Broo Priest of Than

First Impressions

A small, pitch-black broo with horns of tarnished silver. Always armed with a tarnished silver shortsword and carries three bronze globes about 10" in diameter which are chained around his waist. If encountered in a combat situation, he wears a tarnished silver helm with the runes: Chaos, Death, Darkness on it and bears: a medium shield; 1H Bastard Sword; and bronze plate armour. Unusually (scrupulously) clean, for a broo.

Referee Only

The globes contain the heads of a priest of Yelmalio; a Dragonewt priest; and a broo. The globes protect them better than a mere helm for if they are destroyed, some of his spells disappear.Other heads are held by his Guardians ( a type of Bound peculiar to Thanatari, more like multiple Allieds which can possess the body of an unwilling sentient). As long as his Guardians -who, as weaker fighters, he normally leaves in the temple many miles away - are touching those heads, he has access to their spells too. He always carries a silver garotte, but PC's probably won't spot that immediately.

His horns and helm are only plated in silver, but the shortsword is solid rune silver. His armour is overlapped plate & chain on the torso. Combined with his defensive spells - particularly Dragon Armour backed by about 100 of his ~200 magic points and his immunity to fire, which rules out damage from Fireblade - you can wind up your PCs by saying he seems to have the legendary "Immune To Damage" chaos feature.

Finally, if they do manage to kill him and his DI does not work, nor his Guardians', try to guide the PCs towards cutting off his head to be on the safe side. (See Special Abilities, below.)

Character Traits

Typical Catchphrases

"You have a fine head on your shoulders"
"Your fighting stance is as execrable as your grasp of Sartarite, you semi-sentient lout"
"Aha, you are ____ are you not? Your friend [insert name of disappeared NPC] recognises you."

Statistics

19-20 (Head):     6hp/13ap+ C/M9 +shield 4  STR 16

16-18 (L. arm):   5 / 6                     CON 16

13-15 (R. arm):   5 / 10                    SIZ 10

12    (Chest):    7 / 13                    INT 15

9-11  (Abdomen):  6 / 13                    POW 18

5-8   (L. leg):   6 / 8                     DEX 18

1-4   (R. leg):   6 / 8                     CHA 12

Total hit points: 17 note that the head is not a vital location - damage there doesn't affect total HP.

Skills

• Perception skills: 75%
• Manipulation: 65%
• Knowledge: 90% (many obscure languages and skills from heads)
• Stealth: 90%
• RQ2 Defense: 60% + 20% chaotic; RQ3 Dodge: 80%

Attacks

• 1H Bastard Sword 90% (110%) attack 65% parry; d10+1+d4 + Bladesharp 4 + Blade Venom 14
• Shortsword 80% (100%) attack, 60% parry; d6+1+d4 + Bladesharp 4 + Blade Venom 14
• Garotte 100%
• Medium shield parry 90%, 12hp
• Butt (with Crush and Ironhand from Troll head) 135% attack, d6 + 5 + d4 + 4d4
• Talons of Tsienra 4: 90%, d4, armour / magic is no defense except Shield (1 point stops 1hp) - obscure Demonist spell from an old White Dwarf magazine - produces glowing red talons at ends of your fingers.

Damage bonus d4.

Spells (Magic Points: 17 [self] + 60 [heads, after rune magic] + 80 [bounds] + 50 [guardians])

• All battle magic up to: Healing 6; Parry 4; Lantern 4; Countermagic 9. Many are boosted by his 3 point POW enhancing attuned crystal.
• Rune Magic (Self, reusable): Create Skeleton, Create Zombie, Ingest Scroll, Summon Guardian, Minor Head, Major Head, Darklight.
• Rune Magic (Heads, semi-reusable): Telekinesis (x2); Crush 4; Seal Wound; Shield 8; Sever Spirit; Detect Lie; Crack; Vomit Acid; Link Fates; Teleport; Spirit Block 3; Entropise (1 object corroded to uselessness); Reverse Chaos (always good for a laugh); Spell Teach.
• Dragonewt head powers: Soul Blast x2 (lose 2d6 MP - accompanied by green flash); Dragon Armour (usually backed by 100MP); 3d10 Firebreath (all locations - general HP damage - armour & weapons in way lose 3AP)
• Other spells: Counterchaos - what is this shit? Unclean! Medium Salamander? Hmmm... guess it's OK if I cast Darklight on it...

Special Abilities

The use of Thanatari spells often results in a chaos feature or Curse of Thed as a side effect. This fellow is quite advanced in the cult:

• As a broo, immune to poison & disease.
• Never Surprised
• Immune to Fire
• Favours Dispel 12
• As the Priest of Than, if killed, and head removed his body may re-animate (when prudent), sneak up behind a PC, garotte them, place their head on his shoulders and either re-attack (with the PC's knowledge, spells & abilities added to his own or escape. In the latter case, no chance of resurrecting the PC unless the others can find the errant head, remove it from its host and rejoin it with the original body...
• minor Gifts: +10% Move Quietly; +10% garotte; +10% Stealth Bonus
• Guardians are in: a gargoyle; human; and great troll. Don't forget they can D.I. for him if his own initite-style one fails.

This page last updated 16-9-96 by pH