The Head of the Pack was orignally created by a talented wizard named Athnen, to be hte final piece of his defenses he would build to protect him self inside his Citadel, which he called the Iron Gate Citadel. He designed the Citadel because of a long time mutual hatred between him self and the ork nethermancer anmed Korvor. Korvor was instrumental in the final wardings of Kaer Dawning , the kaer that was being finished in the area.

He created his Citadel, with what was, according to the records, a unique defense.
This defense was in fact the use of Gate Hounds to defend his Citadel. The Citadel had it’s own wards of course, but the Hounds were the second line of defense. Athnen set up a breeding kennel, and created a food supply for the Hounds. He created a rats nest within certain areas of the Citadel, with only a few ways the rats could get out, then simply used magic to create food for the rats. The rates would wander out of their area, and become the food supply for the dogs. The rats were a magical creature that Athnen had created, that glowed with a soft blue light. And so the hounds would go after them for both mundane and arcane food. His library and work shop he kept carefully separated from the dogs.

He tested the Head first on his own pet dog Mange, a scruffy little mutt that responded to it immediately. It took more work and effort for stronger willed dogs, and Athnen found out once, in avery painful way, completely useless on wolves. It did effect howevermagical canines, as was his intention. It was certainly harder as they were inherently more powerful and difficult to control, but it worked. After a final test on a hell hound he'd procured, keeping it from it from incinerating a poor neighbors cat wrapped in paper and doused with lamp oil, he declared it a complete success. He then quickly found that if his attention wandered a bit too much, the more powerful magical hounds could break free if the commands went too strongly against their nature. So he cleaned up the mess from the fire and forged on.

He bred his own gate hounds and tested the item on them, finding it a complete success. That Gate Hounds naturally oppose horrors and their constructs made it even easier. He even used the Head once in a battle against a powerful worm skull. The monster destroyed several hounds, but their ability to weaken it brought the powerful horror to more manageable levels quickly, allowing Athnen to finish it with a razor orb.

Rank 1 - Key Knowledge - Name of the item 100 LP
Effect- The user of the Head gains use of the talents Animal Bond and Animal Training at Rank 2, specifically with canines, or magical canines. This does not include wolves.

Rank 2 - 200 LP
Effect The user gains the ability to control normal canines. The user can command a number of canines equal to twice the thread rank they have bonded to the Head. To command hounds/canines, they must make a test vs the Willpower of the dog(s) to be commanded. The user rolls their Willpower+The thread Rank of the item. Multiple dogs are harder to control. Each dog commanded is a cumulative +1 to their over all will to resist. Multiple dogs resist together, using one roll . Either they all follow, or they all ignore the command.

Rank 3 -K - The user must know the name of the creator, and the name of the first dog it was tested on -300LP
Effect - The Animal Bond and Animal Training Talents rise now with the rank of the item (i.e. at rank 3, their rank for Animal bond is effectively 5). They also gain the ability to share the hound's senses as long as they are within 2 miles of the hound. A hound must be bonded for this to be effective, not merely commanded.

Rank 4 - The user must learn the manner of test the creator used to test control of magical canines. - 500LP
Deed- Having learned of it's creator's humorous/dangerous methods of attempting to control a magical hound, the new user must attempt a dangerous means of testing it's ability to control magical hounds. For the purposes of this test, the next thread rank's ability to control magical hounds will be available. But only if the results are potentially disatrous/humorous if the control fails. If it is not, the Head will not exert control. This Deed is worth 600LP
Effect- The ability to control hounds extends to magical hounds of all varieties. The same rules apply, as a magical hounds Willpower is naturally higher than a normal dogs. It still does not effect wolves and the like.

Rank 5 - K - The user must know that the head was used to destroy a wormskull
Cost - 800LP
Effect- The Controlling power of the Head becomes stronger. The user can push it's abilites to attempt to control more hounds temporarily for 2 points of strain each beyond the normal limit. This control lasts for 1 hour, after which it must be renewed.
The user may now, at the cost of 3 points of strain, use a magical ability of any type of magical hound/canine that has been controlled by the Head to the users knowledge. No guessing. This power costs the 3 strain for each use. Substitue the users stats for the hounds where appropriate (such as the user's Spellcasting step when simulating a Gate Hounds ability to drain magic).
Finally, the user gains the ability to strengthen an animal bond.The user gains access to the talents of Blood Share, Emphatic Command, and Animal Durability(as Durability(Mount)) at Rank 5, solely for the purposes of no more than 2 hounds bonded through use of the Head. The user may also use the Head to make the hounds into familiars.
To bond a hound in this way costs 800LP each time it is used, and a thread weaving test against the hound's spell defense, which may not be voluntarily lowered.

Entering/Investigating the Citadel 50LP
Gate Hounds 200LP
Humor 100LP
Roleplaying 70LP
Potentially being a chew toy 50LP
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520LP

Entering/Investigating Citadel 80 LP
Gate Hounds 200LP
Ripping out a G.H.'s throat 50LP
Humor 100LP
Roleplaying 150LP
Sealing the Door 70LP
Leading/Drving Plot 50LP
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700LP

Entering/Investigating the Citadel 70LP
GateHounds 150LP
Roleplaying 150LP
Humor 100LP
Crazy voices in the Head 50LP
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520LP