Coral Golem

Folk who live by the sea tend toward independence and are careful about the company they keep.  Those who live above the waves know how hard and dangerous making a living from the sea can be, and only let good men and women into their trust.  Those who live under the waves see said dangers up close, and have a too-keen-appreciation for their place in the food chain. 

Small wonder, then, that sea mages and priests turn to coral golems—capable, resilient assistants that can stand firm against a summer squall yet cut with the precision of a scalpel…or a barracuda’s jaws.

Avida is an undine—literally born of the sea, courtesy of a spirit of sea foam and shoals that saved her mother from a storm.  Being a healer lets her be in the human world but somewhat apart from it—a convenient role for a woman marked by the salt water in her soul.  She created her coral golem servitor as a surgical aide, but she is ready to direct it in self-defense…especially after a local guild master blames her for his son’s death and sends ignorant adventurers after “the brine witch.”

The White Sand Desert of Nestor is a stark-white, gleaming tableland that was once the basin of an inland sea.  The master of the Black Needle, an obelisk-like tower that is one of the only landmarks in the trackless desert, has put the unique features of the area to good use.  A coral golem made from harvested fossils guards the courtyard surrounding the Black Needle, and before attacking it has orders to unstopper a decanter of endless water, ensuring that it always has a healing pool of water to fight in courtesy of the salty soil.

Lacking the ability to cast a geas, a sorcerer used the tabard of a famous holy guide (see the Advanced Class Guide) to animate his coral golem.  (A marid ally supplied the limited wish.)  Adventurers who destroy the golem can take up the tabard but will be influenced by the geas laid upon it—a geas demanding they finish the task that got the guide killed in the first place.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 4 131

Edit: Thanks for your patience on this entry.  Original post: No post today.  I have a fever.  If you need me, I’ll be over here moaning.