!Krelletho

!Krelletho

A !Krelletho [the !K is pronounced by raising the tongue to the palate and providing suction, then, lowering the jaw without raising the tongue to compensate] resembles little more than a malformed Nightmare, with blood red hooves of various sizes, and seems the awful result of foul magical meddling. The head of the !Krelletho is adorned with various barbs and needles, and most are covered with filth. The black torso is chitinous, and the abdomen resembles the nightmare’s hindquarters. They stand 6′ tall at the shoulder, and reek of stale earth and mould. All !Krelletho have a limited empathy and can sense emotions such as fear, surprise, happiness, and anger within a 30 foot radius. They seem to use no other form of communication.

COMBAT: The !Krelletho are naturally combative, and will attack anyone they perceive as a threat or invading their territory. Since they are a nomadic race, their territory is anything they can see or otherwise sense, so they will effectively attack on sight.

The !Krelletho use their malformed hooves to strike opponents, inflicting 1-10 each. This will fell most lesser opponents, but for the more resilient ones, their second attack is far deadlier. They will proceed to head butt with their spiked head, dealing 2-20 points of damage from the spikes, and forcing a saving throw vs. poison. If it succeeds, the victim takes 1-6 additional damage. If not successful, the filth and grime from the beast’s head will contaminate the wound, and the victim will contract a fatal disease. From this point forward, the victim has 3-6 months to live. The first 2 months can go by with little ill effect, but beginning on the third, the patient must make a saving throw vs. death magic on the beginning of each week. If it is not successful, they will lose a point of constitution. The disease cannot be cured by a cure disease spell, but a heroes’ feast or a heal spell have been known to work at removing the contamination. If these spells are not available, the patient can be cured by oral application of a powder created from the hooves of the !Krelletho.

A !Krelletho has unusual magical properties. Depending on where it is fought, the magic resistance of the creature varies. If fought on a Lawful plane (Baator, Acheron) the creatures have 50% magic resistance. If fought on a plane of Conflict (i.e., Gehenna, Outlands, Gray Waste, Carceri) their magic resistance is lowered to 30%. If fought on a Chaotic plane (Pandemonium only—they’re never seen on the Abyss), their defence is lowered still to 15%.

But the worst ability of the !Krelletho makes them nigh invulnerable to kill. When they have foreknowledge of their deaths, the !Krelletho will seemingly disappear from the plane. When their shift is complete, the opponents have no knowledge of the immediate events taken place. This is not plane shifting, but temporal regression. The beasts simply slide into Temporal Prime and re-enter reality at a point before the combat, where they simply redirect their path around the conflict. In addition, all of their hit points are restored to the point re-entered. They can regress up to 3 hours at will. However this does contain one weakness: the !Krelletho cannot save themselves from “instant death” attacks as it were, for example, they cannot flee from a fireball this manner, nor a disintegration spell, but they could prevent death from a magic missile. If the killing blow deals 50% or more of their total hit points at full health, they cannot regress and are killed.

HABITAT/SOCIETY: Little is known about !Krelletho social behaviour, and given their natures, it may never be known. Although it has not been decided upon whether or not the beast procreates, there have been no young !Krelletho found. What is known about them is their pack nature. However, some !Krelletho have been found solitary, and it is more than just a random occurrence, most often found far away from known !Krelletho territory. Some greybeards speculate that these are outcasts, thrown out from their packs for reasons unknown. These rogue !Krelletho are considerably more edgy than the pack variety, and will attack considerably less then their pack dwelling kin.

ECOLOGY: It is believed that the !Krelletho were not originally natural predators, though it is quite possible that they have evolved from their original state. Chant has it that the !Krelletho were created on the Abyss in some fetid unnamed layer. The animals were created for use as assassins, given their ability to slip in and out of real time. As it turns out, the creators had a bit of trouble managing the chaos stuffs that was used in their creation. The beasts fled the layer, and the plane, never to return. This theory seems to correspond to the fact that they are never found in the Abyss, and their unusual magical defence.

As they are now, the !Krelletho are carnivores, actively hunting and eating lesser planar fauna, and even going so far as to cannibalise in times of hunger.

CURRENT CHANT: A tanar’ri overlord by the name of “Ygris”, has put forth a interesting proposition about the !Krelletho. The Tanar’ri has offered a large sum of jink to cutters who can deliver more information on the elusive beasts. All interested bashers should apply to the Shadowed Baphomet Inn in the Sigil’s Lower Ward.

Source: Baernoloth