Crow’s B2+T1+Mike’s World Factions #1: The Gnolls
Once upon a time in the north, when the wind blew cold and biting, a certain lodge of hunters donned the skins of beasts to absolve themselves of hunting their fellow man. In time, they forgot they wore skins at all, and became beasts themselves. This is how the first gnolls came to be. They now haunt the taiga, howling through the trees like the wind that first drove them to devour one another.
Gnolls don hoods with the heads of animals, often boar, elk, bears, and wolves. While a gnoll lives, it’s hard for an onlooker to tell if they are a beastman or just a person wearing hides. When a gnoll dies, the illusion is broken and they can be unmasked as humans. The pale and gaunt faces of the gnoll-dead reveal little.
When at hunt or war, gnolls travel light. For weapons they carry spears, axes, and bows; common equipment includes nets and bear traps. They do not carry shields or use poison. The one virtue of gnolls is that they dispatch their quarries quickly and humanely, for stress and fear ruins the meat. In pitched battle, they tremble and cackle with glee, though they prefer to strike from ambush whenever possible. They prefer to strike from ambush or trap their prey rather than attack it head-on.
Gnolls file their teeth to sharp points, though most pull a natural tooth when invoking their patron, the Toothed Wind (note: when a gnoll uses invoke patron, roll on the table for Ithha as described in the gnoll entry on DCC p. 416. Gnoll wind shaman and elites can additionally invoke the Toothed Wind per Gearing). Gnolls favored by the Wind replace their missing teeth with gemstones, typically lapis, jade, opal, and so on.
The specific lodge of gnolls in the Caves of Chaos are led by Lapis Fang, their queen. Lapis Fang takes her name from her mouth full of shockingly blue stone prosthetic teeth, which can sometimes be glimpsed under her antlered crown-mask. Her few remaining natural teeth have been promised in offering to the ravenous Toothed Wind. Most of her face has been chewed away by the very same fell wind she worships.
Lapis Fang bears the chaos bow (Wonders and Wickedness p.59), a recurve wrought of demon's horn that multiplies arrows. She also carries a gnawed bone blade, like all gnolls of status. Lapis Fang always shoots true, even in a gale.
Within the Caves of Chaos, the gnolls are one of the pre-eminent factions, surpassed only by the bugbears and the Minotaur. They regard the other factions as meat but cooperate with them without complaint. A notable exception is the ogre hired by the goblins, and any other ogres that ally with the Caves--the gnolls see them as oafish hunting rivals. Should a power vacuum arise, the gnolls will quickly fill it. Though most gnolls are familiar with the Common Speech, they tend not to parley with their food unless the situation is grave. At best, a party hoping to negotiate with gnolls can appease or keep them at bay. The weaker denizens of the Caves regard them with a mixture of awe, fear, and hatred.
Beyond the Caves, rumor has it that Lapis Fang’s gnolls have a stronghold (OAR #6 p. 307) in the Forsaken Wilderness (Mike’s World, Wilderness Map #2, over by the northeastern evergreen woods). Should the gnoll-queen or her lieutenants survive a battle at the Caves, they will pull back to the ring-fort to regroup.
The gnolls will stick to the wooded regions north of the river on the B2 map, relying on their stealth and speed to launch ambushes and take their quarries back to the Caves. A small band including a wind-shaman and an elite warrior supports the garrison at the Moathouse under Lareth the Beautiful’s command. The evil priest in the Cave has convinced them to leave the settlement of Nulb alone, so the gnolls will focus their predations on the Woodfolk, and later Hommlet.