 Forge Spurned
The choking odor 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 5Source Crown of the Kobold King pg. 30
NE Medium undead (fire)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +8, Spot +8DefenseAC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+6 armor)
hp 39 (6d12); fast healing 5
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +7; +2 vs. spells
Immune fire, undead traitsOffenseSpeed 20 ft.
Melee mwk adamantine warhammer +8 (1d8+6) and soul chain +10 (2d4+10 plus 1d6 fire)
Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with soul chain)
Special Attacks burning barbs, forge breath, soul chainStatisticsStr 18, Dex 10, Con —, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +3; Grapple +7
Feats Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Power Attack
Skills Appraise +5 (+7 blacksmithing), Climb +10 (+12 ropes), Craft (blacksmithing) +10, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +4, Listen +8, Spot +8, Use Rope +5
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ eternal damnation, soul chain, undead traits
Gear masterwork adamantine hammerSpecial AbilitiesBurning Barbs (Su) As part of its penance, a forge spurned’s body is riddled with burning hot hooks and barbed steel wire, searing its flesh for all eternity. The scorching wounds these barbs inflict on the forge spurned constantly heal so it might suffer them anew each moment. Anyone grappling a forge spurned or striking it with an unarmed or natural attack takes 1d6 points of fire damage and 1d6 points of piercing damage from the barbs.
Forge Breath (Su) A forge spurned may exhale a cloud of stinging soot, ash, and glowing embers as a standard action either in a 30-foot cone or a 20-foot-radius spread centered on the forge spurned. 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 breathe again until it fills its flaccid undead lungs with its bellows (a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity).
Soul Chain (Su) Cursed to forge a chain of souls to appease its dark god, a forge spurned toils endlessly, searching high and low for fresh victims to bind in hot steel links. Each link of the chain shows the shadowy visage of its trapped soul, its face twisted in a silent scream of horror. The soul chain wraps around a forge spurned’s burning body, granting it a +2 armor bonus per ten 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 ten soul links (the forge spurned may command the chain to not deal fire damage if it wishes, 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 or similar environ 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 hideously transformed into a forge spurned, damned to continue collecting souls for the dread Master of the Dark Furnace.
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 (even if it has not yet been reduced to 0 hp), never to rise again. When a forge spurned’s chain is destroyed the souls bound within are released at long last.DescriptionWhen a dwarven worshiper of Droskar perishes, he is brought before his divine lord and judged. If the Master of the Dark Furnace finds him unworthy he is pierced with burning barbs and returned to the world as an undead terror on an accursed errand to gather souls for Droskar’s Furnace. The penance varies depending on how displeased the master is with his subject. Lesser offenders need only capture ten or twenty souls to appease Droskar. 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 the Master of the Dark Furnace 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.
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