KOHLE, the GRAY MAN of the WEST

KOHLE is the leader of a small group of monster-folk bandits who inhabit the OLD TRADE HOUSE, which is about one day's travel North of PILGRIM'S PASSING.  He is a giant human or human-like creature with strange powers, and it is rumored he comes from the Holy Countries.  He is feared for his tremendous strength and ability to control a horde of MAURISTATIA.
KOHLE is roughly nine feet tall, and massively muscular.  His skin is a steely-gray color.  He is not easily wounded, and even when cut, he bleeds only a tiny amount of pearl-colored fluid.
Though his exact nature remains a mystery, it is known that he has some method of controlling MAURISTATIA, and uses them to raid caravans.  When a merchant-train passes along the GREAT NORTH ROAD outside his TRADE-HOUSE, he unleashes the Mauristatia to create mayhem and panic.  In the wake of carnage, he and his small band of elite monsterfolk raiders purloin valuables and slaughter any resistance.  Through this method, he has struck fear into the hearts of traders and is slowly but surely isolating PILGRIM'S PASSING from trade.  Fortunately for the inhabitants of the Passing, he seems content to merely waylay passer-by, and has not launched any attacks on the town (perhaps believing the rewards to be beneath his regard).  Nonetheless, his stranglehold over the GREAT ROAD has lead SHERIFF DRONLAN-THREE SWORDS to place a bounty of 35 Gold Wheels on the gray man's giant head.

one square = 5 ft.

The Trade-House is a solid, square building built from gray brick and covered in plaster.  It has weathered the years well, except for some crumbling in the exterior walls.  The ceiling is flat and made of wooden boards.

1. This entry hall is the first bastion of defense.  The exterior doors face out on the NORTH ROAD.  They are of solid, oak construction, reinforced with cross-bucks and iron rivets and attached by old, rusty hinges.  Because they open outwards, they are very difficult to force inwards and are easily barred from the inside.

2. This room is where KOHLE and his two ALLIGATOR-MAN cohorts reside.  The doors are of solid oak construction.  The one that leads to ROOM 3 is normally kept barred and barricaded, to prevent entry from the MAURISTATIA into this room.  The two Alligator-Men are brothers, and prefer to sleep on a nest-like pile of straw, broken wood, branches and old cloth in a corner of the room.  KOHLE sleeps on a massive cot, piled with a mixture of silks and furs, all pilfered from passing caravans.  Near his cot is an iron chest, filled with the ill-gotten gains of the bandit gang.  The chest is locked, and KOHLE wears the key around his neck.  Opening the chest without pressing down on the lid at the same time will cause a needle tipped with poison to spring out from above the lock, pricking the hand of the victim and forcing them to Save vs Poison or else be dealt crippling agony in the form of 1d10+1d6 damage.  Inside are 600 Silver Moons, and an okenite goblet worth 200 Moons, .  KOHLE and the Alligator-Brothers will normally be found here, unless out gathering food, raiding caravans, or attending to other miscellaneous business.

ALLIGATOR-MEN

They are swathed in ragged cloaks and a mixture of hides, leather, chain and layers of cloth.  They wield a cleaver-like weapon with a long haft for two-handed use.

AC 14

HP 11, 14

Attacks: Cleaver +2

1d8+3 damage, +10% chance of infection from dirty blade

3. This large room is where KOHLE keeps the Mauristatia confined when they are not hunting and he has no use for them.  The doors open inwards, and are barred by KOHLE and his Alligator-Man cronies when the Mauristatia are inside.  They are of similar construction to the main entry doors, and very difficult to force. There is an uberous quantity of Mauristatia waste in the room (dung, gnawed bones, loose fur) but nothing of value.  Unless KOHLE has released them, the pack of Mauristatia will be found here.  There are 12 of them, and they will be frantically eager to escape and eat anything in their path under most circumstances.
Mauristat
AC 10
HP 12
Attacks: Bite +2
Damage: 1d6+1, 10% chance of causing hallucinations, +10% chance of infection

4. This room is where KOHLE stores more bulky items that he and the Alligator-Men have little use for.  They can only access this room when Mauristatia are out hunting.
The door is of similar construction to the ones in ROOM 3.
Contents:
150 pounds of dried Carnivorous Goat meat.  KOHLE and his Alligator-Men have been subsisting off this for some time.  The gnawed-on nature of these jerkies render them worth about 20 Lunars for the whole load.
80 pounds of hides - mostly Fanged Impala and Great Llamas, but one Leopard skin worth 10 Gold Wheels by itself.  The remainder is worth 90 Lunars.
2 large rugs from Southwest Kos or possibly the Holy Countries, worth 10 Wheels each.  Each weighs about 50 pounds.
40 pounds of iron ore, worth 80 Lunars
A 40-pound basket mostly filled with catlinite finished goods - cups, bowls, jugs, etc.  Worth perhaps 50 - 60 lunars.  Most valuable are several limestone idols of the major gods, tucked in protective cloth wrappings, worth about 10 lunars each or more.




KOHLE
He wields a massive, shining sword.  He clads himself in leather armor along with a strange turban bearing a blue beryl gem in the center.
AC: 16
HP: 21
Attacks: Tulwar +3
1d8+4, 10% of causing victim to faint for 1d8 turns

TULWAR is a magic sword, with a white blade of tirulium that is feared for its ability to make enemies faint.  KOHLE believes he is invincible so long as he holds it.

KOHLE'S other most prized possession is his TURBAN of MAURISTATIA CONTROL.  The wearer of this magical turban can force up to 12 Mauristatia to obey orders, at the cost of one Spell Point per command.  Commands must be fairly simple - "come here calmly"; "attack those men"; etc.  A character with no Spell Points will be unable to use this item.  KOHLE uses it twice per day - when the sun sets, he orders the Mauristatia to "be calm and go outside to hunt", then unbars the doors and allows them to file mindlessly past.  At daybreak, he uses it again to order them to "be calm and come back inside the Trade House", then waits until they have all filed into ROOM 3 and bars the doors.  The rest of the time, he meditates and rests to regain his Spell Points.  When a caravan or travelers come by, he orders the Mauristatia to attack them and unbars the doors.  When the attack is over, he orders them back inside.

KOHLE has 4 Spell Points, but knows no spells.
Were the Mauristatia ever to break free from their confinement, they would happily attack KOHLE and his Alligator-Men, given the opportunity.

KOHLE'S TACTICS
KOHLE is over-confident and feels he has nothing to fear from attackers.  He usually posts one of the Alligator-Men somewhere along the road, to watch for caravans.  The Alligator-Men are not particularly attentive and have +0 to Notice.
If KOHLE is alerted to the presence of a small group, he will not immediately bother to use the Magic Turban but will instead charge into combat, followed by the Alligator-Men.  Only if things turn against him will he release the Mauristatia, using them as cannon-fodder.  If he is killed and the Turban does not find a new owner, the Mauristatia will roam freely over the countryside and will probably have little interest in continuing any ongoing battle unless sufficiently enraged.