Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Init +0; Spd 20 ft.; AC 20 (touch 10, flat-footed 20); Atk +11/
+6 melee (1d10+4/×3 and disease, +1 diseased glaive) or +8
ranged (1d8/19–20, masterwork light crossbow); SA Blight
touch 1/day, rebuke undead 4/day; SQ Blightblood, illmaster;
AL NE; SV Fort +12, Ref +3, Will +11; Str 14, Dex 10,
Con 14, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Concentration +12, Heal +9, Knowledge
(nature) +2, Listen +5, Spot +6; Brew Potion, Combat Casting,
Great Fortitude, Martial Weapon Proficiency (glaive),
Weapon Focus (glaive).
Blight Touch (Su): Inflict Talona’s blight with successful
melee touch attack (supernatural disease, Fort save DC 16, incubation
1d6 days, damage 1d4 Constitution and 1d4
Charisma, victim cannot recover without magical healing).
Usable 1/day.
Blightblood (Ex): Immune to all disease, magical or otherwise.
Blightspawned creatures do not attack the blightlord
unless the blightlord attacks them.
Illmaster: Any animal companions the blightlord possesses
gain the blightspawned template (this blightlord has no
animal companions).
Possessions: +1 diseased glaive, +2 full plate armor, wand of
unholy blight (5 charges), potion of invisibility, masterwork
light crossbow, 20 bolts.
Spells Prepared (6/6/6/5/4/3; base DC = 13 + spell level):
0—cure minor wounds (2), detect magic (2), light, resistance;
1st—bane, command, cure light wounds (2), divine favor, protection
from good*; 2nd—bull’s strength, cure moderate
wounds, death knell, hold person, Snilloc’s snowball swarm*,
summon monster II; 3rd—bestow curse, contagion*, cure serious
wounds, dispel magic, protection from elements; 4th—air
walk, death ward, enervation*, summon monster IV; 5th—
cone of cold*, healing circle, righteous might.
*Domain spell. Domains: Blightbringer (rebuke or command
blightspawned creatures and evil-aligned animals or plants
as an evil cleric rebukes undead, 4/day); Evil (cast evil spells
at +1 caster level); Suffering (pain touch 1/day; successful
melee touch attack bestows –2 penalty to subject’s Strength
and Dexterity for 1 minute, does not affect creatures immune
to critical hits).
The Church of Kossuth
No one questions the authority of the Red Wizards over Thay,
but the red-robed mages are not the only power in that
guarded realm. The faith of Kossuth, the Firelord, is prevalent
throughout Thay. The clerics of Kossuth defer to the Red
Wizards—as all in Thay must—but for generations, many
who would check the wizards’ power have turned to the
Church of Kossuth. The clerics of Kossuth have come to stand
for law, justice, and a fierce national pride that is, in its own
way, every bit as dangerous to the neighboring lands as the
naked ambition of the Red Wizards. Thay’s millions are cowed
by the Red Wizards and obey their commands out of fear—
but should the Church of Kossuth ever supplant that power,
Faerûn might face the threat of a Thay whose people served
with courageous and selfless devotion.
ADVENTURING IN THE EAST
83
The Church of Kossuth has little reach outside of Thay, although
priests of the Firelord often accompany Red Wizards
abroad. Clergy of Kossuth obey the Red Wizards, but unlike
most Thayans, they are reasonably protected against the
whims of the ruling mages. The zulkirs know that in a contest
for the hearts and minds of the Thayan people, the
Firelord’s clerics would most likely win—and therefore they
harshly discipline any of their underlings who threaten the
Church or its agents without sound reason.
The Church sponsors several prominent orders or societies.
The Order of the Fire Drake is a militant arm of the faith,
whose knights guard its holiest locations and are bodyguards
to important Kossuthans abroad. The Order of the Black
Flame is a secret society of holy assassins who strike at the enemies
of the faith wherever they may lurk. (See the Black
Flame zealot prestige class in Chapter 2: Prestige Classes.) Finally,
the Society of the Illuminating Flame is a monastic
order that schemes to seize mastery of Thay.
The Circle of Leth
The Forest of Lethyr is home to one of the most powerful
druidic hierarchies in all Faerûn—the followers of the Nentyarch,
who traditionally governs affairs in Lethyr (and the
Great Dale by default). They are known collectively as the
Circle of Leth, and they are served by the Nentyar hunters,
a strong society of rangers, scouts, and warriors who carry out
the commands of the druid circle. (See the Nentyar hunter
prestige class in Chapter 2: Prestige Classes.)
The Circle of Leth comprises three concentric rings, forming
orders. Five high druids make up the first ring, standing just
below the Nentyarch. The high druids advise the ruler of the
Circle and are teachers and mentors to those below them. Nine
druid masters make up the second ring and are the most active
in searching out threats to the forest and the dale. They command
the Nentyar hunters in times of war; currently, several are
engaged in a desperate battle to preserve what can be saved of the
nearby Rawlinswood, working to stop the depredations of the Rotting
Man and the blightlords. The third and most numerous ring
is composed of the Circle’s initiates, low-ranking druids and
novices who serve among the Nentyar hunters or apprentice
themselves to a high druid or druid master, as the Circle requires.
The Nine Golden Swords
Among the teeming Shou towns of Thesk’s Golden Way lurks
an insidious peril—the Nine Golden Swords, a secret society
of yakuza and their minions who seek to bind the Shou expatriates
beneath their own ruthless rule. Once all Shou in Thesk
serve the Nine Golden Swords, the masters of the society aim
to make themselves the secret lords of the land.
The rogues and thugs who make up the hundreds of “soldiers”
in the society go about their sordid business in much the same
manner as crime syndicates anywhere do. They peddle vices of
all sorts in dens and houses of ill repute along the Golden Way,
rob passing caravans, and intimidate local business owners,