The Literati: Endgame (Part 3 of 3)
By Amber E. Scott

The factions of the Literati are varied and disparate, changing on whims or by alliances and betrayals. Three, however, are certain and deliberate; the machinations of the All-Knowing.

Daunte Moncrief currently runs the Literati and he has no desire to relinquish his position. He knows that his two lieutenants are both vying to become the new leader of the Literati, either by waiting for Daunte to die or by removing him from his position forcibly. To help cement his position, Daunte is currently searching for a powerful artifact with important historical value to the organization.

Cesario Treadwell, the founder of the Literati, had many adventures in his time but none so magnificent as his final one. While pursuing rumors of a tome of lost knowledge, Cesario ran afoul of a large red dragon. The dragon did not take kindly to Cesario's intrusion on his lands and the two had a raging battle over a deep ravine. Cesario, in a display of almost supernatural speed and agility, balanced on the back of the dragon during the battle, clinging to the monstrous wyrm's back like a burr. Tragically, upon slaying the dragon, Cesario was carried with its corpse into the bottomless depths of the ravine. All that was ever found of him was his floppy hat.

Legend holds that the wearer of Cesario's hat is imbued with a little of the spirit of that great man. The hat confers a number of special powers on the wearer as well as affording him some of the insight and knowledge that Cesario gained during his lifetime. Daunte believes that owning the hat will raise his status in the eyes of his followers and afford him precious insight and knowledge. He also knows that Carel Flightingale is enamored with the legend of Cesario and would do quite a lot to own the hat - or at least be assured of having regular access to it.

There is one quirk to Cesario's hat; it doesn't like to be owned by one person for too long. Many people have tried to lock it up and keep it to themselves over the years but the hat always seems to slip through their fingers as if it had a will of its own. Daunte has assigned one of his more trusted followers, a mnemephage named Sylvia Segilman, to finding the location of the hat. Daunte's smooth and seductive ways have won the girl's heart and loyalty and she is using her contacts and position to track down the hat. While she does that, Daunte is consulting with the dwarves who crafted hidden vaults for the Literati and commissioning the construction of a special vault. This vault should be enough to imprison the hat once Sylvia finds it.

 

Cesario's Hat: This hat is a wide-brimmed, floppy tan hat with a blue band around the crown and a fluffy red feather sweeping back along the side. The wearer's face is always cast in shadow when the hat is worn. The hat's powers are legendary and varied; tales mention many different changing properties. A few remain constant in all the stories. The hat's wearer gains a +10 circumstance bonus to disguise checks and a +5 insight bonus to all knowledge checks. The DC of any bardic music abilities he manifests (that have a saving throw) are increased by 2. The wearer receives a +4 enhancement bonus to his Charisma and Intelligence. In addition, the feather can be detached from the hat and used as a quill pen. The pen never runs out of ink and can write even in unusual conditions (such as upside-down or underwater). It can mark any surface, even things that normally could not be written on (such as ice or marble). The quill always writes legibly and auto-corrects spelling unless the writer deliberately misspells his words. The quill's writing is indelible and can only be erased by casting dispel magic (requiring a caster level check DC 20) before attempting to remove it. If the author desires, he may make the quill's writing invisible to everyone but himself and anyone he designates at the time of writing (to designate readers requires a standard action, regardless of the number of readers so designated). The quill can also be used to create items. Any item sketched by the quill can be rendered real as if the artist were using marvelous pigments. The quill never runs out of ink for this purpose either. The pen can only be detached by the hat by the wearer of the hat. Until the quill is replaced, its user can neither remove the hat nor set down the pen. Cesario's hat does not like to stay in one place. It is "happiest" when traveling and seeing the world. If the hat's owner remains in the same general area for more than a week, there is a 10% cumulative chance each day that something happens to cause the hat to change owners. Danger and excitement seem to follow Cesario's hat around. Minor artifact; strong transmutation; CL 20th; Weight 1 lb.

Meanwhile, Cesario's lieutenant, the diviner Hexalore, is making his own plans. Hexalore dislikes the loose organization of the Literati and he longs to give it a stricter hierarchy. He counts the assassin Poison Pint among his followers and is using the gnome to consolidate his power base. Poison Pint has begun a stealthy campaign to eliminate those who are too vocal in their opposition of Hexalore, particularly the supporters of Carel Flightingale.

Carel has recently become aware of this plot and is trying to woo Poison Pint to her side. Pint's chaotic nature often puts him at odds with Hexalore and he is very open to Carel's offers of an alliance. Hexalore is aware of this; in fact, it is part of his plan.

Unbeknownst to the others, Hexalore is on the verge of immortality. The rituals he is undertaking to become a lich require only his death to complete. Rather than taking his own life, Hexalore is going to stage a public "death". He expects Poison Pint to try and kill him sooner or later, at which point his living body will die but his undead, immortal body will form in his secret sanctum beside his phylactery. His public "death" will afford him the secrecy and privacy to bring the rest of his secret plans to fruition.

Hexalore is growing tired of waiting for Poison Pint to betray him. He is currently living in a manor house in a large city and has started to spread rumors of his evil deeds, hoping some noble adventurers will come and destroy him in an obvious fashion.

As a diviner, Hexalore is not enamored with death and dying like most necromancer-liches. He has researched a unique way to ensure his immortality. While he will still be an undead, he will possess some unusual abilities.

Scirelich

A scirelich is an undead spellcaster (usually a wizard or sorcerer but sometimes a cleric of a god of knowledge or magic) who specializes in divinatory magic. While most liches animate themselves through the power of negative energy, scireliches gain immortality through researching the power of true words. By describing themselves in a powerful magical language, scireliches ensure that they will always survive. They are undead, but animated by neither positive nor negative energy. Magical theorists do not yet understand what sort of energy keeps scireliches existed, but some attribute it to the realm of pure force.

Scireliches appear as gaunt humanoids. Their flesh is withered and greyish and is sometimes inscribed with runes and sigils. Their eyes glow with a green or blue light and their nails become long, black claws.

Scireliches were usually researchers, theologians or historians in life. Scireliches speak Common plus any other languages they knew in life.

 

Creating A Scirelich "Scirelich" is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature), provided it can create the required phylactery; see The Scirelich's Phylactery, below. A scirelich has all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here. Size and Type: The creature's type changes to undead. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged. Hit Die: Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s. Armor Class: A scirelich is always surrounded by a field of animating force. This grants him a +4 armor bonus to AC as if he had mage armor permanently cast on him. This is a naturally occuring trait of the scirelich; it cannot be dispelled or supressed even in an antimagic field (just as the force that animates corporeal undead is not supressed). Attack: A scirelich has a touch attack that it can use once per round. If the base creature can use weapons, the scirelich retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A scirelich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A scirelich armed with a weapon uses its touch or a weapon, as it desires. Full Attack: A scirelich fighting without weapons uses either its touch attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a touch as a natural secondary attack, provided it has a way to make that attack (either a free hand or a natural weapon that it can use as a secondary attack). Damage: A scirelich without natural weapons has a touch attack that uses force energy to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to creatures; a Fort save (DC 10 + ½ scirelich's HD + scirelich's Cha modifier) halves the damage. Since this is a force effect, incorporeal targets have no chance of ignoring the damage. A scirelich with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals 1d8+5 extra force damage on one natural weapon attack. Special Attacks: A scirelich retains all the base creature's special attacks and gains those described below. Save DCs are equal to 10 + ½ scirelich's HD + scirelich's Cha modifier unless otherwise noted. Cowering Aura (Su): Its countless hours of research and study in life have given the scirelich an imposing aura of confidence that shakes all who view it. Creatures of less than 5 HD in a 60' radius that look at the scirelich must succeed on a Will save or cower for 1 round per scirelich's HD. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected by the same scirelich's aura for 24 hours. Confusing Touch (Su): Any living creature a scirelich hits with its touch attack must succeed on a Will save or be affected by a confusion spell as from a sorcerer of the scirelich's level. Remove curse or any spell that can remove a curse (see the bestow curse spell description, page 203 of the Player's Handbook). The effect cannot be dispelled. Magic Missile (Sp): The scirelich can cast magic missile as a spell-like ability once a round as a sorcerer of the scirelich's level. Special Qualities: A scirelich retains all the base creature's special qualities and gains those described below. Turn Resistance: A scirelich has +4 turn resistance. Damage Reduction (Su): A scirelich's undead body is tough, giving the creature damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and magic. Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Immunities (Ex): Scireliches have immunity to cold, electricity, polymorph (though they can use polymorph effects on themselves), and mind-affecting attacks. Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +2. Being undead, a scirelich has no Constitution score. Skills: Scireliches have a +8 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Search, Sense Motive and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the base creature. Organization: Solitary or cabal (1 scirelich, plus 2-4 9th level wizards and 5-8 3rd level wizards). Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +2. Treasure: Standard coins; double goods; double items. Alignment: Any. Advancement: By character class. Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +4. Scirelich Characters The process of becoming a scirelich can be undertaken by characters of any alignment. It is a long and complicated process requiring years of research, and access to libraries containing extraordinarily rare books. The character must learn the secret of the magical language of animation as well. The Scirelich's Phylactery To become immortal the scirelich must create a magical phylactery. This phylactery always takes the form of a book in which the scirelich writes a detailed description of himself in an ancient, magical tongue. If the scirelich is ever killed, his body reforms beside the phylactery as an exact copy of the description contained within its pages. For this reason the scirelich must continually monitor and update the phylactery lest he be recreated as a less experienced version of himself. The only way to kill a scirelich is to destroy its phylactery. Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a scirelich reappears 1d10 days after its apparent death. To create the phylactery, the scirelich must speak the language of animation and possess the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th level or higher. The phylactery costs 120, 000 gp and 4, 800 XP to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation. The scirelich can update the phylactery whenever he likes at no additional cost.

Carel Flightingale knows quite well that Hexalore wants her dead. As the most benevolent member of the All-Knowing, Carel is determined to steer the Literati in a more beneficial direction, using their vast knowledge to effect change for the better. Carel is tired of what she perceives as an "imbalance" in the land, a slant towards evil, and thinks the Literati should correct this.

Daunte disagrees, preferring to use the Literati for more personal gain, but Carel is prepared to wait for him to die. As a half-elf, she will only be middle-aged when Daunte is an old man. Hexalore is a more imminent threat, however, and she is concocting plans to rid herself of him.

Poison Pint has been waging a stealthy war on Carel's followers but the charismatic bard has been able to sway Pint at least partially to her side. He has ceased his attacks for the moment to listen to her offers. Carel is trying to discover what Pint wants most and how she can get it for him. Pint is enamored with new toxic plants and poisons and Carel is dispatching followers and hiring adventurers to procure some extremely rare components for him.

Carel is also carefully consolidating her power base both within the organization and outside it. She is not simply a singing, acting troubadour; Carel has made a career of delving into the deepest, most secret places of the land and learning the secrets of the earth. She calls herself an earthskald, someone who understands the ancient ways of the old places and the underground races. Despite her elven heritage, she has always felt most comfortable under the ground and over the years has made many allies among the dwarves and the svirfneblin. She has heard of Daunte's plans for constructing a vault from her dwarven allies but does not yet know what he intends.

Some of Carel's most trusted allies have followed in her footsteps and become earthskalds. Carel and her minions have secret hideouts in many dark places in the land and can count on the aid of the deep races. Should Hexalore move openly against her she will go to ground with her allies. If Hexalore gives her time to contact all those who owe her favors and develop a plan of attack, she may mount an overt assault against him and his minions that will go down in the history books.

The Earthskald

Not all bards are flighty storytellers. Some are quieter, more introspective historians who tell tales old enough for the land to remember. They spend their time in cool tunnels deep below the earth where fissures run to the heart of the world and ancient races have lived forever. Earthskalds seem to have a magical connection to the ground that can fuel arcane powers within them; many believe their powers come from the earth.

Earthskalds have learned numerous secrets that let them survive in underground environs. They have access to all sorts of forgotten knowledge and get along well with underground natives. Earthskalds can live and travel aboveground but they're always happiest in the dark.

 

Requirements: Base Attack Bonus: +3 Languages: Terran plus any two other. Skills: Decipher Script 5 ranks, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 8 ranks, Knowledge (geography) 5 ranks, Knowledge (history) 5 ranks. Special: Must be able to cast read magic without preparation. Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills taken individually), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Speak Language, Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str) and Use Rope (Dex). Skill Points At Each Level: 8 + Int modifier. Hit Dice: d6 Class Features: Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The earthskald is proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor and shields (except tower shields). Spells per Day: When a new earthskald level is gained, the character gains new spells known and spells per day as if she had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class she belonged to before adding the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (such as bonus metamagic feats), except for an increased effective level of spellcasting. If a character had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming an earthskald, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for purposes of determining spells known and spells per day. Find Traps (Ex): The underground races are often cunning trapmakers and the earthskald has learned to bypass such traps. She can search for and disable traps (even magical traps) as if she were a rogue. Skald's Knowledge (Ex): The earthskald has learned many varied and esoteric bits of knowledge from her time investigating ancient runes. She gains a lore ability equal to her earthskald level + her Intelligence modifier. This works exactly as bardic knowledge does. If the earthskald possesses bard levels, her bard levels and earthskald levels stack for this purpose. Earthfriend (Ex): The underground races know and trust earthskalds. The earthskald gains a circumstance bonus equal to her earthskald level to all Charisma-based skill checks when dealing with underground natives. Forgotten Lore: Now and then the earthskald comes upon a particularly useful piece of knowledge. At second and fourth levels, she may take any one feat she possesses the prerequisites for. Darkvision (Ex): At third level, the earthskald develops the uncanny ability to see in the dark. She gains darkvision 60'. Runelore (Ex): Ancient runes hold a fascination for earthskalds. Some are dangerous traps, while others hold valuable information. At third level the earthskald gains a permanent +4 insight bonus to all Decipher Script checks. In addition, she adds her earthskald levels to all Search and Disable Device checks to find and disarm traps that rely on runes or symbols, such as sepia snake sigils, explosive runes, glyphs of warding and symbols. Stonetell (Sp): The earth itself whispers its secrets to the earthskald. She can cast stone tell once per day as an eleventh-level druid. Wisdom of the Ancients (Ex): The earthskald has learned much from her research over the years. Once per day, she may add her earthskald level to any one skill check, ability check, attack roll or saving throw. She may use this ability after she has rolled the die but before she learns the result of the roll. Evasion (Ex): At fifth level the earthskald has perfected the art of escaping cave-ins and explosive traps. She gains the evasion special ability. If she already possesses evasion, she instead gains improved evasion.

 

Open Game Content Material on these web pages uses the Open Gaming License. All Open Game Content is contained within shaded boxes, and is copyright 2004 by Amber E. Scott.