Carcosa, the Tattered Shepherd's page

There was once a promising future ahead for the man who would become the strange prisoner called Carcosa. He was a treasure hunter, an archeologist working for King Markadian's Royal Academy. He was renowned for his relentless pursuit of mysteries and his vast knowledge of ancient legends. He became famous for his descriptive prose. His entries into the Academy's reports and ledgers were copied many times and distributed among nobles as entertainment. His gift for poetry and lexicon earned him many admirers. Through careful research, a flair for writing, and a great deal of luck, he became quite famous for bringing lost things back to the light.

Some things should stay buried.

In one nameless temple locked away behind a lock brittle with age the man who would become Carcosa found a mystery in the shape of a golden pyramid on the end of a long chain. It was just large enough to fit comfortably in both hands. Its surface was covered in strange runes in a language he'd only seen glimpses of in ancient manuals kept under high guard by the royal historians. The chain was locked to the the altar and required much effort with a saw and a pair of metal shears to break it free.

It was set into a triangular indentation on top of an ancient altar made of solid brass which released it effortlessly when he lifted it. It took him only minutes to discover that it was not a simple relic. It was slightly warm to the touch, and he could feel things moving within it like gears when he lifted it free of the altar. The top of the pyramid turned easily in his hands aligning the symbols differently. Another twist revealed yet another interpretation of the runes. He discovered dozens of configurations and shapes.

In spite of the warnings carved into the walls by whoever had last been there and sealed the thing away, the ancient puzzle became his obsession.

He consulted with colleagues, slowly deciphering the many symbols etched in it's surface and all their various combinations and configurations. Over the course of months a spark of understanding began to take hold. Intuition guided him to discover more configurations. The symbols began to make sense.

He began to hear whispers coming from within the puzzle box. Paranoia slowly took hold. His work and social life suffered. His friends began keeping their distance and his loved ones tried to get through to him, but the pyramid was his only love now.

Small cracks in his psyche mirrored the small cracks in reality that seemed to follow him around. The voices were with him always now, and those near him began seeing strange things. Wherever he went, pets and livestock turned up mutilated and people reported strange things lurking in shadows or crawling on roofs at night.

He retreated from society, living in a small cottage in the swampy frontier.

When the Royal Academy came for him all the windows were shuttered and nailed closed. He was working on transcriptions of the symbols by candle light. Papers and notes covered every surface and were pinned to the walls in clusters. He had run out of ink and had opened a vein in his hand to continue his writing. The food he was eating was moldy. He had not bathed in so long that his clothes had begun to rot off his body.

They sent for the Inquisitors and sat with him, trying to get through to him, worried for his soul. Before the Inquisitors arrived, his former colleagues watched as he finally solved the mystery that had consumed his life.

With one final twist of the puzzle it came back to the shape of a pyramid. The symbols now formed the shape of a strange eldritch sign on all sides. With a muffled click, it opened...

When the Inquisitors arrived they discovered their famous explorer sitting on the floor holding the pyramid, lolling his head as if in time to music only he could hear, repeating strange poetic verses. Of the members of the Academy who had called the Inquisitors, all were completely catatonic.

The inquisitors brought him to Branderscar Sanitarium, the legendary home for the mentally ill, a place devoted to the mercy of Mitra where damaged minds could be cared for. It was a good place when he arrived.

He was a model inmate. He cleaned himself up, cooperated with his doctors, and even laughed about his previous obsession with the strange pyramid which the head doctor kept for use in their therapy sessions. The new inmate barely seemed crazed at all unless he started speaking. Then all manor of blasphemies and strangeness poured fourth. He spoke of a place called Carcosa in the first person, as if he was the imaginary place of this fractured dreams. At first the doctors tried to get him to use his birth name, but somehow all the records of who he was were destroyed in a fire, and every book and paper he had written somehow had the name smudged or ruined. It was a slow forgetting that wiped out all record of who the man had once been. Eventually only Carcosa remained.

In the years that followed as the heroic explorer was forgotten corruption seemed to spread through the halls of Branderscar like a sickness. Inmates grew steadily more and more violent and deranged. Many began reporting seeing strange creatures lurking in empty rooms and dark halls. Doctors and orderlies developed their own disorders and began sadistic experiments. The population of the once-proud facility began to decline rapidly. Many believed the place had become cursed.

Few attributed the degeneration of Branderscar to the presence of the eloquent and polite inmate who by that point had been there longer than nearly anyone.

Today Branderscar is like a wretched pustule on the verge of bursting open and spilling out its infection onto an unsuspecting land. At the center of it, the man called Carcosa, who was nearly finished with his work at Branderscar.

The others had arrived and were in place. It was time now for his work to truly begin.

Carcosa has been subtly using Diplomacy, Charm Person and Sow Thought to drive inmates even more crazy, and to sew sadistic impulses in everyone he has contact with. Over the course of years he has completely rewritten the personalities of a number of inmates and orderlies. He considers this all practice, and preparation for some kind of grand scheme that his ravings hint at. his Summon Monster ability manifests as strange creatures lurking in shadows and vanishing before anyone can get a good look at them.

Carcosa is devastatingly handsome and has a voice like rum and honey. He stands slightly taller than average with a slender build that was once quite fit but has suffered from age and malnourishment for several years. His hair is dark and his skin is pale from lack of sunlight. His hands are extremely calloused from years spent working the metal pyramid that consumed his life. He rarely smiles in full but often has an expression of mild amusement painted on his face. He gives of an air of poise and reserve which belies his status as known madman.

There is no disputing he is crazed. Much of what comes out of his mouth makes no sense at all, but in spite of that he is quite skilled at convincing people to listen to him

The doctors at branderscar diagnosed Carcosa with an intense form of Scitzoeffective Disorder, which they call a "chronic delirium characterized by frequent aphasia"

AC 10

CMD 10

+4 Fort (+2 con, +2 skald)
+0 Ref (+0 dex)
+1 Will (+2 Skald, -1 wis)

BaB +0, CMB +0

[The Torment Configuration] (masterwork heavy flail), +2 attack, 1d10+1 damage, disarm, trip, weapon cord (locked to belt)

-------Traits---------
Community Minded
Highlander: +1 stealth, stealth always class skill, +2 stealth in hilly/rocky terrain

Schizoaffective Disorder - Your mind is a horrible tangle of schizophrenic thoughts and your mind bounces between alien moods rapidly.
You are easily distracted by these things and suffer a -2 penalty to Perception checks and saves versus Illusions, while gaining a +4 bonus versus Gaze Attacks.
When you wake every day and every time that you are exposed to a stressful stimuli, such as combat, you may choose to have your emotions switch to Frenetic Madness or Icy Calm.
If you choose Frenetic Madness, you gain a +2 bonus to Initiative and +2 to Caster Level, as your mind fuels your insanity into your actions, although you also take a -3 AC as you lose yourself in your tumultuous thoughts.
If you choose Icy Calm, you gain +2 on all CHA checks (Including skill checks) and Will Saves (+4 versus Fear Effects), but always go last in combat and the use of skills and other noncombat actions take an additional round to perform, as you see no particular need to rush things.

-------Feats----------
Scribe Scroll (skald bonus)
Spell Focus Conjuration (1st level)
Augment Summoning (human bonus)

4 (Skald), +1 int, +1 race, +1 favored class

Total 7

+9 Perform (1 rank, +5 cha, +3 class)
+9 Diplomacy (1 rank, +5 cha, +3 class)
+5 Linguistics (1 rank, +1 int, +3 class)
+6 Knowledge Arcana (1 rank, +1 int, +3 class, +1 skald)
+6 Knowledge History (1 rank, +1 int, +3 class, +1 skald)
+6 Climb (1 rank, +2 str, +3 class)
+7 Stealth (1 rank, +2 dex, +3 class, +1 trait)
...+9 stealth (hilly/rocky terrrain)

Skald
Bardic Knowledge: (Ex) A skald adds 1/2 his class level (minimum 1) on all Knowledge skill checks, and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.

Inspired Rage: (Su) At 1st level, affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. While under the effects of inspired rage, allies other than the skald cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride) or any ability that requires patience or concentration. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the song's bonuses on Will saves increase by 1; the penalty to AC doesn't change. At 8th and 16th levels, the song's bonuses to Strength and Constitution increase by 2. (Unlike the barbarian's rage ability, those affected are not fatigued after the song ends.)
If an ally has her own rage class ability (such as barbarian's rage, bloodrager's bloodrage, or skald's inspired rage), she may use the Strength, Constitution, and Will saving throw bonuses, as well as AC penalties, based on her own ability and level instead of those from the skald (still suffering no fatigue afterward). However, inspired rage does not allow the ally to activate abilities dependent on other rage class abilities, such as rage powers, blood casting, or bloodrager bloodlines; the ally must activate her own rage class ability in order to use these features.

Raging Song (Su) A skald is trained to use music, oration, and similar performances to inspire his allies to feats of strength and ferocity. At 1st level, a skald can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. For each level thereafter, he can use raging song for 2 additional rounds per day.

Starting a raging song is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. A raging song cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the skald is killed, paralyzed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise prevented from taking a free action each round to maintain it. A raging song counts as the bard's bardic performance special ability for any effect that affects bardic performances. A skald may learn bard masterpieces.

A raging song has audible components, but not visual components. Affected allies must be able to hear the skald for the song to have any effect. A deaf skald has a 20% chance to fail when attempting to use a raging song. If he fails this check, the attempt still counts against his daily limit. Deaf creatures are immune to raging songs.

If a raging song affects allies, when the skald begins a raging song and at the start of each ally's turn in which they can hear the raging song, the skald's allies must decide whether to accept or refuse its effects. This is not an action. Unconscious allies automatically accept the song. If accepted, the raging song's effects last for that ally's turn or until the song ends, whichever comes first.

Summoner
Life Link (Su) Starting at 1st level, a summoner forms a close bond with his eidolon. Whenever the eidolon takes enough damage to send it back to its home plane, the summoner can sacrifice any number of hit points. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage done to the eidolon. This can prevent the eidolon from being sent back to its home plane.

In addition, the eidolon and the summoner must remain within 100 feet of one another for the eidolon to remain at full strength. If the eidolon is beyond 100 feet but closer than 1,000 feet, its current and maximum hit point totals are reduced by 50%. If the eidolon is more than 1,000 feet away but closer than 10,000 feet, its current and maximum hit point totals are reduced by 75%. If the eidolon is more than 10,000 feet away, it is immediately returned to its home plane. Current hit points lost in this way are not restored when the eidolon gets closer to its summoner, but its maximum hit point total does return to normal.

Summon Monster: (Sp) Starting at 1st level, a summoner can cast summon monster I as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier. Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. As a result, he can only use this ability when his eidolon is not summoned. He can cast this spell as a standard action and the creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level). At 3rd level, and every 2 levels thereafter, the power of this ability increases by one spell level, allowing him to summon more powerful creatures (to a maximum of summon monster IX at 17th level). At 19th level, this ability can be used as gate or summon monster IX. If used as gate, the summoner must pay any required material components. A summoner cannot have more than one summon monster or gate spell active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends. These summon spells are considered to be part of his spell list for the purposes of spell trigger and spell completion items. In addition, he can expend uses of this ability to fufill the construction requirements of any magic item he creates, so long as he can use this ability to cast the required spell.
Morphic Monsters: Since a morphic savant's power is drawn from planar energies aligned with chaos, all the creatures he summons must be of a chaotic alignment.

If a creature would normally be celestial or fiendish, it is instead an entropic creature.

This also causes the morphic savant's summoning power to be less reliable than a standard summoner's.

Each time he uses his summon monster spell-like ability to summon multiple creatures, there is a 50% chance he summons one more monster than normal for the summon monster spell he uses, in which case the creatures remain for only 1 round per level (instead of 1 minute per level).

Also, starting at 2nd level, the morphic savant can grant one 1-point evolution to all the creatures he summons with his summon monster spell-like ability. He can't grant an evolution that duplicates the function of, or has the same name as, any ability the summoned creatures already possess (for example, he can't grant a creature with a bite attack another bite attack), nor can he add an evolution that causes the summoned monsters to have more attacks than his eidolon's maximum number of attacks. The creatures do not have to be of the correct subtype to gain an evolution, but do have to meet any other prerequisites.

This ability alters summon monster.

Eidolon: A summoner can summon his eidolon in a ritual that takes 1 minute to perform. When summoned in this way, the eidolon hit points are unchanged from the last time it was dismissed or banished. The only exception to this is if the eidolon was slain, in which case it returns with half its normal hit points. The eidolon does not heal naturally. The eidolon remains until dismissed by the summoner (a standard action). If the eidolon is sent back to its home plane due to death, it cannot be summoned again until the following day. The eidolon cannot be sent back to its home plane by means of dispel magic, but spells such as dismissal and banishment work normally. If the summoner is unconscious, asleep, or killed, his eidolon is immediately banished. The eidolon takes a form shaped by the summoner’s desires. The eidolon’s Hit Dice, saving throws, skills, feats, and abilities are tied to the summoner’s class level and increase as the summoner gains levels. In addition, each eidolon receives a pool of evolution points, based on the summoner’s class level, that can be used to give the eidolon different abilities and powers. Whenever the summoner gains a level, he must decide how these points are spent, and they are set until he gains another level of summoner.

Eidolon of Chaos: A morphic savant's eidolon must be of a chaotic alignment (if using the Unchained Summoner, the eidolon must have the azata, demon, or protean subtype). The morphic savant's eidolon has three base forms: biped, quadruped, and serpentine. Each form has the same feats and skills, but has its own set of evolutions.

When the summoner meditates and regains his spell slots for the day, he can select any of the three base forms of his eidolon. The eidolon has 1 fewer evolution point than normal for an eidolon of the morphic savant's summoner level, and has 1 fewer skill point per Hit Die.

This ability alters eidolon.

Spells known-

=====Cantrips, at will=====

Summoner Cantrips
Detect Magic
Guidance
Message
Daze

Skald Cantrips
Dancing Lights
Lullaby
Ghost Sound
Prestidigitation

=====1st level=====

Summoner, 3 per day
Protection From Law
Unfetter
Lesser Rejuvenate Eidolon

Skald, 3 per day
Sow Thought
Charm Person

Inmate's Clothes

[MW UMD tool (pyramid puzzle box)]

None

Oily Night

Devil Town

Who Built the Road?

Make me Bad

I Alone

The Beginning is the End is the Beginning

You Know My Name

Cassilda's Song
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

Brahma
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
I am the hymn the Brahmin sings.

The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.

Brujah's Command
Throw off the Elder's shackles
of the mind, reach into thyself
and see the truth revealed.
The Truth, as truth is seen,
will illuminate your soul and
heal your wounds.

Know who you are, first,
and be true to your self.
You are my children, all,
but I would sooner shatter you like
flawed pottery than have your weakness
be that you are but a flawed copy
out of my mold.

Malkav's Words
In the singing, shattered midnight
By the coral sands of time
Through the bloody gates of heaven
Past the sentries in my mind

Bring about the change so quickly
Bring about the terror's night
Bring about the blood of lovers
Bring about the smell of fright

I see you watching where I walk
Through the moonlit jasmine field
Listen closely as I talk
About the stars and their lovers past

Past fields of poppies, burning bright
Into towers of Blackened Bone
Follow me, Bastard of Caine
Come with me, I have no home

As I drain your life's blood sweetly
As you sigh into my warm hands
As I suck your madness neatly
Streaming down like crimson bands

I dance the dance of the fool
And pray you find me mad
For if you lay hands upon the root
You'll know me without illusion
And find me guilty of the truth

Madness
The lonely farm, the crowded street,
The palace and the slum,
Give welcome to my silent feet
As, bearing gifts, I come.

Last night a beggar crouched alone,
A ragged helpless thing;
I set him on a moonbeam throne --
Today he is a king.

Last night a king in orb and crown
Held court with splendid cheer;
Today he tears his purple gown
And moans and shrieks in fear.

Not iron bars, nor flashing spears,
Not land, nor sky, nor sea,
Nor love's artillery of tears
Can keep mine own from me.

Serene, unchanging, ever fair,
I smile with secret mirth
And in a net of mine own hair
I swing the captive earth.