#kyton

Image © Marc Dantan, accessed at Tales from the Brazier's Grotto here

[If you haven't heard of the "anatomical Venus", I suggest clicking through the image source link and reading about it. Wax models were used to illustrate anatomy from the Enlightenment era on in Europe, and there was a subgenre of anatomical models that were beautiful women, merging eros and thanatos in a fascinatingly honest way. In a conversation with @abominationimperatrix , she had the idea for an anatomical Venus playing the part of an organ collecting serial killer. I felt that tying them to the kytons/velstracs was the obvious choice, as no other entity in Pathfinder quite matches their marriage of gore to art.]

Anatomical Idol CR 6 LE Construct This appears to be an animated wax statue of the idealized human form. It has several panels which open up, revealing a network of realistic blood vessels, nerves, bones and organs. Some of them seem to also be made of wax, but others are clearly, disturbingly, organic.

Anatomical idols are macabre constructs made by the kytons, combining weapon and art gallery into a single package. The purpose of an anatomical idol is to hunt on the Material Plane, murdering people in search of aesthetically pleasing internal organs. The criteria they use to determine what organs are “pleasing” is unique to each idol and the kyton they serve, but they rarely if ever collect multiple organs from the same source. Although installing a specific set of organs causes an anatomical idol to grow in power, some of them collect instead multiple instances of a particular organ (one anatomical idol was found containing no fewer than thirty spleens). Once an idol has obtained a sufficient set, it returns to the Plane of Shadow to be put on display, adding to the prestige of its kyton master before they grow bored with its collection and send it out to fill itself anew.

When all of their panels are closed, anatomical idols look enough like a human to pass unnoticed most of the time. They prefer to attack isolated victims, either by stalking lone travelers or by convincing a prospect to go alone with them. This gives the idol the time to cut their victim up and sort through to body in search of a perfect organ. Anatomical idols can fight with their fists, but prefer the precision of knives. They also possess a handful of magical tricks that allow them to break into locked buildings in search of prey, pull themselves over obstacles, and fight off multiple attackers if a gang comes to rescue their victim. Anatomical idols are more likely to flee than fight to the death, in order to preserve both their organ collections and artistic integrity.

Anatomical idols tend towards vanity and pretension. Each is convinced that they are living works of art, and that most creatures are too close minded or ignorant to see the beauty inherent in both their grotesque forms and vicious murders. Kytons create them from quintessence; multiple petitioners that the kytons see as unfit for full promotion are melted down into a waxy substance and sculpted into an anatomical idol. Anatomical idols believe that if they win the favor a sufficiently powerful kyton they will be promoted into a true outsider, and so strive eagerly to please eremites and kyton demagogues. Many anatomical idols augment their appearances, both when hunting and when on display, with costumes, jewelry and makeup. Most anatomical idols resemble human women, but they can be built in imitation of other humanoid species and genders.

If you hear a chain rattling and feel the ground rumbling, it’s too late to run.

Image generated on Artflow.ai.

I normally do my best to find an artist to showcase with each post.  For this one, though, I had an idea and couldn’t find any real artwork that was even remotely close, sorry.  It bothers me enough that I don’t think I’ll do it again.   It kind of makes sense, though, considering that the monster creates illusionary terrain that you could very easily flavor as looking like an AI-generated image.

This is a lower level version of a CR14 creature I made some time back, the Colossal Linkserpent. As the name implies, this weaker version is one size category smaller. If your adventure is a few levels lower, it might be more appropriate.

In the Shadow Plane, it’s perhaps fortunate at times that distances between location are fluid and long distance travel is somewhat dreamlike, because that leaves an infinite amount of space for the Gargantuan and Colossal Linkserpents to roam.  They never seem to reach settlements, but in the bleak and lifeless wilderness, Linkserpents hunt down travelers and torment them.  They are capable of causing a traveler’s journey in the Shadow Plane to stretch out endlessly by circling around them beneath the ground.

A relatively small number of these creatures are believed to exist - maybe a hundred or fewer in the world, although it’s impossible to tell for sure.  The animal-like intelligence of a Gargantuan Linkserpent is unusual among kytons, but this creature enjoys inflicting pain and torment just as much as the more intelligent kytons with humanoid appearances.

Unlike many kytons which wear the chains that were used to bind or torture them, a Garguantuan Linkserpent’s entire body except for its head is made of a great number of living metallic chains, which were given life and melded together by other kytons after being used to bind or torture other creatures. The difference between a Gargantuan Linkserpent and a Colossal Linkserpent is simply how many chains the kytons are able to gather when creating it.

Gargantuan Linkserpent - CR 11

Made of interwoven metallic chains stretching more than 30 feet long, this enormous serpent-like creature bursts from the ground with a rattling sound.

XP 12,800 LE Gargantuan outsider (evil, extraplanar, kyton, lawful) Init +3 Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 1 mile; Perception +15 Aura stretch terrain (120 ft.)

DEFENSE

AC 23, touch 9, flat-footed 20 (+3 Dex, +14 natural, -4 size) hp 138 (12d10+72); regeneration 5 (good weapons and spells, silver weapons) Fort +14, Ref +11, Will +8 DR 10/silver or good Immune cold SR 21

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., burrow 40 ft. Melee bite +18 (3d6+15) Ranged molten steel spit +11 touch (4d8 fire plus hardened steel, 30 ft. range increment, see text) Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft. Special Attacks constrict (4d6+21), enwrap, unnerving gaze (30 ft.; DC 16)

STATISTICS

Str 31, Dex 16, Con 22, Int 1, Wis 18, Cha 8 Base Atk +12; CMB +26; CMD 39 (cannot be tripped) Feats All-Consuming Swing, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Vital Strike Skills Climb +20, Perception +15 Languages None

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Enwrap (Ex) As a standard action, a gargantuan linkserpent can coil its body around a creature at least two size categories smaller than itself, attempting to hold it in place.  This functions as a grapple combat maneuever, and provokes an attack of opportunity, except that if successful, the gargantuan linkserpent can maintain the grapple as a move action each round and can continue to make bite attacks.  A creature grappled in this way is moved into the center of the gargantuan linkserpent’s space, instead of adjacent to it as normal for a grapple.

Molten Steel Spit (Ex) As a standard action, a gargantuan linkserpent can spit a glob of molten steel.  This is a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 30 feet which deals 4d8 fire damage.  A target struck by this attack is entangled, and its weight increases by 120 lbs.  Both the entangled condition and the additional weight last until the target removes the steel, which immediately hardens around the target.

A flying target struck by this attack must succeed on a DC 25 Fly check or immediately plummet, and takes an additional -10 penalty on Fly checks on top of any penalty it takes from the added weight.

The hardened steel has 10 hardness and 30 hit points, and can be removed by dealing enough slashing, piercing, bludgeoning, acid, fire, or force damage to break it apart or melt it.  Acid or fire attacks against the hardened steel also damage the entangled creature.

Stretch Terrain (Su) As a free action, while in an area of natural terrain on the Shadow Plane, a gargantuan linkserpent can cause creatures within 120 feet to be unable to escape a 120 foot radius around the gargantuan linkserpent.  Creatures and objects which attempt to move further than this distance away seem to be moving, but their distance from the gargantuan linkserpent never increases to further than 120 feet.  Even teleportation effects are unable to move further than this distance, although plane shifting works normally.

A gargantuan linkserpent must be able to take a free action each round to maintain this aura.  The aura ends at the end of the gargantuan linkserpent’s turn if it is helpless or otherwise unable to act.

did this redesign of shinigami as a velstrac! tried putting in some syo/jack energy deliberately with a bit of a scissors themiung and it came together pretty scarily if i do say so myself. first time ive really fucked around with any amount of blood or gore tho

 Many martial arts styles resemble dances in their grace and poise. In fact, some, like capoeira, were in fact specifically designed to resemble dancing as a way to disguise their training and practice under the watchful gaze of oppressors.

In other styles, the martial arts are honed into a dance-like art form to demonstrate the user’s mastery over their own body.

Regardless of the specific style, however, there do exist those martial artists who fight with dancing styles, becoming a blur of motion that moves between foes with ease. That being said, this archetype is heavily based on capoeira, even coming from the former Cheliax colony of Sargava in the Mwangi Expanse before it fell and became modern Vidrian.

We’ve covered similar archetypes before, but those are mostly associated with bards or the occasional skald. Today’s archetype favors the martial arts side of things over performance and magic.

 As their style is as much performance as it is a combat style, these battle dancers use the instinctive passionate movements of their bodies to master various combat techniques.

The acrobatic style that these brawlers use leaves them in constant motion when attacking rapidly, flipping and kicking foes. As such, with every attack during a flurry, they move a little, which often leaves them dancing between foes or moving in circles around a single one. This does mean they can more effectively spread their attacks around, but also could leave them out of position if they do not plot their course carefully.

These acrobatics also aid them in defense, letting them flip and roll away from foes as needed.

Later on, they even master the ability to distract foes with their attacks, allowing them to provide the advantages of flanking even if they only exist across from an ally for a second before moving on, assuming the enemy and ally remain roughly in the same place, of course.

Positioning is the name of the game with this archetype, and they essentially have the ability to spread multiple attacks among foes while constantly moving into a more favorable position. Because of this, methinks your feats should revolve around combat maneuvers to better control the battlefield, using martial flexibility to pick up the slack in various ways when needed.

 Given that this style has such links to oppressed people, it only makes sense that even among those who are not trained in the style, it remains an iconic part of their culture. If your game uses such lore, consider how members of that culture will react to masters of the style, or those from outside the culture who have learned it.

  A century ago, the Shukah people defeated the white dragon Veeloc who had enslaved them, surprising him with martial arts they had disguised as their ceremonial dances to honor him. Now, Veeloc has returned as a ravener, hungering for their souls, rather than their supplication.

 Hidden away in enclaves in the Shadow Plane, the fetchlings live ever watchful for their velstrac tormentors. In preparation for being discovered, their martial arts styles are acrobatic and dance-like, making sure that any kayal that falls to velstrac corruption can be found out due to their masochistic tendencies showing in their style.