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Postfest III: Keth the Golden |
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| Posted on Sat, December 11, 2004 by Farcluun |
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cwslyclgh writes "Keth the Golden was a villian who apeared during my Greyhawk game that was set in the domain of greyhawk, he is presented here for the canonfire audience to use and enjoy.
Keth the Golden
By: cwslyclgh
Used with Permission. Do not repost without obtaining prior permission from the author.
Keth the Golden
By C. Wesley Clough
Keth the Golden (so called because of his thick mane of long, coarse blond hair) is a cunning and ruthless Lieutenant in the slavery ring known as the Iron Hook. Spectacularly successful in his first few years after recruitment, Keth rose quickly through the ranks and now commands all of the Iron Hook operations in the Domain of Greyhawk. Keth is a crafty operator, and maintains carefully groomed contacts in the city of Greyhawk, and in every town and village in the domain. He reports twice a year to the masked leaders of the Iron Hook at their secret headquarters in the bandit city of Alhaster, but other then that is given free reign to conduct Iron Hook operations in the domain of Greyhawk as he sees fit. Keth prefers to use orcs as operatives in his missions, generally recruiting orcs from the areas controlled by Iuz, and preferably worshiping that demigod. Keth is generally very cautious about when and where the Iron Hook strikes, and who they take, not wanting to bring down the wrath of the mighty upon the Iron Hook the way that the Slave Lords of the Pomarj did not that long past. Recently however he has been using the humanoid incursions into the northern domain of Greyhawk from Blackthorn, as a cover for a few more daring raids, leaving false clues behind that point to Blackthorn being behind the attacks. Those captured by his operations are secretly shipped north to be put on the slave blocks of Dorakaa and other Iuz controlled cities. Keth rarely participates in the operations personally these days, preferring to plan them out in detail, and then let underlings handle the actual work. If he feels that there is little chance of an operation succeeding with out his presence Keth will not hesitate to move into the field however.
A half-orc by birth Keth looks almost human, with only a slightly grayish cast to his complexion, slightly pointed incisors, and course animal-like hair to betray his origins. He is of below average height, standing only slightly over five foot two inches, but is no weakling, being nearly as broad across the shoulder as he is tall. Keth has lots of thick muscles with very little body-fat, giving him a "ripped" appearance rather like that of a body-builder in competition form. He is proud of his long blond hair, and in rather vain about it, spending several hours every morning combing his course locks. He has two small scars under his right eye, and many more along his thick arms, Keth seldom wears sleeves so that these remainders of his rough life growing up among a small offshoot of the Dripping blade clan of orcs in the Abbor-Alz are readily visible to all. On his left shoulder is a tattoo of a red dragons head that breaths fire down over his sizable bicep, and across his forearm to nearly his wrist.
Keth is generally cold and emotionless, nearly unflappable, and capable of taking his time to make decisions even when he is in a hurry. He is extremely pragmatic, always making the decision that will have the best results for himself, the Iron Hook, and his god (in that order). A true sociopath, Keth has no real concept of the feelings of others, he is incapable of comprehending the pain and suffering caused by what he does, and views everybody else besides himself as objects to be used to his own ends rather then persons with feelings and thoughts of their own. Even his worship of Iuz is self-serving in the end, doing it for the power the god can grant him rather then for a feeling of unity with his dark master. Few things can phase the half-orc, but Keth does have an attitude when it comes to people disparaging his height. In fact short jokes are one of the few things that can over come his callous coldness and cause him to fly into a fir of dark fury.
Keth dresses in deep green and brown tones, typically clothing includes a sleeveless vest over his armor, trousers, and knee high doeskin boots. Keth's clothing is always well tailored and maintained, adding a sense of civility to his otherwise rough facade. When awake, Keth always wears a set of green tinted leather armor, the armor is magical, and Keth took it from the body of an elf rogue that tried to rescue several elven captives soon after Keth joined the Iron Hook. He is never out of arms reach from his morning star, a weapon that he had specially crafted and enchanted to his own specifications. The morning stars head is shaped like a spiked skull, and the weapon crackles with a dark energy at Keth's command. The only piece of jewelry worn by the half-orc is an enchanted silver circlet that he wears to hold back his long hair, the circlet is inset with the holy symbol of Iuz which Keth proudly wears upon his forehead when ever it is prudent to do so, at other times he keeps the circlet covered by the cowl of his cloak. When venturing out Keth wears a volumous gray cloak containing several hidden inside pockets, secreted with in the pockets are always at least 2 potions (cure moderate wounds) and a slim bladed masterwork dagger that Keth carries for luck. The dagger is nearly impossible to find in the cloak unless the searcher knows exactly where to look for it, and it has an ivory handle inset with pearls.
Keth "The Golden"
Male half-orc Cleric (Iuz) 3/Fighter 5
HD: 3d8+3 plus 5d10+5, HP: 50, Initiative: +0, Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 16 (touch 12, flatfooted 16)
Attacks: +12/+6(+1 shock morning star used 2 handed, 1d8+5 plus 1d6 electricity)
SA: Spell use, Rebuke Undead 3/day
SQ: Cast Evil spells at +1 caster level, Dark Vision 60 ft., Orc Blood
Alignment: Neutral Evil; Saves Fortitude: +10, Reflex: +4, Will: +8
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 10
Skills and Feats: Bluff +5, Concentration +6, Diplomacy +5, Disguise +4, Hide +5, Listen +5, Search +4, Spot +5, Swim +7, Alertness, Cleave, Combat Casting, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Morning Star), Weapon Specialization (Morning Star)
Equipment: +2 leather armor of fire resistance, +1 shock morning star, silver circlet with holy symbol of Iuz that acts as a ring of protection +2, cloak of resistance +2, 2 potions of cure moderate wounds, masterwork dagger, 20 gp.
Note: that Keth has access to much more equipment then this, what is listed above is simply what he normally carries on him. As commander of the Iron Hook operations in the domain of Greyhawk Keth should be considered to be able to get his hands on any standard equipment he thinks that he needs for an operation, and perhaps some magical equipment as well (although this is probably limited to potions, scrolls, and other limited use, or one-shot magical items)… he also has a lot more money secreted in his lair that he generally doesn’t carry with him.
Cleric spells prepared: Spells per day 4/3+1/2+1, Save DC is 12 plus spell level, Domains Evil and Trickery
0th: Detect Magic x2, Mending, resistance
1st: Bless, Cause Fear, Doom, Domain Spell: Protection from Good
2nd: Hold Person, Death Knell, Domain Spell: Invisibility
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Average Score: 3.66
Votes: 6
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Re: Keth the Golden (Score: 1)
by abysslin (abyss@canonfire.com) on Wed, December 15, 2004
(User Info | Send a Message | Journal) http://www.canonfire.com | I like the brief informativeness of this submission, Wes. You left it so that with a quick click of the "printer friendly page," I can throw a side-plot/hook into my game tonight, if I wanted.
I particularly enjoyed the comment in regards to avoiding too much attention unlike the Slave Lords, heh! |
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Re: Keth the Golden (Score: 1)
by grodog on Thu, December 16, 2004
(User Info | Send a Message) http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html | Nice job Wes!
I particularly like the way you characterize Keth's usury of others---of Iuz, of Iuz's orcish worshippers, of his victims, of his dupes at Blackthorne who take the blame for the Iron Hook's activities, etc.
A question about the Iron Hook---it sounds like they're based more in the northern Nyr Dyv areas (Bandit Kingdoms, Shield Lands, etc.) vs. the south like the Slavelords were. Do you have more info about them? They sound sort of like a big bogeyman bad guy organization like SPECTRE from James Bond.... |
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Re: Keth the Golden (Score: 1)
by Argon on Thu, January 06, 2005
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I like the mention of a new group the Iron Hook and the description of Keth is'nt half bad. i just think a little more emphasis on what Keth actually does as opposed to what he wears and carries would of brought this article together alot more for me. |
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