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When we found a new player's PC washed up on a riverbank, the PC explained that some time ago he was kidnapped, afflicted with lycanthopy by his captor, and tossed into the river.

The GM told the players that the only way to cure the new PC's lycanthropy is to find the creature who afflicted the PC and slay it.

Our party of level 9 PCs includes a bloodrager, a druid, an oracle, an unchained rogue, and an unchained summoner. How can we locate the creature that afflicted our new party member when the creature could be anywhere in Golarion?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Did this happen recently, or has the PC been cursed for a while? How long has the PC been cursed? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 18:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ What do you know about the creature (name, race, etc.) that infected the party member? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 19:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Some more details would be helpful. Do you know anything about this creature? Or did this somehow happen in secret? \$\endgroup\$
    – lightcat
    Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 21:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ A new player (the druid) was introduced with this pre-existing condition. He was supposedly kidnapped infected then tossed into a river where he washed up and we found him some time later. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 22:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ I edited the question to reflect the information your comments provided. I hope that's okay. To be extra-clear: Has the player expressed a desire for his PC to be cured? (For many PCs, Pathfinder lycanthropy is actually an okay deal.) Also—out of curiosity—, what kind of lycanthrope is the PC? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 0:32

2 Answers 2

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The druid casts scrying

The new PC draws a picture of his captor, and the druid, using that picture as has his connection to the creature about which the druid knows nothing, casts the spell scrying—a 4th-level druid spell that the typical druid can cast twice a day—in an attempt to view the creature that afflicted the new PC and get a sense of the creature's surroundings.

It may take several castings of scrying and several days for this to be successful—each time the creature succeeds on a Will save against the druid's scry spell, the druid can't try to peek in on the creature until a day has passed—, but eventually, if everyone's persistent and patient, some clue as to the creature's whereabouts should be found.

Keep in mind though that for many mundane PCs lycanthropy (mainly natural lycanthropy) is kind of okay from an optimization perspective. Confirm with the player first that the player wants his PC rid of this cruel curse rather than the PC just paying lip service to the idea while the player embraces his PC's lycanthropic nature.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This could work, though from the OP's description it's not clear if the druid ever saw the lycanthrope or knows them at all. However if the druid has a nail, a bit of hair or anything belonging to the lycanthrope those could be very helpful for scrying. \$\endgroup\$
    – lightcat
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 6:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @lightcat I'm happy to update this answer in light of the question providing more details. And if the new PC has a bit from his captor, then, indeed, that's even better than just a mere likeness! \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 11:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ That +10 to will saves will make it very hard for the scrying to succeed. \$\endgroup\$
    – ShadowKras
    Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 12:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ShadowKras …But with the likeness it's only +8! And, yeah, I know, but patience and persistence will eventually see the creature depicted in the likeness roll a 1. And, honestly, I also know this isn't ideal—I was putting it out there as a solution not the solution; I'm looking forward to other answers myself. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 12:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ @ShadowKras (There's really a dearth of information in the question. I revised it based on the asker's comments, but if the asker supplies some much needed details—or the PCs extract details from their new party member—better solutions will present themselves. The offending creature's name, location from which the party member was abducted, how long ago the party member was abducted, details about the captivity, and so on—basic police stuff—all would go a long way to providing a better answer. But with so little in the question, this seems the path of least resistance.) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 12:54
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By accessing the Akashic Records

With so little information about this lycanthrope, there is no way to find out anything about him that isn't trial and error, such as multiple castings of Divination and Scrying (or the high-level spell Discern Location) and be at the GM's mercy for any kind of information.

However, there is one plane of existence that records all events of past, present and future, the Akashic Records. There is no easy way to get there, and the available spells will provide only glimpses of the real events, possibly leading to an entire campaign trying to get access to the metaplane.

The Akashic Record is said to be the collection of all psychic experiences in the multiverse, providing a perfect and clear understanding of all knowledge in existence. From there, one can visually observe scenes from any moment in time, from the current moment back to the creation of the multiverse.

There is one spell (sadly not available to your party as it seems) that can provide some information from the Akashic Records, Akashic Communion. It will grant the caster glimpses of events and provide her with a bonus to knowledge checks:

You attempt to obtain a glimpse of some specific event from the Akashic Record, the extraplanar repository of all experiences that have ever occurred. This allows you to attempt one Knowledge skill check of your choice per 3 caster levels you have, each with a +10 insight bonus. You are treated as trained in any Knowledge skills used for these checks, and can use this spell to reroll a Knowledge skill check you have already failed. The GM rolls these Knowledge checks in secret, as the Akashic Record is incredibly remote, and impressions gleaned from the distant repository are sometimes skewed when received. On a natural 1, the resulting answer is wildly inaccurate.

This spell provides experiential guidance based on your ability to understand the flashes of insight gleaned from the Akashic Record, rather than the perfect knowledge available to those who travel to the extraplanar repository of knowledge. If you lag, discuss the answers, or go off to do anything else, the spell ends. Once you have used this spell to gain information on a specific topic or event, you cannot use it for Knowledge checks regarding that topic or event again until you have gained a caster level.

You need the creature's name or a drop of blood to otherwise use other methods of locating the creature.

Your GM seems to want this to be difficult

You should note that your GM imposed a hard restriction on how to remove this lycanthopy, which is normally possible by casting Remove Curse by a 12th level cleric, as noted under Curing the Lycanthopy under the Lycanthope template.

However, by the description given, Im lead to believe this is a corruption (see Horror Adventures), instead of a mere curse. As the description of the Lycanthropy corrution says:

Removing lycanthropy requires you to slay the source of your corruption and, at the height of the next full moon, consume 1 dose of belladonna per 2 manifestation levels you have all at once. You must choose to fail the initial saving throw against the belladonna.

I surely hope that's not the case, as this new party member is a ticking bomb waiting for a few bad saves before they turn into a chaotic evil NPC under GM control ready to afflict all the group with his curse. Instead, the GM could simply be ruling this curse based on folklore about werewolves.

It's either that or the GM doesn't want this curse easily removed, possibly leading to a full adventure (or short campaign) about investigating when and where the character was kidnapped, where he was imprisoned when the affliction happened, and the location where the character woke up later. If that's the case, I wouldn't expect any easy shortcuts to be available.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It's from the top of my head, but isn't Belladona a CON based poison? Seems like a great way to free you from your curse: suicide :P \$\endgroup\$
    – Nyakouai
    Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 14:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Nyakouai it is! Its part of the legend of ingesting belladona, either you were cured, or you died. \$\endgroup\$
    – ShadowKras
    Commented Mar 13, 2019 at 15:10

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