Lalali-Puy in full regalia proudly standing in front of a vista of her kingdom.

The Lore

Lalali-Puy is the Sorcerer-Queen of Gulg, which is possibly the greenest city-state in Athas. Out of all the Sorcerer-Kings, she’s also the most personally beloved by her subjects, who call her Oba or Forest Goddess.

She uses her magic to bring rain to Gulg, and to protect it from threats both external and internal. She also owns everything in Gulg, and is responsible for seeing to its even distribution among the dagadas (communities) in which its people live. If you’re a citizen of Gulg, everything you wear and eat, all the livestock you tend and the land it grazes on, all belongs to Oba, who graciously allows you to use it.

Of course, being a Sorcerer-Queen, Lalali-Puy has further dark secrets unknown to common citizens. The description of her capabilities above might read as “epic druid” to someone familiar with standard D&D, but that’s a lie. The reason she has so much power over her kingdom is because she keeps its primal spirits enslaved through arcane magic. And the spirits hate her for it. Given the smallest opportunity, they’d devastate Gulg’s dagadas in revenge.

Despite her villainy, Lalali-Puy is described as the most accomplished ritualist on Athas. Many of the arcane and primal rituals on her extensive library are unknown to even the other Sorcerer-Kings. PCs might find themselves having to ally with her in exchange for a specific ritual… or plotting a heist to steal it from her vaults.

The Numbers

We’ll take a look at some of Lalali-Puy’s servants here, and then at the Sorcerer Queen herself.

Nganga

This is one of Lalali-Puy’s templars, known as ngangas (witch doctors). When a citizen is selected for nganga training, they’re completely removed and isolated from society. From that point on, they only appear in public wearing scary demonic masks enchanted with fear powers.

The nganga we have here is clearly some sort of human warlock pacted to their Queen. They’re Level 11 Artillery with 90 HP and Speed 6. They fight in melee by bonking people with a spirit rattle that also serves as their implement. Their basic ranged attack is a Ghost Lance (ranged 20 vs. Fortitude) that deals necrotic damage. They can also use Spectral Jaws (Range 12 vs. AC) that deal force damage and immobilize (save ends).

The fear enchantment on the Devil Mask serves as a good keep-away power: Close Blast 3 vs. Will, deals psychic damage and pushes 3 squares. At the start of the target’s subsequent turns, the nganga can choose to push them 3 squares (save ends).

Finally, they can curse someone with a minor action with Curse of the Oba. The curse lasts until the end of the encounter, and they can keep cursing multiple people. They also really want to do that, because when the nganga deals damage to someone other than the cursed victim, the victim takes the same amount of damage. If the PCs aren’t quick to deal with the nganga, they’ll soon find their whole party being “focus-fired” at once.

Judaga

Judagas are the most elite warriors in Gulg. Like ngangas, they’re mostly isolated from society, though instead of masks they wear special enchanted leopard pelts preserved from the Green Age. Lalali-Puy has a honor guard of judagas with her at all times, and they can also be seen moving among the populace when she or the ngangas feel physical threats entering Gulg.

The example judaga here is a human, and a Level 25 Skirmisher with 231 HP. Their speed is the usual 6, but they also have Forest Walk and a +2 to saves against Charm and Fear effects.

Judagas fight with scimitars that do level-appropriate damage, and their Leopard’s Fury maneuver lets them shift 6 squares and perform a special attack at any point along the movement. This does a bit less damage than the basic strike but also inflicts 15 ongoing damage (save ends) and pushes 2 squares.

Lastly, if the judaga happens to be within 6 squares of Lalali-Puy herself (meaning they’re acting as a bodyguard) they can shift as a minor action.

The book explicitly calls judagas out as willing to perform a coup-de-grace on a downed PC in the middle of a fight, which makes them a lot more dangerous than their short list of abilities indicates.

Lalali-Puy, Sorcerer-Queen

The Oba herself is a human, and a Level 28 Solo Controller with 1032 HP and the Leader tag. She has a ground speed of 6 and a teleport speed of 3.

Lalali-Puy is surrounded by Ravenous Ghosts (aura 5) that give a damage boost to the melee attacks of any allies within the aura. Her Oba’s Ambition makes her regain one of her 2 solo action points whenever an enemy cursed by her drops to 0 HP.

As that description indicates, Lalali-Puy fights like a warlock. In a way, she’s a “role model” for an epic-level warlock - someone who has long surpassed whatever entity taught her magic in the first place, and who now makes pacts with others to teach them magic in exchange for service.

Let’s begin with the curse-related powers, because those are the core of her tactics. She can use Oba’s Curse once per turn as a minor action. This is exactly the same curse the ngangas can use, the one that mirrors melee or ranged damage inflicted on other enemies to the cursed victims. However, it’s (save ends) instead of lasting the whole encounter, because Lalali-Puy’s attacks are much stronger. Still, a string of bad save rolls could still have her “focusing down” the whole party a once.

Oba’s Vengeance makes that a scenario a certainty when the PCs manage to bloody her: this is a Close Burst 15 attack that affects enemies, deals necrotic+psychic damage, and stuns for a turn on a hit. It also curses every target as an effect (save ends).

Oba’s Blessing is a free action power that lets Lalali-Puy remove her curse from a victim to end an effect on her or on an ally within 20 squares, so here’s her stunlock protection.

Keep that damage mirroring effect in mind as we look at her “normal” attacks. All of them have additional things they do to curse victims.

Repelling Touch is the melee basic attack. It deals force damage, pushes the target 5 squares, and then pushes all other enemies cursed by her 2 squares as an effect. Spirit Maw is the ranged basic attack. It deals force damage, slides 4 squares, and slides every other cursed enemy 2 squares as an effect.

Spirit Gale is a fireball-like attack (Area Burst 2 within 15). It targets Will, deals necrotic+psychic damage, and immobilizes (save ends). This downgrades to “half damage and slowed for a turn” on a hit, but as an effect, it lets her slow one cursed enemy she can see (save ends). The first failed save from that enemy makes them stunned (save ends).

Her one power without any curse bonuses is Oba’s Punishment a reaction that triggers when she’s hit by an attack from an enemy within 15 squares. It’s a counterattack that deals psychic damage and teleports the target 10 squares on a hit. Since this is written as a Close Burst, it doesn’t benefit from damage mirroring, but it will still trigger pretty often.

Encounters and Final Impressions

I love Lalali-Puy’s mechanics. If the PCs end up fighting her, she will have an honor guard of judagas with her to use as distractions, all of which probably benefit from Ravenous Ghosts. And then she’ll curse as many people as she can and focus her single-target attacks on the weakest of them.