Created through corruption and shadow, the talasum is a true child of Chernobog. This cunning fiend is an agent of chaos and malice; its sole purpose is to haunt the living, dousing the light in their souls and plunging their lives into a spiral of misery and corruption.

Ritual and Superstition. The talasum is a fiend created through a special ritual of shadow binding, usually performed by an unsuspecting builder who is having trouble erecting a particular building. Perhaps its foundations keep crumbling again and again, or the soil is unsteady, making the leveling a nightmare. Whatever the cause may be, this ritual at first sounds like a neat and seemingly uncostly solution to the builder’s dilemma.

The architect may call upon a young lad or lass to help with the construction or to ease their work with a pleasant tune. While the unsuspecting assistant is “helping,” the builder binds the shadow that their helper casts upon the structure into its stones or mortar. Soon after, the magnificent edifice is erected, standing proud against all odds—a true work of a master craftsman.

However, before long, strange whispers and disembodied chants begin echoing around the building at night. The area around it becomes seized by perpetual twilight, as if the sun’s rays have been drained of their radiance. The mason’s “helper” falls into a deep catatonic state. But one need not ponder over such coincidences, right?

In most cases, the mason wouldn’t even be aware of the underlying diabolical crux of their actions or the fact that what they have performed was an actual dark ritual. They might have heard of another master mason who has bound a shadow or regard it simply as a superstition. Regardless of the participants’ knowledge and goals, the result is always the same: a soul is sent to the All-Consuming Void of Tiarn, and its dark reflection emerges on the Material Plane as a merciless, cunning fiend—a talasum. A steep and often unrecognized price to pay for a building, be it eternal and beyond beautiful.

Bound in Stone. As is the nature of the ritual, the talasum is bound to the edifice and unable to leave its vicinity. Such cursed buildings can be found from small villages to large and bustling cities. Many tales exist of settlements plagued by the paranormal presence of a talasum. The poor residents are driven to evil and despair by the devious schemes of the fiend, yet they may remain unaware of the source of their continuous misfortune.

The talasum is a conniving and cunning creature, capable of using its talents for subterfuge and stealth to remain undetected. It wants simply to spread misery, chaos, and death across the mortal realm, and it won’t stop until everything and everyone around its cursed building becomes consumed by the corruption of its dark lord.

It can take its time and slowly erode every ounce of sanity, beauty, and decency, savoring every painful second of its victims’ demise or downfall. The talasum knows that its true weakness lies hidden among the stones of the edifice it is bound to. Thus, it uses its cunning and guile to dissuade any adventurers who delve too close to its secret. If this doesn’t work, it does not hesitate to ambush and kill anyone who tries to mess with the structure and the portal hidden within (for more information on the portal, see the “Shadow Binding” sidebar).

Darkness and Deception. The talasum is born out of a shadow, and, naturally, this makes it a terrifying opponent in the absence of light. It can use the gloom around it as cover and manipulate nearby shadows to confuse the minds of its opponents and sap their life force. However, if it finds itself in bright light, its true visage is banished, and it is forced to adopt the fragile mortal shape of the person sacrificed in the summoning ritual, leaving it much more susceptible to attacks. It knows its true bane is light and tries to avoid it at all costs.

If it is stuck in its humanoid form, it uses its devilish guile to confuse its enemies and create an opportunity to flee the weakening light.

On the other hand, this devious fiend has learned to turn its weakness into an advantage. While stuck in its mortal form, it looks exactly like the individual whose shadow was bound and possesses their memories. Some talasums use this to haunt the family and close ones of the sacrificed individual, reveling in their terror and misery. Alternatively, it can try and lead people into traps, making false promises of treasures, pleasures, or whatever its prey seeks, sending them on a false quest during the night and afterward ambushing them in its true form.

Shadow Puppets. The talasum is a manifestation of the darkest aspects of a person’s soul, and thus can mold the shadows from which it was born. The fiend can animate the shadows of living creatures by tapping into the essence of their soul and awakening their darkest self. These are simple creatures of malice, but under the careful command of their fiendish master, they can be a terrifying legion of chaos, capable of infiltrating and corrupting whole cities.