Iskia

> "I am attempting to prevent the Fifth Destruction." —Iskia
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## In the Blighted Temple

The Serendipsticks first encountered Iskia in the Blighted Temple within a portion of the Feywilds connected to Muruganda. The Temple was located behind an ominous door flanked by statues of high-ranking acolytes of "Haruspex and her maker." Iskia was found at the back of the Temple, seemingly conjuring some sort of enormous, bright portal with a hint of a face within. Upon seeing the party, she immediately cursed the ground around the party to become a swamp that would trap and slow the players.

It was initially assumed that Iskia might be an antagonist; however, she specifically avoided harming the party during the encounter. No one in the party could communicate with Iskia, but Tiger and Sanwiel simultaneously guessed that the hallucinogenic mushrooms might help. Both ate one and were able to understand Iskia telling the party not to stop her, and to allow her to finish sealing the portal.

At the same time, Cereus guessed that Iskia might be on our side. She used Druidcraft to help Iskia grow large pieces of fungus to block the portal, while a confused Ponzi tried to figure out whether to continue his plan to attack Iskia. In the end, the party allowed Iskia and Cereus to finish closing the portal, after which Iskia ordered everyone to run, as the area was no longer safe.

It seems now that Muruganda is the next target of the Morrigan's attacks. The difference between four and five destroyed planets (out of the ten binding away the unspecified "something bad" that the gods are unable to speak about) is expected to be the difference between relative safety and cataclysmic cosmic disaster. Iskia is actively attempting to avert the fifth planetary destruction, and the current blight on the planet now seems to be a side effect of her attempts to strengthen the world against disaster.

While the party fought corrupted fungal warriors outside the blighted temple, the battle within turned against Iskia. The party returned to find her bound to the temple altar by the magic of Cordelia, a major splinter of Haruspex. With Iskia bound, the portal was open, and a looming red light spread through the temple.

During the battle, Lizette marked Cordelia for death, allowing Cereus to take advantage of the grave magic to make a crucial strike with a Blight spell. The magic of the spell washed over not only Cordelia, but Iskia as well, freeing the latter from her bonds. The party eventually defeated Cordelia, but were unable to capture her.

Iskia then apologised to Cereus for the blight she caused on Muruganda in her attempt to prevent the portal from opening. Finally, she handed over her staff to Cereus, then vanished into golden mist after walking directly into the portal. With that, the portal began to close, and the bridge to the Feywilds crumbled.

## Personality

According to her sister, Iskia is "as much about rebirth as about death," and treats blight and decay as a natural part of the cycle of life and nature.

## Skills

Iskia possesses the intriguing power of Inversion, the ability to turn any non-radiant damage to healing, at the expense of receiving all healing as radiant damage.

Iskia speaks an unknown (presumably Aryavartan) sign language. No member of the party speaks the language. However, it was discovered in the Blighted Temple that one of the hallucinogenic mushrooms the party acquired on the trip to Muraganda allows anyone who consumes it to understand Iskia's language. Upon consuming the mushroom, the character immediately loses the ability to make sense of other languages or to communicate clearly, except to another character who is also tripping on the same shrooms.

## Trivia

* For a time, the party suspected that Aarti Apurva was in fact the goddess Iskia, or possibly Qadira. After the Battle of the Underside of Bral, Aarti ran up to the party and remarked that Iskia would not be pleased about the Vespions involved in the battle.
* Iskia's art appears to be inspired by Madame Razz of *She-Ra and the Princesses of Power*.