Master Pett’s Your Whispering Homunculus presents only the finest in British gaming. Indeed, you are not likely to find a more comprehensive assortment of miscellany anywhere.

(So much more than just another bloke in a dress.)

[previously]

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In this version of the template, things have taken a darker turn with an entire dungeon complex infested with trolls and the troll-touched.

Adventure: The Infesting

The troll tribes fester beneath a tainted tor, which they have fortified into both an outer and inner fortress. The trolls, however, are constantly hungry and raid the lands of men. Perhaps the PCs are hired to remove the dungeon full of trolls, or maybe, the trolls attack the PC’s own lands.

The trolls are led by H’krrris Zhard, better known as Queen Flayed, a troll cleric whose followers believe that trolls have been born with regenerative powers to worship their goddess with their torn flesh. They wield scourges and have festivals involving the flaying of their own flesh and that of their prisoners…

Queen Flayed rides a troll-touched dire bear, and several troll-touched dire bears guard sections of the troll-infested complex. A large number of female trolls and their young have answered the queen’s call, and the place is rotten with trolls and their kind. Their goddess has rewarded the queen with several monstrous beast followers, including some cockatrice, owlbears, and a cabal of phase spiders as her watch guard, all of which are troll-touched. Somewhere deep beneath the ground, a troll-touched demon stirs while troll-touched stirges infest every available space, feeding on the scraps the trolls throw them.

The dungeon itself has a sick pallor, and the very walls seem to be diseased. A sickness—troll-blight—festers everywhere, and those that come into contact with it develop horrific regenerating boils. Ancient beyond troll counting, the complex beneath the tor is vast, with intricate tunnels, terrible traps, and tainted places where the trolls religious flaying takes place—a place where their screams have manifested into a demon.

Adventure Path: The Hoar King

In this version of events, Queen Flayed is but a lowly follower of the Hoar King: a living god and legend of all trollkind who claim he is the living embodiment of their god and who are flocking from all corners of the world to answer his call to claim back the world. An army is gathering, and soon it will attack. Can the PCs overcome the odds and pierce the troll-infested lands, driving a stake into the heart of the troll kingdom itself and assassinating the Hoar King to prevent a war?

This adventure could begin with a simple encounter with a troll in an unexpected place. The troll is raving mad and has sufficient clues to suggest that he is heading into the mountains to seek his living god. Perhaps the adventure then follows a more normal route until reports of troll attacks begin, and the PCs are embroiled in adventures on the edges of civilization. Drawn deeper into events, they eventually become aware of the Hoar King and his vast army. Faced with impossible odds, the only chance of success is subterfuge. The PCs head alone into troll-infested lands far from help, slipping past troll enclaves on tortuous and seldom trod mountain passes before arriving at the Ice Crown, the vast dungeon complex of the Hoar King, which is protected from incursion by ancient magic. Here, the PCs must slip through vast numbers of trolls, passing through enclave and tunnel and troll town before reaching the Hoar King, a giant child foundling taken in by trolls decades ago in the belief that he was their living god.

The Hoar King

This sick giant seems to be two things rather than one. It has trollish blood, complete with tusks and green skin and wicked claws, but the troll part is like a sickness, almost a disease, upon the alabaster flesh of a frost giant. The skin sags and seethes as though allergic to the troll within. The sickness reaches its zenith in the giant’s face, which is a catastrophe of broken lesions, exposed veins, bones, and crooked features.

XP 204,800
Troll-touched frost giant barbarian 10
CE Large humanoid (cold, giant)
Init −1; Senses low-light vision; Perception +20

DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 8, flat-footed 21 (+4 armor, −2 Dex, +11 natural, −2 size)
hp 245 (14d8+10d12++112); regeneration 3
Fort +24, Ref +6, Will +11
Defensive Abilities rock catching; DR 2/—; Immune cold
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire

OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft.
Melee greataxe +29/+24/+19 (4d6+15) or 2 slams +29 (1d10+11)
Ranged rock +20 (1d10+15)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks rage powers (clear mind, quick reflexes, powerful blow, roused anger), rock throwing (120 ft.)

STATISTICS
Str 33, Dex 7, Con 27, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 11
Base Atk +20; CMB +21; CMD 31
Feats Cleave, Critical Focus, Great Cleave, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, Iron Will, Martial Weapon Proficiency (greataxe), Power Attack, Skill Focus (Stealth), Toughness, Vital Strike
Skills Climb +25, Craft (traps) +7, Intimidate +17, Perception +20, Stealth +11 (+15 in snow); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth in snow
Languages Common, Giant
SQ improved uncanny dodge, trap sense +3

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