Oliver

Oliver
Oliver
Level 1
Information
Title	Shadowed Spirit of the Land
Race	Tiefling
Family	Mummy, Daddy, Doggy
Stats
Size	Medium
Type	Humanoid
Armour Class	13
Hit points	24
Weight	0 kg (0 lb)
Initiative	+3
Ability scores
STR
STR	STR
Proficiency bonus	+2
Saving throws	Str -2; Dex +3; Con +1; Int -2; Wis 0; Cha -1;
Resistances
Immune	Necrotic, Poison
Resistant	Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing, Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Thunder
Vulnerable	Radiant
Features
Darkvision;	Can see in the dark up to 12m.
Opportunity Attack;	Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.
Sunlight Weakness;	While in sunlight, disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws.
Perfect Sentry;	You can't be Surprised.
Vengeful Playmate; Honour	Envelop an area in The Wasting Quiet after one of your summoned shadows is destroyed.

Oliver is a child NPC who can be encountered during Act Two. He can typically be found in the House in Deep Shadows location, within the Shadow-Cursed Lands region.

Appearance

Oliver appears to be a small olive-skinned tiefling child with a grotesque shadowed gashes infecting his right eye and torso.

Players can pass an Arcana check to sense his true nature, which if passed wipes the aesthetics of the shadow curse from his body. Subsequently, he resembles more of a typical tiefling child, though with ghastly heterochromia intact. Certain classes gain bonuses to this check, while Monks can choose an alternative Insight check.

Involvement

Oliver can first be encountered during Act Two by walking within a certain distance of the House in Deep Shadows location.

He will pull the nearest player into a conversation where he asks them to 'play with' him. If humored, Oliver will reveal that the game he wants to play is hide and seek, and turn himself invisible to go "hide."

Playing with Oliver

While "playing" with Oliver, simply walking up to his invisible model will usually cause him to become "found." Automatic perception checks may be rolled, but for unknown reasons, these checks (on failure) don't always seem to disqualify the player from "finding" Oliver.

After "finding" Oliver for the first time, he will immediately start a conversation with the player who found him, and may ask to play again. If humored, he will oblige but with additional "rules to the game."

"Round One"

He can be found inside a House in Deep Shadows. He will challenge the player to a game of hide and seek and vanishes past the player to hide behind the cart outside the house. Once found he will be upset but you can say you want to play again which he happily accepts saying that "you are better than the others" presumably referencing the Githyanki corpses littered around the house.

"Round Two"

When Oliver goes to vanish to start the "second round" of his game, turn-based mode will trigger for all nearby characters, and three new hostile NPC entities will be spawned; Daddy, Mummy, and Doggy. Interested players should also be aware - before any actions are taken during this turn-based phase, it is possible to pickpocket Oliver and take the Ring of Shadows he wears; this ring can be useful while resolving this "second round" of Oliver's game, because this ring allows the wearer to cast Pass Without Trace.

Once the encounter is over you will find Oliver inside the home where he claims he won, but because you played so well you deserve "second place" which is a reward he freely gives you.

If you're able to sneak past his family and talk to him again he will give you the ring as a prize, though he suspects you cheated but can't prove it. His family will then disappear. Characters with the Outlander background will receive inspiration for winning the second round without alerting the shadows.

Lift the shadow curse

Once you have advanced through the quest Lift the Shadow Curse with Halsin you will need to return to Oliver and convince him to recombine with Thaniel.

Regardless of whether Oliver's game was played, the player can confront him with their new information about Thaniel and his identity. Oliver will become upset, summon a portal, and disappear through it. Players can interact with this portal to travel to his new location, where a combat encounter will happen. Should the portal fail to work properly or players simply want to travel on foot, Oliver's new location is at roughly the center of Reithwin Town at X: -152 Y: -26.

Combat encounter

Oliver will be found inside a magic bubble, which the game treats as being an entity called a Nightdome. Players will need to destroy the Nightdome to resolve the combat encounter. Destroying Oliver's summoned Shadow allies will reduce the health of the Nightdome.

During this fight, Oliver will regularly use an ability called Friends until the End, which he can cast up to once per round, and summons up to five Shadow Friend entities into the fight. Killing the Shadow Friend entities will eventually cause Oliver to re-cast this ability and summon additional entities.

Interactions

When you first enter the ruined farm you will roll a perception check, if you fail the conversation begins:

Oliver:"Boo! I scared you - I saw it. Nobody beats me at hide and seek." - "Will you play with me?"

Who are you?
Play? This is no place for a child - if that's even what you are.
Don't startle people like that - easy way to wind up killed by mistake.
In a moment maybe. Have you seen another little boy? His name is Thaniel.
[Bard] I can play you a little song - would you like that?
[Warlock] [Wizard] [Arcana] Another presence lingers near the boy. Study him, try to discern what it is.
I don't have time for this.

Quests

Lift the Shadow Curse

Related items

Companion approval

Confront Oliver regarding his identity as Thaniel (I know who you really are, and where you really belong.): +1
Agree to play with Oliver -1 +1 +1 +1 +1
- After agreeing to play with Oliver, change your mind -1 +1
Agree to play a second round with Oliver -1 +1 +1 +1 +1
- Find Oliver without alerting the shadows +1 +1
- Find Oliver after fighting the shadows -1 -1 +1

Notes

If you manage to pickpocket the Ring of Shadows from Oliver while he runs away during the second round of hide and seek, you will receive only a mundane silver band (worth 18 gold) as a reward for finding him.

Gallery

Oliver's Stuffed Owlbear
Oliver's face without shadow.
Oliver's model.

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