Kostas+Knyarri

=**Kostas Knyarri**=

Duergar (Gray Dwarf) Artificer and weaponsmith from somewhere in the Mror Holds. Clan affiliation unknown. Duergar as a race are known to possess minor psionic abilities -- corroborated by Knyarri's apparent use of psionic powers and items.

Knyarri is known among forgers and smiths for his skill at working //byeshk// metal (found in the Byeshk Mountains that border Droaam, but also mined in smaller quantities in the Ironroot and Seawall Mountains). It was this reputation that apparently led to his being retained by the firm NZZN to craft a new //byeshk// head for the legendary Dhakaani weapon known as Guurgaal.

First encountered mid-Zarantyr in the Dragonshard mine dungeon underneath Monument Hill outside New Cyre, along with a pack of homunculi Iron Defenders. He cast the fireball (from a wand) that killed Corwin Benbow. In conversation with the party, he claimed to have been hired in Sharn by "fixers" working as middlemen to the Dark Hand Goblinoids.

After his defenders were destroyed, he fled the area. Among the items he left behind were portable mechanical traps and a //byeshk// ring with his symbol, which was worn by Faye Dwarfhammer in her ploy to be accepted by NZZN as Knyarri's protege. The ploy failed, and Faye was sent down to the Cogs under Sharn to waste time forging a fake //byeshk// spearhead...and then she was captured by the changeling murderer Muraco and turned over to cultists for sacrifice, //yada yada yada// she's now an NPC.

Knyarri, for his part, has now had plenty of time to complete the task of forging a new spearhead, whether in Darguun or in Sharn itself. If he's not actually in Sharn, he apparently left numerous traps and guardian constructs in the levels under Czervanth Tower (NZZN headquarters) -- objects placed there this year, after NZZN's security contract with House Deneith was terminated.


 * Update:** Knyarri's presence in Sharn confirmed on 7 Therendor 998 YK. The Duergar apparently set up a new forge in the levels underneath Czervanth Tower sometime after Faye was sent to the Cogs. There, he found crates containing three damaged and inert Warforged Titans -- from which he's been able to assemble one. The Titan has been fitted with crystal rods, similar to those which controlled the Warforged Charger that nearly killed Baron Curzon ir'Dorn in the Wroat Lightning Rail Station, and likely has additional optimizations and modifications.


 * Update 2:** After the fall of NZZN, Knyarri was instrumental in helping Nina and Thomas temporarily close the growing rift to Xoriat, the Far Realm, which had been opened by the Mind Flayer who had taken over NZZN. The Duergar showed signs of having been in combat, and admitted he'd fought a Valenar named Phi. But she had been taken from him by others, who'd used acid to burn through the Duergar-made shackles he'd put on her. The party grudgingly let him go, and he apparently made good his escape, taking his Titan with him, by the time Bailiffs from the Office of the Royal Steward came to seize NZZN's assets.

**Update 3:** In their travels to PrairieHearth the party heard reports of a lone Warforged Titan marching through the Brelish countryside, on a roughly northeast heading. No one had dared tried to stop it.

**Update 4:** After the Battle of New Cyre, King's Citadel patrols came across the footprints of a Warforged Titan, and signs of a campsite, to the south and east of New Cyre. The footprints, several days old, indicate a likely destination in the Seawall Mountains, or possibly Darguun. This was reported to the Dark Lantern Ariel Elenwyd on 8 Eyre 998 YK.

**Update 5, 14 Eyre 998 YK:** The Season Four Part I party (Ariel Elenwyd, Choraan, Golandar Kolkarun, Nina Moondown and Thomas Lee More) fought Kostas in the vaulted cavern directly below the summit of Seven Caves mountain (//Tangaac Shagaan//). Kostas was riding and operating the same Warforged Titan, modified and upgraded, festooned with Knyarri's portable traps and crawling with several Arbalester //homunculi//. After an intense battle the Titan was rendered inert (but not destroyed) and the Duergar was disabled. Then the mountaintop exploded, the gigantic //eldritch machine// collapsed (which had been triggered by Guurgaal, the very same //byeshk// weapon Knyarri had forged), and the only way to stop the merged manifest zones from becoming a permanent planar rift to Shavarath, the Plane of Battle, was to save Knyarri's life -- because he recognized the cause as the airship //Quiet Storm//, which he had helped repair and modify years before in the Eldeen Reaches. The modifed airship was powered by a portable Manifest Zone to Syrania, with power similar to that which makes Sharn possible (Syrania is Shavarath's opposite). Anyway, Kostas and Thomas flew up to the damaged airship, hovering motionless above the carnage below, and were able to repair the rudders and steering controls just enough so the ship's Daask crew could get away from the Shavarath zone. Knyarri flew away with the //Quiet Storm// to continue repairs, leaving Thomas and the others to find Kriilla Darkhand's sarcophagus, diary and the small number of Ku'un Dynasty coins left from the hoard she had used to bankroll her scheme.

Original "Mourning in Khorvaire" material and specific House Rules -- © 2007-2017 Herb Helzer. All Rights Reserved.

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