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| Magnificent Mundo! Mundo the Bastard! |
Mundo knows the North – if it swims, flies, stalks, lives, dies or elsewise exists in the lands of ice and snow, Mundo knows about it.
However, it is important to understand that Mundo, despite knowing everything in the North, is a tricksy seal and a thief besides. The polar bears hate him, and the whale hunters hate him only slightly less (Mundo has a great weakness for salt pork and is willing to trade some of his less valuable information for it - this is something that all the whale hunters know). The seal hunters have a running bounty for Mundo's life: five head of the finest kiviaq and a magical canoe that can ride upon the northern lights.
Mundo speaks in riddles and sing-song, and he always means what he says. Though, what he means to say is not always what people mean to hear. He doesn't ever lie, but he is very fond of elaborating upon the truth.
Examples of things Mundo knows:
- How to find secret hot springs frequented by Valkyries.
- How to read secret messages from beyond the stars, hidden in the aurora.
- The final resting place of the Gallant Celestine and the treasures within.Gossip from the latest troll-moot.
- What happened to that expedition a PC’s father led, twenty years prior.
- A hidden route to the Hollow World.
Mundo does not part with his knowledge freely, and will require something of those who encounter him – retrieving his girlfriend from an ice-hag, getting him into space, a kiss from an attractive party member (It doesn’t matter which; all are equal in the eyes of Mundo), payment of whatever possession (usually an important one) that has caught Mundo's eye, and so on. If he is feeling particularly troublesome, he will state his part of the bargain in vague and uncertain terms, so as to both befuddle the party and worm out of paying his end of the deal.
Mundo’s pelt can be worn as a Cloak of the Selkie, transforming the wearer into a seal, with swim speed 60, resistance to cold damage, and the ability to hold their breath for 1 hour. The pelt loses these properties if it is treated or changed in any way past the initial skinning. Finding a buyer would not be difficult.
Mundo does not have to be killed for one to acquire his skin – one must simply be very, very tricksy bargainer. Perhaps he will trade it for a new skin, but which is the right one?
This is a re-post of one of the articles I had deleted when I relaunched the blog. Nothing of substance has been changed, so Mundo remains as silky and bastardly as always.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Mundo might be an aspect of Vecna. Or at least he might hint at that to puff himself up in the estimation of others. Also, I like how you incorporate rarer knowledge like Kiviak into your writing! See ya on reddit!
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