Fleshwarp, IrnakurseA mad-eyed mess of deformed limbs, misplaced features, and bone shards pulls itself along amid a cacophony of slapping flesh.Irnakurse CR 9Source Bestiary 4 pg. 105, Pathfinder #16: Endless Night pg. 86
XP 6,400
CE Large aberration
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15DefenseAC 23, touch 12, flat-footed 20 (+3 Dex, +11 natural, –1 size)
hp 105 (10d8+60)
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +9OffenseSpeed 10 ft.
Melee bite +8 14 (1d8+7), 4 tentacles +8 (1d6+3 plus mind lash)
Space 10 ft., Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tentacles)
Special Attacks soul scream, rend (2 tentacles 2d6+10; 3 tentacles 3d6+10; 4 tentacles 4d6+10)StatisticsStr 24, Dex 17, Con 23, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 18
Base Atk +7; CMB +15; CMD 28 (32 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Improved Initiative,
Skills Climb +20, Perception +15, Stealth +12
Languages Elven (can’t speak)EcologyEnvironment any underground
Organization solitary
Treasure noneSpecial AbilitiesMind Lash (Su) Those struck by an irnakurse are overwhelmed with dark emotions and corrupted images of a ruined life. Any non-evil creature hit by an irnakurse’s tentacle must succeed at a DC 19 Will save or be stunned for 1 round. A creature that successfully saves can’t be affected by the same irnakurse’s mind lash for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Soul Scream (Su) Capable of channeling all of its rage and terror into a single, unnatural noise, an irnakurse can unleash a sound of alien horror as a standard action. Any non-evil creature within 30 feet of a screaming irnakurse must succeed at a DC 19 Will save or take 1d4 points of Wisdom drain. Once it begins screaming, an irnakurse can continue as a free action for 6 rounds, but can’t scream again for 5 minutes afterward. The save DC is Charisma-based.DescriptionIrnakurse, meaning “perfect ones” in the Elven language, represent the sum outpouring of drow hatred for their surface-world brethren. These brainwashed, rage-filled abominations are the result of elves subjected to fleshwarping—and were the drow to have their way, embodiments of the elven race’s future. Each irnakurse suffers long under the knife of the dark elves’ most practiced fleshwarpers until its body and mind lie in total ruin. When the weeks of torture and transformation are complete, what was once an elf emerges as a shrieking mockery of its lost grace, a horror of reworked flesh and broken bones, a “perfect” elf to the drow and a sin against life to elvenkind.
Through the blasphemous tortures that create them, irnakurse are made completely mad and become unable to harm drow. All non-drow, however, they view as targets to vent their terror and rage upon. Elves especially provoke irnakurses’ ire.
No two irnakurse look exactly the same—drow torturers take profane pride in sculpting their elven victims into unique masterpieces of agony—most stand between 8 and 9 feet tall and weigh upward of 300 pounds.Creatures in "Fleshwarp" CategorySource Bestiary 4 pg. 101
The most fearsome drow aren't satisfied with the mere defeat and death of their foes, preferring to defile their enemies in horrific ways. The most gruesome form of transformation assaults their enemies' very essence through the complicated process of fleshwarping.
Fleshwarping is the practice of altering a creature's physical form and mental state by way of a grisly mystical and alchemical process. It starts with submerging the subject in a vat filled with a magical and alchemical goo concocted of strange reagents, and infused with a multitude of living insects and other vermin. The goo dissolves and reshapes the flesh and bone of the subject while the vermin eat away at unwanted flesh, making way for the new, alchemically grown flesh to take hold. The process is torturous, and the subject is kept alive and conscious throughout it.
Depending on the base creature being fleshwarped, the heinous process lasts days, weeks, or even months. The entire time, it's overseen by a fleshwarper—a craftsperson whose perverse curiosity trumps any regard for life or sanity. This fleshwarper pokes and prods at the subject, flaying the skin and committing other atrocious tortures when necessary, manipulating the vermin as needed, and making sure the mix of reagents in the fleshwarping goo is correct at every stage of the occult process. Once the process is complete, the transformed abomination is expected to free itself from the fleshwarping goo; those that fail to do so are summarily slaughtered.
The end result is something both more and less than the base form. Though the process is basically the same for every type of creature the drow experiment on, the results are drastically different. A fleshwarped drow becomes a drider. A fleshwarped elf becomes an irnakurse, and a fleshwarped troglodyte becomes a ghonhatine. Some races seem to resist the process of fleshwarping altogether—dwarves have never been successfully fleshwarped, and most fey are particularly resilient to the process. What is generally true about fleshwarping is that inherently evil creatures that go through the process tend to be more useful to the drow than those who start out good. The most useful of the fleshwarps are those created from other drow. These unfortunate subjects are typically those who fail their house or are born with physical or mental defects. Unlike other fleshwarps, who tend to be sterile or lack the organs or ability to procreate, driders are a race unto themselves and are capable of procreation.
The process of creating a fleshwarp is dangerous to the base creature and expensive for the creator. During the process, the subject is wracked with excruciating pain, and takes 2d6 points of Constitution damage (Fortitude DC 15 half ). The reagents that constitute the goo cost at least 10,000 gp, and the rarer specimens of vermin used to facilitate fleshwarping can cost just as much if bought on the open market.
It's often said that the drow learned the gruesome art of fleshwarping as a reward for obscene pacts they made with some demon lord, but the identity of the demon lord who bestowed knowledge of the foul process changes with each telling of the tale.
There are other cultures that also understand and use fleshwarping, but they tend to be either ancient or very secretive and xenophobic. Sinspawn, fleshdregs, and the lamia-based hungerer are just some examples of non-drow fleshwarps.
Fleshwarp BestiaryDrow fleshwarpers continually experiment to discover new fleshwarps. Here is a list of the most common fleshwarps.
Drider (drow): Driders are the first and most numerous of the fleshwarped creatures created by the drow. They are the only fleshwarped creatures known to breed true.
Ghonhatine (troglodytes): These fleshwarps are nearly twice the size of troglodytes and are far more bestial and fearsome.
Gomnits (gnomes): Gnomes subjected to this process are transformed into something that resembles a vicious, mushroom-like humanoid.
Grothlut (humans): Fleshwarped humans are transformed into mindless, sluglike things.
Gublasks (goblins): Goblins transformed by fleshwarping grow a chitinous skin, and their arms are transformed into whiplike stingers.
Halsora (vegepygmies): Fleshwarped vegepygmies grow stockier and stronger, and their sunken eyes release a stream of acidic black tears.
Irnakurse (elves): Drow particularly prize these tentacled treelike horrors created from their hated kin.
Jashoi (halfling): Fleshwarped halflings become bizarre, doglike quadrupeds which are annoying and difficult to control. As a result, drow rarely fleshwarp halflings.
Oronci (orcs): An oronci has the upper body of an orc and the lower body of a centipede, complete with poisonous spittle.
Urgoci (ogre): An ogre’s hind legs shrink down to vestigial stumps. Its forearms lengthen, and are used to pull the vestigial lower body along. A mass of serpentine tentacles sprouts from its shoulders and upper torso.
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