The Storm King's Pantheon

The various tribes of Storm King barbarians vary one from another in many different ways, however they all share one thing in common - reverence and worship of the Storm King and his associated pantheon. This is a brief overview of those gods.

Bronc is the King of the Destriel Gods, and also the King of Storms. He is rarely seen, but always present. He is in every storm cloud, and looks down on his people. The Destriel Mountains, marking the northern boundary of the Valley of the Old Ones is a cold, windy place, often wracked by mysterious storms of all sorts. It is fitting that the king of storms dwells here. When the broody Bronc (who is much more frequently called, simply, the Storm King) appears, either in artwork, or during his very rare appearances on earth, he is a dark hulking being, with a horned helmet, wearing a great black shag-cow's hide as a cape. He carries a single broadsword, called Arrios which sings to the Storm King when in combat. His common foes are the many Sun Worms sent against him by the Sun King, Photos. The Storm King dwells in his cloudy castle Windkeep with Tyrros and Othero.

Tyrros is the son of the Storm King, and is the Prince of Thunder. He is the god of thunder and lightning, and has a personality to match. He is often roaming the world, in search of combat and warfare. He carries a great warhammer named Bloodthunder. When roaming the world, he is often in his chariot, which is pulled by a pair of great blue oxen named Glangor and Feory.

Othero is the lady of the Storm King, sometimes called the Storm Lady. She is pale and golden and beautiful, but she is also freezing cold. She dwelt alone at the top of the tallest peak in the Destriels until she attracted the interest of the Storm King. He rescued her from her mountaintop by beating the giants keeping her imprisoned, and then took her back to Windkeep with him. She bore him the son, Tyrros. Now she dwells at Windkeep and controls the coming and going of winter. She sometimes, for sport, will shoot at the sun worms that encircle the fortress with her bow, Icefinger.

Helgor is the Black Chieftain. He is the ruler of the Dark Shore, and is the lord of the domain of the restless dead. All those who die an unsatisfying death are doomed to dwell on the Dark Shore, where they may be called upon by sorcerers to perform foul deeds, or worse. Nobody wants the Black Chieftain to appear, however some will pay homage to him when affairs of the dead are concerned. He appears as a tall dark man, with a helmet set by two great curving goat horns. He carries a black longspear named Soulteaser, with a slender tip that ends in flame. By his side, when he is seen traveling the face of the earth, he is sometimes accompanied by a Fell Beast (a huge wolflike creature the size of an elephant, and quite ferocious).

Week of Encounters Day 2: The Fell-Beast of Riven Moor

This encounter takes place in the Sildur Reaches region of the valley.  It is near the Greywater River, up where it rolls south out of the Destriel Mountains.  This is Stormking Barbarian country, and this encounter features elements of the Stormking mythology.

Just north of the Shadow Woods, but south of the Greywater is an area known as the Riven Moor.  The area is home to many of the crypts and barrows of the Storm King tribes. It is a high flat place, nearly 100 miles wide, and approximately 30 miles north to south, with the Greywater along the northern edge, and clumps of forest marking the beginning of the Shadow Woods along the southern edge.  There are no permanent habitations up here, but occasionally bands of traveling Storm King tribesmen will be encountered.  They almost always travel through the area well armed, and in groups consisting mainly of fighting men, because of the number of Fell-Beasts in the area.

The Fell-Beast appears as a very large wolf (approximately the size of a forest elephant), but is much more dangerous.  The beings are supernatural in origin, and come from the underworld realm of the Black Chieftain.  In the pantheon of the Storm King, the enemy of the Storm King himself is their barbarian god of death and the underworld, known as the Black Chieftain.  He dwells in a domain known as the Dark Shore, and it is pictured to be a cold, forested island, in the middle of a bleak icy sea, under a sunless sky.  The island is populated by foul beasts of all sorts, who hunt the lost souls through the forest night after night.  One of the types of creatures are the Fell-Beasts.

One of the reasons there are so many Fell-Beasts in our realm, especially on the Riven Moor, is because of the magical protections put on the barrows there, and the fact that so many barrows become plundered and robbed.  Many of the protections and curses used by priests of the Storm King tribes consist of curses based on beings and magic from the Dark Shore, so when a barrow is violated, the arrival of a being from the cursed realm is the result.  This being then usually hunts down the offending party, and exacts revenge.  The number of barrows, and the strength of the magic on the Riven Moor means that some of these beings remain in our world, savagely and viciously hunting the living.

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Fell-Beast
Num Appearing: 1-2
Alignment: neutral-evil
Movement: 90'
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 8d (48h.p.)
Attacks: 3 (claw, claw, bite) plus special (if bite is successful)
Damage: 1d4+1; 1d4+1; 2d8
Save: F8
Morale:8
Special Attack: Level Draining Bite - whenever a Fell Beast makes a successful Bite attack, there is also a 20% chance that the Fell-Beast will attempt to drain a level from the character that was bitten.  This can be avoided by a successful save vs. Petrification.

The Fell-Beast is an undead being, and so a cleric would have a chance to turn one.  It appears as a large, black wolf (the size of a small elephant), with hollow ghostly eyes and blood and ichor matting its fur around its horribly large fanged mouth.  The Fell-Beast can howl a dreadful howl that will cause all beings below 3rd level within 100' to save vs. magic, or flee in terror.

If encountered (or worse, if one is cursed to be hunted by a Fell-Beast) other than fighting the creature with means both physical and magical, one would have to worry about the ability of the Fell-Beast to be able to summon to its side death birds from the Dark Shore.  These death birds are described below, but the Fell-Beast can summon 1d12 of these beings, twice a day.

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Death Birds
Num Appearing 1-12
Alignment: neutral-evil
Movement: 120'
Armor Class:6
Hit Dice: 2d (9h.p.)
Attacks:1, plus shriek
Damage: 1d4
Save: F2
Morale:9

The Death-Birds are also undead beings, so a cleric would have a chance of turning them (2HD undead beings).  These appear as undead ravens, with red eyes and blood stained beaks and talons.  They appear to be quite dead, with feathers missing here and there, and sometimes chunks of flesh torn from their bodies.  They exude a horrid stench of decaying flesh.

Whenever one is in combat with death birds (whether 1 or a dozen), the constant shrieking (the Storm King tribesmen call it "crying for the dead") of the birds will cause one to make a saving throw vs. magic at the beginning of the combat round.  If the save is failed, then the character may not move during that round - it may still attack or defend, but it may not move.  Magic User spells are also not allowed if this saving throw is failed, however Clerics of a good alignment may still cast spells.

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Encounter: The players are moving across the Riven Moor for some reason, when they hear the horribly howl of a Fell-Beast in the distance.  Should they move to see what is afoot, they will encounter the Fell-Beast and a cloud of Death Birds feasting on the remains of a (now) deceased grave robber.  The nearby open barrow mound attests to the reason for the attack, and there are bags of treasure spilled about on the ground near the body.  If they Fell-Beast or the Barrow Mound is approached in any way, then both the great undead wolf and the flock of birds (eleven) will attack the players instantly.