Snow Day NPC - Hevath the Observer

Hevath the Observer

A Progenitor-era Wight, Hevath was long ago a man of Kran in the Icy Wastes - and a single-minded lieutenant of some renown for the icy King Helgaz Belkur.  He now stands watch in the dim recesses of a former telescope temple on the tomb-planet Nebulmor. 

In those dim days of blood and fire, the King tasked Hevath with a dire mission, to wend his way through the Crystal Peaks, infiltrate the Dwarf Home, and enter a little-used cavern.  He was to kill any who stood in his way, but not draw attention if possible.  There, Hevath was told, he ought to watch what he found, and wait there until given leave.  He could stay in contact with his Lord through a psionic amulet that required only a little life essence to maintain its magic.


Little did he know that Belkur had geased him to watch, but he went and found a boiling, roiling expanse of air through which he stepped, and then he was somewhere else.  And he watched what he found, there; namely, an image of a Ziggurat of Smoke and Flame, carried on the backs of a thousand cannibal-apes and a Keep of Soot and Ash.  He stood in wonderment and watched as glimpses of a young woman of smoke and a towering, sinister man left the battlements, and Hevath came to love and hate them both as kin.

And he watched, and he died a thousand thousand years ago.  His master was out of contact but this did not break his compulsion, and now his master has again contacted him and Hevath has told all he has learned in an eon of watching.  This is not much, truthfully, but the information is amusing and useful to Belkur who is more interested in the slave-apes than the smoke-and-ash father and his daughter (although it is recognized they must be sorcerers of some ability).

Hevath is an even-tempered and cool-headed thing, and will no longer slay those who approach outright unless they seem a threat.  He is more concerned with reaching and slaying the man and his daughter, or somehow destroying their smoky demesne.  Little does he know that the Ziggurat of Haon Reagan'Tor lies on a far-off Purple Planet - and he would not care if he knew.  He is only compelled to watch, and make his reports as his Master sees fit.

If the PCs demonstrate spell-casting ability of any kind in his presence, he will offer a trifling mission with no meaningful outcome, except the distinct possibility of their certain doom should they attempt it.  This solves two problems for him, to remove the PCs from his midst while he watches the ziggurat in the hopes of a glimpse of Haon and Ylill, and (should they return) then the party may be of use to Helgaz Belkur.  He may maneuver the PCs to find a way to break his geas, but he cannot attempt this openly or consciously owing to the strength of Helgaz Belkur's daemonomancy.

He can teach PC Wizards the Patron Bond spell, and will bond anyone of Level 2 or higher to Helgaz Belkur with a d24 on the roll, plus whatever Spellburn and Luck the PC may wish to add (only before the roll, though!)

Hevath the Observer: Init: +4; AC 17, MV 40, HD 6d10+6, HP 55, Atk melee +6 (Woundrime 1d10+4), Act 1d24; SP: Hit only by silver, blessed or magical weapons, Crushing Fear; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +6; AL N.

The wraith knights of King Halgaz Bekur are semi-transparent men in the varied armor styles and helmets of northern warriors. The bluish skin of these creatures appears to be rotting. Their eyes burn with a cold blue light and they wield long, jagged black spears.  Hevath himself is darker hued than most, and his eyes are as hateful coals in a pile of dirty snow.  He wears the image of an antlered helm and ornate bone armor - both of which turned to dust and blew away an age ago.

However, Hevath's Frostblade is a material thing, and named Woundrime.  Any struck by it will need to make a DC 15 Will Save or suffer further 1d10 cold damage and the wound will never be free of ice until healed of 2 dice damage by magical means.  Hevath's mission was to find Haon's weaknesses and subvert his Kith-slaves to the service of The Wraith King, but in the meanwhile Helgaz Belkur was defeated; now that his master's power waxes again, it may be that his forces will march over Nebulmor before too long.

The amulet will put the wearer in direct mental contact with Helgaz Belkur, and cause madness and obsession, a shift in alignment to Chaotic, and the compulsion to watch and wait before acting in a concrete sense.  It feeds on the essence of the wearer, and will turn them to a kind of undead thing if they die while wearing it (even if they make a Turn Over the Body roll!).  Hevath's alignment is Neutral - but he has regained something of a sense of independence in his long years of observation and no longer feels affection for his former master, even though the geas holds as firmly as it always has.