The Hide of Harker

Author: Authors of Volume 2
Length: Medium
Genre: Fantasy
Type: Quest
Setting: Any
Monster: Demon

The Plot

Baron Harksheen requests an audience with the adventurers. Background checks will reveal very little is known about this baron. The local vassal is named G'caird, and is a duke. G'caird has never heard of Harksheen. Harksheen castle is rather remote, to say the least.

If asked, Harksheen will relate a story about saving the life of one of the kings' children several years ago, and how he received this barony quite by surprise some years later. If the party asks too many questions, they may be imprisoned in the baron's dungeons. The baron has 15 men at arms, and can command the skeletons which inhabit all of the numerous suits of armor displayed in the great hall. (Note that this armor gives the skeletons much better than normal defenses and weapons.) If the party notices the skeletons in the armor, the baron will claim they are the remains of the great warriors who died in the armor.

The Baron's story is that he would like to obtain a certain suit of armor that has fallen out of sight. He has uncovered some clues (which he will be glad to show any mages in the group), that indicate that the armor, called "The Hide of Harker", was interred with the remains of one Keforid, apparently a priest of some sort. The Baron would like to commission the party to recover the armor, will provide escort and livestock, and allow the party to keep all other booty.

The Baron's real name is Harker, he's a demon. The armor was once his hide. Besides the defenses of the armor, and the fact that it is nearly weightless, it has the following abilities: Telepathy with Harker, sense danger, protection from cold. If Harker is killed, the telepathy converts to a sort of scrying from his skull. Without it, he is pretty weak, but if he gets his hands on it (or rather, the other way 'round), look out. He will warn the party that the armor is cursed, and to be careful not to wear it. (It isn't cursed per se, but with it's special abilities, wearing it might be a tip off.) The real reason Harksheen won't go after the armor himself is that the Wraith wearing the armor would know what he was going to do next and would be an extremely formidable opponent.

If the party looks closely at the warrior statue in the crypt, they'll notice that the base of the statue is a defeated demon who looks a lot like the Baron. One of the Tapestries depicts the skinning of the demon.


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Email: Alexander Forst-Rakoczy