Korvhag’s Harriers, mercenary slavers Smeagol’s request Of the many groups that gather able bodies to serve the Shadow as labour or meat, perhaps the most independent and flexible in their allegiance is the band of graks that serve a veteran scout called Korvhag. They prowl all over Erenland, wandering from the south coast of the Pellurian to the southern plains, following the scent of prey or the information from their various patrons that might lead to a good catch. In their time, they have taken over three hundred halfling slaves, and nearly half as many human villagers or resistance fighters. Their methods differ little from most other slaver bands. Usually, Korvhag and Behgar, the two stealthiest members of the band, will approach the camp or village of their prey and scout out its defenses. Depending on the racial makeup of the targets, Urgresh, the closest thing they have to a diplomat, might enter under the guise of a wandering trader or deserter (though, granted, there are very few places that would welcome any grak, even, or sometimes especially, one purporting not to be a servant of the Shadow). Once the strengths and dispositions of the enemy have been mapped out, the Harriers do everything they can to stack the odds in their favour. Usually, this means attacking by night, and using their stealth and climbing ability to maximise terrain advantage. Korvhag often prepares simple traps such as rope snares, swinging weights or swallow, concealed pits along the most obvious roots of escape. Once battle is joined, the graks become ruthless, but not necessarily very thorough. Korvhag believes that it is no concern if some of the prey get away, as long as they capture enough to make a healthy profit. Trying to snare every last potential slave is greedy, and can lead to sloppiness. To this end, they most often concentrate on surrounding a knot of victims and subduing them with nets and threat of arms. Stragglers or those who flee are usually ignored, but resistance is destroyed or captured with extreme prejudice. When they are capturing to order or looking for a specific target, of course, they are more meticulous, and take pains to locate and track every individual on their list.
Once the slaves have been secured, their hands are tied and they are bound into groups of five. Thanks to the grak’s greater speed than either humans or halflings, they are able to drive the prisoners at any rate of travel they see fit. If they are being tracked, the graks’ favourite tactic is for each of them to pick up and carry one slave, or one slave between two if they are larger, such as humans. This allows the graks to use their natural ability to deceive trackers; a band of an unknown number of graks and ten halflings suddenly seems to vanish into just the graks’ trail (and, usually, a single dwarrow and an oruk). If they then split up, they can be sure of baffling pursuers. More often than one might think, the Harriers have business with the Resistance. They get much of their information through the dwarrow spy network called the Otter and the Star, which in turn deals with freedom fighters and bands of outlaws on a frequent basis. Sometimes, those who wish to avoid the Harrier’s attention are invited to give a financial inducement to a representative of the Otter and the Star, and in return the dwarrow keep quiet or point the Harrier’s elsewhere. Those who know their reputation also know that Korvhag and his band are totally mercenary, and so can be dissuaded from raiding a village, or even to abandon a contract for the right fee. Even in the heat of battle, the grak leader can be bribed to quit the field, as long as he and his lieutenants sense no hint of deception. The Harriers can also be hired to capture or arrange the transfer of a specific person. To facilitate travel, they are almost as efficient as the gnomish smuggling chains, though far, far less comfortable. Because of their lack of fidelity to employers, though, using them to dispose of a rival has backfired more than once.
Secrets and Plot Ideas The mysterious Mr. Tewker
The cruel dwarrow warrior known as Tewker is an oddity amongst the Harriers. Why does he associate with creatures his race despises so much? Why do the graks tolerate his abusive presence? Beyond Tewker’s physical prowess, the graks fear those he represents. Tewker is an agent of the guild of the Otter and the Star; a dwarrow thieves fraternity spread all along the Eren river and throughout the ruins of the kingdom. Unable to rely on the support of either the Occupation or the Resistance, the Harriers need to deal with well-placed middlemen from time to time; and the Otter and the Star are perhaps the most well-placed group in Eredane. The guild has contacts in the Order of Shadow that can tell them when new
sacrifices are needed covertly, or when certain gaps in the Order’s defense appear; times when a little intramural plunder can be had for minimal risk to Korvhag and his followers. The dwarrow are also on good terms with many freeriders, wildlanders and freedom fighter bands. Korvhag is prepared to pay the Otter and the Star well for the location of a group of halflings ripe for the plucking, or information on the prime sites for an ambush. But can this really be true? Can the Otter and the Star, whose defenders are found as bodyguards in many trading families, and who are often thought of as the strong right hand of the smuggling network, really be betraying the free peoples of Eredane? Does Tewker represent a rogue faction of the guild, who have sold their purpose for the lure of gold? Or are those that the Otter and Star deliver in Korvhag’s hands actually traitors to the Resistance, or weak links that might inadvertently fail their allies?
An uncomfortable bind
The PC’s are escorting an important person across Erenland, with a legate in pursuit. The river becomes unusable to them when the legate sends word ahead via his astirax and has all the checkpoints locked down. Through an informant ally or by encountering them in the wilds, the PCs learn that they can evade the legate by posing as slaves... provided they can muster up enough valuables, and master their own fear and distrust. Being bound and menaced by the Harriers will be unpleasant, and could turn positively dangerous if the legate gets wind of their deception and offers the Harriers a better deal. And what if the graks stop off en route for an opportunistic raid on a halfling village? Or if some of their former victims attack the slavers to avenge their enslaved kin? Will the PCs defend the vile slavers, or try and explain their presence to the freedom fighters?
Give the dragon his due
A wounded man rides or runs into the PC's camp, collapsing at their feet. They recognise him as a member of a resistance cell they are on good terms with. Once his wounds have been attended to an his breath returns, the messengers reveals that the cell was raided by a band of dangerous graks, and several dozen of them were taken prisoner. The PC's try and follow the graks, and when they catch up to them a fight develops. It becomes a stalemate, either because the two sides are evenly matched, because the Harriers are stronger but Korvhag stops is men from killing the PCs, or because the graks threaten to slit the throats of the prisoners
unless the PC's back down. Korvhag is willing to deal with the party. he agrees to release the prisoners if the PCs can pay him enough. The grak is not interested in food, tools, clothing, or the other standard trade goods of barter; gold and jewels catch his eye. This could be an opportunity for the PCs to unload some of the precious metals and gems they may have collected over their careers, if they even bothered to take such fripperies. Otherwise, Urgresh mentions that there is an abandoned dragon's (or other fierce monster's) lair not far from where they are. Surely, there will be something of value there with which the slaves can be purchased? The Harriers will not wait around for the party to return; Korvhag declare he will be leaving immediately, and it is up to the PCs to find the lair, loot it, and catch up to the graks before they reach the city where the slaves will be sold. This dungeon must be delved on a strict schedule!
A father's pride
Two false sussars with adjacent domains have been at each others throats of late, competing over who has access to a fertile meadow that makes excellent grazing land for their prize herds. Both men are blackhearted servants of the Shadow; however, Umem Sirsar has a greater reputation for cruelty, while Jawal Tageer retains some trace of the old noble caste's honour. Jawal's son Fariz is a sympathiser with the resistance; wearing a black veil he often rides with them, raiding the caravans that carry the usurious taxes from the sussar's lands to Alvedara. Tageer and Sirsar recently put aside their differences in order to retain the services of the Harriers; they wanted the brigands caught and brought in for torture. Korvhag and his men did well; they captured many of the resistance riders, and killed the rest. Both the sussars learned that Jawal's son was amongst them. Umem Sirsar wants Fariz brought to his keep, so that he can use the boy to shame his rival... or worse, for if the governor hears of it, he may execute sussar Tageer for his possible association with the boy's treachery. Sirsar will pay mercenaries well if they can go and bring the boy to him as soon as possible. If the PCs encounter him first, he lies to them, claiming that he is Fariz's father and that he wants his boy protected from assassins he suspects are after him. Jawal Tageer wants his son killed before he can be taken anywhere, to protect his own pride and life. He too will pay for the task to be done. Reluctantly, he
also deceives the PCs, pretending to be a sympathiser too and implying that Fariz is a dangerous traitor to the resistance. The resistance wants to free their comrades, of course. The PCs may hear a confusion of rumours from them, however, some claiming that Fariz is a friend, others that he was the one that sold out the band of freeriders.
The deadly guest
The PC's emerge from the Aruun jungle, hot on the trail of a former ally of theirs (maybe even a party member) who has been possessed by a terrible creature. The tracks soon meet those of a band of graks, which accompany various sets of footprints that show signs of being made by bound travelers. The party soon encounters a slave lying near death at the side of the trail, who reveals that he was part of a shipment being taken by Korvhag's Harriers to the flesh markets. He relates that the graks were met by a figure that emerged from the jungle, and willingly surrendered to them. The figure, of course, matches the description of the PC's prey. The PCs must hurry to catch the slavers before they reach civilisation. If the demon can escape into a large population, it might be impossible to find... or, it might simply give into its blood-lust, and devastate the population of an entire city! Alternately, perhaps the graks had captured a band of brigands, evil men that preyed on other humans. Korvhag was taken them to a resistance camp, where the brigands would be punished for their crimes. This makes the quest even more urgent, for there is no telling what might happen if the possessed prisoner reaches the camp... The fiend in question might be a Dark Walker, Noble Demon, Razor or even Ceelian/Asale, all detailed in Minions of the Shadow.
NPCs Korvhag, Male grak wildlander 5 / rogue 1; CR
7, Medium-size humanoid; HD 5d8+1d6+12 (48); Init +3; Spd 40 ft, climb 20 ft; AC 17 (Touch 13, flatfooted 14); Base Atk +5; Grp +7; Atk +7 melee (1d8+2, kagdatch), +8 ranged (1d6, 20/x3, warbow, RI 60’); SA: Sneak attack +1d6, smite (+4/+5) 1/day; SQ: Grak racial traits, danger sense; AL NE; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +3; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 10. Skills: Bluff +2, Craft (trapmaking) +11, Escape
Artist +1, Gather Information +4, Hide +5, Listen +8, Move Silently +5, Profession: Slaver +11, Search +5, Sense Motive +4, Spot +8, Survival +12, Use Rope +14. Feats: Live Prey (no penalty to make nonlethal attacks with lethal weapons), Manhunter (+2 Prof: Slaver, Survival), Master Trapper (+2 Craft: Trapmaking, Use Rope). Languages: Orcish, Black Tongue, Trader’s Tongue, Halfling, Old Dwarven pidgin, High Elven pidgin. Traits: Master Hunter (Human, Halfling), Tracking. Possessions: Masterwork kagdatch, warbow, chain shirt, Slaver’s Glory, net, manacles x2. Background: A brawny, athletic grak, Korvhag could be mistaken for a small, well groomed orc. A spider’s web of scars burst across his face, centered around his nose and mouth; the mark of an encounter with an elven shard arrow when he was an inexperienced tracker on the Erethor front. He wears a mail shirt torn from the body of an Erenlander princeling that fought for the resistance; it has been stained black, brown and red by rust, blood, dirt and oil. The wound Korvhag took convinced him that the Shadow’s war was not one he wanted to fight and inevitably die in, so he strove to get a posting as a messenger traveling between Erenland and the front. On one such excursion, he encountered a band of humans lead by Andru Tulear, a distant kinsman of the Baden's, who was taking a band of refugee children to the shelter of the Erethor. Korvhag tracked them for a few days, until he decided he could take them. He sneaked ahead, and laid a snare that unhorsed Andru. After decapitating the stunned warrior, it was easy to frighten and herd the children. Korvhag forced them to the nearest garrison town, where he handed them over to the local legate for a handsome bounty. Korvhag soon gained a reputation as a skilled slavetaker and bounty hunter, enough to allow him to operate semi-independently. Gathering a band of other graks to his side, along with a few hand-picked experts, Korvhag’s Harriers make fat profits hunting down runaway slaves and prisoners, raiding halfling villages for warm bodies and fresh goods, and even covertly dealing with the Resistance.
Behgar, Female grak wildlander 4; CR 5,
Medium-size humanoid; HD 4d8+8 (32); Init +3; Spd 50 ft, climb 20 ft; AC 15 (Touch 13, flat-footed 12); Base Atk +4; Grp +5; Atk +6 melee (1d8+1, longspear, reach), +7 ranged (1d6+1, javelin, RI 30’); SA: Smite (+4/+4) 1/day; SQ: Grak racial traits, danger sense; AL CN; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +3; Str 13, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 8.
Skills: Hide +10, Knowledge: Nature +9, Listen +7, Move Silently +10, Spot +7, Swim +2, Survival +12 (+18 when tracking). Feats: Track, Skill Focus: Survival. Languages: Orcish, Black Tongue, Old Dwarven pidgin, High Elven pidgin. Wildlander Traits: Bloodhound, Quick Stride. Possessions: Leather armour, masterwork longspear, 4 javelins, net. Background: A woman who has succeeded in a strongly chauvinistic race, Behgar won through with unbending determination and competence that forced other graks to grant her respect. Tall and wiry, she moves with a crouched gate, as if always trying to stay out of sight. Were it not for the fierce, predatory look on her jut-jawed, bony face, her posture might be mistaken for cowering; but that expression reveals that she holds herself in a low profile because she is always the hunter, always seeking to take her prey by surprise. She wears leather armour made of sewn together scraps of a dozen suits of halfling clothing, and rarely lets her weapons out of her grip. In and out of battle, Behgar is focused and aloof. She secretly loathes the less skilled members of the band, and bitterly envies the greater.
Urgresh, Male grak rogue 4; CR 5, Medium-size
humanoid; HD 4d6 (15); Init +3; Spd 40 ft, climb 20 ft; AC 17 (Touch 14, flat-footed 13); Base Atk +3; Grp +3; Atk +5/+5 melee (1d4/1d4, dual wield warbow blades), +7 ranged (1d6, 20/x3, warbow, RI 60’); SA: Sneak attack +2d6; SQ: Grak racial traits, trapfinding, uncanny dodge, evasion; AL LE; SV Fort +1, Ref +8, Will +1; Str 10, Dex 18, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 13. Skills: Appraise +8, Bluff +8, Escape Artist +11, Gather Information +10, Knowledge: Local +8, Listen +4, Sense Motive +7, Spot +4, Use Magic Device +8. Languages: Orcish, Black Tongue, Trader’s Tongue, Halfling, Erenlander (literate), Norther, Old Dwarven pidgin, High Elven pidgin. Feats: Two weapon fighting, weapon finesse. Possessions: Warbow, refugee leather armour, 10 Arrows of Sleep, Wand of Charm Person (33 charges), scourge, rope. Background: A number of thin, golden tattoos crisscross Urgresh’s lean frame, a jagged mockery of Sarcosan markings. They match the colour of his clever, wolf-like eyes. Urgresh is the negotiator and ‘face man’ of Korvhag’s Harriers, so he takes care to be comparatively polite when dealing with all outsiders, even the slaves, and his halfling-made leather armour is well-maintained.
Because of the magical items he carries, Urgresh is careful to avoid legates, and leaves dealing with them to Korvhag. He knows that the special exemption granted to the Harrier’s leader and the dwarrow to bare enchanted goods does not necessarily extend to him.
Zagaah, Male oruk barbarian 1; CR 4, Large
humanoid; HD 3d8+1d12+16 (47); Init -2; Spd 40 ft; AC 7 (Touch 7, flat-footed 7); Base Atk +3; Grp +8; Atk +7 melee (2d8+7, greatclub, reach); SA: Rage 1/day, awesome blow, mighty but clumsy; SQ: Oruk racial traits, DR 2/-; AL CE; SV Fort +9, Ref -1, Will +0; Str 21, Dex 6, Con 19, Int 5, Wis 8, Cha 10. Skills: Intimidate +11 (+15 vs medium). Languages: Black Tongue (barely). Feats: Skill Focus: Intimidate, Power Attack. Special Abilities: Mighty but Clumsy: Zagaah's attacks are so powerful that they smash easily through armour, but so wild and unskilled that it is not difficult to evade them. If he attacks a foe whose armour bonus to AC is greater than her dodge bonus, he gets +2 to attacks. If he attacks a foe whose dodge bonus to AC is greater than her armour bonus, he gets -2 to attacks. Awesome Blow: If Zagaah successfully hits someone in a turn where he makes a power attack, they must make a Fort DC 10 save or (roll a d6): 1-2: Staggered for one round. 3-4: Knocked prone. 5-6: Pushed back 5’. No Brain, No Pain: Zagaah is too dumb to die. He has DR 2/-. Possessions: Greatclub, belt made of roped together skulls (true charm, +4 Intimidate), sacks for carrying loot and smaller slaves. Background: Unusually big and mean even for an oruk, Zagaah (his own name for himself, and one of the very few words he can use) is an amazingly stupid, violent, incompetent beast. He goes bare-chested, clad in ragged trousers and scars, covered in filth and warpaint. He wields an iron-clad tree trunk for a weapon. Zagaah is as dangerous to his allies as his enemies in battle, because he staggers drunkenly across the field swinging at anything that takes his eye. If he has another skill, it is bullying; he has raised the practice of squeezing, bruising and menacing smaller beings to an art form.
Tewker, Male dwarrow defender 8; CR 9, Small
humanoid; HD 8d8+24 (65); Init +3; Spd 30 ft; AC 18 (Touch 17, flat-footed 15); Base Atk +8/+3; Grp +11/+6; Atk +12/+7 melee (d4+d6+3, unarmed) +14/+9 ranged (d4+d6+3, inutek, RI 30’); SA: Stunning attack (8/day, DC 17), precise strike (magic,
-1 armour); SQ: Gnome-raised dwarrow racial traits; AL NE; SV Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +2; Str 16, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 15, Cha 8. Skills: Bluff +10, Hide +11, Move Silently +9, Sense Motive +13, Swim +11, Tumble +8. Languages: Trader’s Tongue, Clan Dialect, Halfling, Orcish pidgin. Feats: Weapon focus (inutek), improved grapple, combat reflexes. Defender Abilities: Debilitating strike, devastating strike, hammer throw. Possessions: 4 Binding Inuteks. Background: Broad shouldered and bronze skinned, Tewker’s good looks are disfigured by the constant sneer-scowl he habitually wears. He keeps his grayshot hair so closely cropped as to be almost bald, but sports a short braid dangling from the back of his neck and a similarly braided beard. He wears a light vest of overlapping leather plates that bares his muscular chest, and goes barefoot except in the mountains, where he mutters darkly that he loathes the feeling of stone on his soles. The graks would doubtless not tolerate the presence of a fey creature amongst them, if not for two factors; that Tewker is more than willing to demonstrate that he can kill or maim any of the Harriers in one-on-one combat, and that he has shown himself to be as willing to torture and enslave halflings, gnomes and humans as the rest of the band. On the very rare occasions when they have been in a position to capture a dwarf, the dwarrow has always stepped to the fore to ensure that the unfortunate mountain fey does not live to see shackles. From the expression on his face, he clearly does not do this out of mercy, but out of hatred.
traits; AL NE; SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 15, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 6. Skills: Hide +4, Move Silently +4, Spot +2, Listen +2, Survival +1. Languages: Orcish, Black Tongue, Old Dwarven pidgin, High Elven pidgin. Feats: Weapon finesse, two weapon fighting. Possessions: Warbow, studded leather, nets, rope. About half carry a whip or a scourge. Background: A teeming mob of twenty graks form the main body of Korvhag’s Harriers. They wear blackened boro-hide armour covered with bony spikes made from the tips of the animals tusks, and wield the unique grak weapons that are useful in both hand to hand and ranged combat: recurved bows of northern pine with sickle-like blades fixed to either end of the stave. The typical member of the band dislikes Behgar, secretly mocks the brutish moron Zagaah when safely out of earshot, fears the dwarrow Tewker, follows Korvhag mostly for the money but also because he respects a grak who has made a name for himself independent of the much-resented orcs, and is taken in by Urgresh’s charisma, not realising he is manipulating them so he’ll always have someone to watch his back if one of the others tries to eliminate him. Note: Ruffian is a homemade NPC class, a watereddown version of the rogue, as the warrior is a watereddown version of the fighter.
Feral Dog; CR 1, Medium-size animal.
Use the statistics for wolves, but Con is reduced to 13.
Ironically, Tewker often finds himself doing the main part of the slave-taking. He lacks the swiftness of the graks or the long stride of the oruk, so he cannot pursue fleeing foes as easily. Instead, he tends to send a flurry of inuteks into the midst of knots of foes, knocking the most dangerous ones to the ground, and then he advances to beat them into submission. He is also the most suited to taking out wandering dogooder resistance fighters or champions that oppose the band; though their hate is covered by the very thinnest veneer of mutual respect, he and Korvhag make a formidable team if they can surround an enemy.
The Harriers often keep a large pack of lanky, vicious dogs with them for help in tracking and keeping slaves in line. Because none of the group is very skilled at dealing with animals, the dogs are starving, abused, and incredibly aggressive to everyone. They are too poorly trained to be used as watchdogs, but they certainly dissuade people from approaching. A character with Wild Empathy that treats the dogs with kindness receives a +4 to their check, and may find them eating out of her hand.
Grak slaver, Male grak warrior 2 / ruffian 1;
Slaver's Glory
CR 4, Medium-size humanoid; HD 2d8+1d6 (12); Init +2; Spd 40 ft, climb 20 ft; AC 15 (Touch 12, flatfooted 13); Base Atk +2; Grp +2; Atk +2/+2 melee (d4, warbow blades), +4 ranged (d6, 20/x3, warbow, RI 60’); SA: Sneak Attack +1d4, SQ: Grak racial
New Magic Items Korvhag carries a blackened rope with numerous knots down its length. Smears of what appears to be red paint coil down its length, but they cannot be rubbed or washed off. At either end of the rope, a small copper token engraved with the orcish rune for
'unyielding' hangs from a loop of the cord. The head slaver acquired this rope as a reward from a kurasatch udareen he assisted by removing her rival at a key juncture. He has since found it very useful in his profession. Slaver's Glory is an enchanted rope that grants +2 on Use Rope checks to tie prisoners. Anyone bound by the rope immediately begins to suffer from Fatigue until the bindings are undone. However, they cannot become exhausted, no matter how much additional duress they are put under. Prisoners held by Slaver's Glory can be forced-marched for days without collapsing, though they will suffer every minute of it.
Binding Inuteks
No-one knows where Tewker acquired these items, though there are stories that he captured a channeler and tortured him into crafting them. They resemble normal inuteks, except that the weights are iron and honed to a dagger-edge, so they do slashing damage instead of bludgeoning. Anyone successfully tripped by a thrown binding inutek is entangled for d6 rounds unless they succeed a Ref DC 16 save.
Credits: Wil Upchurch, creator of the original grak statistic from which these are derived. Niflehein, designer of this spiffy border.
