Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

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We’ve already seen a bit of the history of the region known as the Gray Downs in other entries, for the [Barrowhaunts][2] and the [Gray Company][3]. The first tells us it was home to ancient hill clans, and the second tells us it’s also full of Nerathi ruins. This entry provides the missing link.

The Lore

The hill folk who once lived in the Gray Downs were one of the Vale’s indigenous peoples, which means they’ve been here since before recorded history. Now, recorded history isn’t very expansive on our setting, but even if they’re not that ancient, the fact is they were already living here when the first Nerathi expeditions arrived. In their heyday, these hill clans were famous for their formidable hounds, used in both hunting and warfare.

Nerath acted in the predictable manner of all empires, and waged war on the hill folk to annex their land. They soon found themselves fighting a determined opponent, who stayed and fought even after other people such as the Tigerclaw decided to flee to the frigid wilderness north of the Vale. In the end, though numbers won out and the hill folk where mostly annihilated.

Their hounds, however, were far too loyal to let a little thing like death stop them. They stood guard besides the corpses of their masters, and roamed the hills looking to inflict revenge on their killers. This only stopped when the Nerathi built a great barrow to honor the fallen. When the last body was buried, the hounds vanished… mostly. In those those dark nights when the moon looms large in the sky and the gray fog rises over the hills, they emerge to hunt again. Present-day inhabitants of the Vale call them “Hounds of Ill Omen”, because of the manner in which they hunt.

A hound will appear to its intended victim and let loose a baleful howl before vanishing into the fog again. From that point onwards, misfortune will plague the victim in everything they do. As calamity follows calamity, the victim flees in search of anyone who can help. Some believe that begging the gods or even the hounds themselves can save one from death. Most end up caught by the hound after suffering enough, and dragged beneath the earth to the barrows where the hounds’ masters can feast on the poor soul.

Sometimes a howl will echo over the hills, louder and longer than any other. That’s the voice of Bregga, their alpha female, an enormous hound who is rumored to have walked the hills even before the hill folk lived here. The same rumors and legends say she can see into the hearts of mortals, and sends her children to hunt the unjust, possibly seeking retribution for the sins of Nerath. When she howls, she calls her children to raise their masters so that all can hunt together.

The Numbers

We get stats for a typical hound, for Bregga, and for a sample hill folk shade of the sort the hounds can rouse.

Hound of Ill Omen

The typical Hound is a Medium Shadow Beast (Undead) and a Level 7 Soldier with 80 HP. It has Darkvision and a Speed of 8, which means it always catches you. It’s a ghost, so it’s immune to disease and poison and has both Insubstantial and Phasing.

The Hound’s version of Insubstantial makes it take half damage from all attacks except those that deal force or radiant damage. And if it takes radiant damage, the trait shuts down until the end of its next turn. It also projects an Aura of Ill Omen (2). If an enemy inside the aura spends a healing surge, they become slowed for a turn.

As with any dog monster, its primary attack is a Bite, which damages and marks for a turn. It a marked enemy willingly moves away from the hound, it can use Howl of the Pack as an interrupt. This targets the Fortitude of the triggering enemy. On a hit it deals thunder damage and makes the target grant combat advantage for a turn. Pretty nasty if you have other monsters in play who can exploit that.

Once per encounter the hound can use a Howl of Doom, a selective Close Blast 5 which targets Will, deals thunder damage, and inflicts the curse for which the hound is named. Cursed targets take 3 psychic damage whenever they miss every target with an attack. At the end of each extended rest the target can make a DC 16 Religion check to get rid of the curse. After the first failed check, the damage increases to 6. After the second, it increases to 9. And after the third the target dies.

Now, this kinda reminds me of the disease mechanics, but it’s a different thing. Going with the strict reading most 4e monster powers demand, the Religion check must be made by the target and no one else. I suppose allies can help using Aid Another, but they can’t make the check for the victim. Remove Affliction does work on it, since its description says it works on curses, but there’s a chance the party might not have access to it yet since it’s a level 8 ritual. This curse is particularly horrible to non-divine defenders and strikers, since most of their attacks are single-target and they are unlikely to be trained in Religion or have Int as their highest attribute.

Bregga

Some legends say Bregga lived in the Gray Downs since before even the hill folk arrived here. Her ghost is the leader of all the Hounds of Ill Omen, and some of those Religion checks are made as prayers to her to pretty please remove the curse, thank you very much.

Bregga is a Large Shadow Beast (Undead) and has all the same traits as a regular Hound, including her Insubstantial and Aura of Ill Omen. She is a Level 10 Elite Skirmisher with 212 HP.

Her basic bite damages with no riders, and she can also use a Clamping Bite that deals the same damage and allows her to shift half her speed while pulling the target along with her. Drag and Snap lets her use Clamping Bite and Bite against the same target, in that order. Her How of Doom works the same, but with higher base damage and a Religion DC of 18.

As a move action she can use Ghostly Travel to become invisible and move her speed, remaining invisible until the end of her turn. This recharges when she is first bloodied.

Hill Clan Apparition

The shade of a warrior from the ancient hill clans, raised from its grave by the howl of its faithful hounds. It’s a Level 8 Minion Soldier with ground and flight speeds of 6, immunity to disease and poison, and Resist 10 Necrotic.

The apparition is surrounded by the Chill of the Grave, slowing any enemy that starts their turn adjacent to it. Its basic attack is a Shadow Blade dealing physical damage, and it can shout a Call of the Dead as a ranged attack to deal a bit of psychic damage and pull the target up to 4 squares.

They’re minions, so you’ll always run into a small army of them. Their main goal is to disrupt the PC’s formation and bring their squishies closer to the much more dangerous hounds.

Final Impressions

As far as dog monsters go, these are pretty nifty. The lore tying them to the Nentir Vale setting really makes them stand out from the pack, so to speak. The Gray Downs where these hounds live also contain other monsters that interact with them in interesting ways.

They might end up helping the Barrowhaunts, since the latter are cursed to protect the barrows from outsiders. The Barrowhaunts entry even contains a few more minion stat blocks that could represent variant hill folk shades.

Another group that calls the Downs home is Gray Company, which the hounds would absolutely hate, since they claim a direct descent from the people responsible for slaying their masters. Hound and Barrowhaunt attacks might be one reason why Gray Company is having a hard time progressing towards their goal of rebuilding the empire of Nerath.