Aard_Rinn
2013-09-25, 01:30 AM
Oathborn Valiant
The Loyal, Unyielding
I swore to defend this place… My word is my bond. I will hold this pass – until my own death, if needed!
An Oathborn Valiant is an undead, to be sure – but not one raised by the God of Death. Instead, they are the chosen of the Goddess of Law – those too loyal to abandon their cause, those who have promises to keep, those who have something to protect. Raised by her power, they rise to walk again as they did in life, her fire inspiring them to greater and greater service to their cause.
An Oathborn Valiant may not realize that they have died immediately – indeed, unless it is pointed out to them, they may live centuries and never notice any oddity to do with their changed nature; when asked about their return, they simply explain that they heard someone – a general, a leader, a close ally – calling them, the words ringing in their ears: Get up. Come on, you haven’t failed. It’s not your time to die! They rise, and simply go about serving their cause, their will and the Kirin’s sufficient to drive them on – but though they may look no different, they are essentially changed. Their understanding of death begins to fade – they may not realize that the comrades that they raise with their Call out to the Fallen ability are dead, speaking of them as “away” or merely “sleeping”, no matter how grievous the wounds. Other concerns, too, begin to vanish – after a few decades, memories not related to their cause become blurry and faded, be it a lover, a hobby, or another such passion, or merely memories of childhood or the events of their lives. Still, much of their personality remains despite this – a gregarious knight will keep this friendly nature, while a tempestuous and vicious paladin will lose none of this fire in death.If confronted with the truth of their situation, a Valiant ignores or disbelieves it, regardless of facts or evidence presented, although some may in time come to understand their own deaths; however, the concept of it is hard to grasp, and most will never again truly understand mortality.
When dealing with players with similar goals, Valiant may be friendly, even comradely. They may offer help, be it in the form of knowledge or material goods – an Oathborn hundreds of years old may remember facts about their home country, for example, or a forgotten language, or may be willing to offer up a magical weapon taken from someone who stood in the way of their cause. They may even accompany the players for a time, if it would help further their cause.
When the Oathborn Valiant falls in battle, they rise again, the restoration take growing longer as they age. A newly-made Valiant will rise again as often as they are cut down, unless their bodies are destroyed utterly – within a week, it will be hours; after a year or so, they reach a point where it takes about 1d2 days to reconstitute themselves from lethal damage; after 25 years, that rises to 1d4; after 50, 1d6; and an additional day for every half-century thereafter. Thus, a 300 year old Oathborn Valiant will take 1d6+5 days to regenerate and reawaken. Unless the body is destroyed utterly, as by incineration, this regeneration will heal even grievous damage with time; mere physical wounds are not sufficient to destroy a Valiant, though magic has somewhat better luck.
An Oathborn Valiant has the ability to raise to its side its fallen comrades, though it has no other necromantic abilities. These comrades rise as law-aligned mindless undead, either zombies or skeletons based on the condition of their physical bodies, and unflinchingly carry out the orders of their Valiant leader. However, they cannot be rebuked or controlled by clerics, even Law-aligned ones – if they would be rebuked, they are instead turned, and if they would be controlled, they are destroyed; their power is granted and sustained through loyalty to the Valiant they attend, and they can obey or serve no other without losing that power.
Only those with exceptional loyalty can become an Oathborn Valiant; they are a rare occurrence, and the Kirin does not choose more than one person within a group to be reborn, even if all have shown extraordinary devotion; the rest remain as bodies to answer the Valiant’s Call. However, the goodness of a person’s cause is irrelevant – as with most such things, the Kirin is beyond good and evil in deciding who will receive her blessing. Despite this, most Valiants are good-aligned, or at least good people, regardless of how awful their cause may be – greed, selfishness, or cruelty are not motivations that can bring her blessing, only earnest loyalty.
Oathborn Valiant
10th level Fighter
Medium-Size Undead
Hit Dice: 10d12 (65 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 20 ft. (full plate armor)
AC: 26 (+1 Dex, +8 full plate, +2 enhancement, +5 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 25
Attacks: +3 greatsword +19/+14 melee, or heavy crossbow +11 ranged
Damage: +3 greatsword 2d6+12/19–20, heavy crossbow 1d10/19–20
Special Attacks: Smite Evil 1/day, Call out to the Fallen 3/day
TEMPLATES
Special Qualities: DR 15/+1, immunities, SR 20, Call out to the Fallen, undead followers, undead traits
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +15
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 13, Con —, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +3, Diplomacy +5, Handle Animal +3, Hide
+1, Intimidate +4, Jump +3, Knowledge (religion) +2,
Listen +3, Ride (horse) +6
Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Power Attack , Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword)
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Lawful Good
Advancement: By character class
Smite Evil (Su): 1/day, +3 to one damage roll against an Evil opponent.
Immunities: Death knights are immune to turning, cold, electricity, and polymorph.
Undead Traits: A death knight is immune to mindaffecting effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromantic effects, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects. It is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, or death from massive damage. A death knight cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if it is willing. The creature has darkvision (60-foot range).
Spells: Call out to the Fallen 1/day: Once per day, for the purposes of fulfilling their oath, an Oathborn Valiant can call out to comrades lost in their attempt to fulfill that oath. These fallen are raised as standard undead (skeletons, zombies, ect.) under the service of the Valiant. They may only be raised as long as there is enough of an intact body to form that undead. The Valiant may raise as many of these undead at once as are present, but only those it is aware of and knew in life. Undead raised this way are fueled by lawfully-aligned power, and are harmed by chaotic energies. Their alignment otherwise is the same as their Valiant’s.
Possessions: +2 full plate armor, +3 greatsword
Sample Encounter; Renault the Undying
Renault the Undying
The Last Defender
My brothers… they sleep now. We have waited a long time, you see – they were tired, and so they each lay down to sleep, one by one, and I remain awake to keep the watch. We are loyal, and our steel is strong – when I call them, they will come. We will defend this place forever, until the last breath fades from our bodies!
Renault Urkoth was a soldier – faithful to his king, his country and his men, he was an idealist to the bone, his only desire to serve his country and the good of his people. So he was not upset when he was sent to guard a remote entrance to the dwarves’ mountain fortress, with only a group of twenty loyal men to aid him, as part of a recent treaty with the dwarf king. Instead, he viewed it as a challenge, but one that he would rise to meet, despite the icy winds that whipped at the band as they made their first ascent up the mountainside.
They reached the entrance, and they set up their base, but the chill of winter set in, and when the first food shipment never appeared, he was forced to send half of his men down the winding tunnels within the mountain to seek aid from the dwarves. They never returned, but Renault and his men were unflinching – they continued to hold the passage, and when, on the eighth day after their comrade’s departure, their warmth spells failed, they froze to death, still earnest in the belief that their friends would return in time.
Now, the party needs to enter the ancient dwarven city within the mountain – they have heard of this forgotten tunnel, and decide that it is the safest way to gain passage. They make the ascent, but when they reach the entrance itself, they are surprised to see a man clad in armor waiting there, seated outside the cave on a snow-covered rock; his skin is covered in ice crystals, and he has the pale and translucient skin of someone who has frozen to death. In his hands he holds a blade, but he does not rise to oppose them until they attempt to enter the tunnel – if asked, he may allow them to enter the shelter of the base that has been established inside the front cave, but he will not let them pass any further. He is courteous and friendly, inquiring as to whether the party is bringing the expected supplies, or if they have any knowledge of why they have not arrived. If the players attempt to attack him, he defends himself, and retreats into the base, making his stand there.
When the party enters the cave, they are surrounded by frozen, unmoving corpses – the bodies of the ten men who remained behind with Renault. If the party attempts to move or tinker with the bodies, Renault politely asks them to stop – he says that his ‘brothers’ are resting, and requests that they not awaken them, since he said that he’d only wake them up if they were attacked, or when the supplies arrived.
The players may interact with Renault as they wish – he is a friendly, open man, more than happy to talk about his family and his job in the army, though names and dates escape him. He remembers the date of his birth: June 17th, around 500 years before the start of your campaign, and how old he was when he died, claiming it as his current age, regardless of how the players argue that more time has passed: 29. He believes that only a few days have passed since his men left to seek help, and will not be convinced otherwise, although he does not seem distressed at the player’s suggestions – he claims that it doesn’t matter, since he’s still here to guard the tunnels, and he’s sure that the supplies will come soon.
Beyond this stubbornness, Renault acts like an ordinary man, eager to hear news of the world outside. If the players provide him with information that isn’t date-reliant, like news about the harvest or a recent storm, or contemporary information, he will react positively, eager to hear news of his home; if the news is modern or involves countries he has not heard of, he reacts with confusion before moving on. Should the players be injured, he offers to help them – he can provide them with bandages and a safe place to rest, although he has no healing abilities; he also has a Potion of Heal Moderate Wounds that he may offer to a sufficiently injured character. If the players offer to eat with him, he will refuse, saying that it is not right for him to eat when his comrades cannot. Should enough be offered for the whole group, he will accept and eat with you, laying aside a portion enough for his companions, but he will not Call them, instead saying that they can eat later once they have awakened. Fire, if one is created, melts the ice off his skin, but he does not appear to mind or even notice; his skin remains pale as the water drips away.
If players ask to pass, he will refuse them; if they show some sort of dwarvish token of goodwill, a token from his country, or if one or more players is a dwarf, he may be persuaded to grant them passage. If they ask him to accompany them, he will refuse, saying that he must remain to guard the gate If the DM decides to have him accompany the party, he first seals the entrance of the cave with a heavy metal door, then leaves his ‘sleeping’ men to keep guard, saying that he’s certain that even they couldn’t sleep through someone breaking down that door.
If the party attacks him, he will retreat into the cave, calling out to his comrades. They will spend one turn rising, and another orienting themselves, before attacking the players at his command. He is a talented commander, but fights defensively, as if the undead he controls are alive – he will attempt to protect them from the party, and react with anger and pain if they are destroyed, though they have no minds, and show no similar concerns for his life or their own. He will enter melee himself after a turn or three, spending only long enough to command his forces and analyze the situation before charging into the fray himself, broadsword ready. If dealt mortal damage, he collapses, as do his zombie servants. If his body is destroyed thereafter, he is gone permanently – if not, he regenerates in 1d6+8 days.
When the party gets past him, however they prevail, they travel down a long corridor leading into the mountain. A mile or so in, they encounter skeletons, completely desiccated – the remains of the group sent back into the tunnels, and a suitable monster or colony of monsters to have killed them (perhaps an ancient nest of spiders, or some other LA equivalent monster.)
If you want to have the players encounter stories of the Valiant before encountering them, this is one example of a legend that they might have heard told by a bard, or that a sufficiently knowledgeable bard might receive on a good BL roll:
A long long time ago, in a place where the long winds howled over the sands of the desert... There was a Palace, and in that palace ruled a king, and his name was Kulturier.
The king had a daughter, and she was named Vyren, the joy of his life - the most brilliant flower to bloom in the desert could not compare to the glory of her eyes. When she sang, it was said that even the asp lurking between the stones would rise to listen, and sit entwined around her, for all his lethal venom doing her no harm. She danced in silks the blue of the desert night with steps as quick as a carcal's, and the sacred ibis itself offered its feathers to adorn her hair.
The king also had three loyal servants, trusted beyond compare - his General, the knight Urkothos; his mage, the mighty sorcerer Hammath, and the Captain of his Guard, the soldier Nehuezzar. Each had served him loyally and well for many long years, and on his deathbed, he called them to him, and gave them his last task - to serve his daughter as loyally as they had him, and to protect her always.
For many years they carried out this task without fail, and the kingdom prospered - guided by her father's servants, Vyren was a just and noble queen. But one day, a rider came to the city on winded horse, carrying dread tidings - to the south massed a great army, and they had vowed to take the Palace; their leader would claim Vyren as his own, or claim her life.
So Urkothos marshaled the army, loyal General that he was - he rallied his soldiers, and they rode to battle, songs of valor on their lips, and they were slaughtered, to a man.
This grave truth was carried to the Palace on the wings of a hawk, and with it a message - that the city should surrender, and Vyren consent to be wed, or the invaders would raze the palace and take all within as hostages and slaves.
So Hammath drew away to his retreat, great sorcerer that he was; he and his seven apprentices. They worked through the night, and long into the day, and raised over the city a glittering shield, that they might protect their queen. And after three long days, their spell was done, and the enemy army had massed outside the city, but they could not pass the ward.
But the enemy were cunning, and powerful in their own right, and they called forth sorcerers of their own - they summoned vile demons, bound in pact and sacrifice, and offered them the lives of those within the city should they bring the shield-wall down. And one by one, the sorcerers fell, their lives given to the wall, and Hammath was the last to falter; his heart gave out and shattered, and with it fell the wall.
So now only Nehuezzar remained, and he the last to stand between his queen and their lethal foe - he readied blade and shield, and called his forty loyal men to him, and they set themselves against the overwhelming forces of their enemy. They battled, a losing battle, for a day and a night, and when only Nehuezzar and his two lieutenants survived, he bid them run, and save his queen, and he would guard their retreat.
They fled, and he set steel to steel, and swiftly was cut down - but from each mortal wound, he rose, new fire in his eyes. His vow itself had taken life, and flowed beneath his skin - the law-god's power raised his blade, and keen, cut through his foes; he called his fallen men, and they came to him, and they fought anew at his side. For hours he battled on, until all his enemy lay slain before him, and he knelt down to sleep - but the fire of his passion burned in him still, though his duty had concluded, and even as the sands shifted and time and wind buried the palace, his soul remained in the palace, a keen blade and bright spirit unable to rest, guarding the walls forevermore, awaiting Vyren's return, though time has slipped away and she has no doubt faded from the world.
So, this is my first real homebrew monster. I'd like to work on a template to match - if anyone has suggestions, they'd be appreciated, since I think this might be an interesting thing to do to a dead player.
The Loyal, Unyielding
I swore to defend this place… My word is my bond. I will hold this pass – until my own death, if needed!
An Oathborn Valiant is an undead, to be sure – but not one raised by the God of Death. Instead, they are the chosen of the Goddess of Law – those too loyal to abandon their cause, those who have promises to keep, those who have something to protect. Raised by her power, they rise to walk again as they did in life, her fire inspiring them to greater and greater service to their cause.
An Oathborn Valiant may not realize that they have died immediately – indeed, unless it is pointed out to them, they may live centuries and never notice any oddity to do with their changed nature; when asked about their return, they simply explain that they heard someone – a general, a leader, a close ally – calling them, the words ringing in their ears: Get up. Come on, you haven’t failed. It’s not your time to die! They rise, and simply go about serving their cause, their will and the Kirin’s sufficient to drive them on – but though they may look no different, they are essentially changed. Their understanding of death begins to fade – they may not realize that the comrades that they raise with their Call out to the Fallen ability are dead, speaking of them as “away” or merely “sleeping”, no matter how grievous the wounds. Other concerns, too, begin to vanish – after a few decades, memories not related to their cause become blurry and faded, be it a lover, a hobby, or another such passion, or merely memories of childhood or the events of their lives. Still, much of their personality remains despite this – a gregarious knight will keep this friendly nature, while a tempestuous and vicious paladin will lose none of this fire in death.If confronted with the truth of their situation, a Valiant ignores or disbelieves it, regardless of facts or evidence presented, although some may in time come to understand their own deaths; however, the concept of it is hard to grasp, and most will never again truly understand mortality.
When dealing with players with similar goals, Valiant may be friendly, even comradely. They may offer help, be it in the form of knowledge or material goods – an Oathborn hundreds of years old may remember facts about their home country, for example, or a forgotten language, or may be willing to offer up a magical weapon taken from someone who stood in the way of their cause. They may even accompany the players for a time, if it would help further their cause.
When the Oathborn Valiant falls in battle, they rise again, the restoration take growing longer as they age. A newly-made Valiant will rise again as often as they are cut down, unless their bodies are destroyed utterly – within a week, it will be hours; after a year or so, they reach a point where it takes about 1d2 days to reconstitute themselves from lethal damage; after 25 years, that rises to 1d4; after 50, 1d6; and an additional day for every half-century thereafter. Thus, a 300 year old Oathborn Valiant will take 1d6+5 days to regenerate and reawaken. Unless the body is destroyed utterly, as by incineration, this regeneration will heal even grievous damage with time; mere physical wounds are not sufficient to destroy a Valiant, though magic has somewhat better luck.
An Oathborn Valiant has the ability to raise to its side its fallen comrades, though it has no other necromantic abilities. These comrades rise as law-aligned mindless undead, either zombies or skeletons based on the condition of their physical bodies, and unflinchingly carry out the orders of their Valiant leader. However, they cannot be rebuked or controlled by clerics, even Law-aligned ones – if they would be rebuked, they are instead turned, and if they would be controlled, they are destroyed; their power is granted and sustained through loyalty to the Valiant they attend, and they can obey or serve no other without losing that power.
Only those with exceptional loyalty can become an Oathborn Valiant; they are a rare occurrence, and the Kirin does not choose more than one person within a group to be reborn, even if all have shown extraordinary devotion; the rest remain as bodies to answer the Valiant’s Call. However, the goodness of a person’s cause is irrelevant – as with most such things, the Kirin is beyond good and evil in deciding who will receive her blessing. Despite this, most Valiants are good-aligned, or at least good people, regardless of how awful their cause may be – greed, selfishness, or cruelty are not motivations that can bring her blessing, only earnest loyalty.
Oathborn Valiant
10th level Fighter
Medium-Size Undead
Hit Dice: 10d12 (65 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 20 ft. (full plate armor)
AC: 26 (+1 Dex, +8 full plate, +2 enhancement, +5 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 25
Attacks: +3 greatsword +19/+14 melee, or heavy crossbow +11 ranged
Damage: +3 greatsword 2d6+12/19–20, heavy crossbow 1d10/19–20
Special Attacks: Smite Evil 1/day, Call out to the Fallen 3/day
TEMPLATES
Special Qualities: DR 15/+1, immunities, SR 20, Call out to the Fallen, undead followers, undead traits
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +4, Will +15
Abilities: Str 21, Dex 13, Con —, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +3, Diplomacy +5, Handle Animal +3, Hide
+1, Intimidate +4, Jump +3, Knowledge (religion) +2,
Listen +3, Ride (horse) +6
Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Power Attack , Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword)
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Lawful Good
Advancement: By character class
Smite Evil (Su): 1/day, +3 to one damage roll against an Evil opponent.
Immunities: Death knights are immune to turning, cold, electricity, and polymorph.
Undead Traits: A death knight is immune to mindaffecting effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromantic effects, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects. It is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, or death from massive damage. A death knight cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if it is willing. The creature has darkvision (60-foot range).
Spells: Call out to the Fallen 1/day: Once per day, for the purposes of fulfilling their oath, an Oathborn Valiant can call out to comrades lost in their attempt to fulfill that oath. These fallen are raised as standard undead (skeletons, zombies, ect.) under the service of the Valiant. They may only be raised as long as there is enough of an intact body to form that undead. The Valiant may raise as many of these undead at once as are present, but only those it is aware of and knew in life. Undead raised this way are fueled by lawfully-aligned power, and are harmed by chaotic energies. Their alignment otherwise is the same as their Valiant’s.
Possessions: +2 full plate armor, +3 greatsword
Sample Encounter; Renault the Undying
Renault the Undying
The Last Defender
My brothers… they sleep now. We have waited a long time, you see – they were tired, and so they each lay down to sleep, one by one, and I remain awake to keep the watch. We are loyal, and our steel is strong – when I call them, they will come. We will defend this place forever, until the last breath fades from our bodies!
Renault Urkoth was a soldier – faithful to his king, his country and his men, he was an idealist to the bone, his only desire to serve his country and the good of his people. So he was not upset when he was sent to guard a remote entrance to the dwarves’ mountain fortress, with only a group of twenty loyal men to aid him, as part of a recent treaty with the dwarf king. Instead, he viewed it as a challenge, but one that he would rise to meet, despite the icy winds that whipped at the band as they made their first ascent up the mountainside.
They reached the entrance, and they set up their base, but the chill of winter set in, and when the first food shipment never appeared, he was forced to send half of his men down the winding tunnels within the mountain to seek aid from the dwarves. They never returned, but Renault and his men were unflinching – they continued to hold the passage, and when, on the eighth day after their comrade’s departure, their warmth spells failed, they froze to death, still earnest in the belief that their friends would return in time.
Now, the party needs to enter the ancient dwarven city within the mountain – they have heard of this forgotten tunnel, and decide that it is the safest way to gain passage. They make the ascent, but when they reach the entrance itself, they are surprised to see a man clad in armor waiting there, seated outside the cave on a snow-covered rock; his skin is covered in ice crystals, and he has the pale and translucient skin of someone who has frozen to death. In his hands he holds a blade, but he does not rise to oppose them until they attempt to enter the tunnel – if asked, he may allow them to enter the shelter of the base that has been established inside the front cave, but he will not let them pass any further. He is courteous and friendly, inquiring as to whether the party is bringing the expected supplies, or if they have any knowledge of why they have not arrived. If the players attempt to attack him, he defends himself, and retreats into the base, making his stand there.
When the party enters the cave, they are surrounded by frozen, unmoving corpses – the bodies of the ten men who remained behind with Renault. If the party attempts to move or tinker with the bodies, Renault politely asks them to stop – he says that his ‘brothers’ are resting, and requests that they not awaken them, since he said that he’d only wake them up if they were attacked, or when the supplies arrived.
The players may interact with Renault as they wish – he is a friendly, open man, more than happy to talk about his family and his job in the army, though names and dates escape him. He remembers the date of his birth: June 17th, around 500 years before the start of your campaign, and how old he was when he died, claiming it as his current age, regardless of how the players argue that more time has passed: 29. He believes that only a few days have passed since his men left to seek help, and will not be convinced otherwise, although he does not seem distressed at the player’s suggestions – he claims that it doesn’t matter, since he’s still here to guard the tunnels, and he’s sure that the supplies will come soon.
Beyond this stubbornness, Renault acts like an ordinary man, eager to hear news of the world outside. If the players provide him with information that isn’t date-reliant, like news about the harvest or a recent storm, or contemporary information, he will react positively, eager to hear news of his home; if the news is modern or involves countries he has not heard of, he reacts with confusion before moving on. Should the players be injured, he offers to help them – he can provide them with bandages and a safe place to rest, although he has no healing abilities; he also has a Potion of Heal Moderate Wounds that he may offer to a sufficiently injured character. If the players offer to eat with him, he will refuse, saying that it is not right for him to eat when his comrades cannot. Should enough be offered for the whole group, he will accept and eat with you, laying aside a portion enough for his companions, but he will not Call them, instead saying that they can eat later once they have awakened. Fire, if one is created, melts the ice off his skin, but he does not appear to mind or even notice; his skin remains pale as the water drips away.
If players ask to pass, he will refuse them; if they show some sort of dwarvish token of goodwill, a token from his country, or if one or more players is a dwarf, he may be persuaded to grant them passage. If they ask him to accompany them, he will refuse, saying that he must remain to guard the gate If the DM decides to have him accompany the party, he first seals the entrance of the cave with a heavy metal door, then leaves his ‘sleeping’ men to keep guard, saying that he’s certain that even they couldn’t sleep through someone breaking down that door.
If the party attacks him, he will retreat into the cave, calling out to his comrades. They will spend one turn rising, and another orienting themselves, before attacking the players at his command. He is a talented commander, but fights defensively, as if the undead he controls are alive – he will attempt to protect them from the party, and react with anger and pain if they are destroyed, though they have no minds, and show no similar concerns for his life or their own. He will enter melee himself after a turn or three, spending only long enough to command his forces and analyze the situation before charging into the fray himself, broadsword ready. If dealt mortal damage, he collapses, as do his zombie servants. If his body is destroyed thereafter, he is gone permanently – if not, he regenerates in 1d6+8 days.
When the party gets past him, however they prevail, they travel down a long corridor leading into the mountain. A mile or so in, they encounter skeletons, completely desiccated – the remains of the group sent back into the tunnels, and a suitable monster or colony of monsters to have killed them (perhaps an ancient nest of spiders, or some other LA equivalent monster.)
If you want to have the players encounter stories of the Valiant before encountering them, this is one example of a legend that they might have heard told by a bard, or that a sufficiently knowledgeable bard might receive on a good BL roll:
A long long time ago, in a place where the long winds howled over the sands of the desert... There was a Palace, and in that palace ruled a king, and his name was Kulturier.
The king had a daughter, and she was named Vyren, the joy of his life - the most brilliant flower to bloom in the desert could not compare to the glory of her eyes. When she sang, it was said that even the asp lurking between the stones would rise to listen, and sit entwined around her, for all his lethal venom doing her no harm. She danced in silks the blue of the desert night with steps as quick as a carcal's, and the sacred ibis itself offered its feathers to adorn her hair.
The king also had three loyal servants, trusted beyond compare - his General, the knight Urkothos; his mage, the mighty sorcerer Hammath, and the Captain of his Guard, the soldier Nehuezzar. Each had served him loyally and well for many long years, and on his deathbed, he called them to him, and gave them his last task - to serve his daughter as loyally as they had him, and to protect her always.
For many years they carried out this task without fail, and the kingdom prospered - guided by her father's servants, Vyren was a just and noble queen. But one day, a rider came to the city on winded horse, carrying dread tidings - to the south massed a great army, and they had vowed to take the Palace; their leader would claim Vyren as his own, or claim her life.
So Urkothos marshaled the army, loyal General that he was - he rallied his soldiers, and they rode to battle, songs of valor on their lips, and they were slaughtered, to a man.
This grave truth was carried to the Palace on the wings of a hawk, and with it a message - that the city should surrender, and Vyren consent to be wed, or the invaders would raze the palace and take all within as hostages and slaves.
So Hammath drew away to his retreat, great sorcerer that he was; he and his seven apprentices. They worked through the night, and long into the day, and raised over the city a glittering shield, that they might protect their queen. And after three long days, their spell was done, and the enemy army had massed outside the city, but they could not pass the ward.
But the enemy were cunning, and powerful in their own right, and they called forth sorcerers of their own - they summoned vile demons, bound in pact and sacrifice, and offered them the lives of those within the city should they bring the shield-wall down. And one by one, the sorcerers fell, their lives given to the wall, and Hammath was the last to falter; his heart gave out and shattered, and with it fell the wall.
So now only Nehuezzar remained, and he the last to stand between his queen and their lethal foe - he readied blade and shield, and called his forty loyal men to him, and they set themselves against the overwhelming forces of their enemy. They battled, a losing battle, for a day and a night, and when only Nehuezzar and his two lieutenants survived, he bid them run, and save his queen, and he would guard their retreat.
They fled, and he set steel to steel, and swiftly was cut down - but from each mortal wound, he rose, new fire in his eyes. His vow itself had taken life, and flowed beneath his skin - the law-god's power raised his blade, and keen, cut through his foes; he called his fallen men, and they came to him, and they fought anew at his side. For hours he battled on, until all his enemy lay slain before him, and he knelt down to sleep - but the fire of his passion burned in him still, though his duty had concluded, and even as the sands shifted and time and wind buried the palace, his soul remained in the palace, a keen blade and bright spirit unable to rest, guarding the walls forevermore, awaiting Vyren's return, though time has slipped away and she has no doubt faded from the world.
So, this is my first real homebrew monster. I'd like to work on a template to match - if anyone has suggestions, they'd be appreciated, since I think this might be an interesting thing to do to a dead player.