Grave Guardian

A guardian of the deity Kossuth, who stood guard over a cemetery which came to be known as Kossuth's Sanctuary, encountered by the Soular Power Caravan halfway between Stalwartz and Streamwalk. It is huge, and Dwarvish in construction, made of bronze, and with an ever-burning fire in its belly and on its head.

ENCOUNTER WITH SOULAR POWER

It was Drant who noticed the giant bronze statue's movement, and Fritz who spoke to the Guardian in Dwarvish in parlay. The Guardian asked if the party brought tribute, to which they agreed. Fritz was able to recall that Kossuth, the deity who seemed to be the patron of this graveyard, preferred sacrifices of flesh, which were to be burned - conveniently, it seemed, in the fire within this bronze giant's belly.

The Guardian accepted their initial tribute of a deer, presented to the party by a small pack of wolves somehow tied up in Drant's hive mind. When Fritz asked if the Guardian was satisfied, it declared that it needed another sacrifice - "one of you!", at which point the previously open gates of the cemetery slammed closed and the tall stone walls began to glimmer with some kind of latent magic.

Upon asking for further clarification (hoping to get out without loss of life) Fritz determined that the Guardian would actually accept a sacrifice "worth as much to you as sentient life." The party joked that Jalan should be the one to make the sacrifice, as he values human life so little. He tossed ten gold pieces into the belly of the Guardian and it laughed, but opened the gate, declaring "while your sacrifice is pitiful, your valuing of human life is even less."

The Guardian also granted the party fire resistance for a full month following their encounter at Kossuth's Sanctuary, and they decided they needed to return to visit more often.