Rankle

A demonic merchant with low, low discount prices

A diminutive demon who lives as a traveling salesman of oddities and contraband, Rankle hides in plain sight, often supplying the very adventurers who would see him destroyed.

Appearance: This hunched halfling-sized figure is covered from head to toe, wearing a shirt that is too big for him and a voluminous cloak with a deep hood. His hands and feet are wrapped in bandages, as is his face with what glimpses can be seen. A large green amulet hangs around his neck, and he appears unarmed. He does not speak, but you can hear his raspy voice in your head.

History:

The first 900 years of Rankle’s life were more or less uneventful. He toiled as a soldier in the Abyss, serving more powerful demons that ordered him about and generally made him miserable. He was somewhat brighter than the other dretches, but that in no way helped him in his near-mindless life of drudgery. He was destroyed and reformed over and over, with no hope of ever gaining any sort of stature or independence.

At some point, about twenty years ago, a merchant- wizard summoned him to the Prime Material Plane to bind him into service. Surprised at suddenly being whisked away from the Abyss, Rankle decided to take the opportunity to escape his horrid existence. The wizard sought to employ him to guard a valuable magic item for a period of time while he traveled. Rankle surprised him by offering to guard the item, a mystic amulet, indefinitely. For this service he charged the wizard only a single copper coin. The mage was fooled into believing he had intimidated the demon into such a favorable bargain, and agreed. Once the deal was struck, however, the demon killed the wizard—he would henceforth guard the amulet by wearing it around his own neck.

Since the terms of his deal were open ended, Rankle was free to stay on the Material Plane. He took the wizard’s merchandise for his own, and left the city in search of lands where he could turn this small amount of treasure into greater power. He has been remarkably successful since then, wandering the lands in the guise of a traveling halfling peddler or settling for a year or two in a lucrative town.

Personality:

Rankle poses as a halfling merchant named “Firin Ranklefoot”—or in evil societies, as a goblin named “Rhaklof”. Since his odd appearance always raises questions, he has devised a story to explain both his appearance and his inability to speak aloud. He was horribly disfigured, he claims, while a young child, losing his entire lower jaw and scarring his flesh. A kindly wizard was nice enough to craft a magical amulet that allows him to speak telepathically. This too is a lie, of course; his telepathy is natural to demons. However, he usually finds that graphic descriptions of his “mutilation” often dissuade humanoids from delving deeper.

Rankle has become enthralled with the concept of wealth since arriving on the prime material plane. He is consistently amazed that gold coins can buy him bodyguards to protect him; in the Abyss, the strong never serve the weak. Having gotten a taste of the value of money and the concept of supply and demand, Rankle sees opportunity to rise in power and perhaps purchase a castle or fortress from which to rule. It might take a long time, but he has an infinite lifetime ahead of him with which to accomplish this dream.

The terms of his deal with the long-dead wizard are that the amulet he wears (an amulet of proof against detection and location) cannot come into the possession of another. If that happens, he is banished back to the Abyss immediately, and likely back to endless servitude to his betters.

He is still a demon, and still technically evil, but he really is not very committed to the whole “death and destruction” agenda. When he lived in the Abyss, he was constantly bullied and made to serve more powerful demons, and has grown accustomed to the freedom of his traveling merchant life. If left alone, he will not generally perform any traditionally “evil” acts, but if he feels he is in danger being banished to the Abyss he will not hesitate to kill.

Goods:

Rankle specializes in selling obscure objects that are difficult to find. If the land in which he is operating forbids any item as contraband, chances are he sells it. He is known as a procurer of deadly poisons to those with the proper connections; his demon immunities make it safe for him to handle toxins from which even the most skilled alchemist would shy away.

In a continuing campaign, Rankle could easily gain the heroes’ trust as someone who can acquire what they need on short notice. He might even procure items for free, on the condition of a future favor done for him.

As they are the only weapons capable of harming him, Rankle does not stock cold iron weapons. If asked, he will talk about the difficulty in obtaining them and promise to “make inquiries” with his sources, but will never actually get them.

 

Rankle Chaotic Evil male dretch (Small outsider) [Chaotic, Evil] Rogue 2nd Hit Dice: 2d8 + 2d6 + 8 (26 hp) Initiative: +1 Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares) Armor Class: 22 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +5 natural, +4 armor, +1 shield), touch 12, flat-footed 21 Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+0 Attack: Small long sword +6 melee (1d6+2, 19-20/x2) OR Claw +5 melee (1d6+1) Full Attack: Small long sword +6 melee (1d6+2, 19-20/x2) OR 2 claws +5 melee (1d6+1) and bite (1d4) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Sneak attack +1d6, spell-like abilities Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/cold iron or good, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, immunity to electricity or poison, resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10, telepathy 100 ft. Saves: Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +3 Abilities: Str 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 15 Skills: Appraise +5, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +7, Hide +8, Listen +5, Move Silently +4, Profession (merchant) +2, Sense Motive +6, Spot +5, Search +2. Armor Check Penalty –1. Feats: Combat Expertise, Improved Feint Spell-like Abilities: 1/day: scare (DC 14), stinking cloud (DC 15). The saves are Charisma-based. Equipment: +1 Small long sword, masterwork chain shirt, masterwork buckler, amulet of proof against detection and location, 3 potions of cure light wounds, 8 doses of black adder poison (Injury DC 11, Initial: 1d6 Con, Secondary: 1d6 Con), 2 doses of sassone leaf residue (Contact DC 16, Initial: 2d12 hp, Secondary: 1d6 Con). Rankle also has a wide variety of potions and scrolls that he does not carry on his person. Tactics Round-by-Round Rankle will only initiate combat if he is in danger of being banished back to the Abyss, or exposed as a demon to the town in which he has set up shop. If such a situation seems likely, he prefers to lure his foes into an ambush rather than waiting to be confronted. Given enough time, he is willing to sink his money into the hiring of any number of bodyguards to protect him from “greedy adventurers looking to rob him”. Assuming he is alone, however, Rankle will defend himself from attack as follows: Prior to Combat: If possible, he will envenom his blade before the battle starts. First Round: Rankle will start his attack by filling the room with a stinking cloud. If he feels his attackers are not likely to pursue him or track him down, he will flee while they choke on the cloud’s foul odors. Second Round: If he does not flee, Rankle will attempt to scare any foes not affected by the cloud. If all are nauseated, though, he will start to stab his nearest foe with his poisoned sword. If his foes lack cold iron weapons and cannot reliably overcome his damage reduction or hit his relatively high AC, he might even stand and fight those that are not nauseated (using Improved Feint to get a sneak attack, if necessary). He will not stick around for anything resembling a fair combat, though. Third Round: Once he no longer has time to apply poison, he will switch to his more powerful natural weapons as long as there are no spectators that he wishes to keep in the dark about his true nature. He will either continue to pick off nauseated foes with poisoned sneak attacks, or he will start to get very worried and look to flee. While he would rather not abandon his accumulated wealth, he will do so to live to fight another day—he has started over from scratch before, after all, and can do so again. Challenge Rating: Rankle alone has a Challenge Rating of 3. If he has managed to hire additional muscle, this might raise his CR, because such dealings are not included in the wealth listed above.     Open Game Content Material on these web pages uses the Open Gaming License. All Open Game Content is contained within shaded boxes. Open Game Content on this page is copyright 2004-2006 by Rich Burlew.