One of the most valued exports of the salsham'ai tree folk is shoka, a hot beverage made from the ground beans of the shoka vine and widely consumed for its soothing properties.
Shoka vines only grow epiphytically on the trunks of the braashak trees that make up the salsham'ai homeland. Every salsham'ai dwelling pod typically has a few vines implanted outside the windows and around the door, where the white blossoms are prized for their beauty and their sweet scent.
Shoka flower spirits are tiny spirits, each responsible for making a single flower of a shoka plant grow, to pollinate, and to grow into a shoka bean pod. In a sense, they are vital to the salsham'ai economy. They resemble tiny winged salsham'ai and enjoy nothing more than flitting about in sunshine and cavorting on balmy summer evenings. They are short-lived, giving their spiritual essence to grow the shoka bean. They can speak in faint piping voices and normally converse in the unconscious language that the salsham'ai term Shromic.
Shoka Flower Spirit
Fine Fey (Spirit)
Hit Dice: 1/4d6-5 (1 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square), fly 30 ft (perfect).
Armor Class: 25 (+8 size, +7 Dex), touch 25, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-21
Attack: None
Full Attack: None
Space/Reach: 1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Blackfinger curse, scent burst.
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, symbiosis
Saves: Fort -5, Ref +9, Will +4
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 24, Con 1, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills: Hide +27, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perform (sing) +6, Perform (dance) +6, Sense Motive +6, Spot +6
Feats: Ability Focus (blackfinger curse)
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Solitary, bloom (3-12)
Treasure: None
Challenge Rating: 1/10
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —
Combat
Shoka flower spirits are not combative. Picking their flower will cause them to fade away. If embodied, they can be squashed with one finger. If attacked they try to fly out of range. They have two special abilities that they employ in defence.
Blackfinger Curse (Su): If a shoka flower spirit is killed, the person who killed it suffers its dying curse – nevermore will he ever be able to successfully grow shoka flowers. Should he try, the shoka flower spirits will recognise him as a killer of their kind and abandon the plant, causing it to wither and die. Will save DC 14 to negate. Save DC is Charisma-based. This is a curse effect and so requires a remove curse spell to negate it.
Scent burst (Sp): As a free action each round, a shoka flower spirit can produce an intense burst of the chocolate/coffee scent of shoka. This can have one of two effects, depending upon the intent if the spirit. It can be pleasant, in which case it has the same effect as a charm person spell (Will DC 12) or it can be cloying, in which case it causes those adjacent to become sickened (Will DC 12). The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Symbiosis (Ex): Shoka flower spirits are tied to a single flower on a shoka bush. Picking, or otherwise killing, the flower will destroy that particular spirit.
Artwork by Amy Letts.
(c) 2008 The Creative Conclave.
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