Salikotal
Serving as the assassins of Hell, salikotals are merciless murders known more informally as "prince-killers" and "assassins of souls".1
Appearance
Few who see a salikotal live to tell the tale. They are lean devils resembling humanoids with scaled skin the colour of spilt blood. A salikotal's face belies its fiendish heritage, with facial features almost as sharp as the needle-like teeth that fill its mouth, above which its two eyes burn like glowing embers. On its back are its most inhuman feature: a pair of blood-red bat wings that span eight feet and look like an assassin's cape. Its legs end in talons akin to that of a predatory bird.1
The demeanour of a salikotal is like that of an eagle or falcon, cautious and watchful but filled with deadly intent and the mercilessness of a lifelong predator. Salikotals are universally five feet and four inches tall, and all weigh 85 pounds.1
Habitat and ecology
Like all devils, salikotals are natives of Hell, particularly the lightless vaults of Erebus. There, they lurk amongst the vaulted ceilings taking little interest in what goes on below. Only powerful summoners or Hell's elite can persuade salikotals to indulge in the death-dealing arts. They seem utterly emotionless and rarely interact with other devils when not being tasked with hunting down and butchering a target.1
Salikotals realise that they are created for a single purpose—to end lives—and they have little interest in anything other than this grisly task and their payment. They always demand a certain type of gemstone from their summoner depending on how the wish their target's death to be handled. For fideicide, where the salikotal condemns the victim's soul to Hell, they demand a ruby. For necrocide, where they reanimate the victim's corpse as a zombie, they demand onyx. For omnicide, where the victim's body is utterly destroyed, they ask for jacyinth. Rumour has it that within the depths of Erebus their lie vaults filled with unbelievably large mounds of these jewels, each representing a life cut short by the fierce salikotals.1
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 . “Pathfinder's Journal: Hell's Pawns 2 of 6” in The Sixfold Trial, 82–83. Paizo Inc., 2009
