Special Equipment:

Bloodbound Hammer-

Created over a period of months in Darken Flind’s personal chamber, this cast-iron tool is extraordinarily heavy for its size. Though it exudes an aura of magic, it is unusable in any normal aspect of the Art. This hammer allows Flind to bind soul-essence into objects. Bloodforging is impossible without such a hammer.

Salra Roots-

Intoxicating, rare, and highly addictive, these roots are chewed and swallowed by humanoids. Salra typically causes alertness and a decrease in reaction time over a few hours, but tends to give its chewer a large host of ill symptoms. Examples include irritation, hair loss, and hallucinations.

Appearance:

Tall and gaunt, Darken Flind is an oddity amongst his kind. Standing just shy of eight feet tall, he towers over regular humanoids and fellow gnolls. Brown fur covers his body from hyena-like head to tail, but in places it is missing entirely, and curious burns mar his flesh. Though his lanky gait is clumsy and slightly comical, his eyes burn with a ferocious intelligence. Never seen without his apron of tanned cat-skin, Flind is usually dressed only with the occasional belt or pouch to hold tools. When traveling, he wears a dark hooded cloak to hide his physical fragility.

Due to his Salra obsession, Flind often appears irate and sporadic. His constant chewing is slightly unnerving, and makes him smell mostly of crushed mint.

Background:

Relatively young for an expert in his craft, Flind was born in a fairly inconspicuous litter somewhere in the Ridgeback mountains. His parents, unwilling to raise such a scrawny and physically incapable gnoll, left him orphaned in the enormous, natural cavern complexes that sprawl all over the Ridgebacks.

Left in the tunnels, Flind knew nothing but darkness and hunger for twelve years of his life. Feeding off of the vermin that infest such caves and tunnels, he learned to respect the hidden predators the dwelled in the dark places of the world. Though he never met his parents, he would occasionally stumble across another member of his race.

On one such occasion, a group of gnollish explorers found the child starving within the notoriously dangerous Harrow cave, known particularly for its colonies of enormous purple worms. Catching the elusive child, they brought him back to their village shaman. He proclaimed the child fit for the clan, despite his obvious physical frailty. Flind lived with the Kartooth clan, learning the language and traditions of his gnollish heritage. Viewed as a runt by his peers, he never managed to master the deadly art of combat nor the subtle manipulation of magic.

Trouble brewed in the sixth year of Flind’s acceptance into the clan. An enterprising gnollish underprince by the name of Jazur Garsol led a warhost into the lands of the Kartooth clan, demanding tribute. Despite facing a vastly superior army, the warriors of Kartooth tried in vain to hold back the ravenous tide of their rivals. Eventually the entire village was destroyed, and the warhost dismembered and devoured their opposition. Flind was forced back into the caves, running from a group of gnoll rangers bent on his destruction.

He was chased for over a week, never ceasing in his mad dash to escape. Snatching an hour of sleep a day and devouring toxic fungi, Flind stumbled blindly through the caverns, unable to elude his enemies.

What happened over the next day is unknown, save that all but one of the rangers were brutally slain. The last one was seen running from the mountains, screaming and yelping in terror. Before he had traveled two hundred feet he fell, head erupting in a shower of molten blood and flesh.

Darken Flind stepped out of the tunnels, and for the first time in eighteen years, smiled.

Roleplaying Notes:

Bloodforging is a tenuous art, and Darken Flind is the only well known practiconer. Due to the fact that most gnolls now live in awe of the master smith, he is also free to practice his craft wherever he is needed.

Ten years have passed since the day Flind slew the rangers. What truly happened is known only to Flind, and he is loathe to share it with anyone, lest others attempt to steal his secrets.

Broken, battered, and exhausted, Flind had accidentally stumbled into the resting place of an ancient demon. Though weak, it promised him power if he helped it. Flind agreed, knowing it was his only opportunity to survive. Spilling his blood onto the floor of the temple, he created a terrible pact with the demon. Sacrificing the bodies of his pursuers, he gained the knowledge of Bloodforging from the vile creature.

In the magic circle designed to accomadate Bloodforging, it traditionally defeats the Obsinate Glyphs. On the other hand, it is trumped by Runeforms. (Obsinate Glyphs have the advantage over the latter).

Bloodforging can be done only with recently dead corpses, or weakly through containers of blood. A Bloodforged item is vile in creation, as it binds soul and blood in a series of searing glyphs and runes. The baleful runes shines with a light of their own, although it does not exude an aura of evil- despite the method of creation, a Bloodforged artifact is not technically evil.

There are three main aspects of Bloodforging, each with its own unique powers and weaknesses. Although usually less subtle than other magics, Bloodforging has the ability to be very powerful indeed.

Aspect 1: Madness
Runes of Madness terrify and delude, and are often used by choice gnollish assassins who can afford the powerful charms. They can be used to confuse and destroy opponents in a chaotic shower of gore.

Aspect 2: Slaughter
The most popular rune-aspect amongst the gnollish villages, runes of Slaughter increase individual prowess and skill. They usually allow the bearer to perform incredible feats of strength, and can be replenished through the vampiric practice of swallowing the blood of an enemy.

Aspect 3: Dreamweaving
Unusual amongst the otherwise unsubtle art, dreamweave runes are usually not use offensively. Instead, they can be used to divine the future, or spy on opponents. They also allow limited telepathy and telekinesis, and the most powerful can be used as a weapon of the mind, killing from a distance.

Adventure hooks:

-The PCs are looking for a way to defeat the seemingly indestructible Glyphs used by their enemies, the Blue Wolf Cabal.
-Flind is met as a wandering outcast, willing to sell his services to the highest bidder.
-The powerful weaponry of the raiding Gnolls has been supplied by some source, and the PCs must find and eliminate this deadly new threat.

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