Forge Spurned

The choking order of smelted steel tinged with burnt hair and flesh wafts on a foul wind. The jangling of heavy chains echoes ominously. A hulking dwarf wrapped in heavy steel links approaches. Its face, hands, and body are riddled with glowing hot hooks and half-melted razor wire. Black smoke rises from its smoldering beard, framing its freakishly contorted face in ashy darkness. The tormented thing hefts a black iron hammer and as it charges the chains draping its form spring to life like metal serpents.

Forge Spurned CR 5

XP 1,600
NE Medium undead (fire)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+6 armor)
hp 33 (6d8+6); fast healing 5
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +7
Immune fire, undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk adamantine warhammer +9 (1d8+6), soul chain +12 (2d4+7 plus 1d6 fire)
Special Attacks burning barbs, forge breath, soul chain
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with soul chain)

TACTICS

During Combat The forge spurned unleashed its forge breath on a group of enemies, then uses Improved Sunder to destroy dangerous weapons with its hammer while targeting foes with its soul chain. It tries to drag off foes if possible to soul bind them into the chain.

Morale Forge spurned are not mindless and they will burn forever if destroyed without the requisite number of souls required to appease their god. Forge spurned flee if threatened with overwhelming odds or if they can drag off a dead or unconscious foe.

STATISTICS

Str 18, Dex 10, Con –, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +4; CMB +8 (+10 to sunder, +10 to disarm with spiked chain); CMD 18 (20 against sunder)
Feats Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Power Attack
Skills Appraise +5, Climb +5, Craft (blacksmithing) +11, Escape Artist +5, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Perception +10
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ eternal damnation
Gear masterwork adamantine warhammer

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Burning Barbs (Su)

Anyone grappling a forge spurned’s body takes 1d6 points of fire damage and 1d6 points of piercing damage.

Forge Breath (Su)

A forge spurned may exhale a cloud of stinging soot, ash, and glowing embers as a standard action in either a 30 ft. cone or a 20 ft. radius spread. It persists for 1d4 rounds. Any living creature in the area is blinded by burning cinders and takes 1d6 points of fire damage per round of exposure (DC 13 Reflex save negates blindness but not damage). Anyone in the thick smoky cloud benefits from concealment as well. The forge spurned may not breath again until it fills its flaccid undead lungs with its bellows (a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Soul Chain (Su)

A forge spurned’s chain wraps around it’s burning body, granting it a +2 armor bonus per 10 soul links in the chain. The chain also attacks once per round independently of its forge spurned master (using its master’s melee attack bonus). The soul chain is treated as a flaming spiked chain with an enhancement bonus equal to +1 per 10 soul links (the forge spurned may command the chain to not deal fire damage, thus allowing the soul chain to drag captives to its forge alive. This forge spurned’s chain has 30 links.

Any slain victim may be soul bound into the chain (as per soul bind), but this necessitates a day of work at a forge and requires a DC 20 Craft (blacksmithing) check. If the check fails, the dead soul escapes. If the victim is alive during the binding process, the check DC is only 15, and may be reattempted the following day if it fails. Anyone may claim a felled forge spurned’s chain, and it will serve its new master willingly, although the wielder must make a DC 20 Will save each sundown or be transformed into a forge spurned, damned to continue collecting souls.

Eternal Damnation (Su)

As long as its chain remains, a forge spurned cannot be truly destroyed. A slain forge spurned rises again at full hit points on the next sundown unless its chain is broken (hardness 8, hp 25, break DC 20). If a forge spurned’s chain is sundered, it is instantly slain, never to rise again. When a forge spurned’s chain is destroyed, the souls bound within are released.

ECOLOGY

Environment underground, dwarven ruins
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

When a dwarf perishes, he is sometimes brought before his divine lord and judged. If found hunworthy he is pierced with burning barbs and returned to the world as an undead terror on an accursed errand to gather souls. The penance varies depending on how displeased the master is with his subject. Lesser offenders need only capture ten or twenty souls. Others are condemned to spend several lifetimes gathering hundreds of souls to earn a reprieve from their fiery torment. Most of these accursed cast-offs are dwarven smiths, warriors, or clanlords who failed to please their god in life. They are consumed with their need to forge their soul chains and prey upon any creature they feel they can easily best. If a forge spurned is felled and its chain taken by another, it seethes in dark fury. A forge spurned stops at nothing to retrieve its chain, lest it be forced to forge another, extending its period of burning torment.

Forge spurned often haunt their former homes, skulking in darkened dwarven halls or among the ruins of their people’s past glory. They prefer to remain below the earth where their malevolent soul forging goes unnoticed by others. Forge spurned often lair near magma vents, lakes of lava, or other hot environs that facilitate their sinister toil.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King, Copyright 2007 Paizo Publishing, LLC. Author: Nicolas Logue.

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