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insight bonus to attack rolls against that opponent. They may choose a new opponent each time they perform an action.
Prescient Strike (Su): A cyclops can see when its attack
will hit and can maximize the impact. After a cyclops hits with an melee attack, they gain a +1 cumulative insight bonus to damage for every point by which their attack roll exceeded the opponent’s AC (not including the +2 insight bonus from hunter’s sight). Bonus damage may not exceed the cyclops’ base attack.
Ocular Reliance: A cyclops that loses the use of his eye
or is otherwise blinded does not gain the benefit of his super- natural special abilities.
Treasure
Cyclopes in the wild have no treasure to speak of, but some- times collect items from their victims. A cyclops conditioned by the skorne wears a suit of masterwork plate armor and wields a masterwork weapon, usually a falchion or halberd. Some also employ heavy shields. An intact cyclops eye could fetch 10 - 1,000 gp from the right buyer, such as a bone grinder or alchemist.
Legends & Lore
Common: Found in eastern Immoren, the cyclops is a nine-
foot tall ill-tempered, barbaric creature with one eye. They are more likely to communicate with weapons than with speech when dealing with non-cyclopes.
Uncommon: Though dim-witted, cyclopes fight remarkably
well. They are natural hunters and can track their prey over long distances.
Rare: Cyclopes can see into the future briefly, giving them
an edge in combat. They are at their most defenseless when surprised.
Obscure: Blinding a cyclops robs it of both its sight and its
ability to see into the future.
Hooks
Either a sole survivor of a failed assault or an unlikely deserter, a lone skorne-conditioned cyclops has shed his arms and armor to revert to its natural barbaric state and live like a beast in the wilderness of western Immoren. Likely it could survive indefinitely hunting in the wilds if not for having developed a taste for human flesh. Its ravenous hunger drives it to a nearby village. Even if the PCs defeat or drive off the marauding creature, its skorne keepers will eventually arrive in hopes of recovering it.
Gerhard Fortros, a cigar-chomping wealthy and gregarious Rhulic fight-promoter in Corvis, is looking for a team of mon- ster hunters willing to bring him a healthy captive cyclops to use in the fighting pits of the undercity for what he is billing as “the fight of the century” between the “Beast from the East” and the hulking Ogrun prize-fighter Barak ”The Hammer”.
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Deathless
CE Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid) CR 19 Hit Dice: 16d12 (96)
Immunities/Resist: Cold, damage reduction (10/holy), elec- tricity, fire, polymorph, turn immunity, spell resistance 26, undead traits
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft; Listen +1, Spot +1 Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares), climb 10 ft. Armor Class: 30, touch 11, flat-footed 29 (+9 breast
plate +4, +1 Dex, +10 natural armor)
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+17
Attack: +4 unholy vorpal great sword +23 melee (2d6+9 17-20, plus 2d6 vs. good)
Full Attack: +4 unholy vorpal great sword +23/+18/+13 melee (2d6 +9 17- 20, plus 2d6 vs. good)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities: Energy drain, illusionary control, spell-like abilities
Saves: Fort 8, Reflex 8, Will 12
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 12, Con –, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 19
Skills: Climb +16, Concentration +8, Intimidate +15, Jump +16, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (Orgoth history) +10, Spellcraft +8
Feats: Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (great
sword), Weapon Specialization (great sword), Greater Weapon Focus (great sword), Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (great sword), Spell
Focus (Evocation), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration
Spells: This deathless knows the following spells: 0: ghost sound, daze, acid splash, mage hand, arcane mark, message, open, light; 1st:
charm person, magic missile, burning hands, shield, enlarge; 2nd: scorching ray, web, ghoul
touch; 3rd: fireball, displacement; 4th: phan-
tasmal kille
Spells per day: 8/5/3/2/1
T
he Orgoth reached our shores in 600 BR and withintwo hundred years they held nearly all of western Immoren in their grasp. Only the discovery of blast- ing powder, the creation of the colossals, and the ‘gift’ of sorcery allowed our ancestors to eventually drive the Orgoth from our lands. A few signs of their centuries of domi- nation remain. Across the land lie places where crops refuse to grow, silent woods where animals fear to tread, and the dread ruins of the occupation. Many such tombs and crumbling fortresses hold dark things lingering oblivious to the march of time, such as the dread and the depraved excrutiator torturers, yet we have not seen the limit of Orgoth depravity nor the full extent of their determination to deny death. Some have lingered on by sheer force of will and dream of their empire of old.
I discovered this creature through the unfortunate death of the late professor Maphin Hlal, chief archeologist at Corvis University and an Orgoth expert. Away for some time on expe- dition, a student found his body tragically impaled and float- ing in the western Black River. I put aside my grief and, upon request, went to sort through the copious notes and journals sent back to the university, hoping to collect and publish his works for posterity.
I found among these the professor’s personal journal. He described that in the bleak countryside of Ord’s Olgenholt, not far from an ancient slave pit, clues and rumors had led him to a long forgotten tomb of a former Orgoth governor. He employed a group of local tomb raiders to bypass its traps. Utilizing such people presents its own dangers, as such men are sometimes little better than grave robbers or bandits. Hlal said he understood the risks.
Once inside, the pristine state of the place, apparently perfectly preserved despite the centuries, awed the profes- sor. Frescos decorated the walls, the polished flagstones had no dust, and ever burning blue-green torches lit the way to the inner chamber. The impossible sight which here greeted him struck Professor Hlal speechless. What seemed a living, breathing Orgoth lord sat before him on a great stone throne flanked by his honor guard. He wondered if the torches contained some hallucinogen until the Orgoth lord spoke to him. In ancient Caspian the lord commanded him to kneel, which Hlal did without a thought. His companions fled, but the Orgoth guards cut them down. Their screams resounded through the halls.
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Deathless
Still mortally terrified and powerless before the creature’s will, Professor Hlal, nevertheless, collected his wits enough to formulate a likely hypothesis for what he saw. Hlal deduced, despite his senses, that he faced a long dead Orgoth who’s will to live had impressed itself upon his surroundings. The lord’s words as he imperiously surveyed his chamber and ordered his soldiers made it clear that the creature mistook himself for living in the time of the Rebellion and had no
knowledge of the modern world. Hlal recorded that, upon this discovery, he pierced the veil of deception, and the tombs’ fix- tures and dressings began to fade from sight. The governor’s flesh also dissolved. Hlal saw the ter- rible visage of an armored skeleton upon the throne. Only an instant of doubt, however, served for the illu- sion to reasserted itself.
In awe Hlal unthinkingly spoke aloud. “You are dead!”
At this exclamation the lord scowled with rage and a light gleamed in his eyes. Advancing with blade in hand, he forced Hlal to apologize for his impertinence and to swear his allegiance and fealty. Hlal was powerless to resist. Thankfully the jour- nals became less coherent at this point. I deduced Hlal did not wish to set to paper, and I did not wish to know, the hor- rible deeds the dead Orgoth commanded him to perform. I read enough, how- ever, to realize with horror that this vague time coincid- ed with a series of particularly dreadful murders in Carre Dova and later in Ceryl. I believe now Hlal must have been involved.
“Shamed by what I have done, what I have become,” Hlal wrote in the last entry of the journal, “I must escape his grasp.” This entry convinces me that Hlal took his own life rather than continue his unholy servitude; a tragic and horrible end to a great mind. Eventually I hope to arrange an expedi-
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tion to destroy Hlal’s tormentor, but for now I can only cau- tion to not explore Orgoth ruins lightly. Their legacy lingers, undying, to this day.