Kezef

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Kezef the Chaos Hound is one of the elder, eternal evils of the Outer Planes created in the dawn of Abeir-Toril's prehistory. The ravager of the heavens appears as a huge mastiff with unearthly, malevolent, red eyes and a ratty tail. His fur teems with maggots, the coat shifting incessantly over barely covered sinews and bones. His flesh oozes like pus from an old sore and his paws leave burning prints in the ground that spread into pools of burning ichor in his wake. His pointed teeth glitter like daggers of jet in the light. His blood is a dark, liquid ooze that burns on the touch, and he radiates a pestilent aura of decay. The fetid air of his breath extinguishes all nearby fires, and he reeks with the sweet stench of ancient death that can be detected from many miles away. Kezef can speak any language in a low and rumbling growl.
Kezef was imprisoned for centuries on the layer of the plane of Pandemonium known as Cocytus by an alliance of members of the Faerûnian pantheon when the Circle of Greater Powers forbade traffic by deity or mortal with the beast. After he was hunted down, the powers bet Kezef that he could not break a leash forged by Gond Wonderbringer. Kezef allowed Gond to place a short length of sturdy chain around his neck in exchange for Tyr placing his right hand in the Chaos Hound's slavering jaws. Gond anchored the chain miles deep in the floor of Pandemonium's caves, and Mystra wrapped the beast in an unbreachable, glowing curtain of magical energy that automatically repaired itself. From these two traps Kezef could not escape, and no one could reach him through Mystra's curtain. When Kezef discovered he was truly fettered, he bit off Tyr's hand and feasted on its divine essence for centuries as he strove to free himself.
Kezef was freed by Cyric shortly after the Time of Troubles to hunt for the soul of Kelemvor. The Prince of Lies tricked Mystra into ripping the magic weave enveloping Kezef and then shattered Gond's chain with his sword Godsbane, later revealed to be an avatar of Mask. Kezef traveled to Faerûn and began to follow Kelemvor's life trail. When he reached Blackstaff Tower in Waterdeep, the site of the climactic battle between the avatar of Myrkul and Midnight, Adon, and Kelemvor, Mask and Lord Chess of Zhentil Keep reimprisoned Kezef in an enchanted candle with an ancient ritual provided by Oghma. Mask later gave the candle to Gwydion, a clockwork inquisitor turned against Cyric by Mystra, who then freed the Chaos Hound during a rebellion against Cyric in the City of Strife. The Chaos Hound feasted on Cyric's denizens until Kelemvor assumed the title of Lord of the Dead and the rest of the pantheon threatened to recapture the Hound within the Wall of the Faithless. Kezef fled and now stalks the planes hunting Mask, the Lord of Shadows, against whom he has sworn eternal revenge, and his normal prey, the Faithful (Outer Planes petitioners). Mask is forever on the run, always hearing Kezef's hellish baying behind him.
==Combat==
Kezef is incredibly quick, and always strikes first in combat except when battling a deity. In addition to the damage inflicted by his terrible bite, the Chaos Hound's spittle burns victims for an additional 1d10 points of acid damage per round for the three rounds after any successful bite. This additional acid damage is cumulative for multiple bite attacks.
In lieu of a bite attack, the Chaos Hound can breathe a puff of corrosive mist once per round in a 20-foot-diameter area in front of his mouth. This virulent acid can scour flesh from bones and inflicts 2d12 points of acid damage per round of exposure until neutralized or washed away by prolonged immersion in running water.
Kezef's ear-splitting howl causes confusion and fear (as the 4th-level wizard spells) in mortals for as long as it is heard. (The fear can even affect deities, who receive a +6 bonus to their saving throws.) A successful saving throw vs. spell holds off the howl's effects for one round.
Kezef regenerates 5 hit points per round. Any wounds he receives appear to immediately fester and then the putrefied flesh rapidly closes over the wound. The mass of corruption that is his skin shifts with each blow, as yielding as water, accounting for his high Armor Class.
Anyone successfully striking the Hound in melee must make a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon or be splattered by his oozing blood which burns like molten copper. This hot liquid inflicts 1d8 points of heat damage per round until wiped off.
Kezef can only be hit by magical weapons of +3 or better enchantment. He is totally immune to poison, hold, fear, or charm spells, illusions, psionics, and death magic. His magic resistance drops to 40% when battling demipowers, and 20% when battling powers of greater stature.
The Chaos Hound can plane shift between planes or teleport without error within a plane at will.
Kezef becomes insubstantial as a ghost when he runs, and in this state he can move at a nearly limitless speed over any terrain. For example, it took him one hour to travel Kelemvor's path for four years of life. In this noncorporeal form, all that can be perceived of him is a ghostly blur that leaves a lingering scent of decay and a vague dread of darkened corners and howling in the night. When the Chaos Hound slows down, he becomes substantial once again and uses the movement rate listed above, although he can still travel over any terrain as if running on air. If he chooses, he can hide invisibly at will, leaving only a sense of being watched by some creeping thing with an evil laugh and noxious scent.
When the Chaos Hound hunts a particular soul, he can immediately transport himself to the site of the sought being's birth (through plane shift and teleport without error). While on the hunt, he howls madly and is as infallible a tracker as Gwaeron Windstrom. Unlike the Master of Tracking, he tracks by lingering traces of emotional scent that may be years or even centuries old. Due to Kezef's astounding senses, no living creature can hide once he picks up its trail. The Chaos Hound can fully reconstruct every step of a being's life from the emotional echoes that remain in its path. Kezef can only be truly slain by mortals or powers under conditions similar to those required to slay a demipower. Otherwise he always reforms in Pandemonium after a week, free to hunt again.
==Habitat/Society==
Kezef is a unique being who roams the Outer Planes hunting the Faithful and chasing Mask. He relishes the scent of hatred, and sometimes pauses and becomes substantial in order to savor a particularly juicy emotional scent. He is nauseated by the scent of cloying, reckless happiness. In his wake he leaves screaming nightmares particularly cherished by Dendar the Night Serpent.
==Ecology==
Souls and spirits are incredibly hardy. Only the hand of a deity, an elder, eternal evil such as the Chaos Hound, or a place of indescribable corruption such as the River Slith can truly destroy them. Kezef survives by raiding the planes and preying on the spirit-substance of the Faithful. He has no taste for the Faithless or the False and is sickened by the taste of the unripened spirits of the still-living.
When Kezef destroys one of the Faithful, the maggots which make up his pelt swarm away from his jet-boned skeleton to devour the corpse. The gorged creatures then mill slowly over Kezef's body, making him appear bloated. Any of the Faithful who are eaten in this fashion are forever and truly destroyed, beyond even the recall of the powers.
Category:NPCs
Category:Powers & Pantheons NPCs