The Aliovades
A mysterious and dangerous group of creatures, The Aliovades are clever, powerful and unbelievably persistent. Mortal creatures are only fortunate that they seem much more interested in their own affairs than in the actions of the “lesser races.” Only a few have heard the name of this race, fewer still have seen one in its true form and lived to tell about it, and barely a handful have ever known that they were speaking to one. A handful of radicals who are devoted to understanding and hunting these creatures do exist, but The Aliovades themselves seem unconcerned with such fanatics, perhaps even gleeful at the thought. They can always use more tools to unwittingly do their bidding.
In its true form, an Aliovade looks terrible and cruel, a good reflection on exactly what it is. Its head is like a gigantic crow’s head, which somehow maintains the ability to talk despite not having lips. It has two enormous crow’s wings coming from its backside which seem to be forever shedding feathers. It’s body is humanoid, but reptilian, covered in green scales which are often peeling off, often mistaken for snake’s skin. The Aliovade diet consists entirely of birds (though they can eat other food, they just get no sustenance from it) and eat usually five or more a day. Crow is their favorite, and they particularly enjoy eating in their true forms.
Fortunately for humans, elves, halflings and sentient races everywhere, there are only a handful of Aliovades on this plane, or in known existence. Two hundred to three hundred years ago, The Aliovades sprung into existence on this plane at some unknown location. They were fully formed, complete with personalities and a goal, which was really quite simple: get The Chalice of Alicon, an artifact that came to this world at the same moment The Aliovades did. They have been fighting over it ever since, one grabs it, another steals it, it’s stolen again, on and on for centuries. The Chalice itself is not a particularly powerful artifact, in fact it is quite weak. However, The Aliovades hunt it still. The only known statement that one of them has made on the matter was “You’re too insignificant to understand why I hunt it. I hunt it because it is mine and not theirs.”
There are currently five Aliovades in existence (out of an original eight. Three are presumed dead, though their bodies were never found.) They all hate one another with a burning passion, and never work together for even the smallest amount of time. They attack each other on sight, even if neither of them currently have The Chalice of Alicon. Each has five class levels (not calculated in under challenge rating) though they tend to rely on their natural powers and abilities.
Since they came into this world, The Aliovades have made many identities for themselves, which they tend to use to hide once they have acquired The Chalice of Alicon. Once another Aliovade has found him, that persona is usually destroyed and another one is born. Throughout the centuries, The Aliovades have acquired quite a sum of money, which they tend to be very quick to use. In particular, they enjoy making mortals degrade themselves before their economic superior, hiring servants just to perform difficult and pointless tasks or paying mercenaries to go on missions that are suicide to attempt. Aliovades never miss a chance to commit murder, and kill a mortal whenever they have the opportunity, merely for the pleasure of it.
The Aliovade below is a generic member of its species, a theoretical “base creature” that may or may not exist. Either way, the Aliovades currently in this world are much more powerful, having five class levels each.
Aliovade
Medium-Sized Aberration
Hit Dice: 20d10+60 (160)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 27 (+5 dex, +12 natural.)
Base Attack/Grapple: +15/+15
Attack: Slam +23
Full Attack: Slam (3d12+9)
Space/Reach: 10ft./10ft.
Special Attacks: Touch Attacks
Special Qualities: The Quest of the Aliovade, Damage Reduction 20/Holy or Aliovade’s Slam Attacks, Spell Resistance 25, Fast Healing 1, Flexible Form, Spider Climb, Change Form, Charm Monster, Soulless, Unexist
Saves: Fortitude +25, Will +27, Ref +27
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 20, Con 17, Wis 20, Int 20, Cha 20
Skills: Listen +25, Diplomacy +25, Gather Information +25, Spot +25, Survival +25
Feats: Improved Disarm, Weapon Focus: Slam, Weapon Specialization: Slam, Lightning Reflexes, Improved Fortitude, Iron Will, Track
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, or with human servants.
Challenge Rating: 13
Treasure: Four Times Standard
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: -
Touch Attacks: An Aliovade has the following touch attacks. 3/day, Bestow Curse (no saving throw), Negative Energy Touch (5d6+10). These are spell-like abilities.
The Quest of the Aliovade: Aliovades have a clearly defined purpose, to reclaim The Chalice of Alicon. Certain abilities have come forth that relate to this quest. First, an Aliovade always knows if he is within fifty miles of The Chalice of Alicon. He cannot narrow it down more than that, however, and must use reasoning and deduction to get any more specific. Second, an Aliovade cannot kill another Aliovade, something they consider to be quite a curse. Any damage they do to each other cannot reduce them to below zero hit points (though they are unconscious at that point.) After this, an hour passes during which time the disabled Aliovade’s fast healing does not work. After that, the Aliovade wakes up and begins to heal again. An Aliovade cannot intentionally kill another of his kind (for example, they cannot drop him off a cliff once he is unconscious) however he may arrange the other creature’s death (for example, getting a human hunter to attack his enemy, or leave an unconscious Aliovade in a burning building.) Thirdly, Aliovades cannot be moved from this plane by any known magic, even epic level. Even the gods themselves are either unable or unwilling to remove of these alien creatures. Once again, The Aliovades see this as a curse, they hate it here. It’s “too wet and loud” for their tastes. Note, this only applies to Aliovades in this world, currently.
Flexible Form: An Aliovade, while large (naturally over seven feet tall) can adjust its body to fit into a space one foot wide.
Spider Climb: As the spell of the same name, but permanent.
Change Forms: An Aliovade can assume any humanoid form he wants, without ever being detected by any known mortal magic, for an unlimited amount of time. During this transformation, the Aliovade’s physical abilities are reduced to a typical member of that race. This disguise can be abandoned as a free action, but unless it is the Aliovade remains in this form, even as it dies.
Charm Monster: 3/day as the spell, DC 35
Soulless: Aliovades have no soul, at least not like our own. As such, they cannot be raised by any known mortal magic, and are immune to any magic dealing with the soul.
Unexist: As far as all mortal magic is concerned, Aliovades do not exist. They cannot be scryed on, magic reveals no information on them, bardic knowledge cannot be used to get information about them, and nothing can pierce or dispel their disguises as humans. Spells that determine their alignment always reveal what the Aliovade wants them to, they can pass as any alignment they wish.
There are five known Aliovades in existence. It is theorized that, somewhere, there might exist more of this species, but for whatever reason they cannot or do not come here. Those that are known seem to know every widely used language, having picked them up over the years. Here is some known information on the five that are known to exist.
Koz: A female Aliovade, she is a master of hand-to-hand combat. She is the only known Aliovade who does not consistently rely on her slam attack, preferring to use her +2 Shocking Greataxe, “Alicav.” She is well known for her frontal assaults, being uncharacteristically blunt for a member of her race. She also never uses human followers and never hires mercenaries, claiming that none of them can do her job better than she can. This does make it particularly difficult for her to kill another Aliovade, as she cannot kill them herself. She is known to be inventive, and is responsible for the destruction of one of the three dead Aliovades. She has levels in fighter.
Trian: Another female Aliovade, Trian is a wizard. She mixes the natural subtlety of her race with the raw power of arcane magic. Her favorite maneuver is to use her various abilities to sneak into another Aliovade’s house, then release a barrage of arcane attacks. Trian is also well known for hunting down human wizards for their spellbooks, constantly on the search for new spells to use against her own kind. What it truly unique about her is her genuine desire to improve herself. Whereas the rest of her race care only about The Chalice of Alicon, she genuinely desires to learn more about the arcane.
Rovil: Rovil is sneaky, even for an Aliovade. He is a rogue, a thief. When he has The Chalice of Alicon, or when he does not yet know where it is, he passes the time by stealing treasures, preferably magical items. Rovil is unique in that he enjoys his human forms, and tends to remain in them, even when battling the others. The way he reasons it, other humans will come to help him if he looks like them, especially if he is about to die. Rovil is rich, even by Aliovade standards, and is well known for letting humans do his dirty work for him. Most of the information that is currently known about Aliovades comes from Rovil. For thirty years a scholar stalked him, finding him in all his forms, following the creature to the end of the earth. Finally, on top of a desolate mountain, where Rovil was sure that his stalker would die, he humored the scholar by revealing a little about his race. Granted, Rovil is known to be untrustworthy, so even this small amount of information is highly subject.
Cazal: Cazal is a cleric of a god of death from this world. When he came here, he found that he liked the teachings of this god, and joined the church. Cazal has a devout following, and is usually surrounded by delusional devotees who are willing to die for him. Even in his true form his following has saved him from the brink of death, mistakenly believing him to be an avatar of their dark god. Cazal has several priest personas, even of churches of good gods. Cazal is particularly cruel and takes great pleasure not just in killing, but in torturing innocents to death over the course of days or weeks, which even the others find a bit excessive.
Invil: A sorcerer who specializes in summoning, Invil is extremely paranoid. While he still uses humans to do a lot of his dirty work, he is always suspicious of them, afraid that one of the others sent one to kill him. This paranoia is perhaps a result of two such incidents that happened at the same time, two other Aliovades sent agents to kill him. While Invil survived, he was greatly wounded and almost died in the encounter. In retaliation, he let the two Aliovades who tried to kill him think he had died, in order to set a trap that presumably killed them. Invil relies on summoned help whenever possible, which he knows will never betray him. Invil is also the most spiteful about being stuck here, and pursues The Chalice of Alicon day and night, taking no time for pleasurable activities.
The Chalice of Alicon
This artifact is the entire purpose of The Aliovades, and obtaining consumes their thoughts. While they have it, they think only of how to protect it, how to hide from others. An Aliovade who obtains The Chalice of Alicon tend to stay in a big city, to make it harder to determine who has it. It is actually very small, it only has enough room for a single shot of alcohol. The Chalice of Alicon is crystal, and quite plain. Like the Aliovades, it is undetectable by mortal magic, inspection with a “detect magic” “identify” or similar effects reveals nothing.
The Chalice of Alicon is indestructible. No amount of force can destroy it, at least as far as is known. When alcohol is poured into it, they take on a magical quality. An Aliovade who drinks it gets +4 strength and +2 dexterity for the next three hours, in all of his or her forms. Anyone else who drinks it merely finds that the alcohol is very, very poor tasting.
Despite the relative powerlessness of this artifact, The Aliovades pursue it single-mindedly. A wizard who actually possessed The Chalice of Alicon briefly (before he was brutally slain by Trian) hypothesized that its power may be much greater, after a certain astrological or historical event takes place. One of his more disturbing theories was that, after all but one Aliovades die, The Chalice of Alicon becomes a portal, leading to a whole world populated by these fowl creatures.