of my findings go to local charities, as well as getting gifts for my fellow adventurers!”

“Yeah right, tell me what dragon sent you in to-” the drunk man snapped, swinging a fist at Atirk, only for the kobold to lean forward a bit, causing the dwarf to take the brunt of the strike. This caused both the man and dwarf to roar at each other in an alcohol induced brawl, which caused whatever tension in the tavern to explode into a free for all.

Many were looking for the little kobold, but they were either distracted by the fighting or looking in the wrong spots. Several also thought getting tripped was caused of the chaos, but no one took notice of the Scorpion slipping through everyone’s feet, tripping up many of the aggressors as he escaped the tavern and hid once the guards arrived.

“Okay,” Atirk told himself, “That tavern is off limits. Hopefully what I paid can cover damages.” And with that he slithered into the shadows to find another place for lunch. Hopefully somewhere where there isn’t any kobold hating drunks.

Male [keleshite] half-orc alchemist (crypt breaker) 1
NG Medium humanoid

Init +2, Senses Darkvision 60 ft.
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 9
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will -1; +2 trait bonus on saving throws against death effects

Melee light mace +1/1d6+1 B
Ranged sling +2/1d4+1 B
Ranged alkahest bomb +2/1d8+4 acid vs. constructs and corporeal undead, 1d4+4 vs. force other creatures

Skills: (+1 fcb) Acrobatics +2, Bluff +2 (1), Climb +2 (1), Craft (Alchemy) +8 (+9 to create items), Disable device +7 (1), Heal +9 (1), Knowledge (arcana) +8 (1), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5 (1), Perception +3 (+4 trapfinding, +5 to determine if food is spoiled, identify potions, notice hidden objects) Spellcraft +8 (1), Survival +4 (1)

Feats: Amateur Investigator
Traits: Poverty-Stricken (social), Precise Treatment (magic), Resurrected (campaign)

Extracts: (DC 14 + the extract level)
1st (2/day): Disguise self, Shield

Alkahest Bombs (Su)
Trapfinding: A crypt breaker adds 1/2 his level on Perception checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device checks (minimum +1). A crypt breaker can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps. When determining the ability of a crypt breaker to deal with locks or traps, treat his alchemist levels as rogue levels. This ability replaces the Brew Potion bonus feat.
Crypt Breaker’s Draught (Su): Rather than develop mutagens that increase their natural armor and physical abilities at the expense of their minds, crypt breakers focus on the creation of special draughts that can enhance their senses. When a crypt breaker drinks one of these draughts, he gains a +4 bonus on all Perception checks and gains one of the following special senses: darkvision 60 feet, low-light vision, or scent. While under the effects of a crypt breaker’s draught, the alchemist also gains light blindness. This ability replaces the mutagen class ability (a crypt breaker cannot create mutagens unless he selects the mutagen discovery).

Jolánka is a frail-looking Varisian woman of average height, with pale skin that easily burns and dark hair. She ties her hair up to keep it out of her face, where her cheek bears a prominent scar. She dresses in practical, but well-made clothes designed in the Ustalavic style for desert travel, with light fabrics and a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun off her. This is, unfortunately, somewhat mitigated by the old-fashioned hauberk she wears, with a heraldic badge of a howling wolf silhouetted by the sun. A plain rapier hangs on one side, while a heavy-looking tome hangs from the other, bearing an ornate clasp that resembles a metal scarab with a Pharasmin spiral on its carapace. On her back is a backpack stuffed with gear and scrolls that looks too heavy for her, like she's making every effort to keep from losing balance and falling backwards. Everything about her form and manner suggests "impoverished noble playing at being a scholar."

A proud daughter of House Graydon-in-exile and graduate of the University of Lepidstadt, Jolánka tries to carry herself with dignity and gravitas. Whether she succeeds is another question entirely. Despite this, she has a brilliant and curious mind, and a strong moral core to go with it. She cares very deeply about loyalty and integrity, almost to a fault, and in regards to keeping secrets, she prefers to declare she is saying nothing instead of lying. Her sense of noblesse oblige can make it hard for her to relate to people who work for a living, even as she lived a much less privileged life than most of Ustalav's nobility, but she reacts to being told off for her ignorance with apologies rather than indignant arrogance. She likes to use her family's motto, "Guardians of the Dawn," as a battle-cry.

While she is the child of a Margrave of Barstoi, Sturnidae in specific, Jolánka has never set foot in her home county, having lived in the Palatinates since she was born. Her father, Margrave Cilas Graydon, had denounced his liege-lord, Count Aericnein Neska, as a tyrant in the aftermath of War Without Rivals, before going into self-imposed exile ahead of the Count's wrath. Jolánka grew up in relatively modest luxury, barely above middle-class, as her parents maintained the remains of their family fortune with various investments and the generosity of distant relatives. Much of her childhood was spent moving from manor to manor, being put up for a few months and moving on when they'd overstayed their welcome. Despite this, Cilas instilled a strong sense of honor and integrity in young Jolánka. That the loyalty of a Graydon was absolute, and that in commanding him to commit atrocities doing the War, the Count had been the betrayer of that loyalty and no longer deserved it.

Around the time she came of age, Jolánka's parents scraped together enough money (and enough letters of recommendation from their relatives) to send her to school at the prestigious University of Lepidstadt. A classical education from there would earn her some prestige of her own, and she could then begin redeeming the Graydon name. She was an curious and diligent student, earning scholarships to supplement the tuition she was barely affording, joining one of the university's many dueling clubs and earning her Lepidstadt scar, and spending her spare time in the Treyes Museum of Antiquities, exploring and cataloguing the artifacts within on behalf of her professors. This sparked in her a passion for archaeology, specifically Osirionology, which did not go unnoticed.

During her senior year, Jolánka was invited by one of her professors to a meeting, with strict instructions NOT to mention the appointment to ANYONE. Remembering her father's words, Jolánka followed the instructions to the letter and her professor escorted her to a secret chamber in the Museum, where several other faculty members and students were gathered. Her professor donned an ornate vest, an amulet in the shape of a flying scarab and a fez and explained that he and his associates were members of an ancient and noble fraternal order, in fact the very founders of the University: the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye. Because of her passion for knowledge and her ironclad integrity, the Order had decided she was an ideal candidate for membership. Jolánka accepted without hesitation, and after a call-and-response ceremony in the Osiriani tongue, she achieved the first rank in the Order's hierarchy.

Membership in the Order doubled Jolánka's workload, studying history and science during the day, while shifting to magic and occult ritual at night. Upon graduation, she felt exhausted but triumphant...but that didn't stop her from throwing herself back into work, now conducting independent research and preparing for the possibility of joining the University's faculty herself (though this was largely a cover for her work for the Order). Around this time, however, she received a letter from Lozeri, where her father had currently been staying. He'd received a serious injury from a werewolf attack, and his health was in a deeply precarious state. In this state, he was unable to manage what was left of the Graydon family finances, and as a precaution, he had transferred ownership of it to Jolánka, though at the moment he retained the title of Margrave, so there was less urgency for Jolánka to assume leadership of the family. Almost immediately, she began receiving a flood of letters from relatives offering condolences, requesting money, or claiming to be long-lost relatives as a prelude to request money. Frustrated, Jolánka made preparations to leave Lepidstadt and move across the country to Caliphas. At the capital, she figured, it would be easier to manage the failing fortunes of House Graydon and establish contacts with the members of the Order who called it home.

Jolánka only stayed in Caliphas for few months, as shortly after her father's incident, it was revealed that Margrave Cilas had been saved from death by a band of adventurers, and those adventurers were pursuing a developing crisis unfolding across Ustalav. Jolánka, and the rest of the Order in Caliphas, offered what knowledge they could to aid them. In the aftermath, Jolánka grew concerned. This crisis had nearly blindsided her and the rest of the Order, and had the adventurers not intervened it would have been a disaster. While the Order had gotten its act together in time, it had been too close a call. Jolánka concluded the Order had been lax in its duties, and they needed to step up their efforts in opposing threats like the Whispering Tyrant. Seeking inspiration, Jolánka began poring over many of the Order's oldest writings and scrolls, quickly finding there were missing fragments and passages referencing other passages that lacked contexts.

She began a feverish campaign of letter-writing, to other members of the Order, to her old professors, to Dr. Beaurigmand Trice of the Havenguard Asylum asking for information from the Pathfinder Society's vast network, to the Pharasmin church, and she received reply after reply and hit dead end after dead end, she wondered aloud if Aldus Canter, the Order's founder, had ever felt that frustration. An epiphany struck. Canter had been inspired to found the Esoteric Order of the Palatine eye from an allegedly divine encounter while exploring in Osirion. The Order's rituals were steeped in iconography and symbols from that ancient culture. If Canter, a so-called "gentleman-adventurer" (a term Jolánka herself associated with "amateur") could bring back something like The Lost Gospels of Tabris, surely she, a student of the most modern archaeological techniques and literature, and a Silvered Throne of the Order, could find the information needed to fill in the blanks. Scraping together what little funds she had left, she bought whatever equipment she could gather on such short notice and charted a boat to cross Lake Encarthan, make her way across Druma, Isger and Andoran, before booking passage on a ship in Almas to take her to Absalom and from there to Sothis.

In Sothis, Jolánka began trying to establish herself in the booming industry of Osirian artifacts and studies, meeting with local scholars, nobles and Pathfinders, hiring herself out as a guide and using her education in Osirionology to advise and identify the dangers of the tombs and ruined temples they searched. But she quickly became disgusted with the adventurers who hired her, solely interested in taking treasures and selling them for profit, things she believed fully belonged to the Osiriani people. As important as the lore of the Esoteric Order was to her, knowledge was not something that could be taken or owned, but more importantly it could be recovered without desecrating tombs and offending Pharasma! She stopped getting people willing to hire her as her reputation for being a stick-in-the-mud spread, and native Osiriani treasure hunters were reluctant to trust the expertise of a foreigner.

Her money running out, and Sothis becoming increasingly unfriendly, Jolánka began making her way south, to Wati, where other expeditionary groups were gathering, fully believing this would be her last chance...

male kobold swashbuckler (mouser) 1
CG Small humanoid (reptilian)
Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 17, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +6 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 11 (1d10 (10-1st level) + 1 (Con))
Fort +2, Ref +8, Will +2
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft
Melee rapier +9 (1d4/x3)
Special Attacks deeds (derring-do, dodging panache, underfoot assault), panache (4/day)
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 22, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 18
Base ATK +1; CMB +0/+6; CMD 16
Feats Weapon Focus (finesse/rapier)
Skills (4 ranks-3 class + 1 favored class)
Acrobatics +10 (1 [rank] + 6 [Dex] + 3 [csb])
Diplomacy +8 (1 [rank] + 4 [Cha] + 3 [csb])
Perception +7 (1 [rank] + 1 [Wis] + 3 [csb] + 2 [race])
Stealth +14 (1 [rank] + 6 [Dex] + 3 [csb] + 4 [size])
Background Skills
Appraise +5 (1 [rank] - 1 [Int] + 3 [csb] + 2 [trait]
Perform (string) +8 (1 [rank] + 4 [Cha] + 3 [csb])
Languages Common, Draconic
SQ crafty, dayrider
TRAITS
Foreign Opportunist (Campaign)
Effect: +2 Appraise, Appraise is a class skill, sell ancient artifacts for 60% instead of 50%
Indominable Faith (Faith)
Effect: +1 on Will saves
Resiliant (Combat)
Effect: +1 on Fort saves
GEAR
256 gp
rapier (20 gp)
leather armor (10 gp)
musical instrument (small guitar) 5 gp
swashbuckler’s kit (9 gp)
-backpack
-bedroll
-belt pouch
-flint & steel
-iron pot
-mess kit
-rope
-soap
-torches (10)
-trail rations (5 days)
-waterskin
explorer’s outfit

Atirk isn't quite sure where he was hatched-it was somewhere in a swamp where it stormed. A lot. His childhood wasn't much to talk about either-like any other kobold, it was purely on survival. Trapmaking and craftiness to survive. He had the craftiness part down, but any trap backfired. Nobody was killed or hurt, thankfully, but it did make him an outcast among his tribe.

So it wasn't surprising when Atirk left once he got old enough. Which admittedly was a stupid idea-kobolds are not meant for solitary lives. They need company-to talk to, to watch each other's backs, etc. Unfortunately the company he would find aren’t the kindest to kobolds-many times he had to run for his life, and be grateful that kobolds are really good at hiding.

The moment that changed his life was when he stumbled across the encampment of what he thought were giant, flat faced frogfolk-which he would later learn were actually a group of sadistic marsh giants. Starving, Atirk made the bold choice and slipped into the camp to find any food, only to find rotten fish, unusual flesh, and a lot of loot. The one weapon that drew him in, glinting in the moonlight, was a rapier held by a halfling warpriest of Cayden Cailen. Indeed the small blade even had the Drunken God's symbol engraved in the guard. He took the rapier and how many unspoiled rations and gold coins he could carry, and decided he could go to the next town and trade the stuff.

That's when he was spotted by the leader.

More adapted to hunting in the swamp than the kobold, Atirk was filled with dread as these...things moved with unnatural grace for their size and physique. Atirk had no choice but to try and trip these giants up, so he took a bold approach, and, as he was hiding, waited for a marsh giant to pass. Once one was right next to him, the kobold shot the rapier forward into the giant's leg-and it toppled and split its skull on a rock.

Filled with immense bravado at killing something several times his size, Atirk threw all caution to the wind; he practically danced around the giants, keeping underneath them and delivering precise strikes to the legs. If they survived the fall, he stabbed all over the bodies, avoiding their clawed arms and sharp weapons. He even saw the leader, with only one eye, and decided to be a little spiteful and take the leader's last eye before leaving the giant to scream in despair, being unable to see or stand.

After a good rest, Atirk sauntered into a nearby town; although everyone was naturally unsure about a kobold boldly walking down the street, he tossed the gold and supplies, minus the rapier, to get as much fish and meat as he could eat. When someone recognized the rapier, the townsfolk questioned him-including the wife of the halfling warpriest who was the original owner of the blade. Once he explained himself, the town was gobsmacked-a kobold killing giants? Never happened before! It was unprecedented!

And that gave him something of an ego complex.

Now he travels all across Garund, occasionally allying with a few adventurers in taking down giants and similar sized quarry. The further his adventures have come along, the more value he sees in the metallic and gemstone treasures, to the point where, as a hobby, he would explore ruins and abandoned settlements for more coin. Now he is on his way to Wati, as there are rumors that undiscovered and unexplored ruins hold treasures beyond one's imagination.

Atirk is a black scaled kobold, with the color of tar, and a dark silver underbelly. Mismatched horns crown his head, with the right one being bigger and less crooked than the left. Although kobolds are largely emotionless, he always carries a smirk on his face-a small smirk that's gigantic for his kind. He wears a simple leather vest, and standard exploration attire for a creature of his size and physique. What truly makes him stand out-besides being a kobold-is the comedically large cavalier hat he wears-a treasured gift from a former friend who helped master his skills with the rapier.

Atirk is antithetical to the common idea of a kobold-rather than cowardly and sneaky, he is confident and open. Almost too overconfident and too open-there are many a time he forgets that most people don't like kobolds, but he never holds any grudges about it. He is extremely generous, willing to give his share of the treasures he finds to whatever charity case he can find; if not that, he's willing to buy a round or two of drinks at a tavern. He is rather unpleased by dragons and their greedy habits, to the point where if he sees anyone who enslaves others or hoard their wealth, he won't hesitate to call them "fat heartless dragons". His biggest flaw is his recklessness, especially towards creatures larger than him-all caution gets thrown to the wind as he likes to step around the feet of such tall opponents and make them trip. Regardless, if things go south fast, his instinct is strong enough to tell him when to get out of dodge.

Pure Dex based martial, getting into enemy spaces and be a chaotic little gremlin with the underfoot assault deed. Might dip into unchained rogue and get the Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat for 2d6 sneak attack.

Imhotep
Male Human Psammokineticist 1
LN Medium Humanoid (Human)

Init +4 (+2 Dex, +2 trait)

Senses: Perception +5.

DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 armor, +2 dex).

HP 12/12 ([8+4con])

Fort +7 (3 base, +4 Con)
Ref +5 (3 base, +2 Dex)
Will +2 (0 base, +1 Wis, +1 trait)
+2 vs. death effects

OFFENSE
Sand Blast +6, d6 + 1 + 4, x2

Spd 30 ft

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

STATISTICS
Str 12 (+1)
Dex 15 (+2) (+2 racial)
Con 18 (+4)
Int 13 (+1)
Wis 13 (+1)
Cha 8 (-1)

Base Atk +0
CMB +1 (0 BAB, +1 Str)
CMD 16 (10, +3 BAB, +2 Dex, +1 Str)

FEATS
Point Blank Shot [Human Bonus]: You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot [Level 1]: You can shoot or throw ranged weapons at an opponent engaged in melee without taking the standard –4 penalty on your attack roll.
If EitR feats then Weapon Finesse instead of PBS

TRAITS
Hom Dai [Resurrected] (Campaign): At some time in the recent past you died, but you were brought back to life—whether because of magic, a blessing of the gods, a destiny you have to fulfill, or perhaps it just wasn’t your time to die yet. Whatever the nature of your resurrection, your experience gave you a fascination with death, and you hope to find some insight into the nature of mortality by exploring the tombs of Wati’s famous necropolis. You gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against death effects. In addition, you do not die until your hit points drop to a negative amount equal to or lower than your Constitution score + 4
Awakened from Stasis (Regional): As a side effect of your stasis, you gain all the benefits of 8 hours of sleep in only 2 hours. This allows a spellcaster who must rest to prepare spells to do so after only 2 hours, but does not allow a spellcaster to prepare spells more than once per day.
Indomitable Faith (Faith): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Will saves.
Reactionary (Combat): You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks.
Warded Against Nature (Drawback): Animals do not willingly approach within 30 feet of you, unless you or the animal’s master succeeds at a DC 20 Handle Animal, Ride, or wild empathy check. Animal companions, familiars, and mounts granted by your class abilities are immune to this effect.

SKILLS
Acrobatics +6 (1 rank, +2 Dex, +3 class)
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +5 (1 rank, +1 Int, +3 class)
Knowledge (Engineering)* +5 (1 rank, +1 Int, +3 class)
Knowledge (History)* +5 (1 rank, +1 Int, +3 class)
Knowledge (Local) +5 (1 rank, +1 Int, +3 class)
Perception +5 (1 rank, +1 Wis, +3 class)
Sense Motive +5 (1 rank, +1 Wis, +3 class)
Stealth +6 (1 rank, +2 Dex, +3 class)

Total Points: 8 [1*(4 Kineticist + 1 Int + 1fcb + 2 background)]
AC penalty is 0

LANGUAGES
Common, Osirian, Ancient Osirian.

EQUIPMENT
Leather Armor (10gp)
Rangers Kit: This includes a backpack, a bedroll, a belt pouch, a flint and steel, iron pot, mess kit, rope, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), and a waterskin. (9gp)

41 gold 0 silver 0 copper

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
Comprehensive Education: Humans raised with skilled teachers draw upon vast swathes of knowledge gained over centuries of civilization. They gain all Knowledge skills as class skills, and they gain a +1 racial bonus on skill checks for each Knowledge skill that they gain as a class skill from their class levels. This racial trait replaces skilled.

Weapon Proficiencies: Kineticists are proficient with all simple weapons and light armor, but not shields.
Alignment: A psammokinetic kineticist must be lawful in alignment. If the psammokinetic ever becomes nonlawful, she cannot gain any additional levels with this archetype and loses access to the ki pool class feature granted by this archetype.
Burn: At 1st level, a kineticist can overexert herself to channel more power than normal, pushing past the limit of what is safe for her body by accepting burn. Some of her wild talents allow her to accept burn in exchange for a greater effect, while others require her to accept a certain amount of burn to use that talent at all. For each point of burn she accepts, a kineticist takes 1 point of nonlethal damage per character level. This damage can’t be healed by any means other than getting a full night’s rest, which removes all burn and associated nonlethal damage. Nonlethal damage from burn can’t be reduced or redirected, and a kineticist incapable of taking nonlethal damage can’t accept burn. A kineticist can accept only 1 point of burn per round. This limit rises to 2 points of burn at 6th level, and rises by 1 additional point every 3 levels thereafter. A kineticist can’t choose to accept burn if it would put her total number of points of burn higher than 3 + her Constitution modifier (though she can be forced to accept more burn from a source outside her control). A kineticist who has accepted burn never benefits from abilities that allow her to ignore or alter the effects she receives from nonlethal damage.
Burning Winds: A psammokinetic must select air as her elemental focus. In place of the air blast and electric blast normally granted to an aerokinetic, the psammokinetic gains a sand blast or sirocco blast. Except as noted below, sand blast functions as air blast, and sirocco blast functions as electric blast (including when determining what infusion wild talents the psammokinetic can use with each blast). The psammokinetic is also treated as having the fire element type for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites for the cold adaptation, flame shield, heat adaptation, and heat wave utility wild talents. A psammokinetic cannot take the chain, magnetic infusion, or thundering infusion wild talents or the aerial adaptation or celerity utility wild talents.
Sand Blast
Element air; Type simple blast (Sp); Level —; Burn 0; Blast Type physical; Damage slashing; Effect You slice at a single foe with a stream of sand.
Sirocco Blast
Element air; Type simple blast (Sp); Level —; Burn 0; Blast Type energy; Damage fire; Effect You shoot a wave of superheated air to burn a single foe.
This alters elemental focus.

Gather Power: If she has both hands free (or all of her prehensile appendages free, for unusual kineticists), a kineticist can gather energy or elemental matter as a move action. Gathering power creates an extremely loud, visible display in a 20-foot radius centered on the kineticist, as the energy or matter swirls around her. Gathering power in this way allows the kineticist to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent she uses in the same round by 1 point. The kineticist can instead gather power for 1 full round in order to reduce the total burn cost of a blast wild talent used on her next turn by 2 points (to a minimum of 0 points). If she does so, she can also gather power as a move action during her next turn to reduce the burn cost by a total of 3 points. If the kineticist takes damage during or after gathering power and before using the kinetic blast that releases it, she must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 10 + damage taken + effective spell level of her kinetic blast) or lose the energy in a wild surge that forces her to accept a number of points of burn equal to the number of points by which her gathered power would have reduced the burn cost. This ability can never reduce the burn cost of a wild talent below 0 points.

Infusion:[/i] At 1st level, a kineticist gains an infusion wild talent from the list of options available based on her elemental focus. She gains additional infusions at 3rd, 5th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 17th, and 19th levels. By using infusions along with her kinetic blasts, a kineticist can alter her kinetic blasts to suit her needs. Infusions come in two types, each of which changes a kinetic blast differently: a substance infusion causes an additional effect, while a form infusion causes the kinetic blast to manifest in a different way. Each infusion can alter only certain kinds of kinetic blasts, which are listed in its Associated Blasts entry. Each time the kineticist uses one of her kinetic blast wild talents, she can apply up to one associated form infusion and up to one associated substance infusion.
Some infusions change the action required to activate a kinetic blast or entirely transform the kinetic blast’s normal effects.
The burn cost listed in each infusion’s Burn entry is added to the burn cost of the kinetic blast the infusion modifies.
The DC for a save against an infusion is based on the associated kinetic blast’s effective spell level, not the level of the infusion. The DCs for form infusions are calculated using the kineticist’s Dexterity modifier instead of her Constitution modifier. When a kineticist modifies a kinetic blast with a form infusion and a substance infusion that both require saving throws, each target first attempts a saving throw against the form infusion. If a target succeeds and a successful save negates the infusion’s effects, the entire kinetic blast is negated; otherwise, the target then attempts a saving throw against the substance infusion. If a kineticist’s form and substance infusions both alter the kinetic blast’s damage, apply the substance infusion’s alteration first.
At 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, a kineticist can replace one of her infusions with another infusion of the same effective spell level or lower. She can’t replace an infusion that she used to qualify for another of her wild talents.

Kinetic Blast: At 1st level, a kineticist gains a kinetic blast wild talent of her choice. This kinetic blast must be a simple blast that matches her element. Simple blasts are listed with their corresponding elements.
As a standard action, the kineticist can unleash a kinetic blast at a single target up to a range of 30 feet. She must have at least one hand free to aim the blast (or one prehensile appendage, if she doesn’t have hands). All damage from a kinetic blast is treated as magic for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. Kinetic blasts count as a type of weapon for the purpose of feats such as Weapon Focus. The kineticist is never considered to be wielding or gripping the kinetic blast (regardless of effects from form infusions; see Infusion), and she can’t use Vital Strike feats with kinetic blasts. Even the weakest kinetic blast involves a sizable mass of elemental matter or energy, so kinetic blasts always deal full damage to swarms of any size (though only area blasts deal extra damage to swarms). A readied kinetic blast can be used to counterspell any spell of equal or lower level that shares its descriptor. A kinetic blast that deals energy damage of any type (including force) has the corresponding descriptor.

Each simple blast is either a physical blast or an energy blast.
Physical blasts are ranged attacks that deal an amount of damage equal to 1d6+1 + the kineticist’s Constitution modifier, increasing by 1d6+1 for every 2 kineticist levels beyond 1st. Spell resistance doesn’t apply against physical blasts.
Energy blasts are ranged touch attacks that deal an amount of damage equal to 1d6 + 1/2 the kineticist’s Constitution modifier, increasing by 1d6 for every 2 kineticist levels beyond 1st.

Imhotep was Royal Vizier and chancellor in the Pharaonic court of Djederet I, over one and a half thousand years before Aroden raised the Starstone and became a living god. Noted for his brilliance and arcane powers, a sure sign of Nethys’ blessing Imhotep rose from a humble scribe to Royal Vizier in a mere seven years, after his promotion to chief builder of Pharaoh Djederet’s tomb. Proving to be (amongst other things) an excellent engineer Imhotep came to the personal attention of the aging Pharaoh and was soon entrusted with running much of the Kingdom.

When Djederet died, his son Hakotep I became Pharaoh and Imhotep continued to serve faithfully although he appreciated the reduction in his duties which gave him more time to devote to his many studies, and to love.

After his promotion to Royal Vizier Imhotep first met Anck-su-Namun, a beautiful concubine of the Pharaoh. Due to the Pharaoh’s infirmity he had little interest in his vast array of concubines beyond the few who had been his since his youth and whom he trusted implicitly. This indifference, combined with Imhotep’s position, made it easy for him and Anck-su-Namun to first have an affair, and then to fall in love.

When Hakotep became Pharaoh he halted the usual mummification of his father’s concubines, remarking that it was criminal to waste so many beautiful girls on a dead man. Since his father’s impotence was well know to the royal family Hakotep claimed many of the younger concubines as his own, and Anck-su-Namun caught his eye.

She used every one of her feminine wiles to deny the Pharaoh as Imhotep searched desperately for an escape for the two of them. For a time, it seemed that she had succeeded, as Hakotep became enamoured with a new girl, the dark-eyed, fifteen-year-old beauty Neferuset. Unfortunately she convinced Hakotep that she would only be his wife if she were the sole woman in his life. Already a devotee of Set, and a cruel man used to satisfying his lusts, Hakotep agreed. He would marry Neferuset, once he had had Anck-su-Namun.

Imhotep learned of the Pharoah’s intentions too late and burst into the Royal Chambers, just in time to see Anck-su-Namun plunge a dagger into her own breast in front of the Pharaoh’s eyes. As he cradled her dying body Anck-su-Namun found enough strength to whisper her love for Imhotep as her soul passed into the River of Souls.

The young pharaoh made no move to stop Imhotep as he took Ack-su-Namun’s body and fled Sothis, heading for the Great Necropolis at what would become the town of Wati. There he, and his priests, prepared for a great ritual, which would restore Anck-su-Namun to life. But Hakotep, his wounded pride and anger stoked by Neferuset, sent the royal guards after his Vizier and disrupted the ritual.

Imhotep’s priests, as servants of the god Osiris, were merely mummified alive, but Hakotep reserved a special vengeance for the Vizier he believed had betrayed him. Drawing on dark secrets of Seth Imhotep was forced to endure the Hom Dai, a foul curse which would condemn him to a state between life and death, eternally barred from the afterlife and seeing his beloved again.

Laid to rest in an unmarked grave beneath the statue of Set Imhotep was condemned and forgotten.

--------------------------
Six thousand years later, when the Ruby Prince declared the Great Necropolis open for all comers, many things that had been left buried for centuries, arose. One of the first, unregulated groups to enter the Necropolis discovered an old temple to Set. Within a great library of crumbling scrolls they found the Scroll of Thoth, an ancient scroll of unbinding, which completed the slow decay of the wards which bound Imhotep to his undead prison.

Rising from the sands like a vengeful spirit Imhotep assaulted the explorers, killing them in a burst of wrath and fury that had seethed impotently for six thousand years. When his mind cleared and he realised what he had done Imhotep cursed himself and did his best to lay the bodies to rest, before claiming much of their gear as a disguise and passing himself off as the last survivor of the group.

As the temple of Pharasma clamped down on the ‘independent explorers’ and instituted a lottery system Imhotep took the time to read and live, learning as much as he could about the new world and the millennia he had missed, as well as experimenting with his own powers. Much of his knowledge and understanding, so advanced for his own day, was horribly out of date and his arcane powers had dwindled under the effects of the Hom Dai to almost nothing. On the other hand he was now more than a man, profoundly resilient and imbued with an almost physical connection to the sands in which he had been buried.

Still in his heart a devotee of Maat, goddess of Knowledge, Order and Justice, Imhotep resolved himself to make the most of his new half-life. He would journey into the necropolis again, protect the people of this new Osirion from the dangers buried within and search for Anck-su-Namun. His new state gave him one great advantage, time. If it took him another six thousand years he would find Anck-su-Namun, restore her to life and then, together, they would have their revenge on Hakotep's descendants.

So, you claim to have increased resistance to mummy curses?

the librarian asked

Indeed I do, I may have a curse on me that... protects me to an extent from different curses?
the adventurer, obviously a tiefling, answered

And why would a curse be... beneficial?
the librarians prodding continued

Because... I am familiar with the reason for this curse, which is generational, and I regard it as justified? Since then, I have not felt ill effects of it.
the girl answered

How so?

The curse was aimed at my abyssal ancestor, who had sought to steal, rob or pilfer ancient relics, while killing, apparently she was able to energy drain even the undead, the guardians. Most tomb defenses offer little protection against those who can... Ethereal jaunt at will.

I see, and now you seek to take up archeology?

Yes, in the most ethical and reasonable manner possible.
The girl answered, drinking, very accurately and gracefully with one finger outstrechted, from a small teacup.

The one I am pledged to, Lady Kelinahat, is actually fairly flexible, and focused on politeness.

==========Seraphina==========
Image of Seraphina
Age: 24 | Height: 5'8" | Weight: 130# | Hair: Medium length red-gold | Eyes: One brown, one solid red | Skin: Lightly tanned peach

Seraphina Bloodflame is an Agathion-Blooded aasimar woman in her middle twenties. She is a hair taller than most aasimar or human women with a lean, athletic build. Her fiery red-gold hair hangs to just above her shoulder blades, pulled back from a face etched with focus and maturity despite her relative youth. In her gauntleted right hand she holds her helmet, revealing a determined gaze, her right eye amber and the entirety of her left eye blood red. Looking only at her face, evidence of her divine heritage is largely missing and she appears Taldan. Her celestial blood is, however, impossible to miss.

A round halo of solid, almost tangible pure white light hangs perpetually over her head, casting a clean glow around her wherever she goes, but her most spectacular feature is the enormous pair of white wings that sprout from her upper back, made of large, soft, pure white feathers. When folded, the 'wrists' of the wing stand well above her head and the primary feathers just brush the ground, giving her the illusion of imposing height, and they are more than large enough to fully engulf her body should she choose to use them for such a purpose.

Her armor is made of interlocking plates of blackened steel. The plates of armor are cut to points in many places, and she wears a blood or wine red gambeson beneath them, a similar colored drape hangs from the faulds. The colors and shape of the armor and gambeson draw the eye and appear as if intentionally crafted for intimidation, in contrast to Seraphina's blatant holy heritage, but the choice of colors is made apparent in battle. When her bloodrage takes hold, the pristine white wings erupt into billowing blood-red plumes, her white halo exploding into a jagged crown of flame dripping boiling blood, and any weapon she wields bursts into flame that cuts through the armor of evil and severs outsiders connection to the material plane.

In spite of the trauma faced in her youth, Seraphina is an upbeat and charming roguish swashbuckler, the kind who leads from the front. She is assured and confident in her calling by Pharasma, and has an annoying tendency of implying anything she's doing that might annoy someone is only Pharasma's will. While oft appearing aloof, she does respect her calling. She does not hate nor fear undead, only wishing to put their souls to rest and make the world a little bit safer. In combat she is bold and decisive, never letting planning trip her up.

===History===

Sarah Rowan Swift was born to human parents, Elias, a carpenter and Lena, a herbalist, in the Taldan village of Oakhaven nestled at the base of the foothills where the green plains meet the World's End Mountains. Aside from her amber eyes, there was nothing indicating the girl was anything but normal. Her early life was unremarkable, normal, boring. School, helping her parents, helping around the village. She was brave and inquisitive, and there was plenty to explore is relative safety nearby. She was enamored with her sister, Calla, when she was born. Calla was patently aasimar despite her human heritage, with large feathered white wings and unusually smooth, featureless skin, and she doted over her sibling.

When Sarah was twelve and Calla eight, the pair wandered far too far into the foothills of the mountains looking for delicious berries. They were attacked by a group of Festrog, blood-drinking, plague-bearing undead shaped as if to mock humanity. Sara urged Calla to run while she ran in the opposite direction, hoping to distract the ghouls from chasing her sister. It worked, but being a child, Calla did not make it far.

She woke on the banks of the River of Souls. After some wandering, she was approached by a psychopomp of Pharasma that called itself 'Curio'. The bird was meant to guide her to the River lest she go astray, but, as these things tend to do, he found Sarah's body was not quite dead yet, and so she could not enter the river. They would have to wait a spell. Sarah's mind and body were both hazy, and while she knew there was something important she was forgetting, it wasn't until Curio told her it would let her wait for her sister before entering the water did she remember her sister, lost and alone in the mountains, chased by ghouls.

Sarah collapsed at Curio's feet, begging and pleading him to send her back so she could save Calla, swearing that she would return to the River once Calla was saved. Moved by her show of loyalty and love, and bird posited that, since her body was not actually dead yet, it could send her back to the mortal plane, but it demanded something in exchange: Sarah's shadow. Sarah gave her shadow gladly and it attached itself to the bird, though remained the shadow of a girl. Curio announced his satisfaction with the trade and flew away, returning with a gem of angelic blood from one of Seraphina's ancestors to replace the blood the Festrog's had taken from her, handing the gem over (well, jamming it into her left eye socket) once she agreed to answer when Pharasma called her.

Seraphina Bloodflame was born in blood and ash. The explosion incinerated the undead feasting on her life force and changed her physically. A permanent halo adorned her head, enormous feathered wings sprouting from her back. Her left eye was forever more blood red. Calla was terrified but unharmed and the pair were reunited with their village, the whole of which came into the mountains to investigate the bloody explosion seen from miles around.

Curio's gift had the effect of enhancing Seraphina's connection to her divine heritage. Beyond the halo and wings, she was gifted with magic and (some say) cursed with a burning rage to eliminate enemies of the natural cycle of life and death. When so enraged, her wings, halo, and even her sword and engulfed and replaced by bloody flames that drip boiling blood and burn away undead.

Life in Oakhaven was not the same after. Many developed a weariness of the girl and her newfound celestial blood. Some saw her as blessed, others as cursed or dangerous. Her parents tried their best, but she was hardly controllable before Pharasma gave her undead-slaying powers. She struggles to control her bloodrage, which flares up when she is scared, angry, or if Calla is in danger. Elder Maeve tried to guide her to control the magic spark within her, and the old sellsword Broin gave her a few lessons on the sword.

Her power came from her blood and her learning to control it was instinctual. Feeling adrift, she wanders away from Oakhaven as she grows older, eventually meeting Sister Elara, a young, charismatic, devout and cute priestess of Pharasma. Elara encourages Seraphina to join the temple and tells her that they will help her control and direct her rage. Seraphina tries, mostly out of a desire to stay with Elara. She learns basic rites, more about psychopomps, and gains rudimentary knowledge of undead identification, but she chafes under the structure of discipline and study, her instinctual use of her genetic powers clashing with structured clerical learning. Her romance with Elara complicates things and is intense but unsustainable. Eventually Seraphina leaves, amicably but with some sadness, valuing her connection with Elare but needing her freedom. knowing her role in Pharasma's plans is an active one.

She wanders about for years, listless, doing a little mercenary work dealing with low level undead threats around the inner sea region until Curio visits her in a dream. The nosoi is perched atop a spectral sarcophagus in a sea of sarcophagi, stretching as far and deep and high as the eye can see.

"Pharasma calls in her due, Seraphina Bloodflame. The tombs of Wati are opened. The cycle is disturbed. Go. Be Her sword against the tide of undeath. Keep the balance."

(Content Warning: Child Endangerment)

Sarah Rowan Swift was playing in the foothills above the village with her little sister, Calla. Children were always warned away from the World's Edge Mountains, but the rolling green hills dotted with moss covered boulders always called to the curious and adventurous. Parents tried to scare children by telling tales of strange animals seen roaming in the moonlight, but Calla had huge white wings which, while largely nonfunctional, would scare away any animal if suddenly opened. The pair were inseparable even though Sasha was four years Sarah's junior. Energetic, quick, perhaps a little reckless, both girls lived up to the name of "Swift", and Sarah was aggressively protective of her little sister.

They had spent countless hours wandering the foothills, always going just a little further from home than before in search of adventure and delicious berries. The Huckleberry bushes further up in the foothills always had the sweetest, juiciest fruit since most people from the village would hardly go out so far or climb so high just for some berries, and the fearless duo knew it. They had some close calls with angry goats and even once ran into a bear (definitely not a particularly fat house cat that was just wandering around) but they always escaped unscathed and no wiser than before, childhood perceptions of ones own invulnerability being what it is. One day they wandered too far. Too far from the village, too far into the gorge, too far away from the protection of the sun, which could not penetrate so far into the mountains. Distracted by the chain of berry bushes growing along the small river that snaked through the gorge, they did not notice the inherent danger, how anything coming from behind them would cut off their escape, forcing them even deeper into the mountains.

The pack of Festrogs were drawn by the life force of the children, specifically their blood. The hideously deformed, semi-quadrupedal corpses charged from their den, which was hidden at the base of one of the gorge walls beneath a petrified tree trunk, as soon as the sun dipped properly behind the mountain. Their ambush was heralded by their mindless screeching and scrambling over countless stones that had fallen into the gorge over countless eons, but their lack of subtly did not betray them. Their prey had nowhere to go, and feral as the Festrogs were, they knew that much.

The children ran as soon as they saw the Festrogs, as soon as they heard them. Calla's trick with her wings would not help them here. Deeper into the mountains they ran, following the shallow river, but the undead were far faster. Sarah pushed Calla ahead of her, screamed at her to keep running, to not look back, before she broke off and plunged into the river. She thought she could cross the river and run along the other side, back the way they came, the monsters getting bogged down in the water. They would chase her to the village where the strong blacksmith would slay them, then they would come find Calla. It was a plan. The river was shallow and narrow, only coming up to her waist. She could hear at least some of the monsters in the water behind her, but she couldn't turn to see if they were all following her, she could only hope. The river rapidly began to shallow, she was almost out. She would make it out of the water before the ghouls and gain on them.

It was a plan, but it was a child's plan. As she gained the far bank of the river, something huge and heavy slammed into her from behind, and she fell.

============

Sarah opened her eyes. She felt odd. She didn't feel anything. She knew she was laying on her back, but she could not feel the ground beneath her. She was neither hot nor cold, even though she was naked, but she didn't feel the shameful urge to cover up. She was looking up at the sky, but it was not the sky. Countless stars, far more than she had ever seen before, many far closer and larger than she had ever seen, wheeled overhead. They zoomed about, streaking across the sky leaving colorful cloudy trails behind them, but were also stationary. She had no strong feelings about the strange spectacle either way. She sits up and rubs her shoulder. She felt like her back should hurt for some reason, but it does not. She can barely feel her own hand on her skin. Looking about, she sees that she is more or less where she should be. There's the mountains - well, there's *A* mountain, and it seems to be floating over a purplish starey void. She's in the gorge next to the river, which is where she last remembers being, but the gorge is only a few inches deep and river is more like a trickle of water, hardly wider than her thumb.

Leaning back and propping herself up on her elbows, she looks around and finds it all rather unimpressive. She wants to lay back down and go to sleep, but there's something else. Something important she can't remember but hasn't quite forgotten. Annoyed that she hasn't quite remembered what she was supposed to have forgotten, she climbs to her feet. She would find whoever is in charge here and complain. She had no idea where to start, other than trying to reach the floating mountain seeming like a bad idea, but she was always told to follow water if she was lost, and that seems like as good an idea as any. She thinks about drinking from the little stream as best she can, but she's not really thirsty, even though she knows she's been hiking all day. The ground does not hurt her bare feet even though she walks carelessly, not trying to avoid any loose or sharp looking stones. Following the stream, she's quite sure it turns uphill at least once, but she is no expert.

The scenery remains strange. There is something large floating in the sky, kind of like the moon, but red, with a huge gash across its face, like the largest canyon one could imagine. There was a sun, a proper sun, not one of the weird big stars, but it seemed to do as it pleased. Sarah could not judge time because the silly sun bounced all about. Sometimes going this way, sometimes going that, sometimes sinking behind the floating mountain only to pop back up. She trudged along for at least six months, or perhaps only a few minutes, before entering a sparsely wooded land. Leaving the stream as it had proved rather an unreliable companion, she decided to head further into the woods, seeking denser foliage. Hoping she finds some berry bushes soon, she isn't actually hungry despite the years that have passed since she arrived. While things changed around her while staying the same, the only observable constant was the unobservable feeling that she is wasting time here, that she should not be here, that there is something important somewhere else. This forest could not go on forever, but even if it could, she would find the end eventually. She was just happy to have the strange sky hidden by the leaves for a time, though as soon as she thought this it seemed the trees intentionally bent their limbs enough to allow glimpses of the sky to pass through. Trees are always rude.

"You are going the wrong way."

Sarah jumps, startled, but not really, and she looks about placidly for the voice. The voice was decidedly strange. "Who said that." She asks in a tone so incurious that, were it written, it would not end with a question mark.

"I did. I said 'you are going the wrong way'." The voice sounded ancient, like grandfather Swift, but youthful and new, like a babbling baby, and also ageless like a stone. It sounded intelligent, but slow-witted. It was quick, but the words took ages to come out. It sounded like mother, like father, but also like ... Who was it? There was someone else. Mother. Father... Herself? No. Herself but smaller? That seemed closer. The voice was masculine, and feminine, and androgynous. There was one thing about the voice that stood out amongst the other sounds or not sounds: it was curious. Sarah hears a rustling behind and overhead and she turns slowly to look up at her mysterious stalker.

It was a bird of some kind. A four-winged raven wearing some kind of creepy pointed mask with glass covered eyeholes. It ruffles its many feathers, indignant. "You are never going to reach the River of Souls going that way." It chides her in its indescribable but also very plain voice. "The River of Souls is over there." Sarah look in the direction it points with one of its wings, which was back the way she came, and the trees seem to leap out of the way of her gaze, revealing, indeed, a large river.

"Huh. I always knew it was over here." Sarah lies as she starts walking towards the river. The birb follows her. It doesn't fly as it is a lazy bird, instead hopping from branch to branch, always overhead. At the bank of the river, Sarah stops and looks. It is a river all right. A normal river, though she thinks she can almost make out shapes within the water, vaporous, human-like shapes that form and dissolve all in an instant. "Soooo how does this work?"

The bird hops onto a branch hanging just over the placidly flowing water. "Well I'm no expert but I believe water generally flows downhill until it finds its level." It sounds annoyed and ruffles its feathers.

"But... what is it?"

"This, silly ex-mortal, is the River of Souls. You need only step into its warm embrace and it will whisk you away to Pharasma to be judged based on your deeds in life. Though..." It looks Sarah up and down, at least she thinks it does. She cannot see its eyes through the weird mask. "Given your age, you'll be off to see Pharasma's daughter, Atropos. You needn't be frightened, she's quite lovely."

"Do I have to go?" She feels she has unfinished business, but she is no expert.

"We all have to go some time, my dear. If you ask me, sooner is better than later. Life - the wretched place you've come from - is so terrible. So much suffering, and for what? To die anyways? No, I think not. It is difficult for those who are losing you to understand why you've been taken from them so soon, but this is better. Your real life begins in the afterlife. Here, you will undertake tasks that will have eternal effects."

The bird presents a compelling argument. Whatever she's not remembering to forget will have little consequences when compared to eternity. "What do I do? Do I just step into the water?"

The bird looks at her, then does a double take. It hops closer, the branch bending as if to facilitate the movement, and looks at Sarah again. It looks long and hard, undeniable curiosity in its nonexistent eyes. "You? No... No, not you. Not just yet. You are not quite dead." With a flap of its many wings, it launches off the branch only to land on Sarah's head. It somehow through its mask picks up a bit of her hair hanging limply on her head. "Heavenborn, are you? Your kind do cling ever so tightly to the mortal coil, though not so tightly as the Duskwalkers or the wretched Samsaran! Those blue-skinned monsters are impossible to get into the river!" He does sound quite tired. It must be hard when souls do not want to get into the River of Souls. The bird takes a deep, deep breath, and lets out a long, slow sigh.

"So I'm not dead?" Dead, not dead, dead, not dead. The afterlife is confusing and exhausting.

"You will be in a few moments. It's nothing to worry about. I could bundle you off into the river now, claim it was all a clerical error if anyone notices you went for a swim while you were still partly alive, but I am a professional." It nods its birdy head, satisfied with this statement, and seems to watch a particular soul drift down the river until it rounds the bend and disappears out of sight. "I like you, Sarah."

"I like you too, uhm..."

"Curio. Psychopomp extraordinaire!"

"I like you too, Curio." Its name fits its curious tone. Amazing how that works out.

"I really shouldn't do this..." It looks around conspiratorially. Seemingly satisfied that no one is watching, it continues. "I really shouldn't do this - keeping schedules is important after all, even in the afterlife - but I'll even let you wait for your sister."

"My... sister?" That does sound familiar, but then again one would be expected to know ones siblings.

"Ahh, yes. Terrible business, as all mortal business is. Those wretched 'U words' that haven't quite killed you will have killed you soon, and then they'll go after her. Her legs are tiny, she has no cha-"

A cataclysmic, deafening roar heard only by Sarah washes over her as she remembers her unfinished business - her beautiful baby sister she had abandoned with those monsters. With a retching scream that tears at her throat, Sarah collapses, grasping desperately for Curio, who gasps and flutters back, just out of reach. She feels her knees hit the ground. Her entire body aches. She feels the hot tears on her cheeks. "No no no no nononononon Curio PLEASE!" She wails, trying to crawl towards the bird, but her limbs feel like they're made of iron, and something else besides the weight. A gnawing sickness inside, rapidly growing. She realizes it was there before, but muted like everything else. No longer suppressed, she can feel it sapping her strength. She doesn't know what it is, but she knows her time is running out. "Curio, please, I have to get back to her! I left her alone, alone, she's all alone with those things! You have to send me back. You. Have. To send me back."

This was all her fault. Calla was in danger because of her. She was the big sister, it was her job to look out for Calla, to keep her from wandering too far into the mountains. Not only had she failed to protect her sister, she was the one who brought her into a dangerous situation in the first place. The agony of guilt and unrealized, unstoppable loss twists in her stomach and she fully collapses, unable to bear her own weight.

Curio is moved by her selflessness, though he does not understand it. Intrigued that, for whatever reason, she would rather suffer through mortality with her sister than both enter paradise now. Pharasma always says the trials mortals endure makes their souls stronger, so it is not an insane desire. Curio turns away, hopping towards the river, mumbling to himself. "I could send you back... You're not really dead, after all... Atropos will be cross but..." He turns back towards the sobbing girl and stares at her for a long, long time, his head tilted inquisitively. She does her best to meet his gaze, but she can't see much through the tears. "Are you quite certain?"

"Yes! I promise promise promise, just let me save her and I promise I'll come back."

"Such favors are not simple."

"Curio, I'll do anything you want. I'll come back. I swear. Let me save her and I'll come right back."

The bird looks her up and down. "Well you don't appear to have much to offer. Not even something as simple as a golden sword. Typical mortals." Sarah only stares in desperate hope. "I'll take... your shadow!"

"My shadow?"

"Mmhm. I've never had a shadow. Or maybe I lost mine so long ago I don't remember having one." Sarah had not noticed the bird was indeed shadowless.

"D-deal. You can have my shadow." Sarah sniffles, trying to put on a brave face. Curio hops past her, its wings spread wide. She's too tired to try and follow the bird as it hops behind her, but it circles around front quickly enough.

He prances around in front of her, an arrogant strut. "Eh, well? What do you think? Lookin' pretty good?" He does seem to have her shadow, though it's far too large for him and, while it generally seems to move with him as a shadow would, it is also the shadow of a naked girl despite being attached to a bird.

"I-it suits you, Curio. The other birds will be jealous." He perks up a bit at that. Apparently he likes that idea.

"Very well! A deal has been struck." With that, the bird flew away.

Sarah manages to pull herself into a sitting position, her back against a tree trunk, angling her face towards the sky to see if she can spot the bird. It was gone for ages, or so it seemed. Was it coming back? Had it stolen her shadow? Eventually it returns. The color was fading from Sarah's vision, but as the bird wings across the sun high in the sky, she catches a glimpse of something red and shiny, held somehow on the tip of its unmoving masked beak.

"Sorry." He huffs. "Had to travel quite a distance for this." Up close, the red gleam on his beak looks like a large, flawless ruby, with dark red liquid swirling inside.

"What's that?"

"You want to return to the land of the living, don't you? Those monsters munching on you as we speak drink blood, and you're going to need blood if you want to be alive! You're lucky. I took this from one of your long distant ancestors who came through here forever and a day ago. She bids you good luck." Curio hops up on a branch at eye level with the seated girl. It leans in close to her face, its tone fully and unmistakably serious. "Seraphina Bloodflame, when Pharasma calls you, will you answer?"

"I will."

"Then. Don't. Blink!" The bird lunges for the girls left eye.

============

Seraphina Bloodflame was born in blood and ash. Everything hurt, everything was on fire, but the pain in her left eye and across her back is almost incomprehensible. There's a massive wooshing sound, a painfully hot, wet wind, and inhuman screams.

When Seraphina's head stopped throbbing and she managed to open her eyes, she saw that she was back on the banks of the river in the gorge, this time surrounded by shouldering skeletal remains. Twisted, unnatural skeletons, and decidedly dead for good. She wastes no time as she stumbles to her feet, not even noticing the red light above her head, or the heavy something that feels like it's sitting on her shoulders. She stagger back a cross the river and stumbles off in the last direction she had seen Calla running. As she searches for her sister, the red light around her fades to a clean and comforting white.

She finds Calla quickly. While ages had seemed to pass on the banks of the River of Souls, only a few moments had gone by on the mortal plane. Calla is frightened by Seraphina's appearance, but in the end to two embrace, covered by two sets of protective white wings. That was how the villagers, attracted by the explosion of red light in the gorge, found them.

Seraphina Bloodflame
Female agathion-blooded aasimar (idyllkin) bloodrager (metamagic rager, primalist) 1
NG Medium outsider (native), humanoid (human)
Hero Points 3
Init -1; Senses Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 9, flat-footed 15 (+6 armor, -1 Dex)
hp 12 (1d10+2)
Fort 4, Ref -1, Will 0; +2 vs. death, energy drain, negative energy, or necromancy spells, +2 circumstance vs. blinded or dazzled
Resist negative energy 5
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Offense
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Speed 40 ft. (30 ft. in armor)
Melee greatsword +5 (2d6+6 S/19+)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +3)
. . At will—halo
Bloodrager (Metamagic Rager, Primalist) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +3)
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 8, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 15
Base Atk +1; CMB 5; CMD 14
Feats Extra Rage, Power Attack
Traits friend in every town, magical knack, scholar of the great beyond, undead crusader, umbral unmasking
Skills Climb +3, Diplomacy +7, Handle Animal +6, Intimidate +2 (+4 circumstance vs. evil creatures), Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +6, Linguistics +2, Perception +4
Languages Celestial, Common, Nightsong
Other Gear four-mirror, greatsword, 5 gp
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Special Abilities
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Angelic Attacks (Su) Melee attacks are good-aligned, and do +1d6 to evil outsiders.
Bloodrage (Unchained) (13 rounds/day) (Su) +2 Atk/Dam, +2 to Will saves, +2 Temp HP/HD, -2 to AC.
Energy Resistance, Negative energy (5)
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Power Attack -1/+2 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.

===Ancestry===
Agathion-Blooded Aasimar (Idyllkin) +2 Con, +2 Wis
Deathless Spirit Resistance 5 against negative energy. Do not lose hit points when they gain a negative level, +2 racial bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, negative energy, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy school. This racial trait replaces celestial resistance.
Halo Create light centered on her head at will as a spell-like ability. When using her halo, she gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimidate checks against evil creatures and on saving throws against becoming blinded or dazzled. This racial trait replaces the darkvision racial trait.
Heavenborn +2 bonus on Knowledge (planes) checks, cast spells with the good or light descriptor at +1 caster level. This racial trait replaces the skilled and spell-like ability racial traits.
Scion of humanity Counts as an outsider (native) and a humanoid (human) for any effect related to race. Pass for human without using the Disguise skill. This racial trait replaces the Celestial language and alters the native subtype.

===Bloodrager===
Archetype (Metamagic Rager) - Meta-Rage (5th level, Su): At 5th level, a metamagic rager can sacrifice additional rounds of bloodrage to apply a metamagic feat he knows to a bloodrager spell. This costs a number of rounds of bloodrage equal to twice what the spell's adjusted level would normally be with the metamagic feat applied (minimum 2 rounds). The metamagic rager does not have to be bloodraging to use this ability. The metamagic effect is applied without increasing the level of the spell slot expended, though the casting time is increased as normal. The metamagic rager can apply only one metamagic feat he knows in this manner with each casting. Additionally, when the metamagic rager takes a bloodline feat, he can choose to take a metamagic feat instead. This ability replaces improved uncanny dodge.
Archetype (Primalist) - Primal Choices (4th level): At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, a primalist can choose to take either his bloodline power or two barbarian rage powers. If the primalist chooses rage powers, those rage powers can be used in conjunction with his bloodrage, and his bloodrager level acts as his barbarian level when determining the effect of those bloodrage powers and any prerequisites. Any other prerequisites for a rage power must be met before a primalist can choose it. This ability does not count as the rage power class feature for determining feat prerequisites and other requirements. This ability alters the bloodline class feature.
Bloodline: Celestial By way of a celestial ancestor or divine intervention, the blood of angels fills your body with a holy potency, granting you a majestic visage and angelic powers when you enter your bloodrage.
Angelic Attacks: At 1st level, your melee attacks are considered good-aligned weapons for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction. Furthermore, when you deal damage with a melee attack to an evil outsider, you deal an additional 1d6 points of damage. This additional damage stacks with effects such as align weapon and those granted by a weapon with the holy weapon special ability.
Bloodrage (Unchained) (Su): The bloodrager’s source of internal power grants him the ability to bloodrage. At 1st level, a bloodrager can bloodrage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + his Constitution modifier. At each level after 1st, he can bloodrage for 2 additional rounds per day. Temporary increases to Constitution (such as those gained from bloodraging or spells like bear’s endurance) don’t increase the total number of rounds that a bloodrager can bloodrage per day. The total number of rounds of bloodrage per day is renewed after resting for 8 hours, although these hours need not be consecutive. A bloodrager can enter a bloodrage as a free action. While in a bloodrage, a bloodrager gains a +2 bonus on melee attack rolls, melee damage rolls, thrown weapon damage rolls, and Will saving throws. In addition, she takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class. She also gains 2 temporary hit points per Hit Die. These temporary hit points are lost first when a character takes damage, disappear when the rage ends, and are not replenished if the barbarian enters a rage again within 1 minute of her previous rage. While bloodraging, a bloodrager cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration. A bloodrager can end his bloodrage as a free action. When the bloodrage ends, he’s fatigued for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds spent in the bloodrage. A bloodrager cannot enter a new bloodrage while fatigued or exhausted, but can otherwise enter bloodrage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a bloodrager falls unconscious, his bloodrage immediately ends, placing him in peril of death. Bloodrage counts as the barbarian’s rage class feature for the purpose of feat prerequisites, feat abilities, magic item abilities, and spell effects.
Fast Movement (+10) EX A barbarian’s base speed is faster than the norm for her race by 10 feet. This benefit applies only when she is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, and not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the barbarian’s speed because of any load carried or armor worn. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses to the barbarian’s base speed.

===Feats===
Extra Rage: +6 rnds/rage/day (Might trade for Improved Intiative)
Power Attack -1+2 (EitR): You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bonus on all melee damage rolls. This bonus to damage is increased by half (+50%) if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls.

===Traits===
Friend in Every Town (Social) +1 Diplo, Diplo as class skill.
Magical Knack (Magic) +2 Bloodrager caster level.
Scholar of the Great Beyond (Faith) +1 KPlanes, KPlanes as Class Skill.
Undead Crusader (Campaign) +1 KReligion, KReligion as Class Skill. +1 Trait damage vs undead.
Umbral Unmasking (Drawback) You cast no shadow (DC 15 Perception to notice)

===Levels===
1: Bloodrager (Primalist/Metamagic Rager) 1: Feat: Extra Rage; FCB (Human): +1 rnd rage/day.

===Build Plan===
3: Take Arcane Strike at level 4
4: Replace Bloodline Power with Psychopomp, lesser psychopomp totem.
5: Quicken Metamagic Feat
7: Probably take 7 levels of Bloodrager so as not to delay second level spells, then into Mortal Usher