Kudu
Kudu
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Kudu under the influence of dragon corruption. |
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“Enlightenment always comes at a price. Now you must pay for what you've learned.
— Kudu
Kudu is a high-ranking overseer of the Inquest,[1] father of Overseer Kuda,[2] and a former apprentice of Snaff whose research he has been using to pursue his own goals which involve the use of dragon energy. His methods put him at odds with Snaff's other apprentice Zojja. He is the head of research for an Inquest cell at the Crucible of Eternity.
After causing trouble in Rata Sum and beyond, Kudu is finally slain when fighting against Zojja, Logan Thackeray, Rytlock Brimstone, and the Pact Commander in the Crucible of Eternity. Despite his demise, his daughter carries on his work in the Inquest to further improve on his research.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Kudu was Snaff's earlier apprentice. Snaff's research led Kudu into major discoveries about dragon energies, particularly that Elder Dragons each exuded their own energies with unique magical signatures. Snaff discontinued this research because it was too dangerous, but Kudu picked it up again as part of the Inquest after parting ways with him. Following Snaff's death in the battle against the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik in 1320 AE, Kudu somehow acquired one of the arm pieces which his former mentor had once worn. He also stole the designs of a personal teleporter which he used to escape to safety whenever he was cornered. He rose through the ranks in the Inquest, eventually claiming the rank of overseer.[1]
Ever a schemer, Kudu used his charm and reputation as a genius to sway promising asuran researchers such as Plunka to his side to help him with his various projects, sponsoring them to join the Inquest. Out of all the asura he worked with, Kudu eventually took Tazza as his apprentice.[3] Kudu treated his assistants poorly, however, but none of them left his side as they wanted to achieve great things under his leadership. He was also known to be charming, especially when complimenting female asura to get his way.[4] At some point Kudu fathered a child with an unknown female asura, and their daughter would grow up to become Overseer Kuda who followed in her father's footsteps in the Inquest.[2]
When the sylvari Peredur visited Rata Sum to learn about the asura, he was hired by Kudu who soon revealed his true colors and forced Peredur and other unfortunate captives to work for him. Whenever Peredur made a distraction and attempted to flee, he found out that Kudu was one step ahead of him and stopped each escape attempt.[5]
Personal story[edit]
Interested Parties[edit]
In 1325 AE, Kudu took note of the Variable Atmospheric Conditioner, the promising invention by the Snaff Savant. Seeing potential in it, he decided to plagiarize the work and improve it to turn it into what he called the "Weather-matic 5000" before inviting Zojja, his successor as Snaff's apprentice, to a demonstration of his weather machine for the Arcane Council.[6] Although Kudu believed that the Snaff Savant would not be bold enough to accuse him of plagiarism, he took no chances. To get rid of any evidence linking him to idea theft, he sent his lackeys to burn down the archive annex and the blueprints within it.
Kudu was certain that Zojja would want to investigate the matter by interrogating Plunka whose lab was close by. He told Plunka about Zojja's visit in advance and ordered her to keep his rival trapped alive so that he would enjoy Zojja's suffering. Zojja and the Snaff Savant outsmarted Plunka with the trapped Peredur's help, however, and ultimately made Plunka reveal that Kudu was testing the weather machine at Mrot Boru. Deciding to either enter the testing grounds or Kudu's lab to force answers out of him, Zojja and the Savant eventually cornered Kudu. However, Kudu used his personal teleporter to flee before he was caught while gloating about his upcoming show intended for the Arcane Council.
Kudu's plan was to permanently flood Rata Sum with the weather machine, seeding chaos and creating opportunities for Inquest power grabs. Zojja and the Savant stopped Kudu's plan before it could come to fruition, but that did not stop a skeptical High Councillor Flax, aware of the animosity between Zojja and Kudu, from ordering a full subcommittee investigation into whether Zojja had sabotaged Kudu's device.
Sorrow's Embrace[edit]
Later that year, Zojja heard of a connection between Kudu and a recent dredge revolution, and headed to Sorrow's Embrace to investigate, with Caithe and Eir Stegalkin in pursuit. Using Snaff's research, Kudu had rebuilt the Iron Forgeman, fusing the energy of a draconic minion with the ancient dwarf creation. Zojja managed to put down the revolution and destroyed the Forgeman with Caithe and the Pact Commander, but Kudu got away as usual.
Crucible of Eternity[edit]
Zojja tracked Kudu to the Infinite Coil Reactor, determined to stop him from using Snaff's research for evil. There, she was joined by the Pact Commander and the reunited Rytlock Brimstone and Logan Thackeray. They discovered that the Crucible of Eternity removed and concentrated dragon energies at the bottom of the complex. Kudu was corrupting his captives with this energy, turning them into dragon minions that only he could control.
Kudu, who had been experimenting with dragon energies on himself, was killed after a fierce battle. Before perishing, however, he unleashed his greatest creation to destroy the group: a dragon champion of his own, created from experiments on a captured giant. However, the monster ultimately perished, and Zojja's party fled from the facility, denying Kudu his revenge.
Legacy[edit]
When the Pact Commander assisted Agent Spire of the Order of Whispers in a clean-up operation by infiltrating deeper parts of the Crucible of Eternity to lock it down and prevent Kudu's remaining experiments from escaping, they came across Kudu's other hybrid champion, Subject Alpha, who had gone rogue and had the uncanny ability to force rival dragon minions to serve it. After multiple battles against Subject Alpha, the Commander and Agent Spire were able to escape from the collapsing facility, while the surviving essence of Subject Alpha likewise fled to somewhere unknown.
Despite Kudu's demise, the Inquest did not abandon his research on dragon minions. The project continued, this time under the supervision of his daughter, Overseer Kuda, who tested the synchronization and combat abilities of various dragon minions, including Alpha's successor Subject Beta, in the Specimen Chamber on the Sandswept Isles in 1331 AE. Kuda would further expand on the concept with the creation of magically enhanced asura known as the Omega Team during the Inquest's exploration of Eternity's Garden in 1339 AE.
Locations[edit]
Story involvement[edit]
Personal story[edit]
- Chapter 2: Interested Parties
Combat abilities[edit]
Sorrow's Embrace[edit]
- Abilities
- Throws Grenades
- Summons Golems
- Effects
Reflect Missiles - Reflects incoming Missiles.
- Skills
- Grenade Barrage - Throws a grenade projectile at you, dealing some damage.
- Dart Volley - Shoots you four times, dealing Burning each tick.
- Shield Bash - Leaps towards you, stunning.
- Snas Shot - Shoots a single projectile dealing huge damage if you have a condition on you.
- Stolen skills
Crucible of Eternity[edit]
- Abilities
- Killing Shot
- Teleports
- Behavior
- Cannot heal. Any damage inflicted to Kudu remains, if your party wipes.
- Effects
- Skills
- Mega Blast - Kudu fires an unblockable bolt, almost guaranteed to down his target. Cannot be reflected.
- Teleport - Kudu teleports away from players, damaging and
Stunning nearby players. Unblockable.
- Stolen skills
Drops[edit]
| Name | Type | Rarity | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bag of Wondrous Goods
|
Container | Masterwork | 1 |
 Box of Lab Equipment
|
Container | Exotic | 1 |
 Intricate Totem
|
Crafting material | Fine | 1 |
Trivia[edit]
- Kudu is voiced by Mark Allan Stewart.
- Based on her field of research and similar name, players speculated that Kuda was Kudu's daughter. This was explicitly confirmed in A Bold Strategy story chapter in The Only Way.[2]
See also[edit]
- Associated items
References[edit]
- ^ a b Pilgrim's Path ambient dialogue
- ^ a b c Omega Team: Status Report
- ^ Sorrow's Embrace (explorable)
- Fergg: Tazza, I thought you would have left with Kudu. I...didn't expect you here.
- Tazza: What, and let these moles take over our facility? What kind of an apprentice would I be?
- ^ Salt in the Wound
- <Character name>: Why do you put up with him? He treats his assistants like dirt.
- Plunka: Yeah, but he's a genius...and I'm not. Unlike you, some of us have to hitch our wagons to a star—and then hold on for dear life.
- <Character name>: You underestimate yourself. You were smart enough to trap us in that cage. You could do better than this.
- Plunka: Maybe...but Kudu said I inspired him. He talked about the refracting properties of my eyes by moonlight... Wow. I fell for that?
- ^ Salt in the Wound
- <Character name>: Hey, you! What's a sylvari doing working for Kudu? The Inquest considers your people disposable, little more than kindling.
- Peredur: I was...misled. My name is Peredur. Kudu tricked me into his service, and now I can't get away. I've seen what he did to the ones who tried to run. [...]
- Peredur: I came to Rata Sum to learn about the asura—and was hired by Kudu. I didn't know what "Inquest" meant until it was too late.
- <Character name>: If I'd been you, I would have created a distraction and slipped away. What's he going to do about it?
- Peredur: I tried! I'm just not as smart as Kudu. Every time I made a distraction, he was right there to stop it.
- ^ Where Credit Is Due
- Zojja: That's him. Now, out of pure spite, Kudu's invited me to watch him demonstrate some sort of weather-changing device for the Arcane Council.
- <Character name>: My first invention was a weather-changer. I called it the Variable Atmospheric Conditioner. Good ol' VAC. It got me accepted to college.
- <Character name>: It was pretty rough, but it worked...mostly. And if Kudu is using my invention without giving me credit, I'll call him out in front of the whole council.
