C is for Cabiri the Watching Master

Cabiri the Watching Master

One of the oldest obyriths in existence, Cabiri, the Watching Master, grants his summoners the ability to see in darkness or twilight, to observe others from afar, and to uncover potential foes.

Legend: In ages past when obyriths lorded the Abyss, the many-eyed tyrant known as Cabiri ruled a large swath of the layer now known as Pazunia, warring against rival lords such as Bechard, Pazuzu, and Ubothar. The Wtaching Master kept careful eyes on his rivals but spent most of his energy scrying the relatively unknown deeper levels of the Abyss. Some record of Cabiri's observations must have survived in the ruins of his long-abandoned keep, for the Fraternity of Order began its effort to catalog the layers of the Abyss following its exploration of the Watching Master's ruined stronghold.

When the Queen of Chaos called the obyriths to war agaisnt the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, she turned to Cabiri for advice many times, drawing upon his ability to divine futures by utilizing resources in the Abyss unguessed at by most of his kin. Near the end of the war, Cabiri foresaw the Queen's defeat, and fled the field of battle. This act may have ironically been the one that most crippled the Queen's forces and allowed for her Subsequent defeat, Cabiri fled to the depths of the Aybss and hid there for eons while he watched the obyriths suffer the humiliating defeat upon the Fields of Pesh, and the subsequent eladrin invasions that finished off so many of the survivors.

As Cabiri explored the depths of the Aybss, it is believed that he discovered some of the truth behind the creation of the obyrith race, a discovery that compelled him to resurface and seek out the obscure fiends known as the baernoloths. Whatever he confronted them with was enough for them to engineer his capture and subsequent imprisonment in the then-still-young Wells of Darkness. Yugoloths often visit Cabiri's well, more often than any other well in the layer, which suggests that his imprisonment remains of interest to these neutral evil fiends.

Special Requirements: Cabiri requires that his seal be drawn with blood, outside at night or during a solar eclipse.

Manifestation: One or more lights or areas of darkness in the sky above--the stars, the moon, or the solar eclipse--suddenly open, revealing a watching eye behind the lid of light. Under its baelful gaze, Cabiri's seal begins to dissolve into a puddle of blood. The puddle suddenly blinks, transforming the pooled blood into a ring of tiny eyes surrounding a single mouth that speaks with the sonorous voice of lost and distant souls.

Sign: An additional eye appears on your forehead, equidistant from your other eyes.

Influence: Cabiri hungers to see everything, no matter how horrifying or entrancing. You receive a +4 insight bonus on Will saves versus figments, but suffer a -4 penalty on Will saves versus patterns. You are not able to avert or close your eyes when confronted by a creature with a gaze attack.

Granted Abilities: Cabiri grants you his ability to observe others from afar, to perceive threats, and to see unhindered in conditions of twilight or darkness.

Arcane Eye: You can create an inivisible magical sensor at will, as though you had cast arcane eye (caster level equals your effective binder level). You can never create more than one arcane eye at a time, and you can dismiss or renew the effect as a standard action. Once you have used this ability, you cannot use it again for 5 rounds.

Far-seeing Gaze: Your spells and spell-like abilities of the scrying subschool gain a +10 bonus to their save DCs.

Seer in Darkness: You gain darkvision to 60 feet and low-light vision. If you already have darkvision, add 60 feet to the range.

Visions of Terror: You can share your terrible knowledge of existence with others. You can cast phantasmal killer, as per the spell, three times per day (caster level equals your effective binder level).

Location: The Ruins of Darkbridge Temple

The Ruins of Darkbridge Temple

The ruins are isolated in the desert and, like most sites of the vanished kingdom of Sulm, shunned by the nomads. This was once a place dedicated to the worship of Sulm's dark gods. Now in ruins, the site is said to be cursed, and the nomads claim that anyone who visits it will inevitably sicken and die. The above ground portion of the temple is known to harbor poisonous snakes and manscorpions. No one knows the extent of the underground portion of the temple, but ancient tales state that large numbers of sacrificial victims could be housed there, and that elaborate ceremonies were often performed. Recently, local nomads loyal to Rary have begun to experience unexplained disappearances and blame some malevolent force in the temple ruins. They beg their new king for aid.

DM's Notes: The underground complex harbors numerous undead, the remains of prisoners and temple priests, as well as a tribe of jermlaine and the usual array of dungeon scavengers. The disappearances do indeed originate at the ruins and are the work of the shadow dragon Smoke, who recently moved to the temple from the Abbor Alz. Smoke emerges at night to prey on surrounding lands and has so far managed to keep his existence a secret, but he may eventually come into conflict with Rary and Volte, the blue dragon of Dagger Rock.

Excerpted from Rary the Traitor, pg. 22

B is for Bucknard

Bucknard

Bucknard is a powerful human wizard, and former member of the Circle of Eight. In Dungeon's Age of Worms adventure path, Bucknard is referred to as "Balakarde". He is described as affable, esteemed, talented and powerful, yet stubborn and headstrong. He has one known sister, Maralee, and is also a former member of the Circle of Eight.

In 556 CY, Bucknard's sister and adventuring companion, Maralee, was slain by sons of Kyuss. Bucknard took her death (and seeing her devoured by ghoulish worms) hard. Depressed for years, he emerged from his depression to become one of the most potent wizards of his generation. He had dedicated himself to one overriding task: the destruction of Kyuss. In 571, Bucknard became one of the founding members of the Circle of Eight, as Mordenkainen invited some of the most prominent mages in the Flanaess to join him in a successor organization to the Citadel of Eight.

At the height of his powers, Bucknard began deeply obsessing over occult manuscripts relating to the Worm God and his cult. He grew increasingly secluded and paranoid, no longer confiding even with close friends like Tenser. Abruptly resigning from the Circle of Eight in 579 CY, he traveled to Alhaster to research his theory that the Ebon Triad cult had been created there as a front for the cult of Kyuss. Lashonna, the town's most knowledgeable expert in the occult, agreed to meet with him and directed him to the Wormcrawl Fissure, where he was captured by Dragotha. The following year, after months of torture, Bucknard finally died at the hands of his own undead sister, upon Dragotha's orders. Bucknard's soul shattered into three separate ghosts, representing his artistic, scholarly, and vengeful sides, which haunted the Fissure for decades afterwards. In 581, Bucknard's position in the Circle was filled by Jallarzi Sallavarian.

Bucknard crafted the magic item Bucknard's Everfull Purse, which is essentially a leather pouch or small bag that refills itself each morning. Each such coinpurse can replicate a different number of coins or gems, depending on which type of bag it is.

Bucknard authored Inexplicable Reflections.

A is for Acererak the Devourer

I was chatting with someone last night and we began to discuss some of the notable NPCs (canon and otherwise) of the Greyhawk setting. Several names came up and it sort of surprised me how few we had in common. (This person is a double-decade player in the World of Greyhawk.) Several of the ones I mentioned he had never heard of and while we were chatting, he slipped over to Canonfire and Wikipedia to check them out. I enjoy both sites very much and give all credit for the entries that follow to them (since they have already done the work and very nicely I must add).

So, without further ado, here is:

Acererak

Acererak /əˈsɛrəræk/ ə-serr-ə-rak[1] was a powerful wizard who became a lich, and later a demilich.

Publication history
Acererak first appears in the original Tomb of Horrors adventure (1978) by Gary Gygax as the main adversary. One of the areas in the Tomb is a "Chapel of Evil", described as "obviously some form of temple area - there are scenes of normal life painted on the walls, but the people have rotting flesh, skeletal hands, worms eating them, etc."[2]:5 The adventure described him as "a human magic-user/cleric of surpassing evil" who took the steps necessary to preserve his life force as the lich, Acererak. The boxed set adventure Return to the Tomb of Horrors (1998) by Bruce Cordell included a small booklet titled "The Journal of the Tomb", which notes that the character Desatysso discovered that Acererak "owed much of his power" to Tenebrous. Cordell's article "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" in Dragon #249 (July 1998) mentions that "While alive, Acererak built an unholy temple to a now deceased power. When the project neared completion, he slew every worker, excavator, and consecrating priest who had assisted in the temple's construction." The article notes that the result of Acererak's work was the dungeon crawl detailed in the Tomb of Horrors module. In the article "Open Grave" by Bart Carroll and Steve Winters for the "D&D Alumni" column in Dragon #371 (January 2009), the authors interviewed Bruce Cordell about the Return to the Tomb of Horrors adventure, where he revealed that he developed the origins of Acererak "as a persecuted tiefling child to his development as a wizard and priest of Orcus, to his creation of his tomb that was actually a test to winnow souls". The fourth edition adventure also titledTomb of Horrors (2010) by Ari Marmell and Scott Fitzgerald Gray mentions in the introduction that "Acererak resurfaced as a worshiper of Orcus, using the cult's resources to construct a number of lairs and tombs - the most infamous of which would become known as the Tomb of Horrors. Some sources claim that Acererak was using Orcus's worshipers to complete his own schemes, and that he felt no true loyatly to the demon prince." The introduction goes on to say that "Once he attained lichdom, Acererak ceased paying homage to Orcus, lending credence to the notion that his worship had never been more than a means to an end." Acererak is mentioned in the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

Relationships
Acererak is the son and ally of the balor Tarnhem, a worshipper of Orcus, and an apprentice of Vecna. In life, he was the enemy of a paladin of Pelor named Pentivel, and the wizard-architect who designs his tomb is called Morghadam. He is revered by a group of wizards known as the Covenenticle of Acererak. The necromancers of Skull City, former followers of Acererak, go on to form a group known as the Votaries of Vecna, making a new home in the Black Spire on the Plane of Shadow.

The githyanki necromancer Kastya Zurith-Movya seeks to return the true Acererak to existence as an ally against his people's lich-queen.

Home
The Tomb of Horrors is long Acererak's home in undeath. As a demilich, he moves to the demiplane of Moil to complete his grand plans.

There is a shrine of Acererak, in the form of a five-foot statue of a humanoid skull, on the second layer of Pandemonium.

History
Acererak the Devourer is described as a cambion, the result of an ancient conjurer summoning a demon, a balor named Tarnhem, far beyond his ability to control. Tarnhem devours the conjurer and takes his human mother by force.

Acererak's mother survives her son's birth, but she is killed by a torch-wielding mob ten years later. The boy is rescued by none other than Vecna, the Whispered One, who kills the advisors urging him to kill the child; instead, he takes on the half-demon as an apprentice. Even then, ten-year-old Acererak loathes life, looking forward to becoming undead like his master. During Vecna's siege of Fleeth, the lich is severely wounded and rescued by Acererak. Vecna subsequently promotes the cambion.

It is unknown if Acererak is present when Vecna is betrayed by Kas the Bloody-Handed in the fourth century before the Common Year, but at some point, he moves to the Vast Swamp where he constructs a lair for himself, colloquially known as the Tomb of Horrors (and described in an adventure module of the same name). While still alive, Acererak builds a subterranean temple complex in the name of Orcus, burying its architect and all of its workers within. Eventually, Acererak succumbs to the lure of lichcraft, and has himself buried in a labyrinthine tomb, where he commits himself to his studies and, eventually, demilichdom, abandoning his body for the planes beyond. Many adventurers over the years attempt to raid Acererak's tomb, but it is believed that none are able to destroy him, despite some claims.

The sequel module Return to the Tomb of Horrors retconned and expanded on the setting. At some point, a group of necromancers settle the area outside the tomb, creating a community of sorts known as Skull City. Acererak's tomb is revealed to be a mere antechamber to the demilich's true dwelling, the lost city of Moil on the border of the Negative Energy Plane, where he had spent thousands of years working on a process to fuse his essence with the plane and gain control over all undead throughout the multiverse.

According to the 3rd edition Tome of Magic, Acererak, following his destruction by adventurers completing the Tomb of Horrors, passes on to become a vestige - an ineffable, amoral entity which can be summoned and bound by characters known as Binders. Acererak grants his summoner lich-like powers, including immunity to cold and the ability to speak with the dead.

According to the adventure "Prisoner of the Castle Perilous," Acererak created a simulacrum in the Negative Energy Plane to torment Saint Pentivel, an old foe from his mortal life. This simulacrum eventually transforms itself into a complete being through the aid of an artifact known as the Soul Machine.

In 4th edition D&D, Acererak appears in the book Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead as a member of the Undead Hall of Infamy. He also features in a sidequest in the adventure Revenge of the Giants and in the 4th edition remake of Tomb of Horrors as central antagonist.

Other
Acererak is referenced in a piece of Omega Tech in a Gamma World adventure, Factory of Misfit Omega Tech, specifically the Hunting Knife of Acererak. Its hilt is studded with green and red soul gems.

(Used without permission of Wikipedia)