World of Eave: King Kharak, Lord of Nuulvas'dum

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King Kharak in his prime.

King Kharak Aasulve, the Battlehammer of Moradin

Once a powerful dwarf lord, Ling Kharak is an unliving abomination.  As a dwarf, he was hale and strong, a champion of Moradin and everything for which he stood.  However it was in the end of his life when Moradin fell silent to his prayers, not answering him while sickness and old age threatened his mortal body.  It was then a small kernel of doubt found its way into his heart.  He called upon the greatest minds dwarves had at the time to quell his dilemma.  Locked away in his chambers were clerics, mages and smiths.  What came out thirteen days later was a powerful mummy lord wrapped in metal bands of adamantine, gold and bronze.

MUMMY LORD Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 24 (natural armor)

Hit Points 150 (15d8 + 75)

Speed 20ft.

STR 20 (+5)  DEX 10 (+0)  CON 20 (+5)  INT 11 (+0)  WIS 18 (+4)  CHA 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Con +10, lnt +5, Wis +9, Cha +9

Skills History +5, Insight +9, Religion +5

Damage Vulnerabilities lightning

Damage Immunities necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned

Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 14

Languages Common, Dwarven

Challenge 16 (13,000 XP)

Magic Resistance. Kharak has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Rejuvenation. King Kharak gains a new body in 24 hours if its heart is intact, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the mummy lord's heart.

Spellcasting. King Kharak is a 15th-level paladin of the Oathbreaker archetype. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). Kharak usually has the following paladin spells prepared:

1st level (4 slots): hellish rebuke, inflict wounds, searing smite, thunderous smite, wrathful smite

2nd level (3 slots): aid, branding smite, crown of madness, darkness, zone of truth

3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, aura of vitality, bestow curse, blinding smite, elemental weapon

4th level (2 slots): banishment, blight, confusion, staggering smite

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The mummy can use its Dreadful Glare and makes one attack with the Fist of Moradin.

The Fist of Moradin.  Melee weapon attack: +12 to hit, reach 5ft., one target.  Hit: 14 (2d6 + 7) bludgeoning damage plus 21 (6d6) points of necrotic damage.  If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with mummy rot. The cursed target can't regain hit points, and its hit point maximum decreases by 10 (3d6) for every 24 hours that elapse.  If the curse reduces the target's hit point maximum to 0, the target dies, and its body turns to dust. The curse lasts until removed by the remove curse spell or other magic.

Dreadful Glare. The mummy lord targets one creature it can see within 60 feet of it. If the target can see the mummy lord, it must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or become frightened until the end of the mummy's next turn. If the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more, it is also paralyzed for the same duration. A target that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to the Dreadful Glare of all mummies and mummy lords for the next 24 hours.

Earth Strike.   King Kharak can strike the ground causing an earth tremor and reach out to 30 ft. of the user.  Enemies so struck must make a Dexterity save with a DC of 18 or fall prone.  Spellcasters must also make a Concentration check if they are concentrating on a spell, DC 10.  The 5 ft. square struck is destroyed and considered rough terrain.

LEGENDARY ACTIONS

King Kharak can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn.  Kharak regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Attack. The King Kharak makes one attack with the Fist of Moradin or uses its Dreadful Glare.

Metal Filings.  Metal filings swirls magically around King Kharak. Each creature within 5 feet of him must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of the creature's next turn.

Blasphemous Word (Costs 2 Actions). King Kharak utters a blasphemous word. Each nonundead creature within 10 feet of Kharak that can hear the magical utterance must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of the mummy lord's next turn.

Channel Negative Energy (Costs 2 Actions). King Kharak magically unleashes negative energy. Creatures within 60 feet of him, including ones behind barriers and around corners, can't regain hit points until the end of Kharak's next turn.

Whirlwind of Rock (Costs 2 Actions). King Kharak magically transforms into a whirlwind of stone and rock, moves up to 60 feet, and reverts to its normal form . While in whirlwind form, the King is immune to all damage, and it can't be grappled, petrified, knocked prone, restrained, or stunned. Equipment worn or carried by the mummy lord remain in its possession.

The Fist of Moradin

The Fist of Moradin is a maul that has been corrupted by the King's avarice and evil intent.  It strikes as a +2 weapon.  If attuned to the user (as it is in King Kharak's charge), the user can strike the ground causing an earth tremor and reach out to 30 ft. of the user.  Enemies so struck must make a Dexterity save with a DC of 18 or fall prone.  Spellcasters must also make a Concentration check if they are concentrating on a spell, DC 10.  The 5 ft. square struck is destroyed and considered rough terrain.

The World of Eave: Nuulsav'dum, The City of the Dead

Nuul'vasdum was once one of the greatest of dwarven cities in ages past.  It survived the Dawn War, a bastion of good and set about rebuilding their part of the world.  However, it did not last.  It became to decadent, and like all great empires of the past, feel to its own hubris.  The last king thought that he could overcome death and become immortal like the gods he revered.  His actions proved the be the fatal pin in what was his house of cards.  King Kharak Aasulve the Battlehammer of Moridan, was the final king of Nuulvas'dum and in his final act of insanity, on his deathbed he enacted his final protocol and shut himself in his chamber with his clerics, mages and smiths.  What came out thirteen days later was a powerful mummy lord wrapping in metal bands of admantine and bronze.  Soon his city and all its great works were for naught as the massive deephold died from the civil war that erupted between the old king and the new.  King Kharak's own son Brendek the Bold lead the people in fighting his father.  For five years they battled for control of the deephold until Brendek was struck down by his own father.  The remaining dwarves fled Nuulvas'dum and the name became associated with death and a common curse among the dwarves.

Over the years the rift to negative plane grew and lessened, the undead became attracted to the dead dwarven deephold.  Among them was Erikol Wros, a lich of incredible power who had just lost his lair when it became overrun by adventurers.  He entered into a tentative alliance with the mad king.  They called forth all known allies and set to create a city of the dead.  They have started with Brendek himself created in the form of a deathknight to forever guard their city, becoming the Lord Commander of Army.  His will finally broke.  He is a sad dwarf making do the only way he can.  Secretly he is trying to break his curse, end his father's life and bring down Nuulvas'dum, erasing it from existence.

The roster has changed over the centuries since the founding the Dead City.  The King still rules and his son still commands the army.  Erikol still does his eternal research greatly increasing the size of the planar rift between the prime material and the negative plane.  An ancient vampire, Lord Akartrin has taken up the mantle of slaver.  He and his brides (of both male and female vampires) search for slaves far and wide to feed the eternal hunger, such as Erikol's phylactery.

A cabal of three necromancers have taken up residence here.  There is Olaf the Heartrender, an old man who is going crazy trying to become a lich himself.  Little does he know that Erikol is sabotaging his attempts because he does not like the old man, but he is a bit too powerful to take on directly.  It is mainly due to his main apprentice Guldram.  He is a tall and handsome man who is fast overtaking his master in skill and power  He is also a sadist of the first degree though one would not believe it for he is a charming man.  Then there is Chant Ramka, a tiefling woman who is very gaunt and very pale of skin and hair, and is as evil as they come.  She is no one's apprentice having to scrape for everything she ever had.  She escaped from the slave pits of the Emaan Empire when she was younger and despises the Empire.  She would like to burn the empire to the ground but settles (for now) to take any and all Emaan slaves that Lord Akartrin brings to Nuulvas'dum.

Skavasta is an ancient and malevolent wraith of great power.  He alone has retained a semblance of who he is and has peddled that knowledge into something greater in undeath.  He was a spy and now that he is a wraith he is master of secrets and the spymaster of the dread city.

It did not take long for the Cult of Orcus to open a church in Nuulvas'dum.  The current high priestess in charge is Peogli Rotworm.  She is a fat, corpulent woman who goes around being carried by a palanquin that is carried aloft by eight powerful zombies.  Fat, naked and gray of skin, she looks like Orcus when she wears her mighty head dress, a smaller form of Orcus anyway.  She is an ugly woman who still commands great respect.  It is the center of all worship of Orcus on two continents and aspirants make a pilgrimage there to the main church. 

The Bonecrafters are a guild of craftsmen who make beautiful, if not macabre, pieces of art out of the skin and bones of the dead.  Using the ancient mummification processes, they have even learned to harden the skin and bones to make armor and weapons.  There is a secret guild within a guild however as some of the Bonecrafters are also thieves of skill and daring.  The head  of the guild is a half-elf man by the named of Jolic the Wizened, so named for the his body is horribly withered due to the fact that he was caught by Erikol were he wasn’t supposed to be.  He wants to bring down Erikol and he has a plan to destroy the lich for good.  Jolic has been hidden away for years plotting his revenge.

One might think that it is a charnel house, that no one alive could live here.  The city is divided into three sections.  The lower city is home to low, living caste of workers and slaves.  It is home to the living.  The Bonecrafthers are here as are many of the slaves for sale.  There is the high city were the wealthy live.  The High Tabernacle of Orcus dots the peak and the screams and moans can be heard day and night from its halls.  Then there is the under city where most of the undead citizens live, out of the light of the sun.  The under city is the main dwarven city that lies within the mountain.  The King holds court here in a pageant of old, hoary times.  Many of the dead dwarves go through what they have done in life, endlessly mining or forging or clearing away rubble from collapses in the deephold.  All the while Erikol works on increasing the fissure to the negative plane and open a gate to the dead plane and cover the world in enteral darkness and despair.