Earthday the 27th of Planting, 600 CY (six days before the party's initial foray into White Plume Mountain in search of Blackrazor and the Left Ear of Vecna) ....
After they'd ruthlessly massacred a crew of carpenters encamped around an unfinished wooden watchtower on the east bank of the Pawluck River, where it flows into the Vast Swamp, the hateful demigod Wastri led his horde of united bullywug tribes and human cultists (some mounted on giant killer frogs the size of horses) in hopping or marching up the east bank of the meandering, serpentine Pawluck, following its twisting but generally northwest course further into the hated Kingdom of Sunndi.
Wastri took the form of a rotund, hunchbacked, bandy-legged humanoid with batrachian features (bulbous, frog-like eyes bulging from their sockets, a flat, almost non-existent nose, a wide mouth with thin lips, and a great, flabby double chin that swayed as he hopped with mighty bounds of as much as twenty feet at a leap). He was clad in ill-fitting gray-and-yellow robe and gray-and-yellow checkered hose, a gray bishop's mitre concealing his bald pate, and he carried in his long-fingered, frog-like hands a great glave-guisarme called Skewer of the Impure, on which he loved to impale elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and other "mockeries of humankind" ....
As he led his horde of bigoted and xenophobic human worshipers and bullywug thralls, the "Hopping Prophet" and "Hammer of Demi-Humans" bellowed in a shrill, strident voice that carried over the din of his hopping, flapping, or marching followers: "SPARE NONE, MY FAITHFUL SOLDIERS OF PURITY!! STRIKE DOWN THE UNCLEAN HUMANS OF SUNNDI ALONG WITH THE WRETCHED INHUMAN SCUM THEY LIVE AMONG -- ELVES, DWARVES, GNOMES, AND HALFLINGS!! FOR THE HUMANS OF THIS ABOMINABLE REALM HAVE BECOME VILE AND TAINTED FROM LIVING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH THE UNCLEAN INHUMAN WRETCHES!! CUT THEM DOWN ALTOGETHER WHERE THEY STAND, LIKE WEEDS BEFORE THE SCYTHE OF PURITY!!" ...
Just after midnight (Freeday the 28th of Planting, 600 CY, ~1:00 AM), Wastri and his hateful "Soldiers of Purity" and horde of bullywugs fell upon the small riverside town of Paw's Luck, inhabited by a mixed population of some 800 townsfolk (75% human, 15% halfling, 5% gnome, 3% elf, 1% dwarf, 1% other).
A wooden palisade protected Paw's Luck on the three sides not abutting the riverside, where wooden docks stretched out into the Pawluck River, with a single wooden gate at the center of the east side; but Wastri and his high priest called down columns of fire (flame strike spells), burning several breaches in the palisade. Most of the townsfolk were awakened from their sleep by the sudden ringing of the alarm gong in the market square, and by the flickering orange glow of fires spreading from the burning palisade to the nearest buildings; but they were unable to escape the ensuing slaughter, as Wastri and his minions swarmed through the breaches in the palisade and laid waste the town.
Humans that resisted, and any "demi-humans" (dwarves, elves, gnomes, or halflings) they found, were cut down on sight. Humans that surrendered were rounded up to "receive the judgment of the Hopping Prophet," Wastri, who ordered the captive humans to be boarded up inside the larger wooden buildings in town (the inns, granary, stables, etc.), which were then burned with the screaming victims trapped inside. The Wastrian cultists and bullywug thralls looted and pillaged, but their main goal was clearly the total massacre of the townsfolk of Paw's Luck ....
Waterday the 5th of Flocktime (called Violets by the elves), 600 CY, ~2:00 PM ....
In his magnificent throne room within the royal palace in Pitchfield, capital of the Kingdom of Sunndi, Olvenking Hazendel I sat upon his throne of ornately-sculpted ippwood, inlaid with flawless amethysts, emeralds, and rose quartzes, and draped with the feathered hide of a great owlbear. Upon his brow rested the finely-wrought mithral crown inlaid with its flawless diamond of perfect water, which always glowed with an inner mote of moonlight from the aquamarine lesser moon, Celene. His graceful hands gripped the jeweled scabbard of Calangaladrem (his Flame Tongue longsword), and he listened with an expression of serene calm that belied his growing alarm and outrage to the urgent report of his most capable scout, Taenya Lufiel.
Taenya was a lithe and beautiful wood elf ranger, who flew far and wide over the realm each night on the back of her dire bat companion, Chirper. She had raced into the throne room, breathless, and bowing deeply, addressed the Olvenking of Sunndi: "Your Brilliant Majesty, I have flown here from where the Pawluck pours into the Vast Swamp to bring dire tidings! The bullywug tribes and evil cultists of Wastri that raid into the realm from the swamp are led by none other than the vile demigod himself! Six nights ago, Wastri and his minions massacred an entire crew of workers as they camped around the watchtower they were building. Afterward, rather than retreat back into the swamp as they have in the past, they continued up the east bank of the Pawluck, where they invaded Paw's Luck, slaughtering all of the townsfolk, and burning the town to the ground!"
Having delivered her dire news to the olvenking, Taenya Lufiel bowed deeply once more, and awaited his command. Olvenking Hazendel I spoke: "You have served us well in bringing these fell tidings to our attention, Taenya Lufiel, though your words vex us greatly, and fill our heart with wrath! Though we much desire to ride out at the head of our royal army and meet the foul Wastri and his wicked horde in glorious battle, we must consider that Wastri is no mere mortal foe. We shall call our courtiers to a war council, and hear from each what they deem the wisest course of action. Would that our fair realm was not beset on all sides by enemies ...." (For indeed, to the north of Sunndi were the former vassal states of the decadent and fiend-worshiping Great Kingdom of Aerdy, each ruled by a tyrannical overking vying for dominance; and to the south stretched the monster-infested Vast Swamp, and beyond, the Tilvanot Peninsula, ruled by the insidious Scarlet Brotherhood.)
Olvenking Hazendel I called his noble courtiers to attend an urgent war council at the royal court in Pitchfield. Over the following few days, noble vassals arrived from throughout the Kingdom of Sunndi -- gray elf lords and ladies from Rieuwood Forest flew in on the backs of giant eagles; dwarflords from the Glorioles Mountains and the Hestmark Highlands rode in on dire boar steeds; gnome lairds and halfling sheriffs from the Hollow Hills rode in on highland ponies; and human lords and ladies from the patchwork of counties and baronies throughout the heartland arrived in horse-drawn carriages and coaches.
On Starday the 8th of Flocktime (or Violets), the war council commenced, and Olvenking Hazendel I heard the advise of each of the assembled lords and ladies of his court. Some, such as Dwarflord Kufrik Copperbeard (from the Glittering Halls under the Glorioles Mountains), and the human Count Arthund of New Keep, counseled an immediate declaration of war against Wastri and his horde. Others, such as the gray elf Lord Solian Lhalabar (of the Rieuwood enclave of Greenboughs), and the gnome Laird Rasildon Neddlefiddle (from the Hollow Hills enclave of Sparkleburrows), argued that going to war against a demigod and his horde of fanatical minions would be the height of folly without first securing aid from powerful allies.
"Who would you have us call upon?," queried Hazendel of the latter camp. "Perhaps the gray elves of the Lendore Isles would come to our aid," suggested Laird Rasildon of Sparkleburrows. "Nay!," scoffed Dwarflord Kufrik of the Glittering Halls, "They will not come to our aid! They care only for themselves, and sink any ship that dares to draw too nigh the Spindrifts!' Baron Herrek of Meadowdale suggested, "Why not appeal to the Horned King of Medegia for aid?" At this suggestion, Elflord Solian of Greenboughs laughed mirthlessly, replying, "Has the goodly Baron of Meadowdale gone completely mad!? Does he forget that this so-called 'Horned King' wields the unholy Sword of Kas, and gathers under his banner a host of orcs, goblin-kind, fiends, and evil folk of every kind??" Baron Herrek retorted, "I have not forgotten, Elflord Solian. Have you forgotten that in the three years since the Horned King conquered the wicked See of Medegia, not once has he ever threatened the peace of our fair realm?' Elflord Solian gave no answer to this, for the Baron of Meadowdale had spoken truth.
Though loathe to request aid from such an evil ally as the Horned King Malvolio I of Medegia, Hazendel was left with few other options. He immediately commanded his court wizard, the gray elven archmage Halafarin Mithralbow, to teleport to the distant Kingdom of Celene (many leagues to the northwest) and plead for aid from the isolationist Elfqueen Yolande (though he did not hold out much hope for a favorable response). The olvenking also dispatched the human wizard, Thandorias "Thunderstaff," to teleport to the Free City of Greyhawk (also far to the northwest) and seek the aid of the powerful archmages rumored to reside there. Finally, he reluctantly ordered the gnome illusionist, Kaspippen Pamblehemble, to teleport north to Nulbish, capital of the Horned Kingdom of Medegia, to broker a dubious alliance with the evil-but-lawful Horned King Malvolio I ....
Waterday the 5th of Flocktime in 600 CY (the same day as the party's first harrowing foray into White Plume Mountain):
Iuz "the Old" led his forces from Admundfort to the city of Critwall, one of the last bastions of resistance to his dominance in the mostly-conquered Shield Lands. At around 3:30 in the afternoon on Waterday, Flocktime 5th, his host of orcs, goblinoids, lesser demons, and evil men and women arrived at the walls of the city and laid siege. After only three days and nights, Critwall fell to the forces of Iuz (on Starday the 8th), and its resident Shield Landers were either enslaved or slaughtered..
Emboldened by this swift and brutal victory, Iuz then led his forces on to the town of Bright Sentry, the last stronghold of the resistance, and again laid siege. Smaller and less fortified than Critwall, Bright Sentry fell after only two days and nights (on Waterday the 12th), and again, the townsfolk were either massacred or taken captive to be sold into slavery in the lands of the Empire of Iuz.
Having brutally crushed the last hopes of resistance to his demonic rule that had remained in Critwall and Bright Sentry, the conquering cambion demigod had secured uncontested dominion over what had been properly known as the “Restored Holy Realm of the Faithful of the Shield Lands.” Iuz “the Old,” the “Lord of Evil,” had finally succeeded in his goal of conquering the whole of the Shield Lands. Reveling in victorious slaughter and seized with insatiable bloodlust, Iuz gave his first official command as undisputed sovereign of the fully-annexed Shield Lands, ordering his thralls and minions to hunt down and capture any and all surviving Knights of the Holy Shielding, and drag them in chains before his throne in Dorakaa, to be tortured and sacrificed for his amusement.
Rumors claim that one of the few surviving defenders to escape from the siege of Critwall reported that the Countess Katarina of Walworth, Lord Commander of the Shield Lands, had been struck down in hand-to-hand combat by Iuz himself, and that her body had been captured and whisked away to an unknown location (most likely the dungeons beneath Dorakaa) by an evil archmage of the Greater Boneheart named Null. It is also rumored that several other brave Knights of the Holy Shielding fell in combat against the “Lord of Pain’s” most powerful minions, their bodies likewise captured and hidden away to prevent them from being resurrected by powerful allies or receiving proper funeral rites. Whether these rumors are true or false, it is known that Countess Katarina of Walworth, Earl Franz of Torkeep, and several other prominent Knights of the Holy Shielding did go missing when Critwall and Bright Sentry were captured by the forces of Iuz, and have remained so even up to the present.
Also on Waterday, 5th of Flocktime (the same day the party uses their second scroll of greater teleport to evacuate White Plume Mountain and return to Castle Skullgard) ....
A hulking, muscular, fair-haired and fair-skinned young man of some 25 winters slouched awkwardly on the back of a sturdy highlands pony, which he'd rustled some twelve nights ago from a stable in Dullstrand. He looked a bit too large for the stocky pony, but the beast had borne him admirably for the past dozen days -- up and over the rugged hills of the Hestmark Highlands, from Dullstrand to the Thelly River. The stolen pony obeyed its thirst, trotting eagerly down to the south bank of the great river and lowering its head to lap up the flowing water.
The hulking youth was obviously pure-blooded Suel (or nearly so), with long copper-blond hair worn in a thick braid that hung down his broad back, ice-blue (almost violet) eyes, and a complexion as pale as ivory. He wore a silvery (mithral) mail shirt under a gray-furred wolfskin vest, sealskin hose, fur-trimmed boots of walrus hide wrapped with broad strips of brown leather, and a cloak of yeti-skin covered in wooly, snow-white fur, which reeked of strong Baklunish perfume, mingled with a bestial musky under-stench, draped his bulky shoulders and back. His prized Frost Brand greatsword hung at his left hip in a scabbard crafted from the scaly hide of a young white dragon.
This was Sveinn Heldensson, from the Kingdom of the Frost Barbarians (or Fruztii, in their native language, a dialect of Suloise known as the "Cold Tongue"). Sveinn was the firstborn son of Helden Stormfist (one of several Frost Barbarian adventurers who'd quested for the legendary Five Blades of Corusk beginning in 581 CY, found all five by winter of 582 CY, and then united them in the hope of bringing about the return of their lost "Great God of the North," Vatun), and had grown up in the shadow of his father's ill-fated saga.
Sveinn had made great strides toward forging his own saga for the skalds to sing, and to distance himself from the shadow that tainted the memory of his father. In the quarter-of-a-century since the winter of his birth, Sveinn had accomplished more, gained more, and lost more than most do in half-a-century or more. He had been the captain of his own drakkar (a great longship with a prow carved in the shape of a dragon's head), the Fjord Linnorm, leading a crew of more than a hundred of his kin in viking raids up and down the easternmost coasts of the Flanaess, from the frozen taiga of his native Thillonrian Peninsula (Rhizia in the "Cold Tongue") down to the tropical jungles of Hepmonaland and the Tilvanot Peninsula.
Having lost the Fjord Linnorm and his crew through misadventure, Sveinn Heldensson now had nothing left but the armor and clothing he wore, the magical Frost Brand greatsword he'd looted from the hoard of a young white dragon he'd slain (crafting a scabbard for the icy blade from the dragon's hide), and the highlands pony he'd recently stolen out of the stable in Dullstrand. He stared across the broad Thelly River as the pony thirstily slurped, at the formidable Castle Skullgard that towered above a rocky isle in the river, and at the great city of wattle-and-daub buildings with thatched roofs that sprawled along the far bank beyond the castle .... Nulbish, at last.
Here was Sveinn's chance to start anew. He had heard curious rumors about the so-called "Horned King" of Medegia, so he had fled north from his late misfortune and loss, coming here to present himself to the Horned King, and to offer his services as bodyguard, huscarl, and mercenary swordsman (and also, to see for himself whether the tales he has heard were really true, or merely the exaggerations of skalds or the superstitious dread of ignorant peasants).
In the third week of Coldeven, His Noble Prominence Basmajian Arras, High Admiral of Asperdi and Commander of the Sea Barons, having received word of the evil fate that befell his vassal, Captain Fenslo Twan of the carrack Triton, in the court of the Horned King of Medegia, issued a command to another of his vassals, Captain Arryn Aelberoth of the caravel Brine Devil: "That fish-eyed cretin Captain Twan has gone and gotten his bloody soul sucked out by the Sword of Kas," ranted the Commander of the Sea Barons, "because the damned fool couldn't follow orders! He thought he could play both sides, and made a devil's deal to sell plans of Castle Skullgard and other sensitive information to Drax of Rel Astra, instead of doing what I ordered him to do -- secure an alliance with the Horned King! An alliance that might give us the strength necessary to crush those arrogant knife-ears of the Lendore Isles! Alas, Captain Twan has likely shipwrecked any chance of such an alliance with his barnacle-brained side-deal!" Basmajian shook his tanned fist in frustration and sighed, then jabbed a finger into Captain Arryn's chest, and gave him the order: "Any hope of salvaging an alliance with the Horned King now hangs upon you, Captain Aelberoth! You must sail to Nulbish and do whatever must be done to clean up Twan's mess, and restore diplomacy with the Horned King! Is that clear, Captain Aelberoth?"
Captain Arryn Aelberoth saluted High Admiral Basmajian Arras, and replied with feigned enthusiasm: "Aye-aye, High Admiral! .... Uh, I won't make the same foolish mistake that my predecessor made." Captain Aelberoth was a sun-tanned man of mixed Oeridian-Flannae blood, with wavy brown shoulder-length hair, gray eyes, neatly-groomed mustache and goatee, and a compact, slender but athletic build. He was clad in a gaudy crimson greatcoat with large brass buttons, cinched at the waist with a broad leather belt, baggy blue-and-white checkered trousers tucked into knee-high boots of supple brown leather, and a wide-brimmed black hat with a white feather plume drooping to one side. A rapier with an ornately-wrought bronze basket hilt hung from his left hip, in a scabbard of gray sharkskin wrapped in silver filagree and inlaid with aquamarines.
Arryn Aelberoth was the captain of the Brine Devil, a privateering caravel from the Dominion of the Sea Barons, and had under his command a crew of some 40 seasoned privateers. He did not relish the mission he had just been ordered to undertake, and he briefly tried to imagine what it would be like to have his soul devoured by the Sword of Kas .... "Um, if I may speak freely, High Admiral?," Captain Aelberoth requested, to which Basmajian impatiently gestured his permission. "Might it not considerably improve our chances of assuring the Horned King of our friendship if we offered a handsome sum in reparation of the renegade transgression of Captain Twan?," suggested the captain of the Brine Devil, rapidly rubbing the fingers and thumb of one hand together in the common gesture indicating monetary incentive.
Basmajian Arras grimaced in irritation at Captain Aelberoth's suggestion, but knew that he was right. "Sink me to the seabed!," cursed Basmajian, and then sighed before he acquiesced: "Very well, Captain Aelberoth! We shall send along with you a suitably incentivizing tribute as an apology for that bilge-rat Twan's treachery .... But you had better convince the Horned King that Twan was a renegade, who acted in direct contradiction to my orders!" Again, Captain Aelberoth saluted and affirmed, "Aye-aye, High Admiral!," and made ready for the long voyage from Oakenheart Isle to Nulbish on the Thelly River in Medegia.
Basmajiam Arras supplied Captain Aelberoth with a "reparation gift" -- an ornate coffer of ivory engraved with nautical motifs containing a hundred white pearls (worth 100 gp apiece) and a single large black pearl (worth 500 gp) -- and sent him to the Horned Kingdom as a replacement for the ill-fated Captain Fenslo Twan. Embarking from Ironport on the 17th of Coldeven, Captain Aelberoth and his crew sailed the caravel Brine Devil west and south down the coast of Medegia, reaching the mouth of the mighty Flanmi River on Sunday, 23rd of Planting. They continued another three days up the Flanmi to its junction with the Thelly River, which they took westward, reaching Nulbish on the afternoon of Waterday, the 5th of Flocktime (at the same time that the party was using their second scroll of greater teleport to beat a hasty retreat from White Plume Mountain, and the Frost Barbarian Sveinn Heldensson was turning the stolen highlands pony loose before swimming across the Thelly River to Castle Skullgard).
Orsino worries he will have to quit adventuring life in order to have enough time in the library reading and researching the goings on in the Flanaess.
;)
Waterday the 5th of Flocktime, 600 CY, ~1:00 PM:
Having narrowly escaped almost certain death in (an extremely lopsided) battle against the efreeti False Keraptis "Killjoy" (formerly Nox) wielding Blackrazor(!!), and his pair of large magma elemental guards, by quickly evacuating via their second (and only remaining) scroll of greater teleport, the Horned King's Men returned to Castle Skullgard. Though certainly relieved to still be alive and no worse for wear, the three antiheroes (and their short-term companion, Sister Belit of Stern Alia) each had mixed feelings about their initial foray into White Plume Mountain.
On one side of the coin, each was discouraged to some degree by their initial failure to acquire Blackrazor, and by the fact that not one of the several individuals they'd communicated with inside White Plume Mountain seemed to have seen or heard anything about a "mummified magical ear." They'd aborted their initial foray in order to escape with their lives and limbs (and souls!) intact, and had returned to Castle Skullgard empty-handed.
However, on the flip side of the coin, they had explored a significant portion of the dungeons of Keraptis before they were forced to retreat, had met and gained valuable information from several inhabitants therein, and were far more informed about what was really going on under White Plume Mountain. Though their brief battle with the Blackrazor-wielding efreeti "Killjoy" and the two magma elementals had heightened their sense of the dangers involved, which caused a lengthy debate between Grimaldi and Orsino regarding what their next course of action should be, Erlick broke the tie, and it was agreed that they would not be daunted. A second foray would attempted.
Back in the High Hall at Castle Skullgard (prior to their second foray to White Plume Mountain), the party met two very recent arrivals to the Horned King's court. One, a young Frost Barbarian berserker named Sveinn Heldensson, had come to offer his services as bodyguard, huscarl, and/or mercenary swordsman; the other, a somewhat foppish-looking Sea Barons corsair named Captain Arryn Aelberoth, had been sent by the High Admiral of Asperdi and Commander of the Sea Barons, Basmajian Arras (along with a considerable "reparations offering" of valuable pearls inside an ornately-engraved coral coffer), in an effort to salvage a potential alliance with the Horned King (and to assure His Indomitable Puissance that the previous Sea Barons ambassador, Captain Fenslo Twan, had acted entirely contrary to Commander Arras' order to establish a genuine alliance when he decided on his own to make a deal with Drax of Rel Astra).
After brief introductions and casual conversations with both of these newcomers, Erlick of House Lassiter discreetly cast detect the faithful in their presence, discovering that Captain Arryn Aelberoth was secretly a fellow worshiper of Vecna! Contriving to speak with the Sea Barons ambassador in private, Erlick divulged that he "knew someone" the corsair might be interested in meeting. Naturally intrigued, Captain Aelberoth agreed to meet the mysterious individual (Erlick in his Drannoch guise) at a predetermined street corner near the party's secret safe-house in Nulbish.
Drannoch, "Devourer of Dreams" (a.k.a. Erlick) then met the Sea Barons captain, revealed that he was "also one of the faithful," and led Captain Aelberoth to the old Mages' Guildhall at the northwest corner of Nulbish, where the cabal of necromancers restoring the dilapidated guildhall secretly worshiped Vecna in a hidden underground chapel. This introduction earned Drannoch increased favor and trust with the secret cult of Vecna, which he hoped would eventually benefit him in some significant way.
As Drannoch was privately introducing Captain Aelberoth to the other Vecnan cultists at the old Mages' Guildhall, Grimaldi and Orsino attended to various other business regarding their interests in Nulbish, in their guises as Kinky the Clown and Herzog Tanar'ri, respectively. Kinky made a brief visit to the city block the party had claimed as their "turf" in Nulbish, checking on "This Shape" (the party's mimic ally, which expressed overall contentment, but also requested that it be fed more frequently; Kinky could swear that the mimic was already larger than when he'd last seen it).
Here, the jester also heard a rumor that a murder had occurred in the city block east of the party's claimed "turf" .... Kinky then paid his followers in the Thieves' Court a visit, learning from them that one of his "Shifty Six" doppelgänger minions had gone missing a few days before, and the possibly related news that one of the local residents in the neighborhood had briefly gone missing a few days ago, but had just returned (with a dubious alibi for why he had gone missing).
Orsino made a few visits of his own, checking in with various other contacts the party had made within Nulbish, including the butcher at the Butcher's Block, Anubis (the party's white necromancer ally, recently appointed Magister of the Necropolis by the Horned King at Orsino's recommendation), and the gaolers at the River Gate Blockhouse and Gaol.
Their business in town resolved for the time being, the three antiheroes met back up at Castle Skullgard to prepare for a second foray into White Plume Mountain. By this time, the hour of dusk was fast approaching (~5:00 PM), so they ate a quick supper in the royal kitchen before discreetly meeting with Countess Olivia of Pontylver in her private chamber, both to discuss a plan of action with the powerful arcanist, and to request any additional aid she might be able to render in the form of potions, scrolls, etc.
Countess Olivia acquiesced to their plan, which involved her casting a nightmare spell on the False Keraptis "Killjoy" every night (beginning later that night), in which the efreeti would be constantly tormented by urgent commands to "trade Blackrazor in exchange for the secret to eternal life, before the offer was no longer on the table!" .... Additionally, the Countess of Pontylver supplied the party with additional support, in the form of several useful potions and two more scrolls of greater teleport. Thus equipped, the party departed on their second foray into White Plume Mountain ....
After briefly ascertaining that the so-called "Wizard's Mouth" was in fact the only entrance they could find into the ancient lair of Keraptis, the intrepid Horned King's Men and Sister Belit of Stern Alia entered once more, infiltrating previously unexplored territory within the dungeon. Using guile and expert bluffing to convince a group of gnome illusionists loyal to the False Keraptis "Spatterdock" that they had "valuable information regarding the current whereabouts of the stolen trident Wave" -- which they would trade for information about "a mummified ear" they were seeking (and had reason to believe was currently somewhere in White Plume Mountain) -- the party was quickly escorted by one of the gnomes to where the "True Keraptis" (Spatterdock) could be found.
Carefully following their gnomish guide's lead, the party bypassed various traps, hazards, and additional guardians (and a gathering of subsumed gnome husks that were part of "Spatterdock's" hierarchical hive-mind), finally arriving in a chamber where False Keraptis "Spatterdock" (an ogre mage in the shape of a gnome mage) and his bodyguard, Ctenmiir "the Cursed" (a human vampire who wielded the magical warhammer Whelm), were seated near a table covered with notes and diagrams (including several Keraptis imprint scrolls).
Again, Orsino's well-practiced natural gift for bluffing opened dungeon doors for the party without necessitating violence, convincing even the cunning and suspicious ogre mage "Spatterdock" and his Whelm-wielding vampire bodyguard Ctenmiir, that the party knew "where the thieves who'd stolen Wave were keeping the trident," and would trade this information in exchange for help acquiring the "mummified ear" they were seeking.
The ogre mage, well-versed in arcane lore to begin with, but now possessing greater occulted knowledge from the memories of the original Keraptis imprinted in his mind, recognized that it could only be the infamous Left Ear of Vecna that the party was seeking, and though he'd had no reason to believe it had come to White Plume Mountain up until the party's arrival and inquiries, he was informed enough to realize that if the Ear had indeed been transported by conjuration (teleport) magic to Keraptis' ancient dungeons, its most likely current location would be within the "treasury obelisk," located in the Fane deep below White Plume.
Like the other False Kerapti, "Spatterdock" had a peculiar lapse in his memory regarding the Fane, but also an instinctual dread of the place, for it was there that the original Keraptis had opened a portal to a strange dimension far removed from the known Multiverse of the "Great Wheel," and it was there that the original Keraptis might return to Oerth to reclaim his ancient dominion .... The ogre mage was unable to recall the exact reason for the apprehension he felt in reaction to the party's request that he guide them to the Fane .... But he definitely wanted whatever information these "friendly mercenaries" could share about Wave, so he agreed to lead them to the Fane, warning them that they would either have to employ stealth to pass undetected through the territory of "Killjoy," or else fight their way through.
Guided by the ogre mage False Keraptis ("Spatterdock") and his Whelm-wielding vampire bodyguard (Ctenmiir), the party traversed the corridors and chambers that would ultimately lead them to their destination -- the Fane where the "treasury obelisk" was located (and hopefully, the Left Ear of Vecna within it). They opted for a stealthy approach when they arrived at the door to the chamber where they'd been forced to retreat (using a scroll of greater teleport) from a deadly melee against the efreeti False Keraptis ("Killjoy") and his magma elemental minions (aborting their first foray). Drinking the potions of invisibility and gaseous form they'd received from Countess Olivia, the four adventurers (Erlick of House Lassiter, Orsino of House Naelax, Grimaldi of House Rax-Nyrond, and Sister Belit of Stern Alia) were ready to proceed ....
Using their own innate spell-like abilities to assume gaseous form as well, the ogre mage and vampire led the way, drifting under the door and into the chamber beyond; the party followed suit. As soon as they drifted into the chamber, they saw that the efreeti False Keraptis "Killjoy" was alone there, sitting in the great iron chair at the center of the chamber! Though the great iron chair faced a huge window of magically-enhanced translucent crystal that revealed a spectacular view of volcanic fury, "Killjoy" seemed to be thoroughly fixated only on the greatsword Blackrazor, cradling and caressing it, and occasionally whispering inaudibly to it -- and the Horned King's Men could not help but remember the more and more frequent occasions that each of them had witnessed similar behavior from the Horned King with the soul-devouring Sword of Kas ....
Drifting slowly across the chamber behind the seemingly oblivious efreeti in gaseous form, the ogre mage and vampire led the party under another door on the far side of the great chamber, and on through the rest of the convoluted maze of corridors and chambers that led to the Fane. Because they were in gaseous form throughout the final leg of the journey, they were able to bypass a number of traps and magical defenses that they would have triggered had they not been weightless and intangible.
Floating down a long vertical shaft (where ancient permanent abjurations cast by the original Keraptis kept them from being incinerated by what would otherwise have been lethal heat from a great pool of roiling magma surrounded by a natural catwalk of volcanic stone at the bottom, the ogre mage and vampire assumed their regular solid forms again, standing on the catwalk. Here, "Spatterdock" pointed out a pair of palm-shaped impressions in the concave surface of the shaft, about 4 feet above the level of the catwalk of volcanic rock on which they now stood, alongside which was engraved a message in an archaic dialect of Common:
"I, KERAPTIS, CLAIM THE PROTECTED HEART BENEATH WHITE PLUME, THE CRUCIBLE OF THE ELDER DRUIDS KNOWN AS THE FANE. AS LONG AS MY HANDPRINTS ENDURE, SO TOO DOES MY CLAIM ON THE FANE, AND A DOOR BETWEEN."
"One of YOU must open the 'door between' by placing your hands in these impressions!," explained the ogre mage "Spatterdock."
The ever-cautious wizard Orsino inquired, "Why must one of us open the 'door between?' You are the 'True Keraptis,' after all," alarmed by the prospect of placing his hands in the impressions, and preferring that none of his companions take so dubious a gamble, either, lest they trigger some trap, or fall for some trick.
ONE OF YOU MUST PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE HANDPRINTS!," Reiterated the ogre mage, glowering at Orsino menacingly.
Realizing that there was no other option left if they were to have any chance at succeeding in their quest for the Left Ear of Vecna, Orsino mustered his nerve and placed his palms into the hand-shaped impressions. Immediately, a great bubble of force enveloped them all, contracting to an orb roughly 20 feet in diameter, and then magically phased through the wall of the shaft, bearing its passengers on a bumpy ride along a river of flowing magma that twisted and turned through a serpentine tunnel.
At last, the force bubble brought them to the Fane, a vast hollow sphere of magical force in which three obsidian obelisks were arranged equidistantly along the sphere's concave inner surface. The force bubble conveyance phased the six passengers into the Fane before winking out of existence. The inner surface of the great Fane bore an ancient transmutation that gave it relative gravity throughout, and the party (all of whom were once more in their normal solid forms by this time) discovered that they could walk along the entire interior of the hollow sphere.
As the party began to investigate the three obsidian obelisks, another force bubble like the one that had conveyed them into the Fane suddenly phased three more passengers into the Fane ....
The efreeti False Keraptis "Killjoy," accompanied by two large magma elemental thralls, suddenly arrived inside the great Fane! Brandishing the soul-devouring greatsword Blackrazor with intimidating skill and speed, the efreeti boomed in a voice like the roaring of an active volcano: "FOOLS!! DID YOU THINK I WOULD NOT NOTICE YOU SLINKING BEHIND MY BACK IN YOUR PITIFUL GASEOUS FORMS!? DID YOU THINK BLACKRAZOR WOULD NOT WARN ME OF INTRUDERS, EVEN IF I DID FAIL TO DETECT YOUR COWARDLY ATTEMPT TO SNEAK PAST ME!?"
The blade of Blackrazor seemed to reflect a night sky filled with glittering stars as "Killjoy" raised it high over his horned head and charged at the hated "pretender," the ogre mage "Spatterdock," followed by the two lumbering magma elementals, which moved to flank the vampire Ctenmiir ....
A fierce battle between the two False Kerapti and their monstrous minions ensued -- "Killjoy" and "Spatterdock" each hellbent on striking the other down, as the magma elementals engaged the vampire!
The party wasted no time, seizing the magical treasures they discovered in the "treasury obelisk" while the monsters were distracted with trying to kill each other .... These treasures included a pair of powerful magic weapons -- one a falcata with a blade that appeared to be made of glowing red molten magma (a +1 flaming burst falcata named "Moltendoom"), and the other a warhammer, with a head that also seemed to be made of glowing red molten magma (a +1 flaming burst warhammer named "Fist of Flame").
In addition to the two magic weapons, the shelves held a scintillating molten-gold +1 chain shirt of fire resistance; a cracked amber spindle ioun stone (that grants a stackable +1 resistance bonus on Fortitude saving throws); a cracked dark blue rhomboid ioun stone (that grants a +1 competence bonus on Perception and Sense Motive checks); a cracked deep red sphere ioun stone (that grants a +1 competence bonus on Stealth checks); and a shriveled mummified left ear -- the Left Ear of Vecna!
Orsino warned his companions: "Wait! Don't touch the Ear .... yet ....," but Erlick of House Lassiter had eagerly snatched the prized relic of his god before the warning was halfway out of the wary wizard's mouth! For a heartbeat, the Suel antipaladin of Vecna was on the verge of severing his own left ear right then and there, and immediately attaching the Left Ear of Vecna in its place .... but hearing Orsino's warning, he instead quickly stowed it in a belt pouch at his hip, a look of exhilaration and triumph on his pale face, his lips curled in an unnervingly evil grin that did not go unnoticed by Orsino, Grimaldi, and Sister Belit ....
As the False Kerapti and their monstrous minions continued their furious melee, a translucent figure of ghastly aspect suddenly seemed to coalesce out of thin air, hovering several feet above the two towering False Kerapti .... The ghostly figure appeared as a gaunt and hunched old man, every inch of his translucent flesh horribly charred, his empty eye sockets staring blindly at the combatants, a gnarled and equally fire-blackened staff gripped in one charred and bony hand!
This was Aegwareth, "Shade of Vengeance," the ghost of the venerable Elder Druid who had been the ancient guardian of the Fane until he was challenged and defeated by the original Keraptis, who then cast the druid's broken body into the roiling sea of magma far below the Fane, and claimed several powerful magical treasures -- including the greatsword Frostrazor, and the potent statuette the evil archmage would later use to call destruction down upon his native city of Tostenhca in the Griff Mountains (now known as Skrellingshald).
He addressed the efreeti "Killjoy" and the ogre mage "Spatterdock" in a sepulchral voice that seemed to echo unnaturally within the vast spherical Fane: "YOU HAVE SEALED YOUR FATES IN COMING HERE, YOU WRETCHED AND FOOLISH PRETENDERS!! DESTROYING YOU WILL NOT GIVE ME NEARLY THE SAME SATISFACTION AS AVENGING MYSELF AGAINST THE TRUE KERAPTIS, WHEREVER HE MAY BE, BUT I SHALL VENT MY BURNING WRATH UPON YOU WITLESS FALSE KERAPTI NONETHELESS!!"
Both of the False Kerapi look up at this Shade of Vengeance with unmistakable expressions of dread, mouths agape in shock, as the ancient Elder Druid ghost utters an incantation and points a charred and bony finger down at them, calling down a roaring fire storm, only the first of a relentless barrage of fiery evocation spells of deadly power!
In vain, the vampire Ctenmiir hurls the warhammer Whelm at Aegwareth, but it merely passes through the ghostly Elder Druid's incorporeal form before flying back to the vampire's hand ....
The efreeti "Killjoy," and the two magma elementals, were unaffected by the ensuing holocaust of flame strikes, empowered fireballs, and other fire-based evocations Aegwareth cast down upon the monstrous combatants, but neither could they seem to reach the hovering ghost (let alone land a blow that would actually harm its incorporeal form). On the other hand, the vampire Ctenmiir soon burst into flames, flailing wildly and shrieking in agony, and as he was consumed utterly by the flames, Whelm fell to the inner surface of the Fane where the vampire had stood ....
Without hesitation, Erlick dashed over to where Whelm now rested unattended and seized the magic warhammer, immediately sensing the power of the mighty weapon .... He also sensed that Whelm most definitely did not approve of even being held by the Chaotic Evil antipaladin of Vecna (much less of being wielded by one so "unworthy" of it) ....
The ogre mage "Spatterdock," his innate regeneration ability unable to heal the terrible burns inflicted upon him by the ghostly druid's barrage of powerful fire-based evocations, was the next to collapse, his hulking form shriveling in the mighty conflagration called down by Aegwareth, "Shade of Vengeance" ....
AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!
Having incinerated the vampire Ctenmiir (whose now-gaseous form could not escape back to his coffin, trapped as he was within the Fane) and his master, the ogre mage "Spatterdock," the ghostly Elder Druid floated down to engage the fire-immune efreeti "Killjoy," who made a futile effort to strike the insubstantial "Shade of Vengeance" down with Blackrazor ....
Passing its charred, skeletal, claw-like, incorporeal hands through the efreeti's flesh, Aegwareth dealt horrid, wilting injuries to "Killjoy," who could only scream as his body withered under the assault!
Realizing that they might actually stand a decent chance of escaping White Plume Mountain alive, not only with the Left Ear of Vecna, but with Whelm and Blackrazor, to boot, Orsino quickly formulated a plan .... The wizard produced both of the scrolls of greater teleport the Countess Olivia had supplied him with (just in case his first attempt to cast so potent a spell from a scroll should fail), and quickly called out instructions to his companions: "Grimaldi, be ready to pick up Blackrazor as soon as the efreeti drops it! Belit, let us know when you think the efreeti is on the verge of falling! Erlick, get over here by me, and stand by for evacuation!"
Recognizing the merit of the clever wizard's plan, the other party members moved into positions to more readily facilitate it (with "readied actions") ....
Finally, mere seconds after Sister Belit announced, "He's about to drop!," the efreeti "Killjoy" uttered his dying scream as the massive surges of negative energy from Aegwareth's incorporeal strikes snuffed out his life-force completely! "AAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!!! As the efreeti collapsed in a withered heap, Blackrazor dropped from his hands ....
Immediately, the party carried out Orsino's plan: Grimaldi dashed to Blackrazor and seized the evil, soul-consuming greatsword .... Just as Erlick had sensed Whelm's strong opposition to his touch, Grimaldi could sense Blackrazor's curious probing of his mind and soul, feeling the fetchling jester out .... Though the sentient greatsword was Neutral Evil, it was not nearly as finicky about who wielded it, so long as its wielder continued to supply it with fresh souls to feed on, and Grimaldi was not nearly as different in morality and ethos from Blackrazor as the Chaotic Evil Erlick of House Lassiter was from the Lawful Good dwarven thrower, Whelm ....
For the moment, Blackrazor would bide its time .... Now was not the right time to try to possess the Horned King's clever Court Fool .... But Blackrazor sensed that Grimaldi might be a suitable "wielder" (thrall), and it thought to itself, "This foolish mortal is weak-minded .... Perhaps it will suffice as my puppet, when the moment is right .... But not just now .... Let the fool and its allies take me out of this accursed volcano .... Let the fool carry me back to some city, where I can glut upon the souls of many ...."
Having acquired both the Left Ear of Vecna and Blackrazor in one fell swoop, accomplishing their two-part objective (and acquiring several other potent magical treasures in the bargain!), the party raced to make good their escape .... Sister Belit of Stern Alia had already moved next to Orsino, taking a firm hold of the hem of his robe as the wizard unrolled the first of the two scrolls of greater teleport, preparing to attempt to cast the spell (if possible) as soon as Erlick and Grimaldi had made physical contact with his person. The latter condition was quickly met, as both men dashed to Orsino and laid a hand upon him.
Orsino read the arcane incantation clearly, rapidly, and flawlessly, and in the blink of an eye, they were transported from the Fane beneath White Plume Mountain to Countess Olivia's private chamber in Castle Skullgard, where they found the Countess waiting anxiously for their return. The brilliant arcanist immediately sensed the party's triumphant victory -- their smug expressions told the story clearly enough without a single word from any of them. Nonetheless, they admitted that they had met with success, and Countess Olivia debriefed them discreetly, in the privacy of her chambers.
The Horned King's men thanked Sister Belit for her excellent healing and support during their two forays into White Plume Mountain, and then dismissed her. She thanked them, in turn, for the honor of accompanying them on their adventures, even if only temporarily, and took her leave from Castle Skullgard as quickly and quietly as she could.
The antiheroes briefly celebrated their victory with some goodberry wine from the royal wine cellar before retiring for the night, for midnight was fast approaching, and they had much that they wished to do in the city of Nulbish before they were deployed on their next harrowing quest in some other perilous dungeon or ruined city where divinations had revealed that another Fragment of Vecna could be unearthed ....
Earthday, 6th of Flocktime, 600 CY, ~9:30 AM:
On the morning after the party's return from their triumphant 2nd foray into White Plume Mountain, having successfully accomplished BOTH of their main objectives (acquiring the Left Ear of Vecna AND the sentient greatsword Blackrazor), in addition to looting several OTHER potent magic items from the obsidian "treasury obelisk" within the Fane, the three antiheroes rise from their beds and perform their morning routines as they typically do. In spite of the rigors of the previous day's adventures, each of the Horned King's Men found sleep elusive last night. They had retired to their beds still buzzing from their success (and several toasts with goodberry wine), and each laid awake for some time before sleep finally came, the wheels in their minds spinning out plans for the following morning.
After morning ablutions, washing, dressing, and breaking their fast together while discussing their plans for the next few days, the party decided that they would all spend the next few days tending to various business within the walls of Nulbish while they had the opportunity (and before the Horned King decided to deploy them on the next quest for another Fragment of Vecna, no doubt laying in some distant and perilous dungeon, tomb, or ruined keep filled with lethal traps and even more lethal inhabitants).
Before they did anything else, however, there was the urgent matter of the new ancient weapons of Keraptis the party had recovered from the Fane, as well as the Left Ear of Vecna. Deciding to temporarily sequester all three of these priceless treasures somewhere safe, they agreed to quickly and quietly smuggle these potent items out of Castle Skullgard and hide them in a safe and secret location. They succeeded in absconding with the three items from the castle and crossing the causeway into the city proper, Grimaldi carrying Blackrazor, and Erlick carrying both Whelm (with increasing agitation stemming from the obvious enmity the Lawful Good warhammer felt toward the Chaotic Evil antipaladin) and the Left Ear of Vecna; but upon reaching their secret safe-house on Erlick's Avenue, their trouble with the two intelligent weapons began ....
First, Erlick lost the mental struggle he'd been engaged in with the wrathfully righteous dwarven thrower, Whelm, (which had been crafted in an ancient Age by powerful dwarven worshipers of the Lawful Good dwarven creator-deity, Moradin Soul-Forger, and would not tolerate the "vile, disease-ridden, unclean hands of the antipaladin on its haft for another second!") .... With a sudden growl of dismay and frustration, Erlick flung the warhammer away onto the avenue that was recently renamed for him.
Realizing what had just happened, Orsino suggested that his two companions bundle the weapons of Keraptis "like babes in swaddling clothes," theorizing that they would be less capable of causing trouble without use of their normal senses (i.e., lacking line of sight and effect, which the wizard knew were often required to effect a target with a spell or spell-like ability). Erlick managed to accomplish this with Whelm before the cantankerous dwarven warhammer knew what he was up to. But Grimaldi ....
Orsino suddenly noticed that Grimaldi was cradling the evil greatsword and stroking the star-spangled black blade -- just as they'd seen "Killjoy" do with Blackrazor -- and the Horned King do with the Sword of Kas .... "Grimaldi," began Orsino, snapping his fingers in front of the fixated Court Fool's face, "drop Blackrazor .... RIGHT NOW!" But Grimaldi ignored the wizard's demand, instead casting a decidedly nasty and uncharacteristically mirthless grin -- which was far more like a feral, inhuman bearing of his teeth than like Grimaldi's usual expression of light-hearted merriment. The fetchling jester had become possessed by the soul-hungry sword, and at any moment, might try to strike Orsino or Erlick down, abscond with the sword and go on a killing spree, or any number of other things the thrall of an evil parasitic blade might do ....
"Use the hooked boss of your shield to disarm him, Erlick!," urged Orsino, acutely aware of how badly the next moment could turn out if they did not break Blackrazor's grip on Grimaldi by breaking Grimaldi's grip on Blackrazor .... But Blackrazor (and therefore Grimaldi) would not be shut down so easily. Erlick failed to disarm Grimaldi, who immediately drank the potion of haste he still had from Countess Olivia, before turning and sprinting westward down Erlick's Avenue at a speed that would rival the fastest horse! Cursing under his breath, Orsino cast expeditious retreat, and darted after the Blackrazor-possessed Grimaldi at a comparable rate of speed, keeping pace just behind the fleet-footed Court Fool. Erlick could only watch as his two allies sped off at a pace he would never be able to match in his heavy armor, even if he were affected by expeditious retreat or haste ....
Orsino cast hypnotism on the fleeing jester, and was relieved when Grimaldi skidded to a halt, fascinated by the shimmering rainbow of glowing lights that appeared before him. Orsino then stunned the fascinated jester with a cone of scintillating rainbow colors that sprayed from his hands as he cast a color spray spell, and to Orsino's even greater relief, Blackrazor fell from Grimaldi's nerveless hands, landing in the avenue with a sonorous metallic clangor. Breathless from the brief but rigorous chase, Orsino called back down the avenue to Erlick, who was already hustling and clanking after them in his carapace of jointed steel armor plates.
"Do you think you could swaddle up Blackrazor like you did Whelm," Orsino asked the antipaladin, "Without becoming possessed?" Erlick shrugged, replying, "We'll see in a moment ....," -- an answer that did not reassure the wizard in the least .... Fortunately, Erlick succeeded in cautiously wrapping the "Devourer of Souls" up tightly in a blanket they had brought from Castle Skullgard for the purpose, and was not possessed in the process. By this time, Grimaldi was shaking off the effects of Orsino's spells, and it was slowly dawning upon the fetchling jester what had just occurred.
Now the antiheroes were more aware of the potential hazards of carrying the weapons of Keraptis around, so they quickly sequestered the bundled weapons away in their secret safe-house and padlocked the door before departing to attend to the rest of that day's business ....
Orsino will try to have time later but for now,...
The primary thing Herzog Tanar'ri wants to do (presumably when Drannoch is ready to visit the Vecna Cult in the Arcane Tower), is visit the Temple of Hextor.
Herzog Tanar'ri wants to introduce himself and offer his support against Orsino, Grimauldi & Erlick if town rumors regarding strife are accurate -- and gauge whether the Temple of Hextor may want to ally with Lord Drax against Malvolio.
So be prepared for this kind of sneaky and delicate gambit.
At an hour past noon on Earthday, 6th of Flocktime (the day after the party's return from White Plume Mountain with several potent magic items, including the Left Ear of Vecna) ....
A covered wagon rolls through the Duntide Gate into Rel Mord, capital of the Kingdom of Nyrond, its driver appearing as an incredibly large and fat oafish peat farmer. Inside the wagon, seated on "peat harvested from the Gnatmarsh for sale at the Goods Market" are four passengers -- an exceptionally tall and gangly half-orc simpleton with a severe underbite, and three venerable peasant crones. Under the glamers that disguise them, they are monstrous, and would never have been admitted by the guards at the gatehouse.
The driver is Wamba the ogre (one of Grimaldi's "big brothers"); the half-orc simpleton is Lamb the troll (Grimaldi's other "big brother"); and the trio of crones are Black Betty, the green hag illusionist (Grimaldi's mother by King Lynwerd); Molly Marrowgob, the annis hag witch (Grimaldi's abusive "auntie"), and Stygian Stella Backrider, the night hag (Grimaldi's doting "auntie").
The wagon rolls into the busy Goods Market, where a great throng of Nyrondese consumers browse the many colorful tents and stands of merchant vendors hawking a diversity of market wares. The Low Summer sun beats down on the sprawling market, but the crowd of buyers and sellers is undaunted by the heat. "The rest of ye keep that shambling mound--I mean 'peat'--from squirming until I give ye the signal," instructs Black Betty, "whilst I mingle and palaver a bit with these goodly folk! Heh heh hehhh...."
Black Betty hops down from the wagon with a spry agility that surprises several casual observers, and begins to feign interest in various vendors' wares, haggling and gossiping before moving on to the next stall or tent (without purchasing anything, of course) .... "Did ye know I once laid with King Lynwerd hisself? Aye! Hee-hee! He must've been well into his cups and feelin' lonesome indeed to bed an old crone like me-self! I ken ye don't believe me, but I swear it on Cegilune's warts, 'tis true! I even bore his bastard, my handsome son Grimaldi! Heee-hee-heeee!"
At this nasty rumor, most of the vendors scoff incredulously, which angers Black Betty. "By Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut, I swear it be truth! I wore the skin of a pretty young handmaid I snatched from His Majesty's court, and seduced him after drugging his wine-chalice! We laid together in the King's own chambers, we did! Then, afore the cock crowed, I awayed back to me hut in Gnatmarsh. This be eleven summers gone by, 'twas .... And now, my clever and handsome boy, Grimaldi, though he be a bastard, is the only heir to the throne of Nyrond! So go laugh at that, ye tongue-wagging strumpet!," she screeched at a woman selling bars of soap who'd laughed at her claim.
After making her way to nearly every cart, stand, and tent in the Goods Market, spreading her scandalous gossip throughout, the green hag illusionist waddled back to the wagon, cackling wickedly and wringing her arthritic-looking hands, which was "the signal" to her compatriots to release the shambling mound.
As the shambler began its rampage through the Goods Market, Black Betty sprung back into the wagon and barked at Wamba the ogre: "Well, stupid? Are ye waitin' for the King's knights to come and give you another lump or two on your lumpy head?? DRIVE!! Homeward, I say!" Wambo blinked stupidly, then snapped the reigns with brutish force, and the oxen pulled the wagon 'round, barreling through the panicked mob.
A dozen city guards had been closing in on the wagon, having been informed by several vendors of the green hag's "treasonous slandering of His Majesty," but the sudden appearance of the shambling mound distracted them, and they turned their attentions to stopping the bog-monster's rampage. This allowed the coven of hags and their giant "boys" to escape in their oxen-drawn wagon the way they'd come in -- by the Duntide Gate. They drove the beasts nigh to death in their flight along the bank of the Duntide, racing for their lair in the Gnatmarsh ....
Finally, the news King Lynwerd has been dreading ever since he'd refused to be blackmailed by Black Betty back in Fireseek falls upon him like a rockslide. A breathless city guard bursts into the throne room to report that "an old crone had been slandering His Majesty in the Goods Market, and as the guards had been closing in to arrest her at her giant-oaf-driven wagon, a shambling mound had emerged from the back of the wagon and begun to wreak havoc!"
"Black Betty. Damn her to Nessus!," thinks Lynwerd. "When? How long?," queries the King of Nyrond. "Only just now, My King!," comes the guard's answer. The Grey Seer is with him in the throne room, so he turns to the ancient diviner and commands, "Take us to the Duntide Road .... Mid-way betwixt here and the Gnatmarsh! The Grey Seer shuffles near, lays a gnarled hand upon the King's shoulder, and casts teleport, whisking Lynwerd and himself to the appointed place in the road, where they ready an ambush.
As soon as the wagon and its monstrous driver and passengers come into view, the Grey Seer nods and croaks, "There, My King!," pointing his staff of power up the road. "Good. Kill them all, except for the green hag," orders Lynwerd. "With pleasure, Your Majesty," acquiesces the ancient archmage.
What ensues cannot properly be called a battle. The Grey Seer rains arcane death and destruction down upon the ogre, troll, and the other two hags (Grimaldi's "big bothers" and "aunties"), but Black Betty he captures in a cage of magical force. As the wagon blazes like a great bonfire on the road, King Lynwerd and the Grey Seer approach the squealing green hag in the forcecage. "What did you hope to gain with this evil, foul crone?," Lynwerd inquired, truly stunned by the senseless audacity of the spurned green hag.
"You killed them! My poor old sisters! My dear sweet boys! You .... You monster!," shrieked Black Betty. Falling to her knees inside the cage of magical force, she weeped and wailed, beating her saggy breast. "I only wanted what was my due!," groaned the green hag, and she slumped over onto her side, curling up in the fetal position and sobbing piteously.
Mayhaps ye should have first learnt the spell teleport afore trying so brazen an attack, hag," observed the Grey Seer dryly and without sympathy for the monstrous witch.
"A POX ON YE AND YOURN BLOODY ADVISE, GREY SEER!! RELEASE ME!!," screamed Black Betty, but when King Lynwerd drew his blue-steel holy avenger longsword, she quaked in fear. "Mercy, oh King! Have mercy on an old wretch bereaved of her kin!"
"Much as it sickens me, in both heart and gut," began Lynwerd, "You are the mother of my only heir .... my .... son. Therefore, you shall be spared, hag. But your mischief shall not go unpunished. You shall languish the rest of your days in a tower in Rel Mord .... Well fed, and kept in far better comfort than you deserve, but a prisoner nonetheless .... no longer free to wreak chaos and evil upon the realm! And do not think I am ignorant to the ways of witchcraft, hag .... Your hands shall be bound in irons, and except when you are fed, you shall wear the scold's bridle! You have brought this fate down upon yourself, Black Betty!"
And so was the Gnatmarsh coven's evil brought to an end ....
The primary thing Herzog Tanar'ri wants to do (presumably when Drannoch is ready to visit the Vecna Cult in the Arcane Tower), is visit the Temple of Hextor.
Herzog Tanar'ri wants to introduce himself and offer his support against Orsino, Grimauldi & Erlick if town rumors regarding strife are accurate -- and gauge whether the Temple of Hextor may want to ally with Lord Drax against Malvolio.
So be prepared for this kind of sneaky and delicate gambit.
The secondary thin Herzog Tanar'ri wants to do is to return (with Kinky & Drannoch) to the warrens under the city and necropolis where Kinky's Thieves' Guild has made an alliance with the Vampire Lord.
Herzog Tanar'ri wants to reconnect with the Vampire (perhaps his Ghouls) and see how things are going, if our alliance can go forward to all things mutually beneficial. (I know he was a Lord pre-Ivid V and wants some political power back?....)
Orsino, Ivid VIII wants to reconnect with the following:
A) The Horned Society gang in the Temple of Stern Alia near our neighborhood.
B) Our neighborhood: Let's get to getting it up-and-running.
C) Anubis and the necropolis, just touch base.
D) And of course the maid at the butcher shop, but I assume this is always a three-second segue unless she has gossip to spread for my ears only.
From Sunday 2nd to Freeday 7th of Flocktime (the current day), 600 CY, some 15 leagues (~45 miles) north of Pitchfield (capital of the Kingdom of Sunndi), in the foothills of the Glorioles Mountains:
For nearly a week now, a small party of adventurers has been making daring forays into the ancient hill dwarf clan-hold known as Thunderforge Keep.
The adventurers are a trio of grey elves from the Rieuwood--Gael (CG male grey elf cleric 3 of Alinandyr Silverelm, elven demigod of valor); Sven Silverleaf (CG male grey elf paladin 3 of Alinandyr Silverelm); and Finnandell (CG male grey elf unchained rogue 3)--and their "foster nephew," Talfryn (CN male half-orc two-handed fighter 3), whom they raised from infancy after finding him orphaned in the Hestmark Highlands. They have only just begun their adventuring careers, cutting their teeth in Thunderforge Keep, where over the course of the first three days and nights, they managed to slay the 60-some goblins, two-dozen hobgoblins, and the bugbear chieftain of the Disembowler Tribe during three bold forays, and plundered much of the dragon's hoard already.
After clearing the goblinoids out of the ground level of Thunderforge Keep, the three elves and their half-orc "nephew" returned to Pitchfield (on the night of Godsday the 4th) to recuperate and upgrade their arms and armor with some of the treasure they'd looted, and it was then that they heard the dire reports of the Horde of Wastri "the Hopping Prophet" slaughtering and destroying northward up the east bank of the Pawluck River, burning several half-built watchtowers and the town of Paw's Luck to the ground. Refugees from the villages and towns in the path of the invasion have flooded into the capital, and Olvenking Hazendel is challenged with accommodating so large an influx of displaced Sunndfolk. If only there were a stronghold somewhere close by with abundant space where some three-hundred refugees could take safe refuge ....
The adventurers wasted no time in seeking an audience with Olvenking Hazendel at the royal palace in Pitchfield, where they revealed that they had already cleared out several hundred square feet of chambers and passageways within Thunderforge Keep, and were about to return to clear out the levels above and below. If ample foodstuffs and a source of fresh water could be found, the ancient dwarven clan-hold would serve as a secure redoubt against the Horde of Wastri. Grateful for this fortuitous news, Hazendel rewarded the brave adventurers with masterwork weapons and armor, purses of coin, and fast riding horses, and commanded them to ride ahead to the clan-hold and finish the work they'd begun. The olvenking would follow behind at the head of the three-hundred refugees, along with an escort of some fifty foot-soldiers and fifty cavalry.
The three grey elves and the hulking half-orc rode hard to Thunderforge from dawn to dusk on Waterday the 5th, camping in the cleared out ground level of the keep, and during the last two days and nights, they have cleared out the upper above-ground level of undead--dwarven skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and ghasts, led by two dwarf mummies, a dwarf crypt thing, and a dwarven skeletal mage. (These undead had been created from the skeletal remains of the hapless Thunderforge dwarves, more than 140 years after Ixengix had massacred them, by the necromantic surge accompanying Vecna's return to Oerth eleven years ago; the goblinoids of the Disembowler Tribe had feared the upper halls of the clan-hold after discovering that they were haunted by the restless spirits of the dwarves.)
It is now Freeday the 7th, and Olvenking Hazendel has led the refugees to Thunderforge Keep, where they are settling into the newly-pacified chambers and halls of the two above-ground levels (which include a great temple dedicated to Moradin Soul-Forger that is hallowed ground, where no evil thing dares to intrude). The olvenking supplies the refugees with several days' worth of provisions, plus three decanters of endless water and three Murlynd's spoons of sustenance, and has ordered a unit of wood elf archers from the Rieuwood to hunt game and forage for fruits and vegetables to supplement the refugees' daily rations. It is a temporary solution, but it is also a ray of hope and light in a time of darkness and doubt.
As the great crowd of refugees is moving into their temporary refuge, the four adventurers from Rieuwood Forest have begun to explore the subterranean halls and chambers north of the natural caverns where the dragon once laired ....
Over the past seven years, the more organized raids of the united bullywug tribes under the command of the Wastrian “Soldiers of Purity” continued to plague the southern borderland of Sunndi with increasing frequency and ferocity, prompting Olvenking Hazendel I to declare a crusade against the Wastrian cult and their bullywug minions. Bands of adventurers and mercenaries began to make forays into the Vast Swamp to cull the bullywug population, and to search for the hidden fortress-temple of the Wastrian cult. A few survivors from some of these forays have returned, relating harrowing tales of narrow escapes from near-certain death, but most of these expeditions never returned from the Vast Swamp.
Recently, on the night of Waterday the 26th of Planting (in the current year of 600 CY), a crew of carpenters and their apprentices (some twenty men and women) were encamped around the framework of a watchtower they had been building on the east bank of the Pawluck River, where it flows into the Vast Swamp. As they settled into their bedrolls for the night, the hapless builders were suddenly attacked by a great horde of bullywugs driven on by the Wastrian “Soldiers of Purity,” who were in turn driven on by “The Hopping Prophet” himself — Wastri, demigod of bigotry, amphibians, and self-deception! After massacring the entire crew, Wastri led his fanatical followers and bullywug thralls up along the east bank of the Pawluck, reaching the small riverside town of Paw’s Luck about an hour after midnight on the following morning.
Paw’s Luck had been protected on the three sides not abutting the river by a 15-foot-high wooden palisade, with a narrow catwalk, and a sturdy gate in the middle of the easternmost side. Several wooden docks extended from the open side into the river, to which a number of small fishing boats had been moored. The daub-and-wattle buildings of the town had steeply-pitched roofs thatched with straw, and at the center of the small town was an open market square, where a general alarm could be raised by sounding a large brass gong. The small town had been home to some 600 humans, 120 halflings, 40 gnomes, 24 elves, 8 dwarves, 5 half-elves, and 3 half-orcs.
Only a very few of the townsfolk of Paw’s Luck managed to escape aboard one of the fishing boats from the great massacre that ensued, and these few survivors would later relate the horrors of the sudden early-morning attack. According to these harrowing accounts, wide breaches were burnt in the palisade by “columns of magical fire” (flame strike spells) called down from the dark sky by Wastri and his high priest. The horde of bullywugs, Wastrian cultists, and their evil demigod master then swarmed through the breaches into the streets of the town, mercilessly slaughtering all who stood in their paths. Wastri and his murderous minions cut down dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings wherever they stood, as well as any humans that resisted. Those humans who tried to surrender were boarded up inside several of the larger wooden buildings in the town, which were then burned with the screaming victims trapped inside.
Olvenking Hazendel’s most capable scout, a wood elf ranger named Taenya Lufiel, had discovered the massacre at the watchtower near the Vast Swamp while soaring through the night sky on the back of her dire bat companion, Chirper. She found no survivors upon landing to search among the dead, but could clearly discern the broad trail of trampled turf along the east bank of the Pawluck River, indicating that a great horde had traveled up the riverbank. Chirper carried Taenya aloft again, and flying high above the river valley, they followed the trail left by Wastri and his horde. Reaching Paw’s Luck a few hours later, they found the small town engulfed in flames, and beheld the great horde of bullywugs and Wastrian cultists following their “Hopping Prophet” further up the east riverbank of the serpentine Pawluck.
Flying north and east as swiftly as Chirper could carry her, Taenya arrived at the royal palace in Pitchfield on Moonday the 3rd of Flocktime, where she relayed all that she had witnessed to Olvenking Hazendel I ....
Upon hearing the wood elf ranger’s grim report, the olvenking was heartsick and furious. He summoned all of his noble courtiers to a war council at the royal court in Pitchfield, and these arrived over the next few days. Gray elf lords and ladies from the Rieuwood Forest arrived, borne on the wings of their giant eagle steeds; dwarven lords from the realms under the Glorioles Mountains and the Hestmark Highlands rode into the capital on dire boars; gnome lairds and halfling sheriffs from the Hollow Hills arrived on the backs of sturdy highlands ponies; and human lords and ladies from the patchwork of counties and baronies throughout the heartland arrived in horse-drawn carriages and coaches.
On Waterday the 5th, the adventurers from Rieuwood Forest (the grey elves Gael, Finnandel, and Sven, and their half-orc "foster nephew," Talfryn) who'd cleared the Disembowlers goblinoid tribe out of the ground level of Thunderforge Keep, brought word of their deeds to Hazendel . The olvenking rewarded the Rieuwood adventurers with upgraded arms and armor, some coins, and fast horses, and commanded them to ride ahead and finish pacifying Thunderforge Keep. Hazendel then led a throng of some three hundred refugees who'd recently arrived in Pitchfield to the ancient dwarven fortress, where they have begun to settle in. The olvenking then rode swiftly back to Pitchfield to await the rest of his noble vassals ....
On Starday the 8th of Flocktime, the war council commenced. Olvenking Hazendel I heard the advise of each of the assembled lords and ladies of his court. Some, such as Dwarflord Kufrik Copperbeard (from the Glittering Halls under the Glorioles Mountains), and the human Count Arthund of New Keep, counseled an immediate declaration of war against Wastri and his horde. Others, such as the gray elf Lord Solian Lhalabar (of the Rieuwood enclave of Greenboughs), and the gnome Laird Rasildon Neddlefiddle (from the Hollow Hills enclave of Sparkleburrows), argued that going to war against a demigod and his horde of fanatical minions would be the height of folly without first securing aid from powerful allies.
"Who would you have us call upon?," queried Hazendel of the latter camp (in the royal third person). "Perhaps the gray elves of the Lendore Isles would come to our aid," suggested Laird Rasildon of Sparkleburrows. "Nay!," scoffed Dwarflord Kufrik of the Glittering Halls, "They will not come to our aid! They care only for themselves, and sink any ship that dares to draw too nigh the Spindrifts!” Baron Herrek of Meadowdale suggested, "Why not appeal to the Horned King of Medegia for aid?" At this suggestion, Elflord Solian of Greenboughs laughed mirthlessly, replying, "Has the goodly Baron of Meadowdale gone completely mad!? Does he forget that this so-called 'Horned King' wields the unholy Sword of Kas, and gathers under his banner a host of orcs, goblin-kind, fiends, and evil folk of every stripe??" Baron Herrek retorted, "I have not forgotten, Elflord Solian. Have you forgotten that in the three years since the Horned King conquered the wicked See of Medegia, not once has he ever threatened the peace of our fair realm?” Elflord Solian gave no answer to this, for the Baron of Meadowdale had spoken truth.
Though loathe to request aid from such an evil ally as the Horned King Malvolio I of Medegia, Hazendel was left with few other options. He immediately commanded his court wizard, the gray elven archmage Halafarin Mithralbow, to greater teleport to the distant Kingdom of Celene (many leagues to the northwest) and plead for aid from the isolationist Elfqueen Yolande (though he did not hold out much hope for a favorable response). The olvenking also dispatched the human wizard, Thandorias "Thunderstaff," to greater teleport to the Free City of Greyhawk (also far to the northwest) and seek the aid of the powerful archmages rumored to reside there. Finally, he reluctantly ordered the gnome illusionist, Kaspippen Pamblehemble, to greater teleport north to Nulbish, capital of the Horned Kingdom of Medegia, to broker a dubious alliance with the evil-but-lawful Horned King Malvolio I ....
Herzog Tanar'ri is a striking specimen as a Cambion. Under his crimson cowl can be seen viper-like strands of hair, forked tongue, and serpentine eyes indicative of the son of a Marilith. Yet his mother-marilith was apparently more than any wandering Type-V Abyssal monstrocity. Herzog Tanar'ri is clearly an albino with waxy white skin and, even more revealing, the seams and ends of his scarlet shroud seem to shed yellow light, bright light. No doubt, Herzog Tanar'ri is the Cambion offspring of a Marilith Avatar of none other than Pale Night herself -- Mother of Graz'zt and Lamashtu and among the most ancient entities of The Abyss, predating The Fall of Asmodeus, Baalzebub, Mammon and the Arch Devils to Hell.
Herzog Tanar'ri is a striking specimen as a Cambion. Under his crimson cowl can be seen viper-like strands of hair, forked tongue, and serpentine eyes indicative of the son of a Marilith. Yet his mother-marilith was apparently more than any wandering Type-V Abyssal monstrocity. Herzog Tanar'ri is clearly an albino with waxy white skin and, even more revealing, the seams and ends of his scarlet shroud seem to shed yellow light, bright light. No doubt, Herzog Tanar'ri is the Cambion offspring of a Marilith Avatar of none other than Pale Night herself -- Mother of Graz'zt and Lamashtu and among the most ancient entities of The Abyss, predating The Fall of Asmodeus, Baalzebub, Mammon and the Arch Devils to Hell.
Herzog Tanar'ri is a striking specimen as a Cambion. Under his crimson cowl can be seen viper-like strands of hair, forked tongue, and serpentine eyes indicative of the son of a Marilith. Yet his mother-marilith was apparently more than any wandering Type-V Abyssal monstrocity. Herzog Tanar'ri is clearly an albino with waxy white skin and, even more revealing, the seams and ends of his scarlet shroud seem to shed yellow light, bright light. No doubt, Herzog Tanar'ri is the Cambion offspring of a Marilith Avatar of none other than Pale Night herself -- Mother of Graz'zt and Lamashtu and among the most ancient entities of The Abyss, predating The Fall of Asmodeus, Baalzebub, Mammon and the Arch Devils to Hell.
Herzog Tanar'ri admires his handiwork in front of a polished silver-and-glass mirror he recently installed in the secret warehouse in Nulbish. The disguise was disturbingly convincing, even to close scrutiny. For all intents and purposes, he would be identified as a Pitspawn (or Demon-Born) Cambion (even foiling divination spells!) .... And to those learned in the occluded and arcane mysteries of the Lower Planes -- specifically the primordial Age Before Ages, the mythical Anteruinam Archangelorum ("Time Before the Fall of the Archangels") (as the ancient Oerid chronicler Emokras the Elder of the Aerdi Tribe coined the phrase, circa 120 BCY) -- Herzog's resemblance to a Pitspawn Cambion spawned among the brood of Pale Night would be uncanny and undeniable ....
Suddenly, a funnel-shaped plume of black smoke or mist seems to seep up from between the old flood-warped planks of the safe-house floor, only perhaps 15 feet away from Herzog Tanar'ri, billowing up to coalesce into a solid form -- a form that seems alarmingly familiar, even if he'd only ever seen various artistic depictions in woodcuts, grimoires, illuminated manuscripts, and fanciful tapestries!
Fully materialized, the fiendishly handsome devil before you has clearly assumed a shape and apparel that would be less imposing than his natural form, for though his presence seems larger than a storm giant's, he stands no taller than six feet, with a physique more akin to that of a sage or wizard than a warrior (though an incredibly ornate rapier with a gold wire filagree-wrapped basket hilt and large fire opal pommel hangs in an onyx-encrusted scabbard of some kind of scarlet hide from his gold-plated leather girdle). A black-and-white chessboard-pattered double-liripipe frames his handsome but fiendish red face, and a black forked goatee wags at his chin as he gives voice to a melodious (yet feral) chuckle. In one ring-bedecked claw, the archfiend grasps a sphere of dark crystal or glass in which crimson swirls seem to spin endlessly; in the other bejeweled claw, he holds a scepter or rod of ruddy wrought gold, inset with several bloodstones, and capped by a great, fiery dodecahedron the size of a man's clenched fist, flawlessly cut from appears to be a huge ruby. A waft of not-entirely-unpleasant fragrance, like rare and exotic incense (mingled with an undertone of sulfur and burning flesh), reaches you even 15 feet away ....
Orsino Ivid VIII of House Naelax has never been at loss for words for longer than a second or two, but Herzog Tanar'ri's forked serpent's tongue momentarily feels as if it were cast from lead .... The archdevil speaks in voice that is both compelling and somehow agreeable, like the sound of a skillfully-played flute or pipe organ: "I'm sure we've never met before, but I'll be damned -- all over again! Hahaha! -- if you don't seem strangely familiar .... Like someone else I've become acquainted with ...." Without seeming to stride forward at all, the archdevil is suddenly only 5 feet away from the stunned investigator/wizard, and begins to circle the awestruck Herzog Tanar'ri in a counterclockwise circuit .... "Well, I'll admit, your .... unfortunate .... disguise does remind of an Age even before the Oerth came into being .... But really, noble stranger? Why so lowly and despicable a visage? Why not something beautiful, like a comely and sophisticated Hellspawn Cambion?? .... I mean no offense, noble stranger, but .... you seem like one well-versed in the Lower Planes, if I'm not mistaken, so .... you really ought to know how silly demons and their spawn are. But, I digress. I did not come here to chide you on your questionable taste .... Actually, I didn't come here to see you at all .... I was just certain that you were .... someone else ...."
The archdevil's black lips curl back in a feral grin, baring sharp canines and incisors as white as pearl as he sniggers condescendingly at Herzog Tanar'ri, who is finally beginning to feel his initial shock wear off, and his forked tongue limbering up for speech .... But before he can utter a word, the Lord of Cania declares: "If you had been the other chap I came here for, I would have told you, very simply, 'Not Drax, my befuddled pupil. Remember from your studies of regional religions throughout the Flanaess? Where is the Church of Hextor stronger, more prominent, than in North Kingdom? After all, I believe that you know, but momentarily did not recall, that Herzog Grenell I of House Naelax, self-styled Overking of Northern Aerdy, is the highest-ranking patriarch of Hextor in the eastern Flanaess. Furthermore, I would toss you this bone .... if you were that other chap, that is .... that the clergy at the Citadel of Merciless Massacre are a paranoid and suspicious lot, as are all those that have something .... damning .... to hide ...." The Archfiend Lord of the Eighth fixes Herzog Tanar'ri with a piercing, soul-searching gaze ....
Needfest 4 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Needfest 4 - Celene full (holy to Olidammara)
Needfest 4 - Holy to Istus and Wee Jas
Needfest 7 – Holy to Hieroneous and Vatun
Fireseek 1 – Holy to Vecna
Fireseek 11 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Fireseek 14 – Holy to Hextor
Fireseek 18-20 – Luna Morta (holy to Boccob)
Fireseek 25 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Readying 1 – Festival of St. Bane
Readying 2 – Holy to Pelor
Readying 4 – Holy to Zilchus
Readying 6 – Holy to Kord
Readying 7 – Holy to Kurell
Readying 8-14 – Rising Fest (holy to Beory)
Readying 11 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Readying 15 – Celene new (holy to Lendor)
Readying 24 – Day of Lords (holy to Zuoken)
Readying 25 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Coldeven 2 – Holy to Al’Akbar
Coldeven 5 – Holy to Velnius
Coldeven 11 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Coldeven 11 – Fullmoon Festival (holy to Pholtus)
Coldeven 14 – Holy to Phaulkon
Coldeven 20 – Holy to Bralm
Coldeven 25 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Coldeven 26 – Holy to Hieroneous
Growfest 1 – Banapas
Growfest 2 – Holy to Lydia
Growfest 4 – Holy to Merikka
Growfest 6 – Atroa’s Feast (holy to Atroa)
Growfest 7 – Fool’s Day (holy t Ye’Cind)
Planting 1 – Holy to Syrul
Planting 2 – Holy to Pelor
Planting 4 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Planting 4 – Courting Moon Festival (holy to Ehlonna)
Planting 5 – Holy to Osprem
Planting 7 – Holy to Mouqol
Planting 11 – Tanabat
Planting 18 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Planting 20 – Holy to Berei
Planting 24-25 – Holy to Llerg
Flocktime 2 – Holy to Joramy
Flocktime 4 – Luna full (Holy to Olidammara)
Flocktime 4 – Holy to Phyton
Flocktime 8-14 – Ulaa’s Hunt
Flocktime 8-14 – Harnekiah
Flocktime 15 – Vernal Equinox (holy to St. Cuthbert and the Old Faith)
Flocktime 15 – Celene full (holy to Wee Jas)
Flocktime 18 – Walpurgis
Flocktime 18 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Flocktime 22-28 – Holy to Fortubo
Wealsun 1-7 – Festival of Blinding Light (holy to Pholtus)
Wealsun 1 – Goodrhys
Wealsun 4 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Wealsun 10-11 – Luna Discorda (holy to Boccob)
Wealsun 10 – Holy to Zagyg
Wealsun 11 – Holy to Norebo
Wealsun 13 – Holy to Bleredd
Wealsun 14 – Holy to Phaulkon
Wealsun 16 – Bawming the Thorn (holy to Sotillion)
Wealsun 17 – Ceremony of the Turning
Wealsun 18 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Wealsun 27 – Holy to Jascar
Wealsun 28 – Holy to Beltar
Richfest 1-7 – Holy to the Old Faith
Richfest 3 – Holy to Hieroneous
Richfest 4 – Midsummer’s Day (holy to Pelor)
Richfest 4 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Richfest 4 – Celene full (holy to Wee Jas and Mayaheine)
Richfest 5 – Holy to Xerbo
Richfest 6 – Holy to Fharlanghn
Richfest 7 – Holy to Myrhiss
Reaping 2 – Holy to Pelor
Reaping 7 – Holy to Rudd
Reaping 11 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Reaping 12 – Holy to Allitur
Reaping 18-20 – Luna Vita (holy to Boccob)
Reaping 19 – Holy to Procan
Reaping 20 – Holy to Ulaa
Reaping 25 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Reaping 25 – Holy to Incabulos
Goodmonth 2 – Feast of Frogs (holy to Wastri)
Goodmonth 4 – Grandmote (holy to Lirr)
Goodmonth 5-9 – King’s Festival
Goodmonth 7 – Pater Larch (holy to Geshtai)
Goodmonth 11 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Goodmonth 15 – Holy to Pyremius
Goodmonth 23 – Holy to Erythnul
Goodmonth 25 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Goodmonth 26-28 – Miner’s Fairs
Harvester 1 – Holy to Ralishaz
Harvester 8-14 – Logger’s Fest
Harvester 11 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Harvester 14 – Holy to Phaulkon
Harvester 20 – Raksha Bandhan (holy to Berei)
Harvester 20 – Autumnal Equinox (holy to the Old Faith)
Harvester 25 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Harvester 27 – Holy to Hieroneous
Harvester 28 – Holy to Trithereon
Brewfest 1 – Osson’s Ride
Brewfest 4 – Almor’s Tears (holy to Wenta)
Brewfest 7 – Liberation Day (holy to Dalt)
Patchwall 2 – Holy to Pelor
Patchwall 4 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Patchwall 7 – Bellringer’s Feast
Patchwall 14 – Lammas
Patchwall 18 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Patchwall 18 – Wiccrhys (holy to Obad-hai)
Patchwall 20 – Holy to Bralm
Patchwall 25 – Holy to Iuz
Ready-reat 1 – Holy to Zagyg
Ready-reat 4 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Ready-reat 5 – Turning of the She-bear Stone
Ready-reat 7 – Festival of Hope (holy to Zodal)
Ready-reat 11 – Day of Remembrance
Ready-reat 12 – Day of Reflection
Ready-reat 13 – Day of Retribution
Ready-reat 14 – Great Freeday
Ready-reat 18 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Ready-reat 25 – Holy to Delleb
Sunsebb 2 – Holy to Pelor
Sunsebb 4 – Luna new (holy to Nerull)
Sunsebb 4 – Holy to Beory and Cyndor
Sunsebb 7 – Holy to Xan Yae
Sunsebb 10-11 – Luna Pax (holy to Boccob)
Sunsebb 13 – Holy to Raxivort
Sunsebb 14 – Holy to Phaulkon
Sunsebb 18 – Luna full (holy to Olidammara)
Sunsebb 21 – Feast of Telchur (holy to Telchur)
Sunsebb 21 – Winter Solstice (holy to Wee Jas and the Old Faith)
Sunsebb 23 – Marihwyd
Sunsebb 25-28 – Days of Thought (holy to Rao)
Sunsebb 28 – Last day of the year (holy to Tharizdun)
"Well met, Stranger. Um. Nice liripipe. Makes me want to play chess."
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"Well met, Stranger. Um. Nice liripipe. Makes me want to play chess."
"But my dear Stranger," returns Mephistopheles, "you ARE playing chess at this very moment. Alas, you are but a pawn, moving step-by-step across a board crowded with enemy pieces .... Yet, if you somehow manage to make it to the furthest row behind enemy lines, you may transform yourself into a sovereign .... Only Lady Istus knows, and she is quintessentially tight-lipped. Best of luck to you, 'Pitspawn' playactor. Be careful which stages you play that role upon." Before the archdevil finishes smiling wickedly at Herzog Tanar'ri, he is gone, leaving the investigator/wizard alone in the warehouse.
Kinky paces the floor of his office at the Thieves Guild warehouse. His mind torn between the business of the day and his outrage at that doppelganger’s antics. Not that murder bothered him. It was the audaciousness of that shifty monstrosity! Killing one of his marks without paying for the privilege. What was that faceless amateur up to? What was in it for him? AND WHY WASN’T I GETTING MY CUT!!!!
Kinky eyes Silver Toung and Irony; his twin rapiers; thinking that he would get his cut one way or another. He almost doesn’t notice the door opening. It was Ginger Snap. She was bringing the Guild’s dues from Sneaky Shae’s (the brothel). Ginger was a trusted member in good standing and the busy Madam had asked her to handle this errand for her.
Ginger Snap and Mangy Marge had been making friends with young ladies at the inns and taverns around town. They were an unlikely pair of drinking buddies. Both played it like they were truly degenerate alcoholics but actually kept their wits while working. Marge was an old hand at rolling johns and Ginger Snap was the perfect bait. Ginger was learning the ropes from a real pro and legitimately enjoyed working with the old girl. The two had rolled quite a few travelers with a bit of flirting from Ginger Snap and an expertly slipped mickey from Mangy Marge. Amongst the locals they only targeted the guys that the bar maids loved to hate. Handsy, abusive, and cheap. The wenches appreciated a little revenge and got a cut, too. Girls have got to stick together. Ginger and Marge recruited talent for the brothel from among them as well. The two were building a good network of working girls and a blacklist of disreputable townies while they were at it. As a result Sneaky Shae’s was starting to have a good reputation as the best little whorehouse in Nulbish.
Bendra Jooblins was one of the first recruits from the beggars guild to show any promise. She was obviously not a beggar, but had been recruited that night when everyone was run out of the squats by Orsino and his thugs. She had leadership qualities, and legs that went allll the way up! Bendra had risen to Madam almost as soon as she entered the establishment. Even that first night in the crypt she had attracted Drannoch’s attention. The big man didn’t have the guile to hide it or the savvy to approach her with anything resembling class. She had both qualities in spades, and she knew how business was done. Unlike that damned doppelganger! That was it! Kinky had it! He couldn’t get it out of his mind! The thought distracted him the whole time he was fornicating with Ginger Snap. After giving her a healthy tip in addition to her usual fee (-10gp) he pulled up his big boy pants, put on his oversized shoes and vowed to figure out what that rogue doppleganger was up to.
Kinky would keep five of the Shifty Six busy. He’d call them to his office and give them a special assignment. They would be surveilling the Temple of Hextor. This might come in handy if we were going to frame the Hextorians in the Horned King’s Court. He set them on watch in twenty-four seven in shifts. Always a team of three discreet facechangers on watch. They would study schedules and follow the priests to establish their habits. Report their names and practice making their faces for the Killer Clown. Kinky promises the five doppelgangers 20 gp each for the special assignment. Ten up front for each, just to wet the beak. Then another ten when he was satisfied with their stake out. They were under strict orders to report to him three times a day and Kinky uses the meetings to engage them in conversations about the guild and their little gang as well as gathering the intel. They rotate out of their positions, so he has time to talk to each of them alone.(-100 gp)
Once they are one their way Kinky sends for Meat Hooks and his crew: Taslo Voggendorf, Ursk Grottle, Gimpy, and Snaggle Teeth. They are the hand-picked group of psychopaths that have been doing the guild’s dirty work for a few months now. Meat Hooks called them the Butchers. Kinky rewards them each for showing up and promises them more if things get ugly. 10 gp each for now and another 20 if there is any real action (-50gp + -100gp).
Of course, he could ask Herzog and Drannoch to help handle this, but Kinky feels the burning desire to take matters into his own hands. Afterall this is about turf. Respect must be earned, and nobody fears the guy hiding behind his hulking disease ridden bodyguard. They fear the bodyguard… and his chlamydia. NO! Kinky needed them to fear the guild. You couldn’t run the underground by parading around an armor clad, syphilitic murder machine. As nice as it was for Drannoch to lend a boil-covered hand in the most critical situations, Kinky needed the Guild to take care of itself.
Kinky has the Butchers on standby in the warehouse. During the first day of meetings with the doppelgangers and gathering intel on the Hextorians. Kinky takes the Butchers to the area where the murder occurred. He investigates the man who had disappeared and reappeared again.
Kinky is looking to find his location from the people in the neighborhood and then plans of cornering him with the Butchers and feeding him the Shape.....stay tuned to find out what happens next
Kinky paces the floor of his office at the Thieves Guild warehouse. His mind torn between the business of the day and his outrage at that doppelganger’s antics. Not that murder bothered him. It was the audaciousness of that shifty monstrosity! Killing one of his marks without paying for the privilege. What was that faceless amateur up to? What was in it for him? AND WHY WASN’T I GETTING MY CUT!!!!
Kinky eyes Silver Toung and Irony; his twin rapiers; thinking that he would get his cut one way or another. He almost doesn’t notice the door opening. It was Ginger Snap. She was bringing the Guild’s dues from Sneaky Shae’s (the brothel). Ginger was a trusted member in good standing and the busy Madam had asked her to handle this errand for her.
Ginger Snap and Mangy Marge had been making friends with young ladies at the inns and taverns around town. They were an unlikely pair of drinking buddies. Both played it like they were truly degenerate alcoholics but actually kept their wits while working. Marge was an old hand at rolling johns and Ginger Snap was the perfect bait. Ginger was learning the ropes from a real pro and legitimately enjoyed working with the old girl. The two had rolled quite a few travelers with a bit of flirting from Ginger Snap and an expertly slipped mickey from Mangy Marge. Amongst the locals they only targeted the guys that the bar maids loved to hate. Handsy, abusive, and cheap. The wenches appreciated a little revenge and got a cut, too. Girls have got to stick together. Ginger and Marge recruited talent for the brothel from among them as well. The two were building a good network of working girls and a blacklist of disreputable townies while they were at it. As a result Sneaky Shae’s was starting to have a good reputation as the best little whorehouse in Nulbish.
Bendra Jooblins was one of the first recruits from the beggars guild to show any promise. She was obviously not a beggar, but had been recruited that night when everyone was run out of the squats by Orsino and his...
One of the common signs that a city or town is flourishing and progressing toward a higher degree of civilization, perhaps ironically (or perhaps as a matter of course), is the development of some kind of organized thieves’ guild, whether it be an outlawed organization or extended crime family operating covertly, or a legitimized guild with its own public guildhall and charter. In spite of the chaos and turmoil of the past two decades, including the Greyhawk Wars (582—584 CY), frequent skirmishes between the private armies of rival noble houses of the former Great Kingdom of Aerdy, raiding tribes of Euroz (orcs), Jebli (goblins), hoch-jebli (hobgoblins), and other rapacious nonhumans, et cetera, the war-ravaged land of Medegia is slowly rebuilding under the reign of its most recent ruler, the Horned King Malvolio I of the House of Rax-Nyrond. Malvolio declared Nulbish the capital city of his new Horned Kingdom of Medegia nearly three years ago, and as a result, the riverside port has experienced the swiftest recovery and restoration.
Along with this accelerated growth and rebuilding have come several new factions within the city walls. New temples are being constructed, including the Diabolical and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells, and the Discordian (Hextor) Citadel of Merciless Massacre; a secret cult of Vecna has claimed the dilapidated former Mages’ Tower Guildhall (after they discovered a preexisting and ancient subterranean chapel dedicated to their “Maimed Lord” beneath the abandoned guildhall); and an upstart would-be “Master of the Thieves’ Court,” a halfling rogue named Podo Littlefinger, managed to build up a fairly successful burgeoning thieves’ guild, claiming an old, abandoned, flood-warped Riverside warehouse to convert into a trap-riddled “Thieves’ Court” guildhall. For nearly eight months, “Master Littlefinger” and his “apprentice and journeyman thieves” steadily grew richer at the expense of their hapless victims, but they did not offer the Horned King even a single red copper penny in gratitude for turning a blind eye to their lawless activities for so long; The Horned King’s patience expired, and along with it, Podo Littlefinger’s halfling luck.
A trio of young and novice adventurers had newly arrived at the Horned King’s royal court in Castle Nulbish, eager to prove their value to the Horned King, and to test their mettle in urban adventure, so Malvolio deployed them to track down Podo Littlefinger and bring him to the High Hall to give answer for his flagrant disregard and ill manners, and to face the judgment of the Horned King. The “Horned King’s Men” had little trouble accomplishing this task, and Podo Littlefinger was hauled before the Horned King. The hapless “Master of the Thieves’ Court” stuttered and stammered as he pleaded for mercy, but Malvolio is not known for being merciful to those who’ve crossed him. With a single stroke of the bloodthirsty Sword of Kas, the Horned King beheaded Littlefinger, trapping his soul within the black blade.
One of the three adventurers, Grimaldi the court fool, under his alter ego guise, Kinky the Clown, took charge of the thieves who’d formerly followed Littlefinger, declaring himself as their new guild master and leader. Under his leadership, the Thieves’ Court seems poised to flourish and expand into a lucrative and formidable criminal enterprise.
CURRENT ROSTER: The Thieves’ Court guild in Nulbish (under the leadership of their new guild master, Kinky the Clown) currently consists of the following members:
JUNIOR GUILD THIEVES:
Crosseyed Gil (NE female human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Feigns poor vision to throw off suspicion
Dopey (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Deals illegal drugs (allnight, flayleaf, pesh, qat, shiver, and yellowcap mushrooms) in the seedier neighborhoods, beginning to suspect that someone is pilfering from his shiver supply
Fleabag (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Has poor hygiene and disheveled clothing
Gingersnap (NE female human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Pretty and voluptuous redhead with freckles and green eyes
Lazy Tim (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): As his nickname suggests, Lazy Tim prefers to do as little work as possible
Lefty (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Right hand was chopped off as punishment when he was caught picking pockets in Low Summer of 598 CY
Mushmouth (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Orthodontic deviations and a heavy qat-chewing habit are the causes of Mushmouth’s difficult-to-understand speech
Meathooks (NE male human [Oerid-Suel] unchained rogue 1/fighter 1): Has recently been training as a fighter so he can be a more effective enforcer for the guild
Penelope Peepers (NE female human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Neurotic brunette with bulging blue eyes and a nervous habit of frequent blinking
Shiverspine (NE male human [Suel-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Twitchy and spasmodic shiver addict who surreptitiously filches shiver from Dopey’s supply at every opportunity
Skinny Rob (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Though he is obese, Skinny Rob is a nimble and competent thief who loves eating “clumsy monduels” (a sloppy sandwich made from spiced and sweetened ground beef spilling out of an undersized bun)
Slippery Pete (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): One of the more ambitious junior guild thieves, scrawny and weak but agile and flexible
Snaggleteeth (NE female human [Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Dusky and tattooed pure Flanae woman with unfortunate dental deviations and multiple bronze piercings in ears, nose, and tongue
Snotwad (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): Allergies to common weeds and grasses provide Snotwad with plenty of “ammunition” for blowing snot-wads out of his nostrils (preferably onto an unsuspecting victim)
Swivelneck (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Recent diligent training is beginning to distinguish the paranoid and vigilant Swivelneck among the junior guild thieves
Taslo Voggendorf (NE male human [Suel-Oerid] unchained rogue 1/urban unchained barbarian 1): Half-Schnai (Snow Barbarian) thug and recent recruit (along with his childhood friend, Ursk Grottle), Taslo refuses to adopt a “silly nickname,” and has been giving Meathooks tips to help him become a better fighter
Ursk Grottle (NE male human [Suel-Oerid] unchained rogue 2): Half-Schnai (Snow Barbarian) thug and recent recruit (along with his childhood friend, Taslo Voggendorf), Ursk eschews the adoption of a “childish nickname,” and enjoys heckling Meathooks and Taslo while they are practicing swordplay or lifting heavy bags of rocks to build strength
Yellowbelly (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 1): As his nickname suggests, Yellowbelly is a consummate coward and worrier, calming his nerves enough to sleep each night by drinking a whole bottle of cheap wine
SENIOR GUILD THIEVES:
Gimpy (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Fakes a limp and palsy to throw off suspicions that he is actually a deft purse-cutter and pickpocket
Mangy Molly (or Marge) (NE female human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Suffers from a chronic skin condition that makes her scalp and arms break out in itchy rashes, balding in patches from excessive scratching
Pimples O’Malley (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Oily and unkempt, with severe facial acne and a frequent nose-picking habit
Shuffletoes Mort (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Exceptionally graceful dancer and acrobat, but feigns a shuffling gait to throw off suspicion
Sneaky Shae (NE female human [Oerid] unchained rogue 1/geisha bard 1): As sexy as she is sneaky, Shae’s promiscuous nature has made her popular with her guild mates, and she has been promoted to madam of “Sneaky Shae’s,” a new brothel in heated competition with the House of Silken Veils (marked I on the Nulbish City Map)
Spittlepot (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): An avid qat-chewer, Spittlepot has the gross habit of carrying around a small pewter pot which he frequently spits into, periodically dumping it out when it gets too full
Stinkfoot (NE male human [Flanae-Baklunish] unchained rogue 2): Stinkfoot hates his nickname, and has been trying to get everyone to call him “Night-Eagle” instead ever since Podo Littlefoot saddled him with it, but his chronic foot odor virtually guarantees that his preferred nickname will never catch on
Stuttering Sam (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Stuttering Sam is shy and socially awkward due to a stutter he’s had since he was kicked in the head by a donkey as a child, but his skill at picking locks and disabling traps is an asset to the guild
Swampy Max (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): A systemic imbalance related to a neurological disorder causes Swampy Max to sweat profusely unless the temperate is lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit
Thumbs Willy (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): Both thumbs upturned is Willy’s signature gesture, used frequently and indiscriminately (often inappropriately)
Tiburon (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] cutthroat slayer 2): A homicidal maniac who has a fascination with spilling blood, but also an avid fan of theater, Tiburon grows increasingly impatient waiting for the recently established Nulbish Opera and Playhouse (marked G on the Nulbish City Map) to open its doors to the public and begin their premier season of concerts, operas, and plays
Two-Times Jake (NE male human [Oerid-Flanae] unchained rogue 2): An obsessive compulsion to repeat everything he says a second time gives Jake his on-the-nose nickname
Yum-Yum (NE female human [Shou-Baklunish] unchained rogue 1/geisha bard 1): An exotically beautiful and seductive recent recruit to both the Thieves’ Court guild and Sneaky Shae’s brothel, Yum-Yum specializes in robbing intoxicated johns and blackmailing wealthy married johns
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— Archbishop Urizire Maleonidras (LE male tiefling [hellspawn] Asmodean advocate cleric 13 of Asmodeus) is a hellspawn tiefling man of indeterminate age, standing a full seven feet tall, with an athletic physique, devilishly handsome features that clearly mark him as the descendant of a devil — unblemished scarlet skin, small black horns protruding from his brow, straight jet-black hair that falls to just below his broad shoulders, a long prehensile tail ending in a two-tined fork shape, black cloven hooves instead of feet, and eyes as black as a starless void, with blood-red vertical slit-shaped pupils, reminiscent of a fiendish feline or reptile’s pupils. Seeming to possess an almost supernatural charm and guile, Archbishop Urizire Maleonidras’ background is a carefully-guarded secret that he alone fully knows. All that most of the townsfolk of Nulbish really know about him (including his eight subordinate priests and priestesses at the Diabolic and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells) is that he arrived in Nulbish in Fireseek of 597 CY, shortly before the city was captured by the Horned King, and that he rendered significant profane and tactical aid to the Horned King during his siege of Nulbish. In gratitude, the Horned King bestowed upon the powerful Asmodean advocate the title of “Archbishop,” and ordered the construction of the Diabolic and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells during the week of Growfest of 597 CY. The Temple is still being constructed nearly three years later, but great progress has been made, and Horned King Malvolio I bestowed upon Archbishop Urizire the position of commanding high priest, granting him authority over the other clergy of the Diabolic and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells.
— Bishop Kalpheni Delphilech (LE male half-fiend [infernal] human [Oeridian] infernal bloodline sorcerer 6/hidden priest cleric 5 of Mephistopheles) is the spawn of an evil Oeridian infernal bloodline sorceress named Delphilia, who was impregnated by a horned devil (a.k.a. cornugon) named Nulzestal circa 573 CY, giving birth to the half-fiend only 9 nights later. The sorceress Delphilia died an agonizing death birthing the unholy infant, but not before she named him Kalpheni Delphilech (“The Damnation of Delphilia” in Old Oeridian). The hideous orphan was raised by the coven of witches and warlocks Delphilia had been a member of prior to her self-inflicted “damnation,” growing to full maturity within 9 years (circa 582 CY). The coven were devil-worshipers who especially revered Mephistopheles, Lord of Cania “the Eighth,” and they indoctrinated Kalpheni into the occult mysteries of diabolism and the profane rites of Mephistopheles. Ordained as a diabolic priest of Mephistopheles in a hidden cavern-temple dedicated to the Lord of Cania on the next dark phase of Luna (on Midsummer’s Night in 585 CY), “Father” Kalpheni advanced quickly through the occulted hierarchy of the profane church, and was promoted to “Vicar” in Wealsun of 587 CY, and then “Bishop” by Coldeven of 591 CY (after murdering all of his rivals and his predecessor). In 597 CY, hearing of the “glorious” conquests of the Horned King of Medegia, Bishop Kalpheni Delphilech petitioned the Mephistophelean hierarchs for a “transfer” to the new capital city of the Horned Kingdom, Nulbish on the Thelly River, where the Horned King had recently decreed the construction of a new bastion of diabolism — The Diabolic and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells. His request to be transferred there was granted, and Bishop Kalpheni Delphilech has served as the high priest of Mephistopheles at the Temple for nearly three years now, second in power and command only to Archbishop Urizire Maleonidias.
— Pater Muscavolitrio (LE accuser devil [zebub] vexing dodger unchained rogue 5/hidden priest cleric 5 of Baalzebul) is an accuser devil (a.k.a. zebub), a hideous, childlike blasphemy that conjoins the features of a plump human infant and a gigantic, gore-fattened fly. Childlike souls tormented and scoured of innocence by the flames of Hell and then reshaped by the mad whims of the archdevil Baalzebul, accuser devils embody the foul, merciless, and pervasive corruptions of the infernal host. Accuser devils are almost exclusively formed amid the cesspits of frozen Cocytus, the seventh layer of Hell. Within the Pit they serve countless infernal lords as messengers and spies, with droves being unleashed upon myriad mortal worlds with a mandate to seek out souls ripe for corruption or those whose sins might lead to greater damnations. These lesser devils stand just over 2 feet tall and rarely weigh more than 25 pounds. Pater Muscavolitrio appears to be a typical accuser devil, but in fact, the little fiend is exceptional among its kind, having been selected by Baalzebul (the “Slug Archduke” and “Lord of Lies/Flies”) to serve in a special capacity on the Prime Material Plane world of Oerth. “Gifted” by the Lord of the Seventh with even more cunning than is usual for its kind, and with a heightened sense of self-preservation and ambition, Pater Muscavolitrio has been sent to serve as Baalzebul’s “little spy” in Nulbish. Aside from the zebub vexing dodger/hidden priest’s fellow priests and priestesses at the Diabolic and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells, and a small number of faithful worshipers of Baalzebul that regularly visit the Temple, Pater Muscavolitrio’s existence in Nulbish is virtually unknown, for it employs its greater teleport and invisibility spell-like abilities, as well as its natural stealthiness and cunning, to move about the city unseen, and otherwise remains cloistered within its lair in the Temple.
— Mother Cazzandria (LE female tiefling [hellspawn] infernal bloodline sorceress 6/possessed tongues flame oracle 4 of Zariel) is a hellspawn tiefling descended from a minor aristocratic Oeridian family with ties to House Darmen and an erinyes devil ancestor named Debacchatia (one of the furies serving as shield maidens in the court of Zariel, Archduchess of Avernus and Lord of the First). Mother Cazzandria (she has abandoned her surname, having severed all ties with her former family in Zelradton) stands 6-feet-6-inches tall, with an austere and fiery beauty that tends to intimidate rather than attract. Her unblemished complexion is a rusty red color, her eyes are an amber yellow without pupils, and her eyelashes and eyebrows are the color of burnished brass, but she is completely bald, with no other hair anywhere else on her body. Her ears are pointed like an elf’s, but longer and more severe, with multiple gold and hematite earrings and ornamental piercings, including studs in her long, aquiline nose, high cheeks, and her plump black lips and forked black tongue. Mother Cazzandria is stern and humorless, with a volcanic temper.
— Canon Jando (LE male human [Oeridian] cardinal cleric 8 of Dispater) is a middle-aged Oeridian man of average stature and build, with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair, a neatly-groomed forked beard and mustache that have gone more gray than the hair on his head, upswept eyebrows that give him a wicked appearance, and steel-grey eyes. Canon Jando rarely wears armor, preferring a long black robe with a high collar, emblazoned on the chest and back with the unholy symbol of Dispater — an iron spike driven into a golden ring with a red and purple crown. He sometimes dons a silver skullcap, and a gold ring of many carats with a ruby setting adorns the middle finger of his left hand. If Canon Jando is expecting combat, he dons blood-red studded leather armor with bronze studs, straps a light steel shield emblazoned with the unholy symbol of Dispater onto his right arm (he is left-handed), and wields a blackened steel morningstar in his left hand. However, he much prefers guile and cunning manipulations over direct confrontation, being a shrewd politician and a skilled orator. Canon Jando is also a savvy businessman, with multiple ventures throughout Nulbish and elsewhere generating income and influence for the worldly cleric.
— Vicar Lucrumas Avaritius (LE male human [Oeridian] cutpurse unchained rogue 4/evangelist cleric 4 of Mammon) is a portly Oeridian man of middle age, with shoulder-length wavy light-brown hair, a well-groomed mustache and goatee of the same color, a slightly ruddy complexion, and heavy-lidded hazel-green eyes that give him an appearance of constant boredom or lethargy. Vicar Lucrumas eschews priestly robes and vestments for tailored finery in the latest courtly fashions, and is always bedecked with jewelry of fine gold or silver inlaid with precious gemstones. He usually carries a scepter of ornately-wrought scarlet-tinted iron with onyxes and jets inlaid along its length, topped with the gold-plated skull of an imp with a pair of glittering rubies set into the hollow eye sockets. The vain and pompous vicar often wears a cloak of black velvet trimmed with sable or ermine, or the fells of a fox, wolf, or bear draped over his neck and shoulders. His apparel is completed by red satin slippers or fine leather boots, and a vicar’s cap of black velvet, to which is pinned the oily black feather of a raven. Vicar Lucrumas Avaritius has traded his immortal soul to Mammon, Viscount of Minauros and Lord of the Third, in exchange for worldly wealth and prestige. Indeed, he is one of the wealthiest individuals in Nulbish, both in assets and monetary treasure, but he keeps this fact a carefully-guarded secret, lest he fall prey to robbers and thieves (or tempt the Horned King himself to “relieve” him of some of his excessive wealth).
— Domina Ardensia Flammifer (LE female ifrit cult leader warpriestess 7 of Belial and Fernia) is an ifrit woman of smoldering beauty and mercurial charm that serves to conceal her secret fanaticism. Standing 5-feet-4-inches tall, with the slim and nubile appearance of a young maiden, Domina Ardensia Flammifer is anything but a maiden, possessing a fiery passion and sensual nature not unlike Archduchess Fernia of Phlegethos herself, Lady of the Fourth, whom the warpriestess reveres in equal measure to her reverence for the Archdevil Belial (Lady Fernia’s father and the former Archduke of Phlegethos, who still rules from behind her throne). She is bisexual, with an insatiable appetite for carnal pleasures, and always has multiple infatuated lovers vying for her affections at any given time. Domina Ardensia is a capable battlefield healer, a clever tactician, and a formidable warrior, wielding a magical +1 flaming falchion named “Hellstar” in battle. If she expects combat, Domina Ardensia dons a chain shirt under her scarlet-and-yellow tunic and priestly vestments, and a winged bronze helmet with a visor shaped like a hawk’s beak.
— Prelate Daemien Cryophilaxtor (LE male tiefling [hellspawn] tyrant antipaladin 6 of Levistus) is a hellspawn tiefling man in his mid-twenties, scion of a nearly extinct minor Oeridian noble family with ties to House Naelax in Bellport, and an ancient gelugon (ice devil) ancestor named Cryophiliax (a.k.a. the “Glacial Reaper of Stygia”), who serves Levistus, Prince of Stygia and Lord of the Fifth, as an enforcer and executioner. Prelate Daemien towers to a height of nearly 7 feet tall, with a hulking, heavily-muscled physique, skin the color of a cloudless blue sky, midnight-blue multifaceted eyes like those of a praying mantis or a fly, serrated mantid-like mandibles flanking his otherwise humanoid mouth, slit-like nostrils in lieu of anything like a humanoid nose, and a wild shock of snow-white hair-like tendrils worn up in a topknot atop his otherwise humanoid head. His powerful arms end in six-fingered claw-like hands, and his tree-trunk-thick legs are triple-jointed like those of a giant praying mantis. Due to these deviations from “typical” humanoid anatomy, Prelate Daemien Cryophilaxtor was obliged to commission a master armorer to forge his customized suit of half-plate armor, including a fearsome-looking helmet with a visor that accommodates his mandibles. In battle, he wields a +1 frost scythe named “Rime-Razor” that glows with an eerie blue-green luminescence (like the “witch-fires” that dance across the heavens in the northernmost regions of the continent of Oerik).
— Dame Sarfirith “the Converted” (LE female noble drow heretic inquisitor 6 of Glasya) is a darkly beautiful noble drow woman, formerly an inquisitor of Lolth, and Third Daughter of the noble drow House of Kilsek in the Vault of the Drow beneath the Hellfurnaces. In the aftermath of the Priestess Wars that raged through Erelhei-Cinlu around the same time that the surface lands were ravaged by the Greyhawk Wars (circa 582—584 CY), House Eilservs reestablished dominance within the Vault of the Drow, and House Kilsek was exiled. Matron Venrit led the outcast noble house of Kilsek on a long and perilous exodus westward through the vast and uncharted depths of DeepOerth (a.k.a. the “Underdark” or “UnderOerth”), finally settling in the subterranean city of Kalan-G’eld (formerly a city of the illithids) and became embroiled in the Godwar against various other factions and realms of western Oerik, which commenced circa 586 CY. However, Sarfrith, embittered by Kilsek’s defeat and banishment at the hands of Matron Eclavdra of House Eilservs, and feeling betrayed by their capricious and ungrateful demoness-goddess, renounced Lolth and House Kilsek forever thereafter, fleeing eastward through unknown regions of DeepOerth. Although she traveled alone, she sensed that some powerful unseen entity was guiding and protecting her from the countless horrors and hazards of DeepOerth. By the time she emerged onto the surface at the southern border of the Adri Forest, she had become aware that her mysterious benefactor was none other than Glasya, Princess of the Nine Hells of Baator, Daughter of Asmodeus, and Lady of Malbolge “the Sixth.” She underwent a drastic change of ethos at that moment, denouncing Chaos in favor of Law, and converted at once to the worship of Glasya, becoming one of the Archdevil’s inquisitors thereafter. Her diabolical patroness led her to Nulbish, where she joined the clergy at the Diabolic and Profane Temple of the Nine Hells (taking the title “Dame,” and the nickname “the Converted”), circa Fireseek of 598 CY. Over the past two-and-a-half years, Dame Sarfirith “the Converted” has adapted to life on the surface of Oerth. During the hours of daylight, she dons a pair of specially-crafted magical penumbral goggles that surround her in shadow so that she isn’t blinded or seared by the light of Oerth’s sun. She also possesses a cloak of arachnida, an adamantine short sword, a masterwork scourge, and a masterwork hand crossbow.
Prerequisites: Must be a living creature with 5 or more Hit Dice/levels.
Alignment: Any evil.
Armor: Must be proficient with heavy armor and own a suit of full plate armor.
In death, the graveknight’s life force lingers on in its armor, not its corpse, in much the same way that a lich’s essence is bound within a phylactery. Unless every part of a graveknight’s armor is ruined along with its body, a graveknight can rejuvenate after it is destroyed. A typical suit of full plate graveknight armor has hardness 10 and 45 hit points, though armor with enhancements or made of special materials proves more difficult to destroy. Merely breaking a graveknight’s armor does not destroy it; it must be ruined, such as by being disintegrated, taken to the Positive Energy Plane, or thrown into the heart of a volcano.
Anyone who treats a graveknight’s armor as simply battle spoils risks both body and soul. Graveknights rejuvenate when destroyed. Their bodies literally grow back, with tendrils of undead flesh coiling out from recesses in their armor like gruesome creepers, unless opponents take pains to also obliterate the armor. These unholy strands have no objection to infesting a living host instead of producing a new body for their master.
People who claim a graveknight’s armor rarely recognize the threat until too late, as part of the magic of the rejuvenation makes wearers oblivious to the invasion of their own bodies. When they take the armor off to sleep, they overlook the puncture marks and deep fissures upon their skin. Some sinister instinct also causes them to conceal these wounds from their companions. Only the particularly observant (and a DC 25 Perception check) perceive the peril in time help their friend cast aside the armor.
Once the rejuvenation period ends 1d10 days later, the wearer must make a Will save (DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the graveknight’s HD + the graveknight’s Cha modifier) each day to avoid transforming into the original graveknight. This transformation consumes mind as well as body, immediately slaying the victim and utterly destroying the body.
To wear graveknight armor safely, its new owner must cleanse it of evil and forever sever its connection to its undead master. This cleansing requires the casting of three different spells in rapid succession. Two are always break enchantment and holy word. The third varies with each graveknight and relates back to the unique circumstances surrounding its first death and return. Figuring out the correct spell usually entails a great deal of research and careful thought. And of course, while this detective work is happening, the armor continues to steadily regenerate the graveknight.
Undying tyrants and eternal champions of the undead, graveknights arise from the corpses of the most nefarious warlords and disgraced heroes—villains too merciless to submit to the shackles of death. They bear the same weapons and regalia they did in life, though warped or empowered by their profane resurrection. The legions they once held also flock to them in death, ready to serve their wicked ambitions once more. A graveknight’s essence is fundamentally tied to its armor, the bloodstained trappings of its battle lust. This armor becomes an icon of its perverse natures, transforming into a monstrous second skin over the husk of desiccated flesh and scarred bone locked within.
1st LEVEL
Type: At 1st level, the graveknight’s type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, BAB, or saves.
Senses: At 1st level, the graveknight gains darkvision 20 ft. If the character already had darkvision, its range is increased by 20 ft.
Aura: At 1st level, the graveknight gains the following aura.
Sacrilegious Aura (Su)
A 1st-level graveknight constantly exudes an aura of intense evil and negative energy in a 10-foot radius. This aura functions as the spell desecrate and uses the graveknight’s armor as an altar of sorts to double the effects granted. The graveknight constantly gains the benefits of this effect (including the bonus hit points, as this aura is part of the graveknight’s creation). In addition, this miasma of fell energies hinders the channeling of positive energy. Any creature that attempts to summon positive energy in this area—such as through a cleric’s channel energy ability, a paladin’s lay on hands, or any spell with the healing subtype—must make a concentration check with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the graveknight’s Hit Dice + the graveknight’s Charisma modifier. If the character fails, the effect is expended but does not function.
Armor Class: At 1st level, the graveknight's natural armor improves by +2.
Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As an undead, a graveknight uses their Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points.
Defensive Abilities: At 1st level, the graveknight gains channel resistance +2; DR 4/magic; and resistance to cold 10, electricity 10, and resistance 10 to any additional energy type noted by their ruinous revivification special quality. A 1st-level graveknight also gains spell resistance equal to their augmented CR + 5.
At 1st level, the graveknight also gains the following ability.
Rejuvenation (Su)
One day after a graveknight is destroyed, its armor begins to rebuild the undead horror’s body. This process takes 1d10 days—if the body is destroyed before that time passes, the armor merely starts the process anew. After this time has elapsed, the graveknight wakens fully healed.
Attacks: At 1st level, the graveknight gains a slam attack if the base creature didn’t have one. Damage for the slam depends on the graveknight’s size. A Medium graveknight's base slam damage is 1d4; a Small graveknight's base slam damage is 1d3.
Special Attacks: At 1st level, the graveknight gains the following special attacks. Save DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 the graveknight’s HD + the graveknight’s Charisma modifier unless otherwise noted.
Channel Destruction (Su)
Any weapon a graveknight wields seethes with energy, and deals an additional 1d6 points of damage for every 4 Hit Dice the graveknight has. This additional damage is of the energy type determined by the ruinous revivification special quality.
Devestating Blast (Su)
Three times per day, the graveknight may unleash a 30-foot cone of energy as a standard action. This blast deals 2d6 points of damage for every 3 Hit Dice a graveknight has (Reflex for half). This damage is of the energy type determined by the graveknight’s ruinous revivification special quality.
Special Qualities: A 1st-level graveknight gains the following.
Phantom Mount (Su)
Once per hour, a graveknight can summon a skeletal horse similar to a phantom steed. This mount is more real than a typical phantom steed, and can carry one additional rider. The mount’s powers are based on the graveknight’s total Hit Dice rather than caster level. A graveknight’s mount looks distinctive and always appears the same each time it is summoned. If the mount is destroyed, it can be summoned again with full hit points 1 hour later.
Ruinous Revivification (Su)
At the time of its creation (i.e., upon taking their 1st level in the graveknight monstrous class), the graveknight chooses one of the following energy types: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This energy type should be relevant to the graveknight’s life or death, defaulting to fire if none are especially appropriate. This energy type influences the effects of several of a graveknight’s special abilities.
Ability Scores: At 1st level, the graveknight gains the following modifications to ability scores. Str +2, Wis +2, Cha +2. As an undead creature, a graveknight has no Constitution score. Everything that was previously modified by the character's Constitution score prior to becoming undead now uses the graveknight's Charisma modifier instead (i.e., hit points and Fort saving throw).
Skills: At 1st level, the graveknight gains a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Ride checks. If they weren't already class skills for the character, Intimidate, Perception, and Ride become class skills for the 1st-level graveknight.
Feats: At 1st level, the graveknight gains a bonus feat, which must be chosen from the following list: Improved Initiative, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, or Toughness.
2nd LEVEL
Senses: At 2nd level, the range of the graveknight's darkvision increases by 20 ft. (to a total range of 40 ft., or if the character already had darkvision prior to taking their 1st level in the graveknight monstrous class, the range of their preexisting darkvision increases by a total of 40 ft.).
Aura: At 2nd level, the graveknight's aura increases in range as follows.
Sacrilegious Aura (Su)
At 2nd level, the range of the graveknight's sacrilegious aura increases to a 20-foot radius.
Armor Class: At 2nd level, the graveknight's natural armor improves by +1 (to a total of +3).
Defensive Abilities: At 2nd level, the graveknight's channel resistance increases by +1 (to a total of +3); their DR increases to DR 7/magic; and their energy resistances increase to cold 20, electricity 20, and resistance 20 to any additional energy type noted by their ruinous revivification special quality. A 2nd-level graveknight's spell resistance becomes equal to their augmented CR + 8.
Ability Scores: At 2nd level, the graveknight gains the following modifications to ability scores. Str +2 (+4 total), Int +1, Wis +1 (+3 total), Cha +1 (+3 total).
Skills: At 2nd level, the graveknight's total racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Ride checks increases to +6.
Feats: At 2nd level, the graveknight gains a second bonus feat, which must be chosen from the following list: Improved Initiative, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, or Toughness. (This second bonus feat cannot be the same bonus feat chosen at 1st level, of course.)
3rd LEVEL
Senses: At 3rd level, the range of the graveknight's darkvision increases by 20 ft. (to a total range of 60 ft., or if the character already had darkvision prior to taking their 1st level in the graveknight monstrous class, the range of their preexisting darkvision increases by a total of 60 ft.).
Aura: At 3rd level, the graveknight's aura increases in range as follows.
Sacrilegious Aura (Su)
At 3rd level, the range of the graveknight's sacrilegious aura increases to a 30-foot radius.
Armor Class: At 3rd level, the graveknight's natural armor improves by +1 (to a total of +4).
Defensive Abilities: At 3rd level, the graveknight's channel resistance increases by +1 (to a total of +4); their DR increases to DR 10/magic; and they gain immunity to cold, electricity, and any additional energy type noted by their ruinous revivification special quality. A 3rd-level graveknight's spell resistance becomes equal to their augmented CR + 11.
Ability Scores: At 3rd level, the graveknight gains the following modifications to ability scores. Str +2 (+6 total), Int +1 (+2 total), Wis +1 (+4 total), Cha +1 (+4 total).
Skills: At 3rd level, the graveknight's total racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Ride checks increases to +8.
Feats: At 3rd level, the graveknight gains the remaining two previously unchosen bonus feats from the following list: Improved Initiative, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, or Toughness.
Special Attacks: At 3rd level, the graveknight gains the following special attack.
Undead Mastery (Su)
As a standard action, a graveknight can attempt to bend any undead creature within 50 feet to its will. The targeted undead must succeed at a Will save or fall under the graveknight’s control. This control is permanent for unintelligent undead; an undead with an Intelligence score is allowed an additional save every day to break free from the graveknight’s control. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same graveknight’s undead mastery for 24 hours. A graveknight can control 5 Hit Dice of undead creatures for every Hit Die it has. If the graveknight exceeds this number, the excess from earlier uses of the ability becomes uncontrolled, as per animate dead.
The lust for battle and sheer will to win allow some truly evil and vile warriors to shrug off their final defeat. Through methods that remain poorly understood, the vengeful spirit of such a fearsome combatant sometimes forms a bond with its armor that permits it to simply refuse death, its spirit lingering long past when it should have gone on to its eternal punishment in the afterlife. Similar in many ways to a lich’s phylactery, this armor rebuilds the undead knight’s body whenever it is beaten in combat. Only by utterly destroying the armor, by annihilating it rather than just breaking it into pieces, can an opponent truly end the existence of the despicable creatures known as graveknights.
Unlike liches, graveknights almost never plan this return from their last battle. It happens, seemingly spontaneously and at random, to people totally unprepared for an undead existence. Wedded to the physical world but deprived of all sensual pleasure by their deathless state, graveknights deal with their transformation in a variety of ways. Some take up or resume the service of dark gods or more powerful evil creatures in the hope that their patrons will eventually deign to lift their curse, while others simply resume where they left off, seeking dominion over mortals and the exhilaration of crushing their enemies. Still others spend their days careening between futile attempts to recapture the heady exhilaration of battle and wrestling with the tedium of their actual existence. Acting in part out of habit, these latter warriors recreate the horrors and atrocities that once excited them, but taste nothing but ash for their trouble. Unable to accept that they will never again feel a surge of adrenaline or the heady thrill of triumph, they wade ever deeper into the carnage, blood, and misery that defined their mortal lives.
Graveknights do not feed on pain or death, nor do they need to kill in order to continue their existence. Though some slaughter mortals out of anger, for revenge, or simply to continue proving their battle prowess in much the same way they did in life, others do so merely out of reflex, with no more thought to the lives they cut short than someone swatting a fly. In some ways, this behavior makes them even worse than those undead who must prey upon the living in order to survive. The manner and attitude with which a graveknight approaches violence depends entirely on the mortal warrior it once was, yet ultimately, all are incarnate killers, and as the centuries of slaughter wind on, many lose what little shreds of humanity still cling to them, defining themselves solely through battle and conquest.
The circumstances of their lives, and especially their deaths, define many physical aspects of graveknights as well. All of them have the ability to channel one particular sort of energy. This energy is typically determined by the moments when they crossed the threshold between life and death and began their new existence. A general burned at the stake for his war crimes, for instance, might return as a graveknight with an affinity for fire energy, while one who finally succumbed to her wounds in a bloodstained snowfield might have an affinity for cold.
Warriors and leaders of troops in life, graveknights ape this practice in death. Though unable to create undead themselves, they have the power to compel those they encounter to march under their banner. Though some continue to lead living soldiers as well, especially if serving as the commander for some dark god’s or patron’s mortal forces, this ability to control undead makes them that much more cavalier about the people they kill or the rebukes they dispense to their own soldiers, as every death bolsters the army’s strength once one of their clerical lieutenants animates the fallen.
People near a graveknight feel a soul-rending sensation of isolation and loss which many describe as feeling as if the gods themselves had suddenly turned away from them. Indeed, this impression is more than simply a feeling, as prayers and uses of positive energy regularly fizzle and fail near a graveknight. Graveknights capitalize on the sense of abandonment caused by their sacrilegious aura. Though in truth it does more to bolster them and other undead, they also like to play on the fear and uncertainty it invokes. By claiming that anyone slain by their hand dies out of sight of the gods, they sometimes cause opponents to hesitate and falter. Of course, only those who worship the gods of the light sense this in their souls. Servants of darker powers instead experience a bleak confidence.
Though they often appear to despise their existence, graveknights seem incapable of suicide. While perfectly willing to fight right up to the destruction of their bodies, they never slacken their attacks in the hope of defeat. Whether this is a part of their curse or simply a natural result of the sorts of ragingly egomaniacal personalities that become graveknights is unclear, but when possible, graveknights look for ways to cause their armor to teleport to a safe location if they get beaten. No graveknight would ever willingly reveal its secret weakness—that a foe must destroy its armor to truly end it.
ECOLOGY
Graveknights are born of defeat, and it is their rage at such an end that allows them to return, attempting to erase their failure through greater triumphs and atrocities. Unfortunately for them, while they remember many aspects of mortal life, they can never truly experience them again. Graveknights cannot physically enjoy sleep, food, sex, or other such pleasures, though some may go through the motions in pursuit of those emotions they are still allowed: triumph, victory, and the grim satisfaction of absolute dominance. Even these may lose their luster over time, however—the longer a graveknight exists, the greater the conquest it must wallow in to achieve satisfaction.
Though unable to experience terror, pain, or grief themselves, graveknights still remember these feelings and know how to produce them in others. The best the living can hope for when they encounter a graveknight is a quick death, for graveknights burn both forests and towns with equal aplomb, killing innocents and champions for sport or simply to cow their opponents. Graveknights rarely restrain their violent impulses unless these urges interfere with some greater plan—and even then, they sometimes slip and kill without a second thought.
A graveknight’s body exists as a desiccated husk of bone and flesh within its armor, but these constantly rejuvenated remains are of no particular significance or function. Rather, it’s the armor of a graveknight that is its true flesh, the lifeline and cage that shackles it to the material world. Similarly, the glowing eyes that can be seen through the creature’s helmet are not its actual eyes, but rather twin points of light manifested by the raging spirit itself.
HABITAT & SOCIETY
Graveknights usually begin their new existence by picking up where they left off at the moment of death. Most spent their first few months hunting down enemies or reclaiming lost territory. All too soon, however, such amusements begin to pale. Their inability to recapture the sensations that once defined their lives soon causes them to lose interest in earlier pursuits, instead embracing the single motivation left to them: arrogance. For though lesser goals like revenge may consume them for a while, most graveknights eventually come to understand their immortal state as an acknowledgment of their inherent superiority over lesser beings—even over death itself. Even those who regard their existence as a curse see it this way; in their decaying minds, this unholy gift was granted to them because they were the most capable, the most driven, the most fearsome, and the most deserving of rule. With each century of slaughter that goes by, each army that fails to stand against their undead battle prowess, this sense of elitism and entitlement grows, until it eventually becomes the graveknight’s defining characteristic. The graveknight kills and conquers because it can, and because every victory strengthens its own idea of itself and its purpose.
For this reason, graveknights generally regard each other as rivals and inferiors, and almost never associate unless compelled to by necessity (or by someone stronger). When they are encountered in groups, the group is invariably led by the most powerful of them, who holds the lesser graveknights in check through sheer power and force of will. Such pecking orders are maintained only until the leader is destroyed, at which the point the subservient graveknights jockey for position until a clear victor is again recognized, and the cycle repeats.
When graveknights serve other powerful creatures or beings, this service should not be confused with love or fealty. A graveknight serving a master does not in any way feel less arrogant or sure of its own mastery. It might see their arrangement in terms of defined roles, with itself as the master of physical combat and its associate the master of magic, which the graveknight regards as inferior. Other graveknights see their alliances as a matter of convenience, the most effective way to advance their own ends. Regardless, in the long run, every graveknight expects to come out on top, and in due time the graveknight challenges its ally or master, or even its patron god—though that time may be measured in centuries.
Can I get a list of the Horned Society gang I met and half/sorta started taken over when I and my force of Hobgoblins and Lemure Devils stormed the neighborhood -- effectively ending their feud with their enemies by slaughtering them?
Converting them to me -- finishing what I started -- is my next big goal. I know I met them and we segued a relationship with them for a couple days before the PCs left for The Grandwood and the Aboleth Hole, but now a whole other month has passed as we've gone to White Plume Mt. So it's been two months since I spoke with them for more than ten minutes.
Orsino knows them, but I do not and it'll be cool-beans if I could have a post here of who's who as far as I know.
.
.
.
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And as you know, the Vampire Baron of Thelly is high on my list of upcoming 'Let's touch base with him again' meetings.
Can I get a list of the Horned Society gang I met and half/sorta started taken over when I and my force of Hobgoblins and Lemure Devils stormed the neighborhood -- effectively ending their feud with their enemies by slaughtering them?
Converting them to me -- finishing what I started -- is my next big goal. I know I met them and we segued a relationship with them for a couple days before the PCs left for The Grandwood and the Aboleth Hole, but now a whole other month has passed as we've gone to White Plume Mt. So it's been two months since I spoke with them for more than ten minutes.
Orsino knows them, but I do not and it'll be cool-beans if I could have a post here of who's who as far as I know.
.
.
.
.
And as you know, the Vampire Baron of Thelly is high on my list of upcoming 'Let's touch base with him again' meetings.
5. MERCILESS RAMPART INTERIOR: Garrisoned here are 16 halberdiers led by Sergeant Alexes Furg, a cantankerous brigand who worships Asmodeus. This lot of halberdiers have been swayed by their sergeant’s whinging fervor for the archdevil, and all are lawful evil. A small shrine dedicated to Asmodeus is prominently displayed here, and this unit bears the yellow pentagram symbol emblazoned on their scale mail.
XP 600 Male human warrior 3 LN Medium humanoid (human) Init +5; Senses Perception +7
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+8 armor, +1 Dex) hp 22 (3d10+6) Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +3
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. with armor) Melee masterwork halberd +7 (1d10+3/x3) Ranged masterwork light crossbow +5 (1d8/19-20)
STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 9 Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 15 Feats Alertness, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (halberd) Skills Diplomacy +2, Knowledge (local) +4, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7 Languages Common, Dwarven Treasure +1 banded mail, masterwork halberd, masterwork light crossbow with 20 bolts, gold pentagram of Asmodeus on gold necklace worth 150 gp, coin pouch holding 4 agates worth 10 gp each, 6 gp, 12 sp, and 18 cp
Halberdiers (16) CR 1/3
XP 135
Male human warrior 2
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +3
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor)
hp 13 (2d10+2)
Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee halberd +4 (1d10+1/×3) or sap +3 (1d6+1 nonlethal)
Ranged light crossbow +2 (1d8/19–20)
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 11
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 13
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (halberd)
Skills Intimidate +5, Perception +3
Languages Common
Treasure Masterwork scale mail, halberd, light crossbow with 20 bolts, sap, bullseye lantern, manacles, signal whistle, coin pouch holding 1d6 gp, 2d6 sp, and 3d6 cp
6. PERNICIOUS RAMPART INTERIOR: Garrisoned here are 14 archers led by Gray Marsha, a devotee of Belial. A small shrine dedicated to the archdevil is prominently displayed here. Cruel and merciless, Gray Marsha and her archers are susceptible to bribery, and might be willing to join the party in an attack on one or more of their mutual enemies.
[spoiler=Gray Marsha & the 14 archers of the "Pernicious Rampart"] Gray Marsha CR 3
XP 600
Female human fighter 4
LE Medium humanoid
Init +1; Senses Perception -1
DEFENSE
AC 22, touch 11, flat-footed 21 (+9 armor, +1 Dex, +2 shield)
hp 38 (4d10+12)
Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +2 (+1 vs. fear)
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee mwk longsword +10 (1d8+4/19–20)
Ranged composite longbow (Str +3) +5 (1d8+3/x3)
Special Attacks weapon training (heavy blades +1)
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 13
Base Atk +4; CMB +7; CMD 18
Feats Iron Will, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Weapon Focus (longsword), Toughness
Skills Climb +5, Intimidate +8
Languages Common
SQ armor training 1, bravery +1
Gear masterwork full plate, heavy steel shield, masterwork longsword, composite longbow with 20 arrows
Archers (14) CR 1/2
XP 200
Human warrior 2
CN Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses Perception –1
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 shield)
hp 11 (2d10)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will –1
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee rapier +3 (1d6+1/18–20) or sap +3 (1d6+1 nonlethal)
Ranged composite longbow +4 (1d8+1/x3)
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 9
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 16
Feats Dodge, Point Blank Shot
Skills Climb +4, Handle Animal +3, Intimidate +3, Ride +5, Stealth +2
Languages Common
Treasure studded leather, buckler, composite longbow (+1 Str) with 20 arrows, rapier, sap, coin pouch holding 1d6 gp, 2d6 sp, and 3d6 cp
[/spoiler]
9. RANCOROUS RAMPART INTERIOR: Garrisoned here are 10 brigands under the command of Armiger Heckler Bungbolt, an ardent worshiper of Dispater, who leads his swordsmen in sacrificing the blood of their enemies to the archdevil. A small shrine venerating Dispater has been set up here. These brigands and their commander are susceptible to bribery, and possibly to joining the PCs in attacking one or more of their mutual enemies. Either a 10 gp bribe or a successful DC 15 Diplomacy check is enough to persuade them to help the party in such a venture.
[spoiler=Armiger Heckler Bungbolt & 10 brigands of the "Rancorous Rampart"]Armiger Heckler Bungbolt
CR 2
XP 600
Human fighter 3
LN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 22, touch 11, flat-footed 21 (+8 armor, +1 Dex, +3 shield)
hp 31 (3d10+15)
Fort +6, Ref +2, Will +4; +1 vs. fear
Defensive Abilities bravery +1
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee mwk longsword +6 (1d8+2/19–20)
Ranged heavy crossbow +4 (1d10/19–20)
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 16
Feats Improved Bull Rush, Iron Will, Power Attack, Shield Focus, Toughness
Skills Intimidate +5, Knowledge (religion) +1, Linguistics +1, Perception +2, Sense Motive +4
Languages Common, Infernal
SQ armor training 1
Treasure masterwork half-plate, heavy steel shield, heavy crossbow with 10 bolts, masterwork longsword, masterwork manacles, obsidian mace symbol of Dispater on a silver necklace worth 110 gp, 6 gp, 12 sp, and 18 cp
Brigands (10) CR 1/2
XP 200
Human warrior 2
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 13, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+2 armor, +1 Dex)
hp 15 (2d10+4)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +0
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee longsword +3 (1d8+1/19–20) or sap +3 (1d6+1 nonlethal)
Ranged longbow +3 (1d8/×3)
TACTICS
During Combat The warrior snipes with arrows until her foes are close, then uses her sword. She hurls thunderstones at spellcasters, and tanglefoot bags at foes wearing heavy armor.
STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +2; CMB +3; CMD 14
Feats Point-Blank Shot, Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills Intimidate +4, Stealth +6
Languages Common
Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds, masterwork arrows (5), tanglefoot bags (2), thunderstone (2); Other Gear leather armor, longbow with 20 arrows, longsword, sap, coin pouch holding 1d6 gp, 2d6 sp, and 3d6 cp[/spoiler]
11. PUGNACIOUS RAMPART INTERIOR: Garrisoned herein are 10 savage mercenaries of the northern Wolf Nomads under the command of Hetman Grarroff, a grizzled veteran of many skirmishes against the forces of Iuz who hates orcs, goblins, gnolls, and kobolds. They might be persuaded by a party to join in attacking a mutual enemy (DC 15 Diplomacy or Bluff), but such an alliance would be temporary, as they are motivated by greed and self-interest. If Diplomacy proves insufficient, a 10 gp bribe will sway them. Also, these Wolf Nomads are definitely NOT devil-worshipers; their deities are Geshtai, Istus, ancestor worship, and Telchur (from long-ago Oeridian contact) ....
XP 200 Human Barbarian 1 CN Medium humanoid (human) Init +1; Senses Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 9, flat-footed 14 (+6 armor, +1 Dex, –2 rage) hp 17 (1d12+5) Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +3
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. Melee greatsword +6 (2d6+7/19–20) or heavy flail +6 (1d10+7/19–20) Special Attacks rage (6 rounds/day)
TACTICS
During Combat The barbarian favors her greatsword and Power Attack when fighting monsters, but uses her flail against weapon-using foes to make disarm and trip combat maneuvers.
Base Statistics
When not raging, the barbarian’s statistics are AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 16; hp 15; Fort +4, Will +1; Melee greatsword +4 (2d6+4/19–20) or heavy flail +4 (1d10+4/19–20); Ranged sling +2 (1d4+3); Str 17, Con 14; CMB +4; Skills Climb +3, Swim +3.
STATISTICS
Str 21, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8 Base Atk +1; CMB +6; CMD 15 Feats Cleave, Power Attack Skills Climb +5, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +5, Survival +5, Swim +5 Languages Common SQ fast movement Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds, potion of remove fear, alchemist’s fire; Other Gear breastplate, greatsword, heavy flail, sling with 10 bullets, 5 gp
29. GRIFFON TOWER FIRST UPPER FLOOR: Garrisoned here are 11 lemure devils bound into the Horned King’s service courtesy of the enigmatic seer Selephotsiphem, who is actually the archdevil Mephistopheles in disguise. Mindless, they attack anyone or anything not accompanied by Malvolio that enters this round tower chamber. The stone spiral staircase continues from below to above through the center of this chamber. Note: 2 of the lemurs have an extra HD ....
XP 400
LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+4 natural)
hp 13 (2d10+2)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +0
DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, mind-affecting effects, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +2 (1d4)
STATISTICS
Str 11, Dex 10, Con 12, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 5
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 12
Experienced Lemure Devils (2) CR 2
XP 600
LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+4 natural)
hp 20 (3d10+3)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +1
DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, mind-affecting effects, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +3 (1d4)
STATISTICS
Str 11, Dex 10, Con 12, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 5
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 12
31. PERYTON TOWER FIRST UPPER FLOOR: Garrisoned here are a platoon of 14 valley elf archers, mercenaries hired by the Horned King from the Mage of the Vale. Their truer loyalty lies with the Mage, however, as they are partly there to serve the Horned King, and partly there to spy upon him for the Mage of the Vale. They are susceptible to bribery, and might be convinced to join the PCs in attacking one or more mutual enemies, with either a 10 gp bribe or a successful DC 15 Diplomacy check.
XP 800 Female elf ranger 4 CG Medium humanoid (elf) Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge) hp 26 (4d10+4) Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +1; +2 vs. enchantment Immune sleep
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. Melee mwk longsword +7 (1d8+3/19–20) Ranged mwk composite longbow +8 (1d8+2/×3) Special Attacks favored enemy (chaotic outsiders +2)
TACTICS
Before Combat She likes to ambush enemies.
During Combat She prefers to fight from a distance, and from a secure tree branch if possible. She uses her tanglefoot bags against winged or fast opponents to slow them down and prevent pursuit or escape. If her allies are not practiced demon hunters, she uses her hunter’s bond ability.
Morale she flees if her arrows seem ineffectual, using tanglefoot bags to help her escape.
STATISTICS
Str 14, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 14 Base Atk +4; CMB +6; CMD 19 Feats Dodge, Endurance, Persuasive, Point-Blank Shot Skills Acrobatics +6, Bluff +5, Climb +6, Diplomacy +4, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (nature) +6, Perception +8, Stealth +8, Survival +6, Swim +8 Languages Common, Elven SQ elven magic, favored terrain (forest +2), hunter’s bond (companions), track +2, weapon familiarity, wild empathy +6 Combat Gear tanglefoot bags (4); Other Gear +1 chain shirt, masterwork longsword, masterwork composite longbow (+2 Str) with 20 arrows, 215 gp value in jewelry, gems, and coins
8. CHIMERA TOWER GROUND FLOOR: Garrisoned here are Bone March mercenaries of the Festering Crotch Hobgoblin Tribe, 11 hobgoblins, FORMERLY led by their Sergeant Bolthadeez, a faithful worshiper of Maglubiyet. A small shrine dedicated to the goblin god is prominently displayed here, and the hobgoblins wear the bloody axe symbol of Maglubiyet on their shields and armor. A spiral stone stairway ascends from the center of this chamber up through the tower’s upper levels.
XP 200
Hobgoblin fighter 1
LE Medium humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 shield)
hp 17 (1d10+7)
Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +1
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee longsword +4 (1d8+2/19–20)
Ranged longbow +3 (1d8/×3)
STATISTICS
Str 15, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +3; CMD 15
Feats Toughness, Weapon Focus (longsword)
Skills Perception +2, Stealth +5; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Common, Goblin
Treasure studded leather armor, light steel shield, longsword, longbow with 20 arrows, coin pouch holding 1d6 gp, 2d6 sp, and 3 cp
10. PERYTON TOWER GROUND FLOOR: Garrisoned here are Bone March mercenaries of the Maggoty Wound goblin tribe, 12 goblins, NO LONGER led by Firestarter Retchgullet, a worshiper of Maglubiyet. A small shrine dedicated to Maglubiyet has been erected here. A spiral stone stairway ascends from the center of this chamber up through the tower’s upper levels.
XP 135
Goblin warrior 1
NE Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception –1
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +2 Dex, +1 shield, +1 size)
hp 6 (1d10+1)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will –1
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee short sword +2 (1d4/19–20)
Ranged short bow +4 (1d4/×3)
STATISTICS
Str 11, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +0; CMD 12
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Ride +10, Stealth +10, Swim +4; Racial Modifiers +4 Ride, +4 Stealth
Languages Goblin
Treasure leather armor, light wooden shield, short sword, short bow with 20 arrows, coin pouch holding 1d6 gp, 2d6 sp, and 3d6 cp
17. PHOENIX TOWER GROUND FLOOR: Garrisoned here are Bone March mercenaries of the Vile Rune Euroz Tribe, 10 orcs, formerly led by their commander, Dothog the Barbarian. All are ardent devotees of Gruumsh One-Eye, and a small shrine to the orc god is on prominent display here. A spiral stone stairway ascends from the center of this chamber up through the tower’s upper levels
XP 135 Orc warrior 1 CE Medium humanoid Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception –1 Weakness light sensitivity
DEFENSE
AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor) hp 6 (1d10+1) Fort +3, Ref +0, Will –1 Defensive Abilities ferocity
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. Melee falchion +5 (2d4+4/18–20) Ranged javelin +1 (1d6+3)
TACTICS
Before Combat Orcs make few preparations before combat, preferring to charge headlong at any foe that presents itself.
During Combat Orcs prefer to use two-handed weapons to maximize the effectiveness of their great strength. They attack in ambushes from concealment to take an enemy off-guard and cause as much fear and confusion as possible.
Morale Orcs are bullies and cowards. They flee when the odds have turned against them and any nearby leaders are dead — or have already fled. They are prone to surrender and truces if such actions save their skins, although they honor such terms only as long as it is to their benefit to do so. Exceptions to this are dwarves and elves, from whom they neither ask nor give quarter.
STATISTICS
Str 17, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 7, Wis 8, Cha 6 Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 14 Feats Weapon Focus (falchion) Skills Intimidate +2 Languages Common, Orc SQ weapon familiarity
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ferocity (Ex)
An orc remains conscious and can continue fighting even if its hit point total is below 0. It is still staggered and loses 1 hit point each round. A creature with ferocity still dies when its hit point total reaches a negative amount equal to its Constitution score. Treasure studded leather armor, falchion, 4 javelins, other treasure
The following devils are also garrisoned in Castle Skullgard, but are as yet too powerful for Orsino, Ivid VIII, of House Naelax/Herzog Tanar'ri to have any real influence over .... But perhaps, in time ....
47. GRIFFON TOWER FIRST UPPER FLOOR: This circular chamber can be entered from above or below via the central spiral stone stairway. The chamber is ventilated by several arrow slots in the walls, which also let in sunlight during the day. Currently garrisoned here in service to the Horned King by way of Selephotsiphem are 5 barbazus (bearded devils), whose true loyalty lies with their dark master, the archdevil Barbatos.
XP 1,600 LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness; Perception +10
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +7 natural) hp 57 (6d10+24) Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +3 DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 16
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft. Melee glaive +11/+6 melee (1d10+6 plus infernal wound) or 2 claws +10 melee (1d6+4) Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with glaive) Special Attacks beard Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th)
At will— greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only)
1/day— summon (level 3, 1 bearded devil or 6 lemures, 50%)
STATISTICS
Str 19, Dex 15, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 10 Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 22 Feats Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (glaive) Skills Climb +13, Intimidate +7, Perception +10, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +11 Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Beard (Ex)
If a bearded devil hits a single opponent with both claw attacks, it also lashes at the same target with its spiky, filthy beard. The victim takes 1d8+2 points of damage and must succeed on a DC 17 Fortitude save or contract devil chills. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Devil Chills: Disease—injury; save Fort DC 17; onset 1d4 days; frequency 1/day; effect 1d4 Str damage; cure 3 consecutive saves.
Infernal Wound (Su)
The damage a bearded devil deals with its glaive inflicts persistent wounds that cause 2 points of bleed damage. Bleed caused from an infernal wound is particularly difficult to stanch—a DC 17 Heal check stops the damage, and any attempt to heal a creature suffering from an infernal wound must succeed on a DC 16 caster level check or the spell does not function. Success indicates the healing works normally and stops all bleed effects on the victim. The infernal wounds caused by a bearded devil are a supernatural ability of the devil, not of the weapon.
Treasure glaive, gold necklace with horned skull pendant worth 500 gp
53. PERYTON TOWER SECOND UPPER FLOOR: Garrisoned here in service to the Horned King by way of a contract negotiated by Selephotsiphem with their true mistress, Glasya, daughter of Asmodeus, are 5 erinyes devils (furies).
XP 4,800 LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 16 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural) hp 94 (9d10+45) Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +7 DR 5/good; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 19
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good) Melee +1 longsword +15/+10 (1d8+8/19–20) Ranged +1 flaming composite longbow +14/+14/+9 (1d8+6/×3 plus 1d6 fire) or rope +15 touch (entangle) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th)
Constant—true seeing At will—fear(single target, DC 19), greater teleport(self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), minor image(DC 17), unholy blight(DC 19) 1/day—summon (level 3, 2 bearded devils, 50%)
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 23, Con 21, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 21 Base Atk +9; CMB +14; CMD 31 Feats Combat Reflexes, DodgeB, MobilityB, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run Skills Acrobatics +18, Bluff +17, Diplomacy +14, Escape Artist +12, Fly +19, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Perception +16, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +15 Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Entangle (Su)
Each erinyes carries a 50-foot-long rope that entangles opponents of any size as an animate rope spell (CL 16th, DC 20). An erinyes can hurl its rope 30 feet with no range penalty. An erinyes’s rope functions only for the erinyes who made it and no other. The save DC is Dexterity-based.
ECOLOGY
Environment any (Hell) Organization solitary or trio Treasure +1 longsword, +1 flaming composite longbow [+5 Str bonus], rope
The party of adventurers known as the Horned King’s Men have conceived of a plan to host a special tourney in Nulbish. Originally an idea proposed to his companions by Grimaldi (a.k.a. Kinky the Clown), this tourney, which Erlick of the House of Lassiter (a.k.a. Drannoch the Devourer of Dreams) has dubbed the “First Annual Nulbish Contest of Champions,” is to be held in the octagonal arena within the Chapel of Discord at the heart of the Necropolis. The party hopes to use this contest as a vehicle for discovering formidable warriors that might be recruited into a new mercenaries’ guild they plan to establish in the near future. They plan to offer the magic sentient warhammer Whelm as the grand prize to the champion of the contest, thereby attracting many capable contestants from throughout the Flannaess.
A chance to win the legendary Whelm is certain to be an irresistible lure that will no doubt attract many capable contestants, but the party must first decide upon certain logistical details. For one thing, they must establish the rules for their proposed tourney. Will the combat be lethal, fought with the contestants’ own weapons? Or will it be nonlethal combat, fought with padded wooden training weapons only? Will the use of magical arms and armor be permitted, or must the combatants use only mundane equipment provided by the tourney’s hosts? Will spell-casting be permitted, or prohibited? Will the contest be open to all comers, or will individuals from hostile nations be prohibited from competing? On what day and hour will the contest commence, and on what day and hour will it be concluded? Will divine healing be provided to wounded competitors? If the combat is to be lethal, will slain competitors be resurrected? Once these matters are decided, the party must also determine how they will advertise the contest, spreading the word as far and as wide (and as quickly) as is possible.
DEFAULT TOURNEY ORGANIZATION & RULES:
Most tourneys held throughout the Flanaess tend to be organized as single-elimination knockout tourneys (a.k.a. “sudden-death” tourneys), with rules and practices that have become fairly standard over the past few centuries. The following default tourney organization and rules should be used if the players do not have a preference for some other system of regulating the First Annual Nulbish Contest of Champions.
Single-Elimination Knockout (“Sudden-Death”): A single-elimination knockout (or “sudden-death”) tourney is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. Most competitions throughout the lands of the Flanaess are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system; less commonly, a competition will have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage.
Nomenclature: In Common, the round in which only eight competitors remain is generally called the quarter-final round; this is followed by the semi-final round, in which only four are left, the two winners of which then meet in the final or championship round. The round before the quarterfinals has multiple designations. Often it is called the round of sixteen, last sixteen, or pre-quarterfinals. In many other languages the term for these eight matches translates to eighth-final (e.g., in these languages spoken in the Flanaess: "althaamin alnihayiyu" in Low Baklunish, "Khazâd-dûm-ubal" in Dwarven, “asta cinquithel” in Elven, “nishwaaswi-tipiskonigan” in Flan, “octavo-final” in Oeridian, and “áttundarfjórðungr” in Suloise), though this term is rare in Common itself.
The round before the round of sixteen is sometimes called round of thirty-two in Common. Terms for this in other languages generally translate as "sixteenth final”. Earlier rounds are typically numbered counting forwards from the first round, or by the number of remaining competitors. If some competitors get a bye (see below), the round at which they enter may be named the first round, with the earlier matches called a preliminary round, qualifying round, opening round, or the play-in games.
Bye: In tourneys, a bye is the preferential status of a competitor that is automatically advanced to the next round of the tourney without having to compete against an opponent in an early round. In knockout (elimination) tourneys, byes may be assigned either to reward the highest ranked participant(s), or randomly, to make a working bracket if the number of participants is not a power of two (e.g. 16 or 32).
In a standard single-elimination tourney, each round has half the number of competitors of the preceding round. Thus the finals will have two, the semi-finals will have four, the quarter-finals will have eight, etc. Thus, tourneys with competitors numbering a power of two can have a standard bracket in which all competitors are paired up, with the loser of each match eliminated and the winner moving on to the next round, until only one champion remains.
However, if the number of competitors is not a power of two, a simple elimination tourney would eventually produce a round with an odd number of competitors (if the number is not odd to start with). For example, a tourney of nine competitors could only have four matches in the first round, while a simple tourney of ten competitors would produce a second round with five competitors, meaning only two matches could occur. Thus, if the number of participants is not a power of two (e.g. 16 or 32), to make a working bracket byes are provided to automatically move certain participants into a later round without requiring them to compete in an earlier one.
When participants are ranked, participants with the “highest ranking” (i.e., highest CR) going into the tourney are given a bye to the second round, as it is generally seen as an advantage to be assured entry into a later round. In other tourneys where participants are unranked, a random draw may be used to determine the byes.
The number of competitors offered a bye is generally designed to ensure that the next round consists of a power-of-two number of competitors so the tourney can proceed as a simple single-elimination tourney from that round onward.
If the byes are all single first-round byes into the second round of a tourney, the number of byes required is the difference between the number of competitors and the next-highest power of two. For example, a 12-competitor tourney will require four byes (16−12) to ensure that instead of six competitors in the second round, eight advance (as the four byes avoid two of the four competitors being eliminated).
Classification: Without any additional matches, the only position a single-elimination tourney can reliably determine is first - for example, if sorting the numbers 1-4 ascending, if 4 and 3 meet in the first round, 3 and 1 will lose in the first round and 2 will lose in the second, selecting 4 as the largest number in the set, but insufficient comparisons have been performed to determine which is greater, 1 or 3. Despite this, the candidate that loses in the final round is commonly considered to have taken second place (in this case, 2). When matches are held to determine places or prizes lower than first and second, these typically include a match between the losers of the semifinal matches called third place playoffs, the winner therein placing third and the loser fourth.
Seeding: Opponents may be allocated randomly; however, since the "luck of the draw" may result in the highest-rated (I.e., the highest CR) competitors being scheduled to face each other early in the competition, seeding is often used to prevent this. Brackets are set up so that the top two seeds could not possibly meet until the final round (should both advance that far), none of the top four can meet prior to the semifinals, and so on. If no seeding is used, the tourney is called a random knockout tourney. Standard seeding pairs the highest and lowest, then second highest and second lowest and so on; for an 8-seed tourney, this is 1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, 3rd vs. 6th, and 4th vs. 5th.
Sometimes the remaining competitors in a single-elimination tourney will be “re-seeded" so that the highest surviving seed is matched against the lowest surviving seed in the next round, the second-highest is matched against the second-lowest, etc. This may be done after each round, or only at selected intervals.
Evaluation: The single-elimination format enables a relatively large number of competitors to participate. There are no "dead" matches (perhaps excluding "classification" matches), and no matches where one competitor has more to compete for than the other. If a small number of participants compete in a single elimination tourney, sometimes a consolation bracket is included to allow the eliminated participants to compete more than once.
In a single-elimination tourney without any seeding, awarding the second place to the loser of the final is unjustified: any of the competitors knocked out before getting to compete against the losing finalist might have been stronger than the actual losing finalist. In general, it is only fair to use a single-elimination tourney to determine first place. To fairly determine lower places requires some form of “round-robin” in which each competitor gets the opportunity to face every other competitor.
Also, if the competitors' performance is variable, that is, it depends on a small, varying factor in addition to the actual strength of the competitors, then not only will it become less likely that the strongest competitor actually wins the tourney, in addition the seeding done by the tourney organizers will play a major part in deciding the winner. As a random factor is always present in a competition, this might easily cause accusations of unfairness.
Orsino is pleased with knowing the soldiers in the walls of Castle Skullguard. However.
Orsino stretches his memory back to two months previous when he, along with a troop of Hobgoblins and Lemure Devils, marched on the neighborhood on what is now Orsino Way and Horned King's Highway, liberating the Temple of Stern Alia and stopping the neighborhood strife between two rival blocks. (His trusted companions took care of the other side, secretly ushering out rogues for later incorporation to Kinky The Clown's Thieve's Mafia.
The leader of the gang that had taken over the Temple of Stern Alia (# P), as well as his gang, were former members of The Horned Society.
It is this group with whom Orsino is reconnecting after his gambit at The Temple of Hextor in his Herzog Tanar'ri identity. (not the castle folk)
Orsino made an alliance with the leader and approved the promotion of a return to power as The Horned Society. But told the leader it would be under Malvolio. The gang leader / Society refugee agreed. And now it has been a couple months (Forays into the Aboleth Hole and White Plume Mt have kept me busy.)
So in preparation for the return to #P -- remembering the names and whatever else Orsino learned a while back when we stopped the conflict between those two neighborhoods -- will be helpful.
.
.
.
.
(Then on to The Vampire!)
Orsino is pleased with knowing the soldiers in the walls of Castle Skullguard. However.
Orsino stretches his memory back to two months previous when he, along with a troop of Hobgoblins and Lemure Devils, marched on the neighborhood on what is now Orsino Way and Horned King's Highway, liberating the Temple of Stern Alia and stopping the neighborhood strife between two rival blocks. (His trusted companions took care of the other side, secretly ushering out rogues for later incorporation to Kinky The Clown's Thieve's Mafia.
The leader of the gang that had taken over the Temple of Stern Alia (# P), as well as his gang, were former members of The Horned Society.
It is this group with whom Orsino is reconnecting after his gambit at The Temple of Hextor in his Herzog Tanar'ri identity. (not the castle folk)
Orsino made an alliance with the leader and approved the promotion of a return to power as The Horned Society. But told the leader it would be under Malvolio. The gang leader / Society refugee agreed. And now it has been a couple months (Forays into the Aboleth Hole and White Plume Mt have kept me busy.)
So in preparation for the return to #P -- remembering the names and whatever else Orsino learned a while back when we stopped the conflict between those two neighborhoods -- will be helpful.
.
.
.
.
(Then on to The Vampire!)
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Several weeks ago, prior to the party's excursions to Darkenrift in the Grandwood and White Plume Mountain, as they were exploring various locations throughout Nulbish, they discovered that the ruined and abandoned Cathedral of Stern Alia was not as abandoned as it appeared. Hiding out among the wreckage within the cathedral were several individuals who claimed to be former residents of Molag when it was still the capital city of the now defunct Horned Society (instead of Iuz's "summer palace", as the Old One laughingly calls Molag these days).
(In hindsight, Orsino of the House of Naelax in particular is somewhat amazed and surprised that anyone would ever admit to being former minions of the "Dread and Awful Presences" of the Horned Society to a group of nosy adventurers they'd just met .... Could it be a deception? A trick? But if so, to what end?)
There were six altogether, listed below, starting with their de facto leader (by dint of her comparative power over the others).
Jocelle (LE female human [Oerid-Flannae] infernal bloodline sorceress 10): A beautiful and highly persuasive woman, Jocelle leads the others because she is the most powerful, as well as the most experienced, having been one of three comely female apprentices of one of the Hierarchs of the Horned Society (that Hierarch, and presumably the other two apprentices, were slain by powerful adventurers about a decade ago). Like her late master, Jocelle is a disciple of Asmodeus, greatest of the archdevils, and Lord of Nessus. When the party met her last month, she had been clad in a crimson robe with a high, flaring collar, cinched at the waist with a belt of gold medallions, and carried a bronze rod topped with a blood-red crystal.
Yeval Notna (LE male human [Suloise-Flannae] unchained rogue 5/assassin 3): A stout, bald, double-chinned man, not quite 5-1/2-ft. tall, with heavy-lidded grey eyes, a forked bead and mustache (light brown), and had been clad completely in black when the party first encountered him back in early Planting (about a month ago). Yeval had not spoken at all at the initial meeting, but he and the others had been introduced by Jocelle, who had done almost all of the talking for them. He had merely stared at the party (especially the "weird-looking jester"), his pudgy hands very close to the hilts of the pair of short swords hung in scabbards at his flabby waist.
Crauleister (NE male tiefling [hellspawn] two-handed fighter 6): A tall and lanky "devil-born" (or "hellspawn") tiefling warrior, with rust-red scaly hide, all-black eyes (no whites or pupils), needle-sharp yellowish teeth bared in a constant grin (or snarl?), shoulder-length mane of black hair that did not conceal the 3-inch yellowish horns protruding from his brow, and a rust-red tail like that of a lion, except longer, ending in a tuft of black fur. Crauleister also kept quiet during that first encounter, letting Jocelle do the talking, but he'd growled and cast an angry look at the bewitching sorceress when she'd introduced him by name to the three "snooping strangers" ....
Parson Jaax (NE male human [Flannae-Oerid] cleric 6 of Nerull): A dark-skinned and dark-eyed, pockmarked man of indeterminate age (he was likely younger than his physique made him appear), his posture twisted and stooped by a severe curvature of his spine, making him seem to be perpetually bowing, and his stringy wisps of sparse black hair clinging damply to his scabrous scalp. He'd been leaning on the black shaft of a scythe that was a crooked as he was, with a crescent blade the color of rust -- or dried blood? His ill-formed frame had been draped in a black robe during the initial encounter. Like the others, he'd deferred to Jocelle, merely nodding indifferently when she'd introduced him.
Blixx "Longfangs" (LE male hobgoblin polearm master fighter 5): One of two hobgoblins with the group, Blixx "Longfangs" wore a black scarf wrapped around the lower half of his blue-and-red mandrill-like visage, and a black cowl pulled over his head to conceal his long and pointed goblinoid ears, leaving only his feral yellow eyes exposed. He wore a black tunic under his scarlet-tinted breastplate, and black-and-red checkered hose, knee-high boots of black leather, black leather gloves, and a waist-length scarlet cloak hung over his broad shoulders. He was armed with a black fauchard-fork polearm, which might have been the origin of his nickname, "Longfangs", for the business end was not unlike a pair of long fangs at the end of a black wooden pole.
Snarrff Gobbledowner (LE male hobgoblin unchained rogue 5): The other hobgoblin was introduced by Jocelle as "Snarrff Gobbledowner", and had been clad in a similar manner to Blixx, with hobgoblin features all but hidden behind a black scarf and cowl, but with a black leather cuirass (instead of a red-tinted breastplate), and all-black hose (instead of red-and-black checkered). Snarrff had been armed with a blackened iron morningstar, and a leather bandolier of throwing daggers crossed his torso.
WOLF-AGE
Brother will fight brother and be his slayer,
sister’s sons will violate the kinship-bond;
hard it is in the world, whoredom abounds,
axe-age, sword-age, shields are cleft asunder,
wind-age, wolf-age, before the world plunges headlong;
no man will spare another.
From: Voluspå, 10th Century
Sunday morning (~10:00 AM), 9th of Flocktime, 600 CY: The green meadow just south of Pitchfield (capital city of the Kingdom of Sunndi) ....
The allied defenders of Pitchfield have been posted all along the ramparts of the capital city since the previous night, watching the horizons in grim anticipation of the inevitable. The inevitable arrives that morning as the vanguard of Wastri's "Hopping Horde" emerges from the morning mists of the Pawluck River Valley to the southwest -- initially visible only as grayish, ghostly, batrachian silhouettes hopping in loose formation, heralded by fell croaks and the periodic cracking of whips. As the vanguard draws nearer, their silhouettes solidify into fully-visible bullywugs, countless in number, hopping and croaking monstrously, crude spears gripped in their frog-like hands.
The elven archers posted all along the south rampart on both sides of the South Gate loose a volley of arrows that momentarily arcs through the morning sky in a great cloud so dense, the bright Low Summer sunlight is briefly overcast. Seconds later, the first several staggered ranks of the mighty vanguard of bullywugs fall like walls of dominoes. By the time these first ranks are falling, the elves have drawn, nocked, pulled, and loosed a second deadly volley, and several more ranks of bullywugs has hopped into the kill zone, driven forth in a mindless, fanatical frenzy by the cracking whips and prodding military forks of their human commanders, the Soldiers of Purity.
From the midst of these latter genocidally xenophobic cultists, a strident voice croaks like rumbling thunder: "FORTH, MY RIGHTEOUS FAITHFUL ONES!! FEAR NOT THE ARROWS THAT FLY BY DAY, THOUGH THOUSANDS FALL AROUND YOU!! NOW IS THE HOUR OF THE PURIFIERS!! NOW WILL THE WRETCHED INHUMAN PLAGUE BE PURGED FROM THE FACE OF THE OERTH!!"
By the time Wastri has finished croaking these thunderous words, the elven archers have loosed another three volleys, and nearly a hundred more bullywugs have fallen lifeless on the meadow.
Croak-screeching in rage, Wastri raises his glaive-guisarme "Skewer of the Impure" high overhead, describing a great circle in the air with the weapon's wicked blade, and croaks a rhythmic, amphibian chant that echoes like thunder across the meadow: "WUGG-TAH!! BUGG-TAH!! GRUNGG-TAH!! WOGG-RAH!!" An immense dome of invisible force is conjured by the frog-like demigod, and the next few volleys of elven arrows rattle harmlessly above the Hopping Horde, like drops of rain falling on an unseen rooftop. A great cry of mingled human cheering and amphibious croaking goes up from Wastri's emboldened Horde, and they hasten their hopping charge toward the South Gate. "THE ARROWS OF THE COWARDLY AND SNEAKY ELVES CANNOT HARM YOU ANYMORE, MY FAITHFUL DISCIPLES!! SUNDER THE GATES!! BREACH THE WALLS!! BURRRRNNNN THEMMMM!!! BURRRRRRRNNNN THEMMMM ALLLLL!! *RIBBETT!! RIBBETT!!*"
With three incredible leaps, each rivaling the distance and trajectory of the elves' bowshots, Wastri closes the distance to the South Gate, ahead of the surging ranks that now form the vanguard of his Hopping Horde. He raises "Skewer of the Impure" again, gripping the long polearm in both hands, and smites the great ironclad bronzewood portals of Pitchfield's South Gate with a mighty blow, giving voice to a booming croak like a thunderclap as the glaive-guisarme's gleaming blade lands: "GRAAAWWWWKKK!!!" *KA-RAAAACK!!* The ironclad portals shudder and reverberate like a temple bell ringing, but they hold -- for the moment ....
In the stone-cobbled plaza just inside the South Gate of Pitchfield, Olvenking Hazendel I of Sunndi and several mighty allies stand with weapons ready, watching as the pair of massive, ironclad portals bow inward under Wastri's first blow, the great iron bar that holds them fast bending with a metallic groan .... The grey elf king calls out a warning to his assembled allies: "Stand ready, defenders of Pitchfield and esteemed allies! The portals will not hold for another such stroke!" Hazendel then chants a quick incantation, conjuring a wall of scintillating prismatic brilliance that seals the arched gateway just inside the portals.
"Nothing prevents the frog-god from leaping over the wall to strike at us," warns Hazendel, "He seeks to sunder the gates to let in his minions, of course ....", observed the grey elf king. A second mighty blow from without did exactly that! *SKA-DOOOOSSSHHH!!*--*ZZZAAAPPP!!!* Both portals and the bent iron bar that flew off its brackets rebounded back with a sizzle of arcane energy the instant they contacted the shimmering wall of rainbow-hued light! The sundered portals swung outward, revealing the awful form of Wastri -- a grotesquely-proportioned, hunchbacked, bandy-legged human man, with distinctly frog-like features: bulging eyes bloodshot with hatred and rage, mottled and wart-riddled complexion, lank strands of stringy white hair sticking out from under a gray bishop's mitre, clad in ill-fitting parti-colored gray and yellow garments, and the glaive-guisarme "Skewer of the Impure" poised to strike again -- but the demigod had not anticipated Hazendel's wall of prismatic energy, and for half a heartbeat, he gawked at it in surprise, bulging bloodshot eyes blinking alternately ....