Weekly Adventure Hook #002 ~ The Good Lich, Rickard

Adventure Hook Index Card #002. A new card released every Saturday on Twitter by @jmason333. #pathstoadventure #adventurehookcards

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The Good Lich, Rickard

A thousand years ago the Kingdom of Uylgard was plagued by the curses of a powerful evil wizard named Zestanaran. The black mage sought to usurp the throne and subjugate the kingdom to his dark desires. One obstacle stood in his path: the king’s white wizard ally, Rikard.

Despite efforts, the king was slain and the great castle fell under the rule of Zestanaran. Seeking vengeance for the murder of his king and friend, Rickard gathered the few remaining soldiers of the fallen kingdom and sieged the castle. The makeshift army was eradicated by the dark wizard’s undead hoards, but Rickard himself made it within. Deep in the crypts below he encountered Zestanaran performing a ritual that would twist his living visage into an ever-unliving abomination in order to rule for endless ages.

Before the dark wizard’s spell could consume the required arcane essence to complete the transformation, Rikard cast a powerful binding spell, trapping all of Zestanaran’s undead minions within the ruins. The two powerful wizards then dueled in the dungeon until Rikard landed the killing blow upon his rival. Unfortunately, he too had been mortally wounded, and expired moments after the dark wizard’s demise.

The Ruins of Castle Uylgard fell from common memory, remaining a cursed place known only in local lore, but Rickard’s tale was not over. Over the passing millennium, the dark ritual started by Zestanaran slowly syphoned natural arcane essence until enough had been infused to fulfill its purpose. Rikard was targeted by the ritual as the last living entity within its circle. He recently awoke to find himself as an undead lich and bound to the castle ruins by his own spell cast a thousand years past.

He is unable to end his pitiful existence without the destroying the phylactery now binding his soul, but the black mage had already hidden the evil artifact elsewhere before dying. So, now bound to the ruins, Rikard has resorted to sending arcane messages to passing adventurers in hopes of finding a party brave enough to assist him in locating and destroying the phylactery so he may enter the afterlife.