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Archives of Nethys
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Archives of Nethys

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Nuzial

This creature's description may contain spoilers. Click to revealFrom even before he could speak, the sekmin prince Nuzial was taught a singular truth: he was born to rule. Of the scores of offspring his father Zyphaniss sired, only Nuzial and his sisters, Jotzi and Aksayla, were born zyss, those serpentfolk whose blood still sang with ancient magic and unrealized potential. The rest of their siblings were aapophs, muscle-bound brutes fit only for war or labor—or so Nuzial and his sisters were taught. But the three of them were different: colder, sharper, touched by something cruel that elevated them above those they believed served as living reminders of their people's precipitous fall from greatness.

Nuzial's mother, a devotee of the headless serpent god Ydersius, cemented in her son a belief that his ancient lineage destined him for divine purpose. She filled the prince's head with tales of ancient glory, of a surface empire that stretched across continents, and of horrors slumbering in hidden vaults. She believed that their family—and Nuzial specifically—had some role to play in the resurrection of Ydersius. She spent much of Nuzial's childhood fostering this belief in fate within Nuzial and his sisters, turning every effort into further preparation for the day that they would rule.

The dreams Nuzial's mother had for her children ended long before they could realize them. In 4709 AR, she followed the prophet Vyr-Azul into the tunnels of Sekamina on a crusade to reclaim the lost city of Ilmurea and resurrect their fallen god, a journey from which none would return. Zyphaniss regarded her disappearance with the same clinical indifference he afforded his children: first as a passing curiosity, then as a warning to any who might follow her path. In her absence, Nuzial became an extension of his father's will, his voice, his favored weapon… and, finally, his undoing.

The murder of his father and long-time tormentor left Nuzial feeling hollow. Zyphaniss had engineered his death as the final step in a necromantic ritual that would transform him into an immortal lich, a scheme that took Nuzial entirely by surprise, despite the decades he'd spent enduring his father's betrayals. As a reward for the part he'd played in his father's transformation, Nuzial was left to rule Sverenagati alone. Perhaps to prove to himself that he had been more than just his father's pawn, Nuzial vowed to use his newfound power not simply to advance his personal ambitions, as his father had, but to return the sekmin empire to its rightful place of rule.

Unlike his father, Nuzial sat on Sverenagati's throne not as a tyrant, but as a warlord-philosopher, a unifier who inspired his people by promising them the impossible: their long-promised reclamation of the surface. With his sisters serving reluctantly at his side, Nuzial created order from the city's squabbling factions and raised an army to retake what was theirs by right. And yet, knowing in his heart that ambition alone would be insufficient, he sought one final revelation before marching to war: an ancient rite to unlock the lives he'd lived before, along with the power they still held.

Nuzial's ritual worked—or nearly so. Though the forbidden magic granted Nuzial the wisdom he sought, the ordeal left him changed, his physical body reshaped into a former, more fragile incarnation. Even so, Nuzial's plan to march Sverenagati to the surface might have succeeded, if in that moment of weakness Nuzial's sisters had not struck, seizing his throne and driving him into exile.

While his fall from power left him devastated, Nuzial's conviction never wavered, even in his darkest moments. His discovery of the eggs incubating inside Yig's avatar, along with the means by which to hatch them, has given Nuzial another chance to see his plans comes to fruition. Now, armed with the secret knowledge of his ancestors, he sets out once more across the Darklands to seize the power that has been owed to him since birth.

Campaign Role

Although Nuzial is the primary antagonist of this Adventure Path, the PCs don't meet him face to face until the end of its penultimate chapter. Before then, their efforts are focused on pursuing Nuzial across the Darklands, all the while battling his minions and dealing with the destruction wrought by the primordial forces he has unleashed from the Vaultline Auger. Despite this lack of direct confrontation, Nuzial represents an immediate and omnipresent threat from the moment the PCs first learn of him in Lattiskar. With each new revelation about Nuzial's intentions, the catastrophic cost of failing to stop him should become increasingly apparent.

For his part, Nuzial becomes aware that the PCs are on his trail early in the campaign, potentially driving him to modify his plans in response to their actions. But no matter how closely the party pursues him, Nuzial's belief in his destiny remains absolute, upheld by the unwavering assurance that has shaped him since his earliest days. Nuzial knows that conquest is his birthright—and with ultimate power nearly in his grasp, this time nothing will keep him from it.

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NuzialCreature 20

Unique Medium Human Humanoid 
Source Pathfinder #225: Vaultlines pg. 251
Recall Knowledge DC 40 (50 if Unique applies) • Humanoid (Society)
Male reincarnated serpentfolk wizard
Perception +14; truesight
Languages Aklo, Azlanti, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Necril, Orvian, Petran, Sakvroth, Varisian; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Acrobatics +10, Arcana +21, Darklands Lore +18, Deception +20, Diplomacy +20, Intimidation +20, Nature +18, Occultism +20, Orv Lore +16, Plane of Earth Lore +16, Religion +18, Sekmin Lore +21, Society +16, Survival +13
Str +3, Dex +6, Con +5, Int +10, Wis +5, Cha +8
Items amulet of the third eye, major potion of electricity retaliation, staff of imperious echoes (20 charges), true elixir of life (×2), true endless grimoire
AC 23 (25 with mystic armor); Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +15 (+4 status vs. mental); +2 item to all saves (with mystic armor), +1 status to all saves vs. magic
HP 285; Resistances mental 15, poison 15
Counterspell [reaction] Trigger A creature Casts a Spell Nuzial has prepared; Effect Nuzial expends a prepared spell to counter the triggering creature's casting of that same spell. He loses his spell slot as if he had cast the triggering spell, then attempts to counteract the triggering spell. Once per day, Nuzial can use this ability without expending a spell slot.Foresight [reaction] The foresight spell gives Nuzial the Foresight reaction.
Speed 25 feet, fly 30 feet
Melee [one-action] staff +11 [+6/+1] (magical, two-hand d8), Damage 4d4+16 bludgeoning plus 1d6 force. On a critical hit, Nuzial can force the target to attempt a DC 37 Fortitude save. On a failed save, the target is 451"pushed" back 10 feet.Arcane Prepared Spells DC 25, attack +17, * When the PCs face Nuzial in Chapter 10, this spell has already been cast; 10th freeze time; 9th disintegrate (×2), foresight, implosion; 8th chain lightning (×2), mystic armor, quandary; 7th fly, phantasmal calamity (×2), teleport, true target; 6th containment, disintegrate, spellwrack, wall of force; 5th force barrage (×2), sending, truespeech; 4th confusion, lightning bolt, translocate (×2); 3rd force barrage (×2), haste, slow; 2nd blur, invisibility, telekinetic maneuver (×2); 1st enfeeble (×2), fear (×2); Cantrips (10th) detect magic, electric arc, prestidigitation, read aura, shield, telekinetic hand
Arcane Rituals DC 25; 7th collective memories, empower ley line; 5th establish nexus; 4th recall past life; 3rd reincarnate
Drain Bonded Item [free-action] Frequency once per day; Requirements Nuzial hasn’t acted yet this turn; Effect Nuzial can cast one prepared spell he has already cast today without spending a spell slot. He must still Cast the Spell and meet any of the spell’s other requirements.
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