NPC - Redface - Chieftain Scalded Hand Orcs - Spinecastle
The Scalded Hand orcs refuse to live inside the walls of Spinecastle and instead have a permanent camp on the Parlous Plain. They are perhaps the most dangerous of the humanoid forces on the Plain but camp toward its edge near a large barrow formed from a charnel pit used to bury Fruztii dead from the old Battle of Shamblefield.
The orcs have dug into this barrow, which now houses a temple to Gruumsh, and the bones have been used to frame the tent-dwellings of the Scalded Hand. Only around 400 orcs dwell here, but that number changes continually as the Scalded Hand uses Spinecastle as a gathering places for their allied tribes to meet and plan before launching raids and attacks on humans, demi-humans and humanoids alike.
They only go into Spinecastle to sell loot or visit the Pit, which is immensely popular and look down their noses at the Bloody Eye orcs who they feel have been tainted by the human city.
Redface is an old Orc and participated in the Siege of Spinecastle. He shares the views of the Black Moon gnoll elders and would like to raze the city and finish the slaughter but is not in alliance with the gnolls.
NPC - Huntmaster - Leader Howling Night Flinds - Spinecastle
Two hundred flinds. Anywhere but Spinecastle that might be a number to strike horror into the hearts of their enemies, but Spinecastle is a nexus of horror, a metropolis of evil, and the heart of a growing kingdom of humanoids not seen since the days of the Suel Imperium.
That these flinds should be the driving hand behind a force of over a thousand gnolls should come as no surprise. To most outsiders, human, demi-huuman, or humanoid these flinds are lost among the Black Moon gnolls, though to other gnolls flinds stand out larger, stronger, statelier, with a commanding bearing.
Huntmaster is larger and stronger than most flinds, instantly vicious with a consuming rage only his titanic will can keep in check. He is unfortunately not the smartest of flinds, and many of his tribe think he has been among the gnolls too long, or worse, that he is a throwback to their gnollish heritage.
While he is not blamed for the gnolls loss of power after the famine of 576cy, that flind was deposed and eaten after the council of chiefs awarded leadership of Spinecastle back to the orcs, Huntmaster is near to losing control of the Howling Night. Under his leadership the gnolls have seen a faction of rebels appear in their ranks, the Young Blood gnolls, and they truly have only a small fraction of the aging warriors of the original Black Moon pack as loyal followers.
The grandiose and impractical plans to seize power from Bloody Eye orcs become more untenable every moon while the day approaches when either Huntmaster's fellow flinds will depose him or the Young Blood pack, with a growing network of allies, will seize control and devour Howling Night and Black Moon alike.
NPC - Oldbone - Chief Weeping Dark Goblins - Spinecastle
The 300 or so goblins of the Weeping Dark are a small fraction of the thousands used as sword-fodder during the taking of the city. Since that time many have left the city and many have been eaten by their larger and stronger monstrous allies.
Now they lair in the sewer system of the High Ward and act as servants to the Bloody Eye orcs. Oldbone was a goblin warrior when the city fell and now he is the oldest survivor of the vast clan of goblins who swarmed over the walls during the siege. His resentment of the gnolls and orcs knows no bounds and he is a willing ally of the hobgoblins who ruled the city during the first few years after its fall.
He is aware of the many factions within the city, including the Young Blood gnolls but unknown to any he is in touch with several large goblin clans who dwell beneath the Rakers and seeks to raise another vast goblin army to betray all his masters and allies.
NPC - Hoghead - Butcher -- Spinecastle
Even more active than The Pit where the gladiatorial games are run is The Slaughterhouse where the food is divided among the humanoid tribes of the city.
All of the tribes in Spinecastle except the ogre's Thundering Club maintain groups of hunters who scour the surrounding land for food. After sixteen years these hunters go far afield and the food brought into the city by merchants has become critical.
Food and hunger, it is an underlying force within Spinecastle. Almost it has forced an abandonment of the city when the tribes grew greater than could be fed. Certainly it caused much strife and a change of power from the flinds and gnolls whose over population nearly stripped the city bare three winter's past. Now the orcs run the city and through The Slaughterhouse keep a tight leash around the belly of the gnolls and other humanoids (except the ogres who are kept well-fed and happy or they just start eating anyone within reach).
An old flind, Quer'enz, manages The Slaughterhouse, but Hoghead is the chief of butchers and handles the actually slaughtering, butchering and dividing of the meat. He is a vicious old orc from an ancient tribe said to have sailed to the Flanaess from some eastern island and plagued the coastal lands.
Hoghead has plans to add Quer'enz to the stewpot one day and if approached with an offer to rid him of the old flind he is very amenable.
NPC - Vassliss Priestess of Iuz - Spinecastle
During the Siege of Spinecastle a secret cabal worked against the cities defenders. Unbeknownst to the great and good within the city a cult of Iuz worshipers festered amid their ranks. What their ultimate plans had been none can say. Deep in the sub-basement of a manor in the High Ward the cult had its shrine and when the High Ward fell at last the manor had been destroyed and all within slain.
Years later Vassliss, secret priestess of Iuz, entered Spinecastle with a powerful retinue disguised as merchants supplying the always voracious inhabitants with meat and slaves. Few of the Iuzian cultists had survived and those few were slaves to the Bloody Eye orcs. Vassliss purchased those she could and slew all those she could not to silence tongues possibly loosened in their bestial servitude.
In the intervening years she has found the hidden shrine, reconsecrated in the service of her master, and reformed the cult. She has not found out who betrayed the cult, but she suspects the hand of another evil at odds with her own.
NPC - Miklos Feltch of Tenh - Merchant - Spinecastle
Miklos is a beast in human form. He buys and sells anything . His deity is coin and he is a devoted worshiper. He has been driven from Tenh and has settled in Spinecastle and has found the city very much to his liking.
He is a prominent member of the Viridian guild and his shop is always bustling with trade. Next to his shop is a large pen for animals and slaves, Miklos does not differentiate between the two. A pen full of pigs can be found next to an overfull cage of halflings.
Almost anything can be found in his shop or in the large warehouse around the back. Finer quality items are found on the second floor which is open only by invitation to select buyers.
Miklos prefers to have half-orc guards who are connected to the Bloody Eye orcs and maintains about a dozen. He has many hirelings who clean and do work around the place, all human, but he keeps no slave servants for himself as he does not trust them.
Goods and treasure brought to him will be haggled down in price but he is competitive with the other merchants and sellers can usual get a reasonable price. Buyers can find bargains as Miklos prefers to keep his goods in motion and not gather dust.
NPC - Vilmos - Viridian Guild - Spinecastle
Vilmos was once a Wolf Nomad or the Setjare Fark as they call themselves, but he had to flee for his evil acts upon members of his own tribe. Like many of his ilk in the north he has gravitated to Spinecastle and has found a home.
Currently he is a member of the Viridian Guild and acts as an outrider and guard to the merchant wagons and caravans that bring an endless procession of goods, slaves and meat animals (the slaves are too often just another meal to the cities inhabitants) to the city.
When not guardian merchants Vilmos will be out with a group of hunters that capture wild and exotic animals for the Pits. Vilmos himself loves the gladiatorial games and has even competed several times showing off his amazing skill with the bow and lasso.
NPC - Five Head Ogre Boss of the Thundering Club - Spinecastle
The Ogres of Spinecastle keep busy breaking down things and hauling large and ponderous items from one place to another as well as keeping a crew handy to open and close the massive gates to Spinekeep. They keep themselves amused by squashing anything smaller than themselves. Every so often a group will take off for some fun and plunder or an individual or three will hire themselves out to a tribe or group or person of enough power to impress them just enough from eating them. The Ogres know they are on to a good thing in Spinecastle.
Thundering Club isnt a typical tribe and Ogres come and go within its ranks. death being the most common form of departure. Still the Ogre ranks have been steadily growing though not enough to worry the Orcs who currently run things in Spinecastle.
Five Heads is the most recent leader due to his size, strength and, surprisingly, intelligence, although this last attribute he keeps well hidden.He is massive for an Ogre, the size of a Hill Giant with strength to match. He has had a suit of armor made equivalent to chainmail, and bears an enchanted two-handed sword that he wields with one hand. He keeps a bag of stones at his side which he will throw during combat and they have a punch like a small catapult.
Secretly Five Heads has been planning on over throwing the orcs through an alliance with the Young Blood gnolls and the necromancer (who he is secretly afraid of). He can summon a large force of forty-fifty Ogres from outside Spinecastle and large group of Ogrillons from within the city. Five Heads has secretly promised the Ogrillons membership in Thundering Club if they prove themselves.
NPC - Old Fang - Cleric of Yeenoghu - Spinecastle
The Black Moon gnolls packleaders have fallen under the sway of Erythnul but the Young Bloods have returned to the old ways and the secret worship of Yeenoghu. The necromancer, though a worshiper of no gods but power, has encouraged this and shelters Old Fang within his tower.
The cult leader assists the necromancer with his experiments with ghouls. The power of Yeenoghu over these undead seems limitless and he has given Old Fang a small retinue of ghouls to serve him without questions. Already several of the Young Bloods are acolytes and bear the markings of the cult.
Old Fang desires to see the gnolls return to dominance within the ruined city and establish Yeenoghu as sole deity worshiped by gnolls across the Flanaess. He is dangerously insane, even for a gnoll, and believes he is Yeenoghu's avatar upon Oerth, Unfortunately he is tremendously old for a gnoll having lived past his 50th year already and only his indomitable will keeps him going.
NPC - Bloodkiller (Rat Licker) PackLeader Shattered Skull Gnolls - Spinecastle
The Shattered Skull Gnolls took a heavy beating during the assault upon Spinecastle and never recovered. The flinds who were directing the gnoll forces used them up with as little concern as the goblin tribes. They still number over 75 warriors but it is a fragment compared to the nearly thousand strong pack which descended upon Spinecastle more than a decade ago.
Most of the Shattered Skull of today were mere younglings when Spinecastle fell and Bloodkiller (named Rat Licker by the packleaders of the Black Moon Gnolls) had just attained maturity at that time. Now he is one of the oldest survivors.
The Shattered Skulls have become feral in the intervening years. Maltreatment by their kindred of the Black Moon and general dislike by the other humanoids have turned them in a viscous and wild pack of beasts. They consume anything, even other gnolls and live a precarious life within the city. They have literally been driven underground lairing in the old sewer tunnels beneath the city and only coming out at night to hunt.
Foultooth has sought them out and made promises to bring them into the Young Bloods when the time is right and they overthrow the flinds and the packleaders of the Black Moon.
NPC - Foultooth Packleader Black Moon Gnolls - Spinecastle
Foultooth was only a pup when Spinecastle was taken and he has been raised in the ruins of the city. He is a rising leader as he is overly large and extraordinarily viscous even for a gnoll. The older gnolls hate the stonehouses and streets of the city and hate, fear and obey the Flinds of the Howling Night pack. but Foultooth and most of the gnolls raised and the city do not.
Within the Blood Moon pack are the Young Bloods. Foultooth is a leader among them and they wait for the day when they can seize control of the city and kill the flinds or drive them from the walls. Already Foultooth has made alliance with the necromancer Glipkerio and through him the Bugbears, Goblins and Ogres. The Ogres and the necromancer being key allies. Already the necromancer has been aiding in the ambush of Bloody Eye orcs, whose bodies go to the undead army that the necromancer has been building.
NPC - Urlik Skarsol - Priest of Nerull - Spinecastle
There is no Temple of Nerull inside Spinecastle but the priest Urlik Skarsol wanders the land with his following of undead and haunts the devastated city on a regular basis. There is an ancient shrine to Nerull somewhere near but it is hidden, ancient and forgotten.
He bears a powerful holy item, The Black Hand of Nerull which can pull the skeleton of human, humanoid or demi-human through its flesh to stand bend before Skarsol and serve him in the name of Nerull. Other robed human-sized figures have been seen to accompany Skarsol, underlings, acolytes, lesser priests, but just as often he appears with only a retinue of undead.
Urlik has a strong dislike for the necromancer Glipkerio Kistomercies but so far the two have avoided each other. His real animosity is saved for the clergy of Incabulos and the Cult of Orcus. The Orcus cult especially which is seeking o establish itself in Spinecastle.
NPC - The Journeyman Necromancer - Nemia Snarve - Spinecastle
Nemia is the younger but more accomplished of Glipkerio's journeymen. He assists in the research of new magical spells and the crafting of the more complex magical items. He lost his left arm during his time as Glipkerio's apprentice and now wears a prosthetic which the master necromancer discovered in a vast dungeon complex within the Rift Canyon.
The Bone Arm is an animated skeletal arm. It can meld to either lost limb or become a third limb if attached to someone who already possess's two. The Arm functions as a normal arm but allows the wielder to control undead in the way that an evil cleric appears to be able to control or repel them.
Nemia is grateful and loyal to Glipkerio and in many ways is the shadow of his master with his own personality subsumed by the stronger will.
NPC - Elakera the Necromancer's Apprentice - Spinecastle
Elakera is the senior apprentice of the necromancer Glipkerio Kistomerces. Soon she will show her knowledge of the necromantic arts and begin her travels as a journeyman for seasoning in the outerworld before returning for more instruction. As an apprentice she traveled with a journeyman during one of their many trips and expeditions to aid Glipkerio. Soon she will be taking one of the apprentices and joining a small band of mercenaries in the employ of a half-orc warchief with plans to raid human lands to the south.
She has shown great talent and has been a favorite of Glipkerio. He has gifted her with an enchanted staff that provides immunity to the paralyzation abilities of some undead as well as allowing her to paralyze most humans, demi-humans and humanoids thrice per day.
She is very fond of creating potions and has a recipe for animating fresh corpses as zombies. She normally carries several bottles and will animate such dead to serve her at the first opportunity. She currently ha 6 fresh zombies ready to defend her and carry her luggage.
NPC - Glipkerio Kistomerces of Spinecastle - Necromancer
Spinecastle is a city of the dead. Today it has a population of monsters and slaves but the dead far outnumber the living. Ghosts and ghouls haunt the ruined buildings and the dried and desiccated corpses of the unhallowed slain lie beneath the broken stone and collapsed buildings through-out the city. Perhaps no better place exists in the Flanaess for a Necromancer to practice their art or to begin a school dedicated to this unsavory dweomencraft.
Glipkerio Kistomerces is truly of the haggard corpse that is Spinecastle. His past and his origins are unknown. His face, slowly rotting from his body, is not even his own but he is recognized as a force and a power within the city.
He has settled in the ruins of a bastion tower along the cities east wall and from the nearby collapsed barracks of the city guard has raised a plenitude of servants and subjects both human and monstrous.
With two journeymen and five apprentices Glipkerio has formed a rudimentary necromantic school of sorts and his reputation in his dark field of study is continually growing.
Nation - Mulwarian Warriors Ranber and Veerz
Only the most adventurous and far sailing explorers from Zeif have reached the distant land of Mulwar and returned. The last expedition by the Necromancer/Warrior Akl, captain of the ezma-barque Ancient Dawn, brought with him two warriors of that far off land, Ranber and Veerz.
Mulwar is a land of exotic spices and clothes, strange magic and Gods, unknown animals and monsters unheard of, but for the most part it is a land of war. It is a conquered land where the Changol Empire rules over a divided Mulwar and the Nation-States of Jahind seek to aid the exiled Mulwar Royality and stop the advance of the Changol legions.
Ranber and Veerz are Mulwar rebels and escaped the port-city of Zhinged aboard the Ancient Dawn with the Changol Imperials hard on their heels.
Ranber and Veerz are both former members of the Mulwar Royal Guard and their armor is a vestige of their former position. Both have retained the helm-masks that knights of Mulwar always adorned with Ranber still retaining the chain-cloth that would obscure the lower portion. This chain is enchanted to provide protection from smoke and fire, even allowing breathing underwater or in an airless room.
Both knights carry spiked war shields that are both weapon and defense. These shields are also enchanted to provide protection from normal missile weapons such as arrows, knives and darts.
Ranber is a middle-aged but highly skilled knight while Veerz is a warrior priest of the Goddess Yalaz, she of love and death.
Historical - Vlek Col Vlekzed 430cy
Vlek was a bastard. He was born a bastard and most people acknowledged he was a bastard all his life with many an adjective attached; charming, cheating, cunning, etc...
The Rovers of the Barrens lead a hard and unforgiving life but have an incredibly strong sense of family as well as a connection to tribe and warband and nation. Unfortunately those like Vlek born without a strong link to family or orphaned by the destruction of family or tribe are on the outskirts of Rover society. Vlek, though, was unusual.
As a child Vlek was strong and quick, cunning and charming (Charming for a Rover and among Rovers at least). While he was often beaten in his youth he grew quickly and was a natural leader. Soon he lead a band of outcasts and the beatings stopped. His young group passed into adulthood together and raided together. But Vlek would steal from anyone including fellow Rovers and one day the tribal leaders had enough. Before anything dire could happen Vlek was warned and he and all the outcasts of the Rovers from young to old disappeared in the night along with anything they could steal. Vlek considered it their inheritance and small recompense for past maltreatment.
Afterwards Vlek and his band stayed clear of other Rovers but instead raided the surrounding lands slowly growing in size in strength through captives and the attraction of other bandits and malcontents. With his band grown prodigiously large and unwieldy he raided in Tenh. His losses were great but mostly among the weak and unskilled rabble he'd attracted and his winnowed band was the stronger for their loss. From Tenh he swung down to the Bandit Kingdoms and engaged in a battle against a small holding as well as absorbing several bands of bandits and brigands.
With the larger kingdoms turning their attention to Vlek he turned back the way he'd come and surprised a force of Tenhas sent to bring him to justice. Vlek was perhaps even more surprised initially than the Tenha force but his growing army had been on the alert for reprisals from the Bandit Kingdoms and hadcome upon the small army unawares. In the rough terrain Vlek's wild band was well suited for ambush and the fight became a slaughter.
After the battle Vlek's scouts warned him of an approaching Bandit Kingdom force that would not likely be taken unawares so Vlek turned north and back through the Barrens that had once been his home. Throughout this flight Vlek was dogged by massed forces of Rovers and pushed further and further north and east. Neither side wished for war kin against kin, though for Vlek's part his consideration was simply a matter of the overwhelming numbers of Rovers that would decimate his band, grown in size and strength though it had.
Finally Vlek was pushed so far east and north that he entered the lands of the Colten Feodality, a small confederation of Flan tribes which had lived in this inhospitable clime for time out of mind, since the Suel Emperor was in short trousers, as the saying went.
Vlek easily overwhelmed several small settlements and gathered all supplies he could lay his hands upon. In one last push he conquered what passed for a town in the north. A largish one as fate would have it, already walled an ditched and at little cost in life to Vlek's warriors though a terrible slaughter once again to the forces opposed to Vlek. Quickly he began strengthening the fortifications and laying in stores, though not for siege. Winter would soon be upon them and most of his band were men and women from the warmer lands of the Bandit Kingdoms and Tenh.
Here is where the cunning and guile of Vlek shined. Instead of sacking the town Vlek married the chieftains daughter, becoming Vlek Col Vlekzed, renaming the town Vlekstaad and suing for peace among the Feodality. Much to his surprise the leaders of Colten's agreed to meet with him. Vlek gathered his forces, leaving behind only a skeleton garrison in Vlekstaad and set out for the meeting site.
The Coltens had brought forces of their own, but once again Vlek's scouts proved the better and in a lightning strike Vlek once again proved victorious. The battle was costly but Vlek decimated the Colten warriors and killed their leaders, every one. The surviving Colten's bowed their head to Vlek, now calling himself Stonefist and before the coming of that first winter Vlek had won himself a kingdom.
NPC - Rigmar the Wolf-Queen
Among the hunters of the Schnai and Fruzti runs a cult dedicated to the Wolf-God. Those who follow this deity bear the taint of the wolf in their blood and as an outward sign in their human form bear upon them the wolf medalion. Rigmar wears her openly as she is the Queen of Wolves among the Schnai and dwells in the wilderness beyond the furthest outpost or settlement.
Rigmar is the daughter of the former Wolf-Queen (the Wolf-King is always chosen from the Fruzti and though he also dwells in the wilderness he dwells apart from the queen except during certain times of Luna's fullness). When either the king or queen is slain or dies their mate chooses to die as well and a new pair of leaders is selected.
Rigmar is young as is the new king. She has possessed the wolf-taint in her blood since birth and is a powerful creature when she summons her wolf aspect. In her human form she is a hunter and a northern ranger as are all members of the cult.
MONSTER - Gormiti Demon Champions of the Abyss
The whirling chaos of the Abyss spawns creatures of terror. Though some are formed or achieve forms of an almost species-like quality such as those called Balors, Vrocks or Mariliths, most crawl forth from the undulating ooze of the Abyss as slug-like masses of slime and flesh. Then there are those Demons hatched from the larvae of evil souls collected by Night Hags. These Demons are birthed on Hades and are said to be stronger as well as having an affinity for existing in other Planes of Existence. Certainly many of Demonic Champions are Hades Born as are some of the powerful Demonic Overlords such as Grazz't. Others claim that the struggle for existence among those originating from the flesh-walls of the Abyss makes for a stronger Demon in the end. Nurture or Nature.
Each Demonic Champion is unique but there are some commonalities which have lent to strange alliances among these chaotic monstrosities. Many of their strengths, defenses and abilities are elemental in nature such as affinities to Fire, Water, Air or Earth, but there is no real kin-ship or familial loyalty and in the end every Demon is out for themselves.
Demons gather a following of lesser Demons while preying on their weaker brethren. The Abyss born are consumed on a regular basis though both Devils and Daemons are preferred. If a Demon is going to grow in power it must consume powerful creatures and Demons, Devils and Daemons provide the greatest boost to a Demons growth.
A Demon Champion will have a retinue of other Champions and lesser Demons. In general they are of medium-size and in power are somewhere above those called Type 2 and below Type 3 but each Champion is unique and their power varies. In general the Hades born tend to have more human form and features while those spawned in the Abyss do not but most are bipedal-humanoids.
The Demon Champion Aor is one the strongest.
Aor is a Hades born Demon. What evil being he was before the Night Hags captured his soul is unknown. His age is a few centuries but time does not flow at a steady rate in the Abyss. He is stronger than most Type 3 Demons, and his retinue is in the hundreds, mainly composed of lesser Champions. For aa time he served in the Land of Iuz but was released of his binding when Iuz was himself bound.
As can be seen by his appearance he has an affinity with Fire and his allied with forces from that Elemental Plane. He was gifted his staff the Lava Lamp by one of the Firelords of the Plane of Fire which pulsates with flame and at its heap flows with globs of orange-white lava. Aor can send forth streams of lava several times in a 24 hour period to inundate attackers.
He projects a Fire Aura such as a Balor, has immunity to fire and a high resistance to magic
NPC - Captain Feradoon of the Hawk out of Ekbir
The waters of the north are cold and the Hawk sails across these northern waters. Most ships out of Ekbir hug the coast and travel no further west than Zirat in the Janasib Islands and no further east than the lands of the Tiger Nomads, but Feradoon travels beyond the known lands over the borders of the map and, to the east, somewhere on the coast of the Land of Black Ice.
Feradoon is a powerful warrior and was once an explorer aways eager to discover new lands and new people, but now he is no longer entirely human. Somewhere in his explorations he found something very old, very powerful and not of this Oerth. His shell may be that of Feradoon, and something of the man still exists or is trapped in his body, but inside, controlling him an entity that is beyond evil and perhaps beyond understanding lurks and learns and bides its time.
This entity has infected the crew of the Hawk. Thirty-seven sailors aboard the ship, but they only replay old memories of who they once were, memories that are slightly off-center and frayed at the edges. The Cult of Istus has noted the strange actions of crew and captain and have begun to investigate. Feradoon is not accepting passengers but the Cult smuggled aboard an operative who was never heard from again. Now greater measures are required and a ship and doughty adventurers are sought to follow the Hawk and discover what has changed a once loyal subject of the Cailphate.
