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  • Monster: The Blasphemer


    Delmar
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    link: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/duad/20090824

     

    The next time you're preparing an adventure and need a villain foul enough to wreak unbridled havoc on your world, look no further than The Blasphemer, villain of Dragon War, the newest Eberron novel by author and designer James Wyatt.

     

     

    Campaign Workbook:

    illustration by Patrick McEnvoy

    By James Wyatt

    The Blasphemer

    The earth groaned in protest and pain as the

    dragonfire coursed over it. Kathrik Mel crouched

    down and placed his palm on the ground. The grass

    died at his touch, and the earth?s outcry grew louder

    in his ears. He lifted his hand, looked at his fingers,

    and rubbed away flecks of gray ash from the tips.

    He drew a slow breath, and the mingled aromas of

    autumn and smoke turned to rot in his nostrils. He

    stood, stretched his arms wide, and shouted.

    ?Forward! Trample their bones into the ground!

    For Kathrik Mel!?

    His warriors took up the cry: ?Kathrik Mel!

    Kathrik Mel!?

    He felt the heat of the dragonfire at his back and

    smiled. The warriors before him were too slow. He

    spoke a word, and fire leaped around him to lash at

    their backs, impelling them forward. For a moment

    he was bathed in fire, and he cackled.

    As he strode behind his onrushing horde, he

    listened to the cries of the earth, searching for the

    painful harmonies of the Gatekeepers? seal and the

    stifled chorus behind it. Softly, he began to hum his

    part of that entropic chorus, a song of madness that

    would unmake the seal?the song that would soon

    unmake the world.

    * * * * *

    Dragons fly before the Blasphemer?s legions,

    scouring the earth of his righteous foes.

    Carnage rises in the wake of his passing,

    purging all life from those who oppose him.

    Vultures wheel where dragons flew,

    picking the bones of the numberless dead.

    But the Blasphemer?s end lies in the void,

    in the maelstrom that pulls him down

    to darkness.

    On his lips are words of blasphemy,

    the words of creation unspoken.

    In his ears are the screams of his foes,

    bringing delight to his heart.

    When he speaks all doors are opened

    and all chains are broken,

    all law is repealed and chaos is unbound.

    Campaign Workbook

    5 Augu s t 2009 | Dungeon 169

    The bulk of the Aundairian forces had closed the

    gap while Gaven faced the dragon, and bodies in

    Aundairian blue lay alongside those in the leather

    and fur of the Carrion Tribes, their blood flowing

    together on the gore-slick ground. As the wind

    whipped around him, he was a still point in the

    center of a raging tempest, the noise of battle swept

    away in the whirlwind. He was seized with the

    sudden sense that he?d been there before?witnessed

    this exact scene before. A crush of thunder shook the

    earth, and the wind fell.

    An alien, incomprehensible sound replaced

    all the noise of battle and the howl of the wind?a

    string of syllables with no meaning, sounds that

    signified the unmaking of the world. They tore at

    his ears and ripped at his mind, defying him to

    form sense or reason.

    All around him, soldiers and barbarians fell to

    the earth, hands pressed to their ears, mouths wide

    in silent howls of agony. They parted like a subsiding

    flood, leaving only two figures standing in their wake.

    One was Rienne?so close, no more than ten

    yards away?her face wrenched in pain, both hands

    clutching Maelstrom?s hilt. Her mouth moved,

    forming words Gaven couldn?t understand, as though

    their structure and meaning were her only defense

    against the sound of the Blasphemy.

    The other figure was a tall man in bloodstained

    plate armor, twisting ivory horns rising from the

    brick-red skin of his brow. Blasphemy streamed from

    his mouth as he raised a flaming sword to the sky.

    His burning eyes fell on Rienne and anger twisted his

    face, and he strode toward her to cut her down.

    The Blasphemer

    The Blasphemer and his barbarian horde are an

    epic threat facing the world of Eberron. In Dragon

    War, Gaven and Rienne defeat the Blasphemer and

    halt his horde?s advance across the Aundair River. In

    your campaign, though, it might fall to your player

    characters to stop Kathrik Mel before he breaks the

    Gatekeepers? seals and destroys the city of Fairhaven.

    The Blasphemer Lore

    History or Nature DC 20: From time to time,

    warlords arise in the Demon Wastes who manage

    to unite a handful of the normally warring Carrion

    Tribes under a single banner. Such alliances rarely

    last long, and never long enough to actually cross the

    Labyrinth and the Icehorn or Shadowcrag Mountains

    to threaten the Eldeen Reaches. They might pose a

    threat to the Ghaash?kala orcs of the Labyrinth, but

    present no danger to the civilized lands to the east.

    Arcana DC 25: The Draconic Prophecy hints of

    a mighty war leader who could lead a terrible army

    of warriors, supported by dragons, to scour the earth.

    The Prophecy calls this leader the Blasphemer,

    suggesting that he is capable of unspeaking the words

    of creation that are said to have formed the world?or

    the words of the Prophecy itself.

    Arcana or Nature DC 30: The elders of the

    Eldeen Reaches have legends of a fiendish creature

    who will come to break the seals of the Gatekeepers

    and unleash the madness of the Far Realm of Xoriat

    upon their land once again.

    Kathrik Mel, the Blasphemer Level 22 Soldier

    Medium natural humanoid, tiefling XP 4,150

    Initiative +18 Senses Perception +16; low-light vision

    Inspire Furor aura 1; when a minion ally adjacent to Kathrik

    Mel is reduced to 0 hit points, it can make a saving throw.

    If it saves, it takes no damage from the attack.

    HP 205; Bloodied 102

    AC 38; Fortitude 35; Reflex 33; Will 34

    Resist fire 15

    Speed 6

    m Bloodclaw (standard; at-will) ✦ Fire, Weapon

    +29 vs. AC; 2d10 + 6 fire damage. Effect: The target is

    marked until the end of Kathrik Mel?s next turn.

    M Bloodclaw Strike (opportunity action, when an adjacent

    marked target leaves a square or makes an attack that does

    not include Kathrik Mel; at-will) ✦ Fire, Fear, Weapon

    +29 vs. AC; targets the triggering enemy; 2d10 + 6 fire

    damage and the target is immobilized and takes a ?5

    penalty on attack rolls until the end of its turn.

    R Unspeak Creation (standard; recharge ⚄ ⚅) ✦ Psychic

    Ranged 5; Kathrik Mel speaks blasphemy that begins to

    erase the target from existence; +27 vs. Fortitude; 3d10

    + 8 psychic damage and ongoing 10 psychic damage

    (save ends).

    C Song of Blasphemy (standard; encounter) ✦ Psychic, Zone

    Close burst 10; +27 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 8 psychic damage.

    The burst creates a zone of reality-rending words that

    lasts until the end of Kathrik Mel?s next turn. A creature

    that enters or starts its turn in the zone takes 15 psychic

    damage. Sustain minor: The zone persists.

    The Song Goes On (free, when Kathrik Mel saves against the

    stunned or dazed condition; at-will)

    Kathrik Mel sustains his song of blasphemy.

    Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages Supernal,

    Common, Draconic

    Str 27 (+19) Dex 21 (+16) Wis 21 (+16)

    Con 21 (+16) Int 23 (+17) Cha 25 (+18)

    Equipment plate armor, Bloodclaw (longsword)

    Campaign Workbook

    6 Augu s t 2009 | Dungeon 169

    The Blasphemer?s Tactics

    Kathrik Mel is a warlord who leads his forces from

    behind, driving them forward with whips of flame

    if they advance too slowly against his foes. He uses

    his curved longsword, Bloodclaw, to cut down foes

    that draw too close to him?or minions that fail

    him. Only if he is seriously threatened by a worthy

    foe does he use song of blasphemy, since the horrid

    syllables spilling from his mouth harm his allies as

    much as his enemies.

    The Blasphemer uses unspeak creation as a

    punishment for insubordination off the battlefield,

    but uses it in battle as he strides toward a

    significant enemy, starting the battle with an

    unfair advantage from range.

    Defeating the Blasphemer

    In Dragon War, Kathrik Mel was a virtually

    unstoppable opponent. When he faced Gaven, who

    wielded the prophesied power of the Storm Dragon,

    the nearly godlike power of the two epic opponents

    canceled out, actually tearing a rift in the fabric of

    creation. When Rienne faced the Blasphemer, her

    sword, Maelstrom, and the Blasphemer?s own blade

    seemed content to fight each other without letting

    a single blow past to the ones who wielded them,

    conspiring together to contribute to the unmaking

    of the world. If you want, you can recreate the

    sense that the Blasphemer?s death is a subject of the

    Prophecy just as his life is, making him impossible

    to kill except in a specific way.

    The key is to ensure that the players have some

    way of knowing that the enemy they face is no

    ordinary foe and they?ll need extraordinary means

    to defeat him. That might be as simple as a verse

    of Prophecy, though it took Rienne a long time to

    understand what the Prophecy meant in saying, ?his

    end lies in the void, in the maelstrom that pulls him

    down to darkness.?

    However, the characters shouldn?t feel like they?re

    bound to the Prophecy. The Draconic Prophecies,

    ultimately, is about the characters writing their own

    destinies. Both Gaven and Rienne become playwright

    as well as player in the drama unfolding around

    them, and both achieve power by relinquishing the

    power they have learned to rely on. A confrontation

    with the Blasphemer can be a similarly dramatic

    moment for at least one player character, if that works

    with the story you and your player envision for that

    character. It might be a part of the character?s epic

    destiny, or just a climactic moment in the character?s

    long story in the campaign.

    Encounters with

    the Blasphemer

    Kathrik Mel marches with an innumerable

    horde of Carrion Tribe warriors. You might build

    an encounter similar to the ones described in

    Dragon War, where the player characters stand

    alongside defenders of the Eldeen Reaches and,

    later, Aundairian soldiers trying to prevent the

    Blasphemer?s horde from crossing the river into

    Aundair. Thousands of Carrion Tribe barbarians

    clash with the defending armies in battles that take

    place ?off-stage? from the actions of the characters,

    while the heroes mow down large numbers of

    Carrion Tribe degenerates (Eberron Campaign Guide,

    page 120) and face off against more significant

    threats before finally confronting the Blasphemer.

    In Dragon War, Kathrik Mel sings his song of

    blasphemy in the thick of battle, slowly weakening the

    Gatekeepers? seals beneath the battlefield. However,

    you might want to build an adventure that takes him

    away from the press of battle, making it easier for the

    characters to confront him face to face. Perhaps he

    has to descend into an underground shrine and place

    his hands on the Gatekeepers? seal to unweave its

    magic, and the characters are charged with stopping

    him there. He would naturally bring a bodyguard

    of Carrion Tribe blessed champions (ECG page 120)

    with him into the shrine, or his retinue could include

    a rakshasa noble (Monster Manual, page 217), black

    slaad (MM 239), nothic mindblight (Monster Manual

    2, page 168), or other appropriate creatures.

    About the Author

    James Wyatt is the D&D? Design Manager for Wizards of

    the Coast Roleplaying R&D. He was one of the lead designers

    for 4th Edition D&D and the primary author of the 4th

    Edition Dungeon Master?s Guide?. He was one of the designers

    of the Eberron? Campaign Setting, and is the author of several

    Eberron novels

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