Temporal pixies

[Nephrite]

Take 10 for 101

[Anastasia]

This time the creature turn sand bounds off, off into the blizzard and away.

"So it can learn," Sylvie notes, "I can tell, it's learned what fear is."

[Nephrite]

"Indeed." Moore says as he goes to try and open the door!

[Anastasia]

The door does indeed open.

Inside is a stone room, not wood. Small, cramped. A single, utterly emaciated sahuagin sits here, dry as the desert. Its gills have withered away and its skin looks like sandpaper. Yet black eyes focus on you as you enter the door.

"I have see the past, I have seen the present and I have seen the future," he begins. "All life comes to this place to end. All ends are only the beginning." The figure rises, lightning fast. "I have seen the places where you would have died. You begged for your life with power. Y-"

Lady Sanzha steps forward, her voice a whipcrack of Aquan, the normally flowing language like a barbed lash. "No more, worm."

See what I am and obey, and cease your prattling.

The sahuagin reels back, a whimpering scream as he hides his face behind his sticklike arms.

Quit while you still draw breath, wretched as it is.

Another whimper and another, no words, merely terror so thick you can taste it.

Do not be afraid of me.

Jetina advances past Sanzha, and kneels before this figure. Her hand touches his arm, and in that moment, his body mends. Weight returns to him, the dry look fades and his gills recover. "I walk the path of righteousness. Do not be afraid so long as you are not wicked."

[Nephrite]

Moore merely clears his throat. "I believe she has the right of it." Moore says. "We are all deities here on a mission. Are you a denizen of this place, or... someone who was lost to it? Or perhaps created by it?"

[Anastasia]

"Shh," Jetina murmurs, "It's alright. Let's talk." Her voice is soothing, gentle.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything but this room," It finally says. "It tells me things. How to kill, how to rip, how to hunt. Can you hear it?"

[Nephrite]

A byproduct? Or has he just forgotten like the prisoners of the First Prison?

He decides to listen... and also check for magic!

Spellcraft 114, K:A 119, Arcane Sight. He is checking the area as well as the creature.

[Anastasia]

"I have," Cresiel speaks up as you hear it.

Whispers.

Notions, really.

Killing, destroying, slaying.

Pure knowledge. No tint or good or evil, simply a steady and dispassionate influx of knowledge.

"It's an expert voice," The solar goes on with his own voice unremarkable, "The techniques it speaks of would do well for a master of a larger sword."

Sylvie closes her eyes a moment, "Mmm-hmm. Adrian would like these, but he probably already knows them. The kicks too, I've seen him mix those in after a swing hits home to set up another good slice."

"You can learn so much if you stay here and listen," the sahuagin says. "It likes teaching."

[Nephrite]

"Interesting... I wonder if this place somehow... fractured into some kind of plane that provides this information." Moore says. "Or if it comes from a specific source."

He turns to the sahuagin. "Do you know where to find it, by any chance?"

Also, can I tell if this thing has a soul? Like, it's a real creature and not a construct, magical or otherwise?

[Anastasia]

The sahuagin, right?

[Nephrite]

Yes. Actually, if I can like, detect souls in any sort of radius, that would be great to know too!

[Anastasia]

Sure.

The creature has a soul, and there's a second presence in the room.

[Nephrite]

I can feel you here. Will you show yourself to us please? He intones, loud and clear.

[Anastasia]

There is no reply, but the flow of knowledge continues unabated.

[Nephrite]

Moore decides to try something - he's familiar with his Commune with Knowledge spell, so maybe something in the reverse?

He tries to simply evoke a feeling of communication - acknowledgement of the knowledge and curiosity.