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Nemmia Bramblecloak

A halfling druid dedicated to Gozreh, Nemmia sees all civilization as a blight to be ruthlessly exterminated. She has gone to great extremes—even coercing natural animals—to further her murderous plans.

Nemmia was deposited at the door to the Hermitage of Blessed Lightning as an infant. For most of her life, she never left the hermitage and considered the devotees there to be her family. Even from a young age, Nemmia's empathy for nature was strong, and she had the supernatural ability to speak with animals and to see the world through their eyes. Nemmia likes to believe her parents were powerful druids whose calling to safeguard the wilds left no time for rearing children.

A few years ago, Nemmia petitioned the hermitage's leader, Harlock Hamdeel, to leave the hermitage and explore the wider world for the first time. Nemmia was struck by the contrast between how the Isle of Erran was described in the hermitage's ancient texts and how she saw it. The grasslands were no longer green, the ground was barren, and the weather fiercer. Fish were less plentiful, and butterflies no longer filled the fields with color. For years, the hermits had tracked these changes, but the dry accounting didn't strike Nemmia's heart like seeing the decline firsthand.

Nemmia soon realized that civilization was part of the problem. She had always assumed that people everywhere lived with the same respect for nature the hermits did. But she found “civilized” people to be noisy, polluting, and greedy.

Nemmia returned to the hermitage and pleaded with Harlock. Civilized folk—such as those in the nearby town of Abberton—were causing the deterioration and needed to be culled like overpopulated herds. Harlock didn't agree; he knew from his own study that the aeon orb atop the Erran Tower, which had artificially augmented the land's bounty, was fading. This, not the town of Abberton, was responsible for the failing ecology. But Harlock made a decision while Nemmia was raging in his presence, and he chose poorly: he kept the truth of the aeon orb from Nemmia, hoping that if he could discover how to repair the orb's magic, Nemmia's resentment would ebb.

Time passed, and Nemmia's desperation grew. She performed rituals intended to divine the answer to the isle's problems; her efforts were fruitless, but her passion convinced some of the other hermits to help her. She was prohibited from leaving the hermitage again, as Harlock worried she might take drastic or even violent action against Abberton. So Nemmia snuck out in secret, and witnessed the casual cruelty and violence performed by the local criminal gang, the Muggers. She decided the town's priest of Abadar was a hypocrite, the mayor a fool, the sheriff a brute, and the miller and her family greedy cheats and misers. She began to hate the people of Abberton not only for what she believed they were doing to the environment, but for who she believed they were.

Nemmia soon built up a conspiracy within the hermitage consisting of those hermits willing to take drastic action to save the island from environmental destruction. Few shared Nemmia's dislike of Abberton, but they all agreed that action was necessary. When the succubus Balenni arrived at the hermitage in human guise, she quickly identified Nemmia's conspiracy as a key to corrupt the entire hermitage. She took Nemmia as her protege and her lover, whispering accursed secrets to the hateful halfling and sharing rituals using demonic energy. Nemmia shared these rituals with her coconspirators, hiding the evil nature of the rituals' power until her fellow hermits were wholly committed.

By the time the adventure begins, Nemmia has become wholly corrupted by Balenni and her own desire to punish the people of Abberton. She has convinced herself that saving the Isle of Erran's ecosystem is a greater good that rationalizes almost any evil deed. Her goal is to force the complete evacuation of the town, and for weeks she has been waging a one-woman war. She has taken the miller's family hostage, interrogating them for a confession of their hateful schemes, but she has been unsatisfied by their repeated denials. She has led destructive demons to the temple in town and has been working to corrupt local animals. Nemmia was contemplating the best way to tip all of Abberton into a panic when the Circus of Wayward Wonders arrived. Seizing upon this opportunity, Nemmia resolved to infiltrate the circus camp, kill the circus performers to shock the townsfolk, and then send her animals against the terrorized townspeople. This, she thinks, should tip the balance and compel everyone to abandon Abberton. Nemmia is temporarily stymied when the heroes step forward to lead the show to success, but she soon decides that these strangers must pay with their lives.

Campaign Role

Nemmia is the primary villain of the adventure's first chapter. If Nemmia survives her encounter with the party, compassionate and patient heroes could potentially reform her. Separated from Balenni's profane influence, Nemmia could be receptive to demonstrations of how civilized people can also be kind, far-sighted, and dedicated to living in concert with nature. She'll never be comfortable in any community larger than the Hermitage of Blessed Lightning, however, and she knows that she has done too much damage to the hermitage to ever be allowed to return. She might therefore withdraw into the wilderness and use her powers to help animals and plants harmed by the island's environmental decline.

Recall Knowledge - Humanoid (Society): DC 28
Unspecific Lore: DC 26
Specific Lore: DC 23

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Nemmia BramblecloakCreature 3

Legacy Content

Unique NE Small Halfling Humanoid 
Source Pathfinder #151: The Show Must Go On pg. 90
Female halfling zealot
Perception +6; keen eyes
Languages Abyssal, Common, Druidic, Halfling; speak with animals
Skills Diplomacy +5, Gozreh Lore +3, Nature +8, Religion +6, Stealth +5, Survival +8
Str -1, Dex +3, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +1
Items +1 sickle, hide armor, key to the ringmaster's wagon, rat hood, staff
AC 16; Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +8
HP 45
Speed 20 feet
Melee [one-action] sickle +6 [+2/-2] (agile, finesse, magical, trip), Damage 1d4+3 slashingMelee [one-action] staff +2 [-3/-8] (two-hand d8), Damage 1d4–1 bludgeoningPrimal Innate Spells DC 16; 3rd animal vision (at will; target must be a rodent, serpent, or similar animal considered troublesome by humans); 2nd paranoia (targets animals only); 1st charm (3; targets animals only); Constant (2nd) speak with animals
Primal Spontaneous Spells DC 18, attack +8; 2nd darkvision, entangle; 1st fear, goblin pox, shocking grasp; Cantrips (2nd) produce flame, read aura, stabilize, tanglefoot
Keen Eyes Nemmia has a +2 circumstance bonus when using the Seek action to find hidden or undetected creatures within 30 feet. When she targets a concealed or hidden opponent, she reduces the DC of the flat check to 3 for a concealed target or 9 for a hidden one.Reach Spell [one-action] If the next action Nemmia takes is to Cast a Spell that has a range, increase that spell's range by 30 feet.Wildwood Halfling Nemmia ignores difficult terrain from trees, foliage, and undergrowth.