arguskos
2011-10-09, 01:55 AM
Zekharyah, Aggregate Soul
Vestige Level: 2nd
Binding DC: 17
Legend: There existed, several millennia ago, a great empire of humans ruled over by two men, identical twins, Zekharyah, a great warlock and warrior, and Thelmeth, a renown scholar and mage. For many years, the brothers ruled the empire that their father left them and did so well and peacefully, but then their gods, whose names have been lost to time, worked a great miracle upon their people: the birth of a wave of triplets. To you and I, this may not seem like much, but to Zekharyah and Thelmeth, this was a great portent, for theirs was a culture of duality, not triplicality.
Zekharyah counseled decisive action, saying that they had a responsibility to their people to act quickly and crush the triplet movement before it began. Thelmeth argued against this position, saying that it was wiser to embrace the triplets and to adapt the empire to the god's desires. The brothers quarreled and fought until Zekharyah, seeing that Thelmeth would not be swayed, broke from the empire, vowing to lead the people or die trying.
The war, inevitable as the tides, was horrifying. Zekharyah undertook a slaughter of the triplets, purging one out of every three, forcing them into the duality he valued so highly. Thelmeth tried time and time again to stop his brother without killing him, but Zekharyah would not yield, and finally, his heart heavy with regret and shame, Thelmeth laid Zekharyah low.
Zekharyah's soul was waylaid upon the shores of the Styx by those he had butchered in his mad quest for duality and was dragged by those souls to a realm beyond life, death, and existence, punished for all eternity to exist as an aggregate mind, as far from his beloved duality as it was possible to be.
Manifestation: Above the seal, a rift in the air is rent open, and a blob of gelatinous black goo drips from it into the center of the seal, the rift closing behind it. From the goo, a single hand stretches forth, straining against the glop as though a drowning man struggling for air, before falling back into the blob. Suddenly, dozens upon dozens of eyes, from all manner of beings, open on the surface of the pile and a voice gurgles up from it, as though spoken by hundreds, if not thousands, of creatures at once. "We... are Zekharyah. Speak."
Sign: An eye opens somewhere on your body. You cannot see through it, nor have you any control over where it looks. The location of the eye changes each time you bind Zekharyah, and follows no discernible pattern, though it is never overly conspicuous (frequently it appears on a shoulder, chest, or back).
Influence: You cannot abide groupings larger than two, and Zekharyah demands that you abstain from associating with more than one person at a time, forcing you to keep at least 10 feet from all but one person at a time.
Granted Abilities: Zekharyah has a great knowledge of warlock invocations and he also bequeaths to you knowledge of poisons and runes, the greatest of his weapons against Thelmeth and the triplets of his ancient war. Finally, and somewhat discordantly, he also grants you the ability to disguise your form.
Warlock's Might: You gain an eldritch blast. It functions exactly like the warlock class ability of the same name. Your eldritch blast deals 1d6 damage per two effective binder levels. Further, you gain access to a single eldritch shape invocation and a single eldritch essence invocation, chosen when you bind Zekharyah. These invocations can be of up to least grade at effective binder level 1, lesser grade at effective binder level 7, greater grade at effective binder level 12, and dark grade at effective binder level 17.
Poison Use: You gain poison use, as per the assassin class feature.
Poisoner's Skill: When you bind Zekharyah, you may choose two poisons of your choice, with the restriction that they must cost less than or equal to 500 gp per dose. You can conjure up a single dose of either poison. This dose lasts for 24 hours or until you unbind Zekharyah, can only be handled by you (if given to another, it instantly dissolves into nothingness without harm), and only one dose of both poisons may be created by this ability at a single time. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
Hidden Face: You gain the spell-like ability to cast disguise self, but with a duration equal to the amount of time that you are bound to Zekharyah. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
Vestige Level: 2nd
Binding DC: 17
Legend: There existed, several millennia ago, a great empire of humans ruled over by two men, identical twins, Zekharyah, a great warlock and warrior, and Thelmeth, a renown scholar and mage. For many years, the brothers ruled the empire that their father left them and did so well and peacefully, but then their gods, whose names have been lost to time, worked a great miracle upon their people: the birth of a wave of triplets. To you and I, this may not seem like much, but to Zekharyah and Thelmeth, this was a great portent, for theirs was a culture of duality, not triplicality.
Zekharyah counseled decisive action, saying that they had a responsibility to their people to act quickly and crush the triplet movement before it began. Thelmeth argued against this position, saying that it was wiser to embrace the triplets and to adapt the empire to the god's desires. The brothers quarreled and fought until Zekharyah, seeing that Thelmeth would not be swayed, broke from the empire, vowing to lead the people or die trying.
The war, inevitable as the tides, was horrifying. Zekharyah undertook a slaughter of the triplets, purging one out of every three, forcing them into the duality he valued so highly. Thelmeth tried time and time again to stop his brother without killing him, but Zekharyah would not yield, and finally, his heart heavy with regret and shame, Thelmeth laid Zekharyah low.
Zekharyah's soul was waylaid upon the shores of the Styx by those he had butchered in his mad quest for duality and was dragged by those souls to a realm beyond life, death, and existence, punished for all eternity to exist as an aggregate mind, as far from his beloved duality as it was possible to be.
Manifestation: Above the seal, a rift in the air is rent open, and a blob of gelatinous black goo drips from it into the center of the seal, the rift closing behind it. From the goo, a single hand stretches forth, straining against the glop as though a drowning man struggling for air, before falling back into the blob. Suddenly, dozens upon dozens of eyes, from all manner of beings, open on the surface of the pile and a voice gurgles up from it, as though spoken by hundreds, if not thousands, of creatures at once. "We... are Zekharyah. Speak."
Sign: An eye opens somewhere on your body. You cannot see through it, nor have you any control over where it looks. The location of the eye changes each time you bind Zekharyah, and follows no discernible pattern, though it is never overly conspicuous (frequently it appears on a shoulder, chest, or back).
Influence: You cannot abide groupings larger than two, and Zekharyah demands that you abstain from associating with more than one person at a time, forcing you to keep at least 10 feet from all but one person at a time.
Granted Abilities: Zekharyah has a great knowledge of warlock invocations and he also bequeaths to you knowledge of poisons and runes, the greatest of his weapons against Thelmeth and the triplets of his ancient war. Finally, and somewhat discordantly, he also grants you the ability to disguise your form.
Warlock's Might: You gain an eldritch blast. It functions exactly like the warlock class ability of the same name. Your eldritch blast deals 1d6 damage per two effective binder levels. Further, you gain access to a single eldritch shape invocation and a single eldritch essence invocation, chosen when you bind Zekharyah. These invocations can be of up to least grade at effective binder level 1, lesser grade at effective binder level 7, greater grade at effective binder level 12, and dark grade at effective binder level 17.
Poison Use: You gain poison use, as per the assassin class feature.
Poisoner's Skill: When you bind Zekharyah, you may choose two poisons of your choice, with the restriction that they must cost less than or equal to 500 gp per dose. You can conjure up a single dose of either poison. This dose lasts for 24 hours or until you unbind Zekharyah, can only be handled by you (if given to another, it instantly dissolves into nothingness without harm), and only one dose of both poisons may be created by this ability at a single time. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.
Hidden Face: You gain the spell-like ability to cast disguise self, but with a duration equal to the amount of time that you are bound to Zekharyah. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.