Silt the Silent Decay (Patron of the Marsh - Winter)

[reefwood]

Silt the Silent Decay
Patron of the Marsh

Silt is a small, frail-looking biped. His gray skin is covered in patches of haggard moss and hangs loose over a bony frame. Large black eyes take in everything around him. Only a handful of needle-like teeth line his long snout. He says little but listens intently. Even the smallest details are not to be missed.

Silt is deft, clever, and cunning. His movements are quiet and unhurried, but his mind is always racing. He relishes the smell of decay. It is a restoration of what was taken. A return to the soil. A time for rest and rumination.

Silt is the water-soaked soil. The cold mist that hangs in the air. The predators which wait patiently to strike. The prey which creep quietly past danger. The rot to which all succumb.

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Region (Marsh): A cold fog blankets this brackish region filled with bogs, hedgerows, and undergrowth. Also hidden in the haze are scattered clusters of trees and patches of quicksand. Despite the chill in the air, gases bubbling up from below warm pockets of water throughout this region. The southern border comes to an abrupt end at the edge of a Canyon. Inhabitants include alligators, snapping turtles, snakes, frogs, toads, newts, slugs, dragonflies, crayfish, ducks, herons, spoonbills, and nutria.

Season: Winter

Day/Time: Winter Solstice / Midnight

Manifestation: All the Caretakers must gather in the Marsh at midnight before the Winter Solstice. They must remain silent and still for 24 hours or be consumed by the bogs. Silt will appear to those who survive at midnight on the Winter Solstice.

Influence: Concealment effects are enhanced in the Marsh. For the duration of the effect, the target is slowed to half-speed. This influence spreads to the entire Valley at dusk on the Winter Solstice, and each day that follows there is a 10% less chance of this influence being felt outside the Marsh (Day 2 = 90%, Day 3 = 80%, etc).

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Silt casts his own individualized version of the Awaken spell, which includes a blessing of minor boons connected to his specific abilities and tenets. The blessing is the same for every Caretaker he awakens, but on rare occasion, by chance or fate, a Caretaker is infused with a greater blessing of more significant strengths and weaknesses representative of the Patron. You must select the standard Blessing or the Greater Blessing and take all the qualities of the one you select.

Blessing of the Silent Decay
+1 skill point per level
+1 Stealth

Greater Blessing of the Silent Decay
Mind Over Body: +4 Int / -2 Con
Rotten: Every wound received by this creature from a slashing or piercing weapon releases a foul odor which nauseates all other creatures within 5 ft for 1 round. Each of these wounds results in 1 hit point of bleed damage. Bleed damage from multiple wounds stack. Bleed damage is stopped by a spell that cures hit point damage, or a Heal check DC 15+bleed damage.
Withered: Reduce natural armor in half (min. 0). Reduce size modifiers for CMB, CMD, Fly, and Stealth by one size category. Reduce penalties for squeezing in half.