Jahegso'n

HeroForge image of Jahegso'n's current appearance.

Jahegso'n is a hobgoblin warslasher who has made a number of appearances in the campaign and in one shots.

## History

Jahegso'n was a hobgoblin warlord who joined up with the Kolshet Empire to secure the survival of his tribe. Due to their experience as warriors, the tribe was put under the control of General Kleightus, who believed he could make good use of them.

The tribe, known as the Bogeymen, were descended from the great alchemist Ahk'gi, and were taken by Kleightus to the Plateau. Once he found out about their ancestry, he have them some prototypes of his Pa Doden, with the hopes that they could trigger any dormant alchemical effects hidden within them. The masks worked better than intended, and their curses synergised with the alchemy, not only empowering the goblinoids to be better killers, but also altered the masks themselves to confer this alchemical ability onto others who wear them. The mask worn by Jahegso'n himself was of a higher quality than those worn by the goblins, and thus became more powerful as a result.

### The Party's Trip to the Plateau

When the party arrived at the Plateau, they stayed in one of the ruins there, which happened to contain an access to Kleightus' control room. When the party started searching the ruin, Kleightus sent Jahegso'n and the majority of his tribe to, at best, kill them, and at worst, distract them from their search. Jahegso'n almost succeeded in killing Guthash, but in the end he and the majority of his people were slaughtered, with Jahegso'n being beheaded and the remains burnt. Their cursed masks were destroyed by Serra.

After his death, Jahegso'n's second in command, who was not given a mask and did not take part in that attack, attacked the party to avenge Jahegso'n, and after being disarmed, proceeded to rip off Taz's finger and stab him in the chest with it, and continually brutalising him, quickly killing him, before he himself was killed by the rest of the party.

Jahegso'n awoke in the fragment of Derwo located beneath the plateau, where he was found a few days later by Ilunea, who released him as an undead being. Jahegso'n was found in the woods by Keisara, who was impressed by the success ok Kleightus' experiment with him. She then sent him back to Ordning until she had more use for him. She also provided him with a new, equally powerful mask to wear.

### The Dyndar Massacre

Princess Skarlat of the Kolshet Empire was attempting to use the Natorum Demonto, a powerful ancient grimoire, to absorb the Fog of Dyndar, an elder evil that was sealed beneath the island of Dyndar. Not wanting to leave the book unguarded and not wanting to have to do the tedious work of watching over it herself, she requisitioned the use of Jahegso'n, who she put into a demiplane until such a time he'd be needed to defend the book. A one-armed adventurer stole the book and was attacked by Jahegso'n. The adventurer managed to eventually defeat Jahegso'n before escaping, only to be struck by lightning as soon as he was outside. Once Jahegso'n's body recovered from this, he used a tunnel to make his way to the woods, where he found the demon-possessed Cole Sear running from some of the villagers. He proceeded to impale Cole on some tree branches before being summoned back by Skarlat.

Skarlat, knowing that the fog's power would be released on the book's surroundings at night, cast a number of protective spells on Jahegso'n to make him immune to its transmutative effects, on the off chance it would affect an undead being, and also to allow him to see clearly through the fog. She then sent him up to the village to search for the book. Jahegso'n then spent the next few hours murdering most of the village's adult population, generally using their own belongings to do so. He was heard when he was killing Cole's family though, and a group of villagers who had holed up in the tavern went to investigate. When they found what Jahegso'n had done, half the group went back to the safety of the tavern, whereas the other half went to alert Jadon, the village's headman. Jahegso'n was also on his way to kill the headman when he found that group and snuck up behind them to kill Poppy, Jadon's daughter. The other villagers in the fog fled and tried to regroup with their friends at the tavern, who were simultaneously making their way over to them. Eventually, after ambushing Buck, Jahegso'n killed all the villagers fighting him, save for Go'op and Jet, though he lost his left arm in the process. Jet was almost killed, until he saw that she had the Natorum Demonto on her person, so he only knocked her out. Go'op then fled. As the sun came up, Skarlat had the fog dissipate, and she took both Jet and the grimoire.

### Getting Patched Up

Immediately after this, Jahegso'n was teleported by Skarlat to Aongorm's Keep for medical attention while she went to join the crusaders' conference. For his work, Keisara decided to have the All-Smith himself fit Jahegso'n with a highest quality golemtech prosthetic. When the time came for the arm to be fitted, the All-Smith was allowing Runfinn, a survivor of Jahegso'n's attack on the Plateau, to serve as his assistant. Runfinn was quite shaken when he saw that the man who had attempted to kill him, who he had watched die and who he burned the body of, was sitting on the chair before him, looking only mildly inconvenienced by everything he went through. Runfinn was incredibly careful when dealing with him, as he was afraid that Jahegso'n may attempt to finish the job and kill him. Jahegso'n didn't though, and the prosthetic arm was fitted, much to Runfinn's concern. Not only had Runfinn given medical assistance to a man who the party had deemed a great enemy, but he made him more powerful in the process.

### Ministry of Occult Investigations

Jahegso'n was transferred to Division S of the newly formed Ministry of Occult Investigations, where he was their first field agent. He was tasked with finding other descendants of Ahk'gi and bringing them in for studying. After a number of successful missions, he disappeared, and is regarded as MIA.

### Capture by Volibag

Jahegso'n was in fact captured by Volibag of Ligurwia, a notorious raider and master of one of Ligurwia's largest slave trade operations. Volibag planned to sell the indestructible, nigh-immortal killer to the highest bidder. Unfortunately for him, around the time of his capture, Jahegso'n developed teleportation abilities, which he used to escape and kill a number of Volibag's men soon after being put in a cell. Volibag soon learned though, that these teleportation powers could only be used when both Jahegso'n and the place he wished to move to were unobserved. To deal with this, he had two of his megada watch him at all times, with the two working in 12-hour shifts. At this point, the plan became one of "figure out how to properly nullify his teleportation, and *then* sell him".

After the party killed Volibag, the decided to free the slaves from Lindholm who Volibag had captured and was about to put up to auction. Serra found the observation room and scared the megada who was observing Jahegso'n, and after she left, the megada decided to try calming herself down, but made the mistake of closing all her eyes. This allowed Jahegso'n to teleport behind her and kill her. Serra and Aly, alerted by the megada's dying scream, opened the door and saw Jahegso'n there. They immediately attacked, and in the end *polymorph* was used to turn him into a rabbit. Runfinn then took the rabbit to the auction room, threatened all the patrons within, and then unleashed Jahegso'n on them. Jahegso'n blocked the exit, and he and Sagadina proceeded to kill most of the patrons. When the party decided it was time to leave, they turned Jahegso'n back into a rabbit and fled. Jahegso'n was presumably still on Ostrivabotorhovtsiv when Giha smote it.

Rumours have started spreading due to the survivors that Runfinn, the self-proclaimed king of Ostrivabotorhovtsiv, was controlling Jahegso'n, as he first threatened to have Jahegso'n kill them while proclaiming himself king, and then made good on his word by releasing Jahegso'n to murder them. This, along with Ostrivabotorhovtsiv being famous for its raiders and slave trade, have made it sound like Runfinn was responsible for Jahegso'n going missing in the first place.

## Powers and Abilities

Being a hobgoblin warlord, Jahegso'n was reasonably powerful even from the start. The activation of the alchemical elements within him though caused a number of physiological changes to him. Firstly, it did severe damage to his brain, making him unable to speak or communicate in any meaningful way. It also made his thought process significantly simpler: he would obey a particular individual (and anyone they told him to obey) and would attempt to murder everyone else. It didn't reduce his combat knowledge though, and he remained just as pragmatic as before, employing a number of weapons and using ambush tactics when it suited him. His strength and his body's ability to withstand pain were also increased significantly, and he gained the ability to keep fighting and not die for as long as his willpower allowed him to continue, meaning that he could survive suffering injuries that would kill an ordinary person with very little effect on his performance. Beheading him did succeed in killing him though. The alchemical reagents flowing throughout his body also made him completely immune to poison, and his ability to function off willpower alone also helped him shrug off most conditions.

After his death and release from the underworld, Jahegso'n became an undead being, causing him to become even stronger and durable than before, since his ability to survive was even less tied to the condition of his body. He could also survive injuries that would prove fatal even to him before his death. Combined with the effects of the alchemy, he was nigh invincible now.

After his arm was cut off and replaced with a high quality prosthetic, that arm became much hardier an, as well as allowing him to perform greater feats of strength and dexterity with it, making it a viable weapon in its own right.

Around the time of his capture by Volibag, he gained the ability to teleport short distances at will, as long as he and the place he's teleporting to are unobserved.

Jahegso'n's current mask was created by Keisara for him. It is effectively indestructible, and its effects have not been learned by the party yet.

Jahegso'n favours the use of his machete in combat, and while his initial mask enhanced his combat ability with it, this doesn't seem to apply to his current one.