Anamnesis

Hidden Host. Anamnesis begins combat hidden inside one living creature among a crowd of innocents. Until the players correctly identify the host, attacks against Anamnesis are made with disadvantage. The host looks like a normal townsperson, but careful observation reveals tells: it does not flinch when bells ring; its shadow moves half a second late; its breath does not fog in cold air; its voice arrives before its mouth moves; it repeats the mob's chant with one word wrong; other controlled townspeople unconsciously avoid looking at it; its emotional reactions don't match the situation; and if wounded it bleeds grey ash, black sap, rainwater, smoke, or tiny silent bells. A player may use an action to study the crowd and roll Insight, Perception, Investigation, Arcana, or Medicine; on a success the DM gives one true clue, and on a strong success narrows the host to two candidates. After three successful clues the party may confidently identify the host.

Emotional Chorus. Anamnesis controls nearby living creatures by forcing them into the same emotional state. Controlled townspeople share one initiative count and act as a mob. They are innocent and should not be treated as normal enemies. The mob may shove, grab, throw objects, block movement, restrain players, or defend the hidden host, but it fights without skill — like frightened people trapped behind their own eyes.

Feast on Rupture. Whenever an innocent creature under Anamnesis’s influence dies, Anamnesis gains 1 Feast Charge. Each Feast Charge grants +10 current and maximum HP, +1 AC (max +3), +1 damage to all attacks, and advantage on its next saving throw. At 3 Feast Charges it partially reveals itself; at 5 Feast Charges it fully stabilizes and becomes significantly more dangerous. Nonlethal damage does not trigger Feast on Rupture.

Borrowed Certainty. While hidden, Anamnesis may speak through any controlled townsperson; the voice is always calm, certain, and wrong. Once per round, when a player hesitates, accuses the wrong person, or harms an innocent, Anamnesis may force that player to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the player has disadvantage on their next attack, check, or save made to identify or harm Anamnesis.

Revealed Form. When Anamnesis is correctly identified or reduced below half HP, its host body begins to fail: the face slips out of alignment, the skin stretches like wet cloth, and beneath it the players see raw Drift substance — smoke, rain, teeth, bells, ash, grief, heat, and fragments of other people's voices trying to become organs. Once revealed, Anamnesis can be targeted normally, it loses Hidden Host, the mob no longer attacks aggressively (though it may still block, stumble, panic, or shield it unwillingly), and Anamnesis gains access to its revealed actions.

Controlled Townsperson (Minion). Each controlled townsperson is a medium humanoid (innocent, controlled): AC 10, 8 HP, speed 30 ft., improvised strike +3 to hit for 1d4 bludgeoning. If a townsperson is killed, Anamnesis gains 1 Feast Charge. If reduced to 0 HP nonlethally, the townsperson collapses unconscious and does not empower Anamnesis.