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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Kepgeda the Hag-Nailed, Three-Fingered Hand Gang Leader

When the members of the Three-Fingered Hand speak of their leader, Kepgeda the Hag-Nailed, they say she was born of iron and raised under the gaze of a hag. Fanatically devoted to her mother, but starved for attention, she hungers for the power that would satisfy her mother's demands.

Kepgeda is a changeling and the daughter of Iron Taviah, an annis hag who lives in a shadowy cottage in the Axan Wood. Under the twisted trees of this haunted forest in central Geb, Iron Taviah raised Kepgeda from a young age to serve her faithfully. Occult magic and necromancy came naturally to Kepgeda. She suspects this is one of the reasons Iron Taviah raised her, rather than sending Kepgeda away or locking her up, like her less-talented siblings. She doesn't know their fate, but she suspects it was unpleasant.

But Kepgeda never questions her mother about her siblings, her father, and certainly not why she, of all her siblings, was allowed to serve. Kepgeda loves Iron Taviah. Deep in her heart, she knows that she should hate the hag. She should hate the way she was raised. She should hate the vile things her mother expected of her. She should hate that she is still alive not because she is Iron Taviah's child, but because she is Iron Taviah's useful servant. But she loves her mother nonetheless. She loves every cruel thing Iron Taviah did to her that helped harden Kepgeda against the terrors of Geb. She even loves that her mother took a finger from her left hand and keeps its bones in a tattered leather pouch as a form of occult insurance against her daughter. Kepgeda loves that Iron Taviah is filled with hatred for all people, including Kepgeda herself. So, she didn't question when Iron Taviah sent her to help poison the people of Graydirge.

Away from the sheltering shadows of the Axan Wood and the protection of her mother, Kepgeda knew it safest to form a coven of her own. Her mother, after all, was part of a coven, though Kepgeda rarely met its other members, and then only at a distance. So Kepgeda sought out two companions. It didn't take long to find others living in Graydirge with an interest in foul necromancy and occultism. Kepgeda's new “sisters” included a dhampir human witch named Samaygdi and an aging human necromancer named Naunylet. Neither of them lived up to her expectations, so Kepgeda dismembered and cooked each of her sisters alive. She bound their screaming souls to the cauldron they'd shared. Now, she draws on their souls' power to fuel her necromancy.

One day, Kepgeda hopes to return to the Axan Wood having surpassed her mother in power, and join the Graveclaw herself. She's begun to have thoughts of murdering Iron Taviah, but she hates these thoughts and tries to drown them out by spending as much time near her constantly screaming cauldron as possible. In the meantime, Kepgeda pushes her followers in the Three-Fingered Hand to make every sacrifice necessary to poison Graydirge. This gang consists of a few humans and ghouls who initially followed Kepgeda out of fear; as she helped them overcome rivals and expand their operations, they've steadily gained respect for her. The gang's recent catastrophic losses at Old Ergagh's Farm and Graydirge Bank threaten to undo everything Kepgeda has worked for, and the gang waits tensely to see what will happen next. Kepgeda and her poisoner, Pesgahi, could perfect another poison and concoct a new plan to introduce it to Graydirge's food supply. Or she might murder them all out of spite and start over with a new gang.

Campaign Role

Kepgeda is the primary villain of this adventure and is unlikely to survive her encounter with the player characters—and her vengeful sisters—at the conclusion of Chapter 3.

Recall Knowledge - Humanoid (Society): DC 30
Unspecific Lore: DC 28
Specific Lore: DC 25

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Kepgeda the Hag-NailedCreature 5

Legacy Content

Unique NE Medium Changeling Human Humanoid 
Source Pathfinder #181: Zombie Feast pg. 90
Female changeling human necromancer
Perception +7; darkvision
Languages Aklo, Common, Necril, Osiriani
Skills Crafting +8, Intimidation +6, Nature +5, Occultism +8, Society +6, Survival +5
Str +2, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +2
Called In constantly resisting her desire to return to her mother, Kepgeda has developed a mental bulwark. If she rolls a success on a saving throw against a mental effect that would make her controlled, she gets a critical success instead.
Items ventriloquist's ring, +1 striking dagger, familiar, keys to area E13 and the Crooked Coffin grates
AC 15; Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +7; +1 circumstance bonus to Will saves against mental effects
HP 75
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] dagger +7 [+3/-1] (agile, magical, versatile S), Damage 2d4+6 piercingMelee [one-action] claw +6 [+1/-4] (cold iron, grapple, unarmed), Damage 1d6+6 slashingRanged [one-action] dagger +7 [+3/-1] (agile, magical, thrown 10 feet, versatile S), Damage 2d4+6 piercingOccult Prepared Spells DC 17, attack +9; 3rd blindness, dream message, slow; 2nd invisibility, phantom pain (×2), touch of idiocy; 1st bane, command, ray of enfeeblement (×2); Cantrips (3rd) daze, forbidding ward, guidance, shield, telekinetic projectile
Occult Rituals DC 17; 2nd create undead (crawling hands, zombies)
Witch Hexes DC 17, 2 Focus Points; 3rd needle of vengeance, phase familiar; Cantrips (3rd) evil eye
Cackling Coven [free-action] Trigger Kepgeda's turn begins; Requirements Kepgeda is within 30 feet of her keening cauldron; Effect Kepgeda draws on the souls of her dead sisters for a burst of occult power, for a price. Kepgeda takes 10 mental damage, then chooses one:
  • Kepgeda Sustains a Spell. If her next action is to cast a witch hex, the DC of that hex increases by 1.
  • Kepgeda reduces her stupefied condition value to 0.
  • If Kepgeda begins casting a create undead ritual within the next minute, she attempts a DC 18 flat check when the ritual is complete; on a success, the undead she's created is 3 levels higher than the ritual would provide (for example, creating a zombie brute instead of a zombie shambler).
Familiar Kepgeda's familiar is Iskessous, a rat with a climb Speed of 25 feet, darkvision, and scent as an imprecise sense to a range of 30 feet.