Spirit's Mercy and unfinished business

[dhemery]

What happens if you use Spirit's Mercy to purify a spirit remnant with unfinished business?

The rules clearly state what happens if you purify a spirit remnant during your daily preparations:

Book of the Dead p23 wrote:

Rejuvenating Spirits: Though all spirit wisps and most remnants can pass on immediately when purified, if a spirit remnant came from a creature with the rejuvenation special ability (such as most ghosts), a recurring haunt, or another entity who ordinarily doesn’t pass on when destroyed, its ties to this world are too strong for it to easily pass on. When a spirit remnant from such an entity is released as part of your daily preparations, instead of joining the River of Souls, it begins re-forming itself in the time and location noted in its rejuvenation ability. However, you learn a clue about the spirit’s unfinished business, which may help you put it to rest permanently.

So if the spirit remnant has unfinished business:

- It begins reforming itself.
- You gain a clue about its unfinished business.

Spirit's Mercy is less clear about spirit remnants with unfinished business:

Spirit’s Mercy, Book of the Dead p22 wrote:

Spirit’s Mercy [reaction] (necromancy) Trigger You take positive or negative damage, or you take any type of damage caused by a haunt, ghost, or other incorporeal undead; Cost 1 spirit wisp or remnant; Effect You purify a spirit by having it perform a final act of mercy to lessen the damage caused by another spirit. This grants you resistance to positive and negative damage (or resistance to all damage if caused by a haunt or incorporeal undead) against the triggering effect. If you expend a spirit wisp, the resistance is equal to twice your level. If you expend a spirit remnant, the resistance is equal to three times the level of the incorporeal undead or haunt from which you gained the remnant.

If the spirit remnant purified by Spirit's Mercy has unfinished business, what happens after this "final" act of mercy?

- Does it begin reforming?
- Do you gain a clue about its unfinished business?
- Does it bypass reforming and go straight to the River of Souls?

[breithauptclan]

Exorcist Archetype

Spirit's Mercy is just one of the methods of purifying and releasing one of the spirit wisps and remnants. There are others that can be picked up with additional feats, as well as the process happening automatically during daily preparations.

Quote:

Every day, before your daily preparations, any spirit wisps and remnants remaining within your spirit dwelling from the previous day are purified and can join the River of Souls in their final journey to Pharasma's Boneyard.

You can also learn abilities that let you purify a spirit in your spirit dwelling immediately in a cathartic surge...

Spirit's Mercy is the simplest of the purifications.

The sidebar entry about how to handle that for Rejuvenating Spirits should apply equally to all of them, even though it only explicitly mentions the one for daily preparations.

[dhemery]

breithauptclan wrote:

The sidebar entry about how to handle that for Rejuvenating Spirits should apply equally to all of them, even though it only explicitly mentions the one for daily preparations.

That’s probably how I’ll play it, but it’s a poor fit with the “spirit-purifying final act of mercy” flavor text. If they’re going to re-form, the act isn’t final. And once they re-form, if they’re still going to thwack you the next time you pay them a visit, that doesn’t feel like an act of mercy from a purified spirit.

[breithauptclan]

Who knows what goes through the mind of a ghost fragment. Maybe it thought it would be finally free at the time. But then wakes up dead again the next morning.