Walks-In-Emeralds

The world is made up of many realms. The “Higher” realms of the Gods and Divine beings, the “Lower” realms of the dead and demonic. Then there are the realms of man and beast; of the mortal realms. But there are leftovers. Spaces between spaces from the creation of the world. Most of these realms are places where monsters have come from, or places that mad Wizards have created and slipped away into. But there is one that is totally empty. It is a silent, dark place. No mind sculpts this realm or gives it a purpose.

Except for just one.

Walks-In-Emeralds

The Realm of Emeralds is a left over dimension. Perhaps from the creation of the world, a fractal part of the Sacred Sapphire from which all things came. Or perhaps it was once the afterlife or prelife of a race or god, which became desolate after a spiritual exodus from the place. Maybe it was created once, long ago, or it simply always existed.

The Realm of Emeralds is a dark, shadowy place wrapped in an eternal twilight. Everything there is stained in shades of green. Everything in the realm of the mortals is copied here; it is exactly as wide and vast as the mortal realm, but totally devoid of life. It is a very quiet, lonely place. Only one being here disturbs the Emeralds, and that is known as the Walks-In-Emeralds. It is technically a sexless being, but appears as a male humanoid of elderly age, and is usually referred to as a him. It is a one of kind thing, with no other race or caste of beings that are exactly the same. It seemingly can understand language, but is not known to speak. It is also intelligent, but has its own goals and intelligence that run contrary to what most living beings understand.

The Walks-In-Emeralds is a very lonely spirit, its home realm is the Realm of Emeralds, but is can leave its home dimension. It may open portals between the realms, stepping from the Realm of Emeralds and stepping into the mortal realm at the same location within the real world. Once there, the Walks-In-Emeralds can fight and be fought like any normal creature. However, it rarely seeks conflict and prefers to run; if the Walks-In-Emeralds opens a dimensional portal, it only takes one round to open and step through it, and will automatically use this ability if it drops to half HP.

Its main goal in our world is to touch things. Usually it touches living things, though it will sometimes touch inanimate objects too. It prefers to touch people when they are sleeping as to allow its magical powers to spread, but will always attempt to touch 2d6 living beings or objects during each visit. It also prefers to spread its touch out to wide an area as possible, as to better enrich the Realm of Emeralds.

The Realm of Emeralds

The Realm of Emeralds is a dark dimension. Everything in the mortal realm is mirrored here, but decayed and lessened in some fashion. If you just finished building a castle, the castle would appear in this realm too, but crumbling and overgrown with moss. The realm is filled with dark mist, which nourishes the Walks-In-Emeralds. Every turn in the Realm of Emeralds, the Walks-In-Emeralds regains one hit point, meaning that in just a few days it can make a full recovery and be ready to strike again.

The Realm is a dark mirror to the world, but is devoid of living things. The only exception are plants, but the plants here are almost crystalline, with transparent and weak leaves, barely moving or swaying in the wind. There are no animals or people. It is a sad place. However, the Walks-In-Emeralds brings more energy into its realm by touching things.

Anything touched by the being will appear in the other realm, a copy. It appears as a ghost or phantom of the thing in question, spilling forth light from whatever surface was touched and is colored with the green energy in the mortal realm. Within this realm, it is like a ghostly copy that mimics the motions and actions of the first; it brings light and movement to this realm in some capacity. Similarly to the buildings, these manifestations are “lesser” then their real counterparts. They appear as spirits or as moving images and sounds, discordant smells, sometimes appearing from multiple different times in the real world at the same time in this one. The Walks-In-Emeralds may only be doing this so that its realm is more lively, or because this gives it power.

These manifestations can also be controlled by the Walks-In-Emeralds. They have ½ the power of their real world counterparts; an orc warrior with a green blemish in the real world appears as a spirit in the Emerald one, and when the Walks-In-Emeralds commands it, it will fight on his behalf with ½ the Orc's hit dice and dealing half the damage. It is very real here, however lessened, a servant of the realm's mysterious master.

Walks-In-Emeralds (6+2 HD, 14 AC, +2 to hit, 1d6+1 Emerald Staff, Emerald Command, Spells)

Morale- 12 (+2 in its dimension)

The Walks-In-Emeralds can transport itself between worlds, and is a physical being. It can be killed, though it is a wily creature and is very difficult to capture or corner, due to its power to open portals between dimensions. It can open and step through a portal in one round, meaning once it activates this power you have one round to kill it before it passes through. If you are touching the being when it passes through, you will be dragged into its realm. Once there, it has little qualms about killing people invading its silent realm- you can escape only by finding an area where the wall between worlds is thin, or by grabbing the Walks-In-Emeralds again when it leaves its realm.

Anything the Walks-In-Emeralds has touched is considered part of its growing domain. In the mortal realm, this means people or objects touched by it, with its emerald magic growing on their skin or emerald paint stuck to the bricks or metal. With a motion it can command these objects to animate or beings to obey its commands; intelligent beings get a saving throw to resist. Usually, the Walks-In-Emeralds doesn't want the beings it touches to die and avoids killing them; it simply wants to spread its emerald infection in the world to enrich its own realm, not cause mass destruction, but will force beings infected by its touch to jump in the way and block anyone chasing it so it can escape. Within its home realm, it can command the constructs of emerald light, which it will animate to ½ of their full power that they would have in the mortal realm.

The Walks-In-Emeralds can also cast spells. It has the same number of spells and casts spells as though it was a 5^th level Magic User. Most of its powers are based on disabling attacks; Slow, Sleep, Color Spray, and other staple spells are likely to be in its arsenal. The Walks-In-Emeralds can also cast two bonus spells per day of any level, of any spells it knows.

The Walks-In-Emeralds also knows (has invented?) a few unique spells. If you manage to kill or defeat the being, you may be able to learn these spells by reading the inside of its skull. It has no known spellbook or arcane laboratory in its home dimension, except the mirror-world version of sorcerer lairs in the mortal realm. The books in these realms are printed on pure emerald sheets of crystal paper- but there is a 1 in 100 chance that any book may have a few usable runes barely legible. These runes could help teach a Magic User some of this being's unique spells.

Walks-In-Emeralds Unique Spells – (Roll 1d6 to determine what spell you learn by studying it)

[1] Emerald Flames - 1^st Level

This is a buff spell. The caster changes the elemental affinity of fire within themselves for the rest of the day. The Walks-In-Emeralds always has this spell effect on. This changes the color and powers of all the fire spells of the caster; turning their conjured flames to dark emerald and their summoned lighting to lime green. All prepared fire, lighting, and highly energetic evocations are altered. They deal a bonus dice of the appropriate size on a damage roll, and opponents hit by them save at -2. These spells don't kill however, instead knocking the target to 1 HP, helpless, and scarring their body with emerald patterns across their flesh and clothes.

[2] Flash of Crimson - 1^st level

When cast by the Walks-In-Emeralds; causes everything around them to turn bright red for a second, which generates a supernatural fear and desire to flee in everyone around. All targets must make a save at minus the caster's HD or level, or else they flee the area; they must flee for at least 3 rounds, unless otherwise blocked. The Walks-In-Emeralds will use this ability to scare off foes before disappearing back through a portal if it is too risky to do so otherwise. After the first time you are subject to this ability, you can expect it next time and now no longer flee from it.

If this spell is learned and cast by someone else, it has no effect unless enough green material is nearby to create the supernatural red light. Wizards who wish to use this spell will need to be wearing a green robe and hat, have green skin, or be wearing a piece of jewelry studded with emeralds worth at least 6,000c or greater in value.

[3] Brittle Patch - 2^nd level

This spell is used to patch up a hole, either in a piece of clothing, a crack in the wall, or the hole of a ship. The Walks-In-Emeralds can also use this to patch up wounds, which is much more difficult and requires a Mage of at least 6^th level to perform, even though a lower level Magician can cast this spell.

The patch cast by this spell has two effects. First, for all beings who lack the true sight or ability to reveal illusions; this spell makes the patched object look exactly as though it was totally whole and mended on its own. If this spell is used on wounds, it creates the illusion of a rapid although natural covering and healing of the wound. However, this spell does not truly “fix” the object in question. The bucket that is mended will still leak, though not in an obvious way. The patched hole in the wall will still be drafty, but people will not be able to identify the source. Wounds healed are not really healed, and are instead kept in a state of injury though without pain or open pathway for infection or further aggravation; hit points are not restored for the value of the injury, just patched over and ignored, even with natural healing.

The second power of this spell is that when the caster dies, this spell is undone. This means that all damaged things are opened back up on the slaying of the caster; including wounds, mended ropes and armor, and many more. The Walks-In-Emeralds has many beings and important monuments patched by this spell, though anything patched by this spell can be truly restored with an appropriate healing or mending spell. Killing the Walks-In-Emeralds will cause quite a lot of damage to be done to the world, however unintentionally it will happen; the being may project psychic images of this to the party members, but it is unlikely to be understood unless someone in the party has a Wisdom modifier of +2 or better to understand the defense mechanism of this otherworldly being.

[4] Mask of Obliviousness - 3^rd level

This spell can only be cast on an unaware target. Cast on a single person, they will not be able to notice you for the rest of their life, or until the spell is otherwise removed. This “not noticing” includes invisibility, auditory, and even touch, though the person will be aware if they are being touched or moved and think a ghost or supernatural force is touching them. The victim of this spell will not accept any proof of the proposed individual, and will not be able to defend themselves from one sneak attack. Every time the caster attacks or casts a magic spell upon the victim, they get a chance to save and break free from the effect.

The spell creates a spectral “mask” over their eyes, which can only be seen by holy men or those who have the true sight. If Walks-In-Emeralds casts this on somebody, the mask will appear a dark crystal green. If anybody else casts this spell on a person, it will appear as a dark shadowy mask. If a rival Wizard of a higher level investigates, they can see your Wizard vigil hidden in the vapors and know you cast the spell upon this victim.

[5] Green Gateway - 4^th level

This spell allows the caster to open a portal into the Realm of Emeralds. This portal is permanent. The Walks-In-Emeralds will notice the portal in 2d6 weeks after it has been opened, but cannot destroy it outright with its magical powers. The Walks-In-Emeralds can open and close portals on its own with ease, but this spell may be required to actually go into its realm and chase it directly.

[6] Magic Malcontent - 4^th level

This spell is chaotic, and the Walks-In-Emeralds only uses it in serious fights, or battles when it is defending itself in its own realm and can no longer flee. The spell magically prepares and casts the caster's other prepared spells, one every round, starting from the lowest level prepared spell and going to the highest until all of their spells have been exhausted. This spell can be ended prematurely by the caster concentrating for one round and skipping their normal action.

This spell creates a spiritual, Emerald-Energy duplicate that begins to cast the caster's spells. In the mortal realm, it is barely visible as a green shimmer, but in the Realm of Emeralds, it is an obvious spectral copy of the spell caster- motioning and blasting magical energy outwards. Every round, this entity casts a spell of the caster's without hesitation, but will still cast the spell in a way that is beneficial to the caster. Offensive spells will be targeted towards random enemies, Defensive spells on their allies or the caster themselves, miscellaneous spells are cast on random objects or in the most useful way they could be used in that context, and so on. If all the enemies are removed or defeated, the spirit will still cast offensive spells but will be cast them on random objects nearby or the corpses of the caster's enemies; it must cast the magic it has been granted, even if it is no longer useful.