Connects to: 14.00, 38.28 and 45.24.
Overview
The troll known as the Prophet of Grahakzahak is a strange troll indeed. He wanders these lands carrying a bastard sword in one hand like a scalpel (the pommel of which resembles a mouth opened in a never-ending scream). He asks all travelers who he encounters to join him in prayer to Grahakzahak and consume a slice of his flesh, which he helpfully removes with his sword, so that the glory of all of the heads of his god may enter. Those who eat of a troll’s flesh find themselves changed by this experience…
Those who refuse to worship Grahakzahak enrage his prophet, but combat can be avoided if one is clever and polite. Any rudeness will result in sudden violence in which the Prophet attacks with the sword in one hand while biting and grabbing at his enemy. He will focus his attacks on whoever he judges to have been least respectful for Grahakzahak.
The Prophet maintains his home around a great monolith that he has raised and inscribed with rough troll runes at the foot of the Grey Mountains. The monolith is surrounded by a rude village in which worshipers of various races live under the protection of the Prophet. The Prophet pays tribute to Thorek Ironhide (14.00), as he believes that this is necessary to keep his village safe while he is away proselytizing, but resents doing so. Unbeknownst to the prophet, the god that he worships is the great Tarrasque of Bergolast (38.28). The flesh-eating ritual he practices is an echo of how the people of Bergolast (the ancestors of the trolls) fed on the regenerating flesh of the Tarrasque before Tiamat fell and the Tarrasque broke free.
Hooks
- Where did the troll get his sword from? Is it magical?
- What happens if you eat troll flesh? What change has come over the villagers from having done so repeatedly?
- What is the Prophet planning to do to get out of having to pay tribute to Thorek Ironhide?
