Oliver

For the owner of Beehive General Goods See Oliver Tefoco. For the Gur hunter, see Oliver Quarlic.

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

Overview

Appearance

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

If passing an  Arcana check to sense his true nature, the aesthetics of the Shadow Curse are wiped from his body. Subsequently, he resembles more of a typical tiefling child, with his heterochromia still intact. Certain classes gain bonuses to this check, while Monks can choose an alternative  Insight check.

Involvement

Act two

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

He asks the party to 'play with' him. If humored, Oliver reveals the game he wants to play is hide-and-seek, and turns himself invisible to go "hide."

When first entering the ruined house there is a  Perception check, failing it lets the conversation start. The party may study the boy if they do not already know he is Thaniel:

• [ARCANA] Study the boy. Try to understand his true nature. (DC 14)
• [DRUID] [WISDOM] A familiar magic exudes from the boy. Try to commune with it. (DC 14 )
• [MONK] [INSIGHT] The child's ki feels... uneven. At odds. Why? (DC 14)

Oliver insists on playing hide and seek unless he is called out, in which case he opens a portal and flees to town early.

Playing with Oliver

While "playing" with Oliver, walking up to his invisible model usually causes him to become "found." Automatic perception checks may be rolled, but for unknown reasons, these checks (on failure) do not always seem to disqualify the party from "finding" Oliver.

"Round One"

After "finding" Oliver for the first time, he immediately starts a conversation with the party member who found him. He is upset but can be invited to play again, which he happily accepts but with but with additional rules to the game, while adding you are better than the others, presumably referencing the Githyanki corpses littered around the house.

"Round Two"

Oliver vanishes while starting the "second round" of his game, triggering turn-based mode for all nearby characters, and three new hostile ghost-like entities are spawned; Daddy, Mummy, and Doggy. Among other possible tactics, it is possible to use a Potion of Invisibility and run to the house.

If the party is able to sneak past his family and speak with him again, he gives the Ring of Shadows as a prize, even though he suspects the party cheated. If his family spots party members but (his family) is then defeated in combat, Oliver claims he won and awards the party with a 'second prize' - the same ring. If the party manages to pickpocket the Ring of Shadows from Oliver during the second round of hide and seek, a mundane silver band (worth 18 gold) is given instead as a reward.

His family then disappears.

Playing both games of hide and seek with Oliver grants "Child at Heart" Inspiration for Urchin characters. Characters with the Outlander background receive Inspiration for winning the second round without alerting the shadows.

Lifting the Shadow Curse

When advancing through the quest  Lift the Shadow Curse with Halsin, it is necessary to return to Oliver and convince him to recombine with Thaniel.

Regardless of whether Oliver's game was played, the party can confront him with their new information about Thaniel and his identity. Oliver becomes upset, summons a portal, and disappears through it. The party can interact with this portal to travel to his new location, and combat begins. Oliver's new location is at roughly the center of Reithwin Town at X: -152 Y: -26.

Once the dome is destroyed, Oliver complains about being disturbed and says he does not want to go back to Thaniel, who he perceives as having abandoned him. The party can choose to be kind when convincing Oliver to rejoin Thaniel and be whole again, or be aggressive; they can also let Halsin handle it.

Oliver always agrees to rejoin with Thaniel, but being aggressive about it causes Halsin to lose approval, while allowing him to handle it or being kind gives a large boost to his approval. Talking with Thaniel in camp reveals the Shadow Curse may be lifted eventually after Ketheric Thorm is defeated once and for all.

Combat

Allies

• Daddy
• Mummy
• Nightdome
• Shadow Plush
• Shadow Friend - 5x (5 additional Shadow Friends can be summoned each round by Oliver, after the first 5 being slain)

Encounter Details

Oliver can be found inside a magic bubble, called the Nightdome, which reflects double damage back at the attacking party member when it is hit.

During this fight, Oliver regularly uses 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 Shadow Friend entities eventually causes Oliver to re-use this ability.

The Nightdome must be destroyed to resolve this combat encounter. Defeating Oliver's summoned Shadow allies reduces the health of the Nightdome without it retaliating against the party. Defeating Daddy, Mummy, or Shadow Plush deals 60Force to the dome, while defeating the Shadow Friends deals 10Force. Thus it is not necessary to attack the Nightdome itself because it is possible to destroy it by killing enough of Oliver's shadow summons.

Related Quests

•  Lift the Shadow Curse

Related items

• Oliver's Diary
• Ring of Shadows

Companion approval

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

Gallery

• 

  Oliver's model

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  Oliver's Stuffed Owlbear

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  Oliver's face without shadow