Morganthe Gorgon : Gorgoroth
Location: Azkarel, the gardens and temple of the Gorgoroth on Devilhorn West in Morganthe.
Stats
Levels: 7d6
Regeneration: full regeneration within 3 turns.
Health Bonus: +100
Stone Presence: if seen at all, even glimpsed, those who see them turn to stone. This process is quick but extremely painful. If a cure is ever found, the last thing the victim will remember is intense pain, the stiffening of all body parts, and crushing pressure on all of their organs. The soul sleeps while trapped within its stone prison and cannot escape unless the stone state is reversed through an arduous ritual few would even dare to perform. It is best just not to get turned to stone in the first place. The only protection against this power is not to see the Gorgon directly. The tail alone if seen will not turn bystanders to stone.
Witchcraft: each gorgon can learn up to twelve unique spells, charms, curses, and or sigils.
Geis: one way of death only.
Upper Body Strength: +6
Incredible Stamina: +20
Quick Reflexes:+6
Keen Sense of Smell: +8
Keen Taste Buds: +5
Poisonous Blood: even a small amount if ingested is deadly.
Venomous Bite: their bite is deadly and at the time of death turns the one bitten into an animate guard of stone. Critical damage each turn while poisoned.
Monster-blood: if any of their blood is spilled a monster rises up from the ground where their blood spills. Each gorgon has a unique blood monster of its own.
Rapid Infancy Aging: the daughters of the gorgorth age one year per week after birth and are born in one month after conception.
Immortal: stop aging at their prime and very hard to kill.
Bestial Aspect Variables
All gorgons are created or born with a bestial aspect from the waist down. Some may be half snake, half winged big cat (lion, tiger, or leopard), half scorpion, half raptor (eagle, owl, or falcon), half winged wild dog (jackal, hyena, or wolf), or half lizard. Roll 1 d6 for type.
1- Coils of the Snake: +10 strength constrict to hold or crush, climb and cling, arborial, excellent swimmer, +7 slithering swift movement.
2- Body of the Winged Lion: +10 strength, cat climb, claws +30 damage, flight, wing fray +5 damage, +6 distraction, leap +6 d6, movement +7.
3- Body of the Winged Wild-dog: +8 strength, claws +15 damage, flight, wing fray +5 damage, +6 distraction, leap +2 d6, movement +8, Senses of Smell +3, Hearing +2.
4- Body of the Raptor: +7 strength, talons +35 damage, flight, wing fray +5 damage, wing flurry +6 distraction, land movement -2, air movement +7, Vision +5
5- Body of the Scorpion: +9 strength, pincers +10 damage, tail sting +5, +1 d6 per level poison damage per turn, movement +5
6- Body of the Lizard: +12 strength, talons +35 damage, movement +8, Tail Whip +10 damage
Special Items
Cloak of Will: a layered cloak with a deep hood appears at will to shroud all but the Gorgoroth's tail. The tail alone if seen will not turn bystanders to stone.
Armband of the Slave: protects slaves from their presence and can be dissolved at will by the slave's mistress. Also halts aging while worn. Gorgoroth will only accept mortal slaves.
Book of Hecate: a powerful book of witchcraft which contains many powerful ritual spells and sigils which the Gorgon witches learn and practice.
Mental Traits
Hate Gates: Gorgoroth hate magical gates and will not enter them. They will only gate if they are seized by one forceably.
Tribute of the Summoned: if a Gorgoroth is summoned to a foreign land (off her own island) she will immediately turn on the summoner, and after the summoner is stone or dead, she attacks anyone else in sight or smell of her. If the Gorgoroth survives this (and they usually do) she will seek out the Highest Authority of the land she is in, and demand a tribute, and it is never wealth she asks for. The problem with this is, anyone who encounters her along the way is apt to turn to stone. She also demands the King or Queen to provide her with safe passage home, and not by planar gate, which presents more problems. The Gorgon appears before the leader in a cloak which coveres her completely, one which she can summon to her body at will. A summoned Gorgon almost always leaves a trail of stone bodies behind her. If her tribute is refused, she casts off her cloak and starts killing and 'stoning' again.
Unity: If one of their own goes missing for too long, they will use their witchcraft to locate their missing sister or daughter, and if found, a group of Gorgons will set sail on their ship the Hecate to find her. If one Gorgon tramping around a countryside is not bad enough, a group of them is utterly catastrophic.
Matriarch Special Ability:
Assimilate: if betrayed, the matriarch may use this power to snuff the life of a gorgon betrayer and assimilate any knowledge the traitor may have had which she does not.
Matron Special Ability:
Hasten Knowledge: allows a scion to learn more rapidly so that when their daughters appear to be adults, they shall also have their share of adult knowledge and skills.
Immunities: charms, curses, mental control, domination, possession, fire and heat, disease, stone presence, and poison.
Ranks
Matriarch: the leader, and most respected member of their society
Liaezor: advises the matriarch, her Vizier
Luminary: the one chosen by the matriarch to replace her when she dies.
Sentinals: the remaining sisterhood which guards the six treasures.
Matrons: mothers of the scions. While matrons they do not guard the treasure but rather focus on raising and teaching their scions.
Scions: the daughters of the Gorgoroth
Slaves: mortal slaves which serve the Gorgoroth
Information: Gorgans do not wander. They stay within their temple and garden on the only island they inhabit on Morashtar. It is best not to seek them out and very dangerous to do so, or to encounter them if some fool has summoned one...hopefully only one. The treasure they guard lies in the heart of their temple. There are many chests of treasure, but six which are items of tremendous power. Their temple has eight chambers, each in a wide corridor ring, which radiates outward from the center chamber. One must pass through each chamber to get to the next door. Many have tried to get to the treasure, and all stand as statues in their temple.
All Gorgons are female. The first Morganthe Gorgons were created by the god of chaos to guard six treasures, and in order to repopulate their temple they must mate with a blindfolded, male humanoid. All offspring born are female and any humanoid genetics is destroyed by the mother's blood to make all offspring pure Gorgoroth. This is possible because they have aspects of many races in them, just as they aspects of various beasts in them. Depending on how the male humanoid reacts during the mating, he may or may not be spared. Those who please tend to be spared, those who displease are usually killed or turned to stone. "And look dear...Here is your father. Isn't he lovely? Pity he despised your matron," the Gorgoroth Maeth says, pointing to a statue. .Gorgon refer to mothers as matrons.
Summoning Gorgoroth Gorgons is NOT wise. The gaze of these demons is not what turns man and beast to stone, it is for it to be gazed upon at all which turns onlookers into statues of marble, granite, quartz, or whatever stone a particular gorgon favors. These are not just the gorgons of Greek Myth, but the gorgons of Morganthe, the Gorgoroth, and they have some unique traits all their own. They are witches and each commands power of their own and they are warriors or archers who carry weapons, as if they need them. The moment any living creature so much as glances them it is turned to stone. Gorgons cannot be charmed, possessed, mentally controlled or dominated. They are immune to the stone presence all Gorgoroth possess and are able to gaze upon each other. Indeed, they have a tight knit albeit small society. Summoning them enrages them and they shall attempt to kill the summoner first and then anyone else who comes in sight of them until they are returned home. They have no gate abilities either, for they never leave Azkarel, the gardens and temple of the Gorgoroth on devil's horn west in Morganthe. In fact, Gorgoroth hate planar gates and refuse to step through them.
When Gorgoroth fight they often force their enemies to turn and face them by assaulting them with their weapons, which turns them to stone, and if an enemy does not face them they are likely to get cut down or speared from behind. Others Gorgon are archers who take advantage of enemies well informed enough to avert their eyes.
Gorgoroth live in isolation for a reason and very few know they exist or know anything about them. (Can only be learned about through active play, otherwise only the earth mythos can be known by some earthlings). Anyone who crosses paths with a Gorgon set loose somewhere stands a good chance of being turned to stone. The spirits of those these Gorgons turn to stone is trapped within the statue they became, and any power anyone has is utterly snuffed out.
Very, VERY few know how to reverse the affects of a Gorgon's stone presence. (only those the GM names can cure this state) One turned to stone by a gorgon cannot even be resurrected, for the spirit cannot be taken out of the stone. It is anchored to the body that was and is now mineral. And Gorgons share the same geis of beheading.
Spilling Gorgon blood is very dangerous. Monsters spring from the ground where their blood is spilled, and each Gorgon's monster-blood is unique to them, each one creating a different kind of monster. One might raise dead warriors, another living vines which can spear and entangle, another giant snakes or scorpions, et cetera.
If summoned, a Gorgon will demand a great tribute from the high king of the land she is summoned to, and death and mayhem will follow her until she receives her tribute and is returned home. This tribute brings a lot of bad focus on the summoner.
Gorgons are tyipically swift in their bestial motion and in lunges can strike out rapidly with their weapons. If they manage to bite someone who is still flesh, their bite is deadly and turns the one bitten into an animate guard of stone.
Wounds can stun or cause pain to Gorgons, but they cannot be dismembered, only decapitated. No other wound is fatal or lasting to them.
Gorgoroth have scores of snakes or eels on their heads in place of hair. These too are venomous. They have breasts, are warm blooded, despite their snake aspects, have tough but smooth skin from the waist up which compliments the colours of their scales, feathers or fur which varies in each Gorgon. Their face is humanoid in shape and like their midriff, has smooth but thick flesh. Their eyes however are very bestial, matching the half-animal aspect.
The animal part of their body is very poweful and can propell them swiftly, and while some can coil and constrict to squeeze the life out of other creatures, others can slash with claws or whip with their tals. Some of them can leap far, climb very well, or even fly. Those which can climb may be found doing just that in the large trees in their garden.