The Dark Soldier
Male human half-fiend Ftr6/Ghostwalker 3: CR 11; Medium-size Outsider
(Chaotic, Evil); HD 6d10+12 plus 3d10+6 plus 3; hp 79; Init +2; Spd 20 ft.
(base 30); AC 18 (+2 Dex, +6 armor, +1 natural); Atk +15/+10 melee
(1d10+10/18-20, +2 nightling cleaver) or +13 melee (1d6+8, bite) or +13 melee
(1d4+8, claw); SQ anonymity, darkvision 60 ft., feign death, land-based
powers, painful reckoning +3, poison immunity, resistances, resolute aura,
spell-like abilities, superior Iron Will; AL CE; SV Fort +10, Ref +5, Will
+10; Str 19, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 16.  Height 5'10", weight
147 lbs.
Skills and Feats: Climb +13 (9), Knowledge (Blood War) +13 (10), Knowledge
(Ravenloft) +7 (4), Intimidate +16 (10), Intuit Direction +7 (6), Jump +13
(9), Listen +8 (5), Move Silently +17 (5), Spot +6 (3); Alertness, Cleave,
Courage, Endurance, Iron Will, Jaded, Power Attack (up to +9), Toughness.
Languages: Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic, Infernal, Balok, Mordentish.
Signature Possessions: +2 nightling cleaver, +1 silent moves chain mail, coat
of elvenkind (as the cloak), and hat.

Reality Wrinkle: 1,125 feet
Land-Based Powers: Hyper-Regeneration, Obscuring Mist, Phantom Shift.
Corruption Points: 8

Appearance
	The Dark Soldier is a mysterious vagabond.  None know his real name
or his place of origin.  The man himself is nondescript, wearing a dark coat
over a suit of chain mail and a hat to cover his face.  However, his weapon
makes him a memorable figure; he wields a massive cleaver, easily four and a
half feet from tip to tip, and about two feet wide.
	He has his mother's fine features: dark green eyes with reddish
highlights, and pale brown hair with streaks of white.  If he ever opened his
mouth, he would display two rows of sharpened teeth, not too prominent, but
noticeable if looked at carefully.  He also wears black gloves, concealing
nails that can grow into sharp claws at will.

Phylactery
	The Dark Soldier's massive cleaver is his phylactery.  This weapon is
of foul, fiendish origin, its gigantic blade constantly crusted with blood,
and its edge never seems to dull, even though it has collected its share of
nicks and scratches.  The handle is long enough to accomodate five hands, and
is wrapped in rags of cloth.  The crossguard is as wide as the Dark Soldier's
shoulders, and angled upward at the ends.  Where the cutting edge meets the
crossguard, the guard continues downward with a wide, flat length of demonic
steel to protect its wielder's hands.

Background
	The person known as the Dark Soldier was born K'zaar, son of the
succubus Kozer.  His mother thought she would give birth to an alu-fiend, a
female half-demon, but she had a cambion instead.  Nevertheless, Kozer raised
her son to join the ranks of the tanar'ri army in the Blood War.
	K'zaar took as his signature weapon a massive two-handed cleaver,
which he used to cut a bloody swath through the ranks of the baatezu.  The
hezrou that commanded his unit was impressed at the skill of "the dark
soldier," and Kozer was quick to take the credit for herself, claiming that
she had taught him everything he knew, and that he would have probably been
crushed in his first battle if it weren't for her.
	K'zaar aided his unit in pushing the devil army back across the
Eternal Battlefield of Acheron, and would have achieved great prestige in the
Abyss, if his mother didn't constantly take the credit, leaving him in her
shadow for most of his life.
	One day, after returning from a particularly brutal conflict in which
most of his unit was decimated, K'zaar ambushed his mother and decapitated
her with one stroke of his blade.  He lifted her head from the ground and
looked into her lifeless eyes.
	"I am no longer K'zaar, son of Kozer; I am only the Dark Soldier, and
the tanar'ri are no longer my masters."
	He defected, slaughtering a legion of manes on his trip across the
Eternal Battlefield to join the baatezu.  Unfortunately, as soon as the Dark
Soldier tasted the baatezu hierarchy, he felt restrained.  No longer could he
wade into battle and swing his weapon about, and the caste system saw him
enter at the bottom rung, where he was no better than the lemures.
	The Dark Soldier only lasted three battles with the baatezu (ripping
his former legion apart in the last) before deserting them as well.  He started to travel the planes, with a brief excursion on the Material, before
he entered an ethereal curtain that he shouldn't have.  Once he stepped
through, he could never leave.

Personality
	The Dark Soldier is a psychopath.  He has no conscience, no regard
for other lives, and a grossly exaggerated sense of self.  He revels in
bloodshed, killing people slowly in order to draw out their agony.  He isn't
content with just defeating an opponent; he has to slaughter his foes,
hacking off limbs and ending with a layer of gore all over the surroundings.
Although he is generally unpredictable, he will use the illusion of tactics
in order to draw his prey into a trap.  The Dark Soldier is inherently
vicious, but the time he spent with the baatezu has given him the ability to
focus to aggression, but only for brief periods of time, and then he flies
into a spitting, roaring, hacking, slashing fury.
	The thirst for war is in his blood; if he sees a way to profit from a
conflict, he will take it.  It doesn't matter to him whether or not he has to
create the conflict, as long as he can benefit from somebody else's
misfortune.
	He knows that he spreads fear and terror in his path.  He enjoys the
knowledge that people whisper of him and his actions, shudder when they think
they see him, and scream in absolute terror when they do.

Combat
	The Dark Soldier wields his cleaver in battle, cutting through
anything or anyone that gets in his way with his gigantic, razor-sharp blade.
His seemingly chaotic battle-lust is actually an intricate plan to draw out
the maximum amount of agony and suffering possible.

	Special Qualities: Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day - darkness, poison;
1/day - desecrate, unholy blight.
	Anonymity (Ex): The Dark Soldier benefits from anonymity, but should
his name ever become known to his foes, his powers are weakened.  On those
enemies who know his name, his resolute aura no longer functions.  If they
are hostile, he cannot feign death, and his painful reckoning bonus is halved
against them.
	Land-Based Powers: The save DC for his land-based powers is 17.
	Painful Reckoning (Ex): If the Dark Soldier loses half his hit points
in one encounter (and survives), he gains this bonus to his AC, attack, and
damage rolls when he faces the specific foe(s) that he fought in the initial
encounter.
	Resolute Aura (Ex): Whether fearful or respectful, humanoids around
the Dark Soldier typically pause and obey when confronted.  He gains a bonus
to his Intimidate checks equal to his ghostwalker level.
	Resistances: Half-fiends have acid, cold, electricity, and fire
resistance 20.


Nightling Cleaver (Medium-size Martial Melee weapon, from Arms & Armor)
Cost	Damage	Critical	Range	Weight	Type	Reach
35 gp	 1d10	18-20/x2	  -	20 lbs.	 S	5 ft.

	This weapon is the favorite weapon of the nightling (see Minions:
Fearsome Foes).  It consists of a long, straight, heavy, single-edged blade,
and has a long hilt designed for two hands.  This weapon is wielded more like
an axe than a sword.