The Silent Man

Encountered in the deepest recesses of The "Lighthouse", the Silent Man was observed in physical contact with the Lantern containing certain relics of the archlich Naraoch, surrounded by six exsanguinated bodies attired like his own and that of the Gnomish mage "Bob".   When The Ladies' Hiking Club descended to that level, they were privy to a brief conversation between General Kuzoh and Decima Overmere. That conversation ended abruptly as the Silent Man approached. Kuzoh indicated that Bik, the spying goblin in Clytemnestra "Fanny" Glitters's possession, knew which of the four women this gentleman was after. With a gesture, the Silent Man seemed to draw the knowledge out of Bik's brain, killing him and leaving his overstrained face badly bloodied. The Silent Man seemed to be in shock, bowed reverently to Clytemnestra, then ran in to attack.

Skills and Abilities

A Human at the peak of individual unarmed prowess, the Silent Man was possessed of great celerity and uncanny reflexes. He managed to dodge Clytemnestra's dagger with deliberate timing to ensure that she stabbed Cherry Merrybottom instead. He was able within seconds to untie his own garments and use them as effective bindings to abscond with Clytemnestra, as was apparently his design.   He was not possessed of the power of speech, as his tongue had been roughly removed from his head.   Beyond the matter of his hand-to-hand prowess, it is clear that the Silent Man has preternatural resistance to harm and pain, as well as some degree of psionic ability. He exhibited some violent telepathic powers in his interaction with Bik and seemed to drain the morale of his enemies with each blow.

Origin

  The Silent Man's origin is unknown, though from his posture, reverence and the pause he took after Clytemnestra demanded to be obeyed, it would appear that he is a cultist of some description, worshipping Naraoch or Clytemnestra or some combination of the two. His relationship with Kuzoh and Decima Overmere is unclear, and they did not seem to be exercising any control over him. If anything, they seemed to have been made uneasy by his presence. If Reghyxesh is to be believed, these cultists originated in Cinnédil and came overseas by ship to rendezvous with Decima Overmere.  

Death

  The Silent Man was killed in action in a group effort, with Beulah Garland striking the killing blow. He had let his guard down upon being given orders from Clytemnestra, seeming momentarily to have been flat-footed and uncertain as to what to do.  

Postmortem Encounter

  The Silent Man returned with three compatriots in The Non-Canonical Demiplane to face the Ladies anew. In an extremely close fight, the Silent Men killed Ch---, rendered Vega unconscious numerous times until she sought the safety of a stone form, and beat Clytemnestra nearly to death. Ch--- was resurrected per the rules of the chamber at the end of the encounter, much to the group's relief.   Following The Assault on Anthur-Ro, the party came to learn that the Silent Man was one of an entire order of similarly mutilated and exhaustively trained psionicists known as the Illinsi, and that Anthur-Ro was holding a half-dozen of them in various stages of forced experimentation in their prison complex.  The Pilfered Papers of Anthur-Ro suggested that the Council's interrogation of "Bob" revealed cooperation between the Illinsi, General Kuzoh's faction and potentially the XIV Corran Legion.  Their own intelligence corroborated that a rendezvous between the three forces was imminent somewhere on the continent.   The Ladies asked the question to which they were entitled: why are you working with Decima Overmere and Kuzoh? Their response was a psionic imprint: a memory of a training room wherein their bodies and minds were purged of impurities, a feeling of desperation related to the limbs of Naraoch imprisoned behind glass, and a furious catechism:  

Hail the Mother who waited, the Mother who searched in the dark;   Hail the Mother who named us, the flame in the deep of the wood;   Hail the Mother who left us, who cries from the glass in her pain;   Hail the broken bonds of bone, six sisters who are one, alone   The fires in the sky shall freeze   The leaves shall fall upon the trees   Hail the Mother who waited, the Mother who searched in the dark;   Hail the Mother who named us, the flame in the deep of the wood;   Hail the Mother who waited, the Mother who searched in the dark...