Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 9282064" data-attributes="member: 2209"><a href="https://paizo.com/products/btq02asv?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-175-Broken-Tusk-Moon" target="_blank">Pathfinder Adventure Path #175: Broken Tusk Moon (Quest for the Frozen Flame 1 of 3)</a>Pathfinder 2eSyarstik Painted-Tiger, Awakened Smilodon Ghost, Smilodon Ghost Guardian, Spectral Cat, Ghost of Murdered Animal Guardian, Ghost of a Slain Guardian Beast, Ghost Tiger, Ghostly Tiger, Guardian Ghost of the Great Cat, Ghostly Predator: Syarstik remembers little of his before-life, the long nights stalking cold hills and days traversing vast frozen plains. Because of his great size and strength, all other animals feared him, with the exception, perhaps, of the mammoths. His body was striped with mottled patches of dark fur that allowed him to blend easily into shadows. Most creatures were his prey, and he knew no equal.This all changed when Syarstik met the Wise One—an old human who would have made little more than a mouthful for the great cat. The shriveled man didn’t fear Syarstik, nor did he threaten him, but rather spoke to the cat as an equal. After some time traveling together, the Wise One took Syarstik to an important burrow in a remote part of the plains, a site of old, powerful magic. There, the Wise One whispered sacred words, and Syarstik felt the man’s words wash over him like running water. At once, a haze the cat had never noticed was lifted from his eyes, and he knew his true name, Syarstik, which meant “now you speak.” He also knew that the Wise One was dying. The ritual had exhausted the venerable man, and he gave Syarstik a command with his dying breath: to protect this sacred place from any who would desecrate it. Syarstik faithfully fulfilled his old friend’s final wish, remaining within the cave for many years, and found the sacred, solitary duty quite to his liking. When he was hungry, he would snatch white fish from the dark cave pond. When he was bored, he would chase deer or rodents in the dusty scrubs just outside the cavern’s mouth. When intruders approached, he would coat his fur in red dirt to hide from his prey and, afterward, take long swims in the cave pool to cleanse himself of their blood. Human-folk calling themselves Mammoth Lords visited his “Red Cat Cave” to paint stories of their trials and consult the stars through tiny holes in the cavern’s ceiling. Syarstik regarded these visitors cautiously, but when they prostrated themselves respectfully and laid down their weapons, he allowed them entry. He oversaw many generations of such pilgrims, watching them grow from cubs to adults to wise ones. Yet, Syarstik himself never aged. Over a century ago, a few of these human-folk came to Syarstik bearing a shrouded torch that somehow remained lit and that, when unsheathed, cast a blazing light that cut through the cave’s darkness. The humans were clearly scared, and Syarstik nobly agreed to guard their sacred torch in his cavern. They spoke of demons who might come to take the torch, but Syarstik knew nothing of demons, and he felt no more fear of these foes than he did for any other animal. Syarstik was thus taken by surprise when a wild-eyed human entered the cave a few winters later, spear in hand, to claim the eternal torch. This human—if that’s truly what he was—stunk of fire and death, but also of something far worse than any other human-folk Syarstik had met. When Syarstik refused to let him take the torch, the warrior’s sudden attack surprised the cave’s guardian. The human stuck fast a spear in Syarstik’s flank, and he was dying. With his last breath, Syarstik covered the sacred torch with his body, hoping to extinguish its eternal flame, but the torch continued to burn, and the immortal cat howled as his body was set ablaze. With this final desperate act, Syarstik cursed the wretched artifact that had spelled his doom, preventing the bearer of the torch from ever willingly relinquishing it to another. From then on, the torch’s bearer would know no peace and be shunned by all. The shadows of the howling tiger permeated the cavern walls, imbuing them with Syarstik’s angry magic. Even after his mortal body turned to ashes, Syarstik’s spirit lingered in the spot where he died. Haunted by his failure to protect the cave, the ghost of the great cat now rages against all intruders, human or otherwise. For more than a century, the people of the Gornok Plains have given Red Cat Cave a wide berth, telling tales of the ghostly predator that guards it and the ancestral cave paintings within that leap to life. When the first Broken Tusks sought a place to keep the Primordial Flame safely out of demonic hands, they took it to this remote cave in the hills. Situated amid red sandstone, the cave’s opening bore an uncanny resemblance to the mouth of a roaring feline. Local oral histories spoke of the so-called Red Cat Cave and its guardian, an ageless saber-toothed tiger named Syarstik Painted-Tiger. The small group braved the cave to speak with Syarstik, who proved both noble and reasonable. The great cat agreed to protect the Primordial Flame in the cave’s deepest recesses. Syarstik’s vow was tested mere months later when the possessed Burning Mammoth warrior Metuak came to the cave to retrieve the Primordial Flame. The cat recognized the evil lurking in Metuak, and though Syarstik fought to defend the sacred light, Metuak slew the guardian and took the Primordial Flame. With his dying breath, Syarstik cursed the artifact with a shard of his own soul; thereafter, Metuak could never willingly relinquish the Primordial Flame without suffering unfathomable psychic pain. The remainder of Syarstik’s spirit stayed in Red Cat Cave as a ghost, continuing to watch over the chamber where it met its earthly demise, full of rage and shame over its failure. Until its unholy anger is quelled, the ghost of Syarstik can’t remember anything about Metuak or the Primordial Flame. Gruesome Undead: ?Undead, Undead Creature: ?Akarta Willoweave, Cairn Wight, Eternal Guardian: Knowing her end was near, Hiajor used the last of her magic to animate the seers as cairn wights and compel them to watch over her body in the remaining barrow. Uchuli the Wise, Cairn Wight, Eternal Guardian: Knowing her end was near, Hiajor used the last of her magic to animate the seers as cairn wights and compel them to watch over her body in the remaining barrow.</blockquote>

Verification