Has anyone seen Jackdaw???

Along with what has been shared previously, I feel it is of importance to share the vision that I had earlier today:

I saw the vision of a lich performing an intricate ritual, it seems to be an attempt to transcend lichdom. It became a dark, shadowed being with a skeletal face, appearing very similarly to legends of the grim reaper. He seemed to be very conscious and aware...

From what I could feel from my vision, he seemed to be some kind of apprentice, around the time the Arcanum was first forming.

My vision flashed forward to a new scene, of a shadoweded figure who seems to be his teacher cutting him down.

His phylactery, separated into 22 Tarot Cards of the Major Arcana, activated but, instead of reviving as per normal as a lich would he wanders the world completely un harmable. Everything he touched dies instantaneously until he has gained enough power to return to his normal harmable form. I wasn’t able to get a count on how many people he had to drain the life from to return to that state, but it took many.

The vision flashed forward again, to Paladins and exemplars and other light aligned warriors destroying him. They thought that he was stopped permanently, but one or two of his followers might have gotten away.

All of these things happened a very long time ago, though how long I could not tell. The visions seemed ancient.

If anyone has any questions, I can be reachable in New Avondale.

I saw those strange spider things too Kestral. Saw them in the catacombs. Almost like a small skull and ribcage with 8 arms. They were strange. I had never seen anything like them before.

I'm not sure entirely what I can do right now. But if there is anything I can do to help, you all know how to find me.

Khala Stormbringer
Dean of Druidics
Darkwood Academy

Sure sounds to me like there's going to be more Tarot cards...

To the Fool: You said that you were being watched. Are you in some sort of danger?

Oakly: When was Chaz last in town? How many aside from you know him? If anyone else knows him, they may have heard similar things or have other pieces of information.

It seems awfully covered, but should you need additional assistance finding Jackdaw I am here and would be glad to assist.

To the other discussion here:

My assistance is available. While the issue here is obvious, I would love to be able to help in order to see this interesting phylactery set up. We can destroy them of course, they are most likely horrifically aberrant in design, but I gotta admit that the creativity in this set up is amazing.

Most of what I've managed to piece together is information from folklore and second-hand accounts—unfortunately I can't find confirmation from what I'd consider a completely reliable source, but enough separate accounts from different times and places point towards some element of truth. The presence of the spiders Khala and Kestrel describe is one factor that appears over and over again. The unsettling phenomena in the Spirit Realm is another.

(For anyone who's currently being spared the opportunity to peek into the Spirit Realm, in the area of the catacomb, the entire area is full of hands, in movement towards the Proper. It is disturbing.)

These two things appear in every account I've found of an undead creature called a Granfalloon. I'm not sure anyone has ever conclusively proved they exist, but legend and folklore depict them as incredibly challenging to summon. Once summoned, supposedly the creature looks for somewhere to nest; the evidence I've found is a bit fuzzy on the characteristics of where or how it nests. The hands in the spirit realm are reportedly an indication that one is nearby, and the spider-like creature is supposedly a scavenger that follows the Granfalloon around. But once it's ensconced itself in its nest, its mere presence empowers other undead (or potentially any other negative energy creatures) in the area.

Kestrel referred to something that's been called "haunts"—if the other pieces of information I've been uncovering have been vague, information on these are so vague as to be utterly unhelpful, save that it creates manifestations that can somehow be used to track it back to its nest. Kestrel mentions they may be harmless or harmful; nothing I have thus far read provides much clarity beyond that.

Reyna: I met him. He's by his own report a skilled carpenter, pie-maker, and scholar of necromancy.

Nadia: I'd love your insight on this particular legend, as well as on the problem as a whole.