Hekkut

Hekkut the Molted was a wererat hobgoblin wizard and bandit of the Delimbiyr Vale in the late 14 century DR. He was a lieutenant and brood-servant of the Hark.

History
In the summer of the, the Hark sent Hekkut and his goblins through the Flayers' Corridors to establish an outpost near the road halfway between Loudwater and Shining Falls. It lay within a blueleaf stand, in a cave by the river that gave access to the Underdark tunnels and they grew deathsbreath mushrooms for food.

For a month, they attacked the strongheart halflings using the road, ultimately killing all the sons of the halfling merchant Blaz Merrymar, and taking a silvered short sword belonging to one of them along with much mundane goods. They sacrificed their victims to Maglubiyet and dumped their remains in a pit: the halflings, a few humans, and a pair of orcs were found, along with the carcasses of deer and other animals they'd hunted. When an ogre discovered their cave, they killed it too, but not before losing a dozen goblins. Their loss prompted Hekkut to intend to ask the Hark for goblin reinforcements when next he reported back and delivered his "tribute" of stolen goods.

But late one afternoon in Eleasias, Skar, Gvrag, and other goblins caught Blaz himself and tortured him, before a newly formed band of adventurers happened upon the scene and rescued him. Blaz entreated them to hunt down the goblins and avenge his slain sons. As witnessed by Feythrin, they tracked the goblins back to their lair and fought through them, but Hekkut's whistling dart trap alerted him. He escaped down his escape tunnel, blocking it behind him with an engineered rockfall. Fortunately if deciphered, his notes could give Loudwater authorities clues on the Hark's activities. Hekkut presumably returned to the Dungeon of the Hark via the Flayers' Corridors, but was not seen again.

Relationships
Hekkut was accompanied by a rat familiar named Zuunt. A lieutenant of the Hark, he commanded a score of goblin bandits, including Skar and the bugbear Gvrag. They respected him but were terrified of his lycanthropy, fearing that contracting it would bar them from their afterlives, so they were unwilling to betray him or the Hark. They had a pair of tame lightning rats as guards. The goblinoids had tattoos and weapons bearing rat designs marking them as followers of the Hark.

Personality
Hekkut was completely paranoid, going so far as to trap and alarm his own lair and escape route within the bandits' base. He was quite cunning, but also cowardly. He also had a mental illness giving him both an attention deficiency and compulsive behavior. A product of this was inventing his own pictographic code for the Goblin language and inscribing notes about his journey and mission on the walls of his cave; his writing style oscillated from crude to elegant.

He venerated an unnamed rodent deity via an idol-turned-brazier in his lair.

Possessions
He had a spellbook containing several minor spells, up to sleep and expeditious retreat, as well as a scroll of color spray and a spell component pouch. He wielded a quarterstaff and wore moth-eaten robes.

Appearances

 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Extermination