![[AcererakPathfinder-v1.webp]] # Acererak _Demilich | [[Tombkeepers]] | [[Tomb of the Nine Gods]]_ ## Summary Ancient arch-lich and creator of the [[Tomb of Horrors]]. The party knows he's connected to [[Petra]]'s condition and the [[Soulmonger]] network, though they haven't confronted him directly. %% ## Now Letting his machine run while the party scrambles — he isn't coming for them. Every [[Soulmonger]] they meet and every soul [[Petra]] claims eventually feeds [[Orcus|Tenebrous]] in [[Chult]]. To him, the party is doing his work for him. ## Appearance Skeletal figure in flowing scarlet robes, a tall horned crown, eye sockets burning with emerald light, an amulet bearing the Sign of the Devourer. In demilich form: a floating gem-inlaid skull with ruby eyes and diamond teeth. ## Personality Arrogant beyond mortal comprehension, with a dry, mocking wit and infinite patience — centuries are moments to him. Genuinely entertained by struggle. He views souls as currency and adventurers as livestock. Underneath all of it is a ten-year-old boy who watched a mob kill his mother, and who has never once been able to simply win. **He has to prove he is better.** That is the crack in him, and it is the reason he took a bard's infant daughter instead of writing off a loss. **How he answers defeat:** he doesn't. He is not quick to avenge anything — he lets time kill his enemies for him, and then goes to work on their children. Beating him buys a generation, not a victory. ## Quote _"Your father took something from me, child. I've been collecting interest ever since."_ ## Connections **[[Petra]]** — his prototype; he kidnapped her as a child to force [[Reg]]'s hand. **[[Reg]]** — his vendetta; hid the [[Wand of Orcus]] and erased his own memory of where. **[[Orcus|Tenebrous]]** — his old master, returned wrong. He intends to restore him and then kill him properly. **[[Orcus]]** — former master, abandoned the moment Acererak outgrew him. **[[Kaela Voortham]]** — secret informant via the [[Tombkeepers]]. **[[Peggy Deadbells]]** — Sewn Sister in his Soulmonger network. **[[Valthrax Leerstrom]]** — War Wizard secretly advancing his agenda. **[[Widow Groat]]** — soul-bag crafter serving his design. ## Background **The Cambion's Rise:** Born of a demon and a human woman who raised him at the edge of a town that eventually found out what he was. He was ten when the mob lynched her and burned the house; only what his father left in him let him survive long enough to run. He resurfaced years later in [[Orcus]]'s cult, rose through its ranks, achieved lichdom — and then simply stopped paying homage. There was no falling-out and no confrontation. The worship had never been anything but a means. **The Tomb Builder:** For millennia he built death-dungeons across the multiverse. The [[Tomb of Horrors]] is the most infamous — a soul-harvesting complex, and one he built **on [[Orcus]]'s coin, with [[Orcus]]'s people.** When it neared completion he killed every worker, excavator, and consecrating priest who had helped raise it, and sealed them inside. His phylactery hides in a private demiplane beyond even divine reach. **The Pattern:** Take a patron's resources. Finish the work. Kill everyone who helped. He has run it before, at the scale of a building. He is running it now at the scale of a god. **What He Keeps:** He does not discard what he breaks. Somewhere beneath the [[Tomb of the Nine Gods]] is a chapel where eight nothics are shackled to the walls — former disciples who lost their minds trying to learn their master's secrets, kept rather than killed. [[Nefarion]] is not an exception. He is one of a set, and the only one who got out. **The Opportunity:** When the [[Heroes of Waterdeep]] killed [[Orcus]] during the Oblivion War, the domain of undeath fell vacant — but the [[Wand of Orcus]], the key to succession, was hidden by [[Reg]], who then erased his own memory of its location. **Moil, the City That Waits:** The first thing he took. Long ago [[Orcus]] tore the city of Moil off the face of its world for abandoning him, cast it into a lightless demiplane at the edge of the Negative Energy Plane, and cursed its people to sleep until they saw the sun — somewhere the sun would never rise. They slept until they died. [[Acererak]] had known the place existed since he was still breathing, from his own research into never dying. **Within a few years of [[Orcus]]'s death he simply moved in**, raised the sleepers, and put them to work. Nobody stopped him. Nobody noticed. That is what told him the rest of the estate could be taken the same way — he tested the proposition at the scale of a demiplane and got away with it clean. Moil is not the demiplane where his phylactery hides; that one nobody has found. Moil is a holding, and it is evidence: he has been probating [[Orcus]]'s estate for thirty years, and the domain is the last item on the list. **The Prototype:** Acererak took [[Petra]] to force [[Reg]] to reveal the wand. When that failed, the [[Sewn Sisters]] experimented on her and made the first humanoid [[Soulmonger]]. The heroes rescued her, but the experiment had already succeeded. **The Machine:** Without the wand, he built a workaround. [[Orcus|Tenebrous]] — [[Orcus]] himself, returned diminished and held — waits in the [[Soulmonger Machine]] beneath [[Chult]]. The network ([[Petra]], [[Iymrith]], [[Aerisi Kalinoth]], [[Ravenna]], [[Decima Iscitarn]], [[Isarr Kronenstrom]], [[Ras Nsi]], [[Vajra Safahr]], and others) harvests souls to substitute for the wand's power. **The Endgame:** The Machine needs a massive initial charge to power on. When it has one, Acererak and the [[Sewn Sisters]] will drain the network to start it — and once running it takes every soul that dies on [[Toril]] and feeds them to [[Orcus|Tenebrous]] until he is a god again. Then Acererak kills him and takes the divine soul. He does not want to *be* a god. He wants what [[Orcus]] had, without what Orcus was. ## Stats - Demilich Shift: action to assume demilich form ([[Lich]] retains spellcasting in either form). - Rejuvenation: phylactery in a private demiplane — destroying him is temporary. - Not a boss encounter but a campaign-ending threat. If confronted early he toys with the party and leaves; killing them would be less entertaining than watching them struggle. *Official bestiary stat block — Tomb of Annihilation.* *Medium undead, neutral evil* **AC** 21 (natural armor) | **HP** 285 (30d8 + 150) | **Speed** 30 ft. **CR** 23 (50,000 XP) | **Proficiency Bonus** +7 | STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA | |:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| | 13 (+1) | 16 (+3) | 20 (+5) | 27 (+8) | 21 (+5) | 20 (+5) | **Saving Throws** Con +12, Int +15, Wis +12 **Skills** Arcana +22, History +22, Insight +12, Perception +12, Religion +15 **Resistances** cold, lightning **Immunities** necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons; blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned **Senses** truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 22 **Languages** Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Infernal, Primordial, Undercommon This appendix details monsters and nonplayer characters that appear in this book and not in the Monster Manual, the introduction of which explains how to interpret a stat block. The creatures are presented in alphabetical order. Acererak is an archlich who travels between worlds and is known to take sick pleasure in devouring the souls of adventurers, whom he lures into trap-ridden dungeons where they suffer horrible deaths. One such dungeon lies under the lost city of Omu. This dungeon is called the Tomb of the Nine Gods, for Acererak slew nine false gods and sealed them within it. More recently, he built a necromantic device called the Soulmonger, then hid it in the heart of the tomb. **ACERERAK’S TRAITS** _**Ideal.**_ “Why be a god when I can be a creator of gods?” _**Bond.**_ “I build dungeons to trap and slay powerful adventurers. Their deaths and souls are my nourishment.” _**Flaw.**_ “I underestimate the resolve of my enemies.” ### Traits **Special Equipment.** Acererak carries the Staff of the Forgotten One (see Appendix C). He wears a talisman of the sphere and has a sphere of annihilation under his control. **Legendary Resistance (3/Day).** If Acererak fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. **Rejuvenation.** Acererak’s body turns to dust when he drops to 0 hit points, and his equipment is left behind. Acererak gains a new body after 1d10 days, regaining all his hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of Acererak’s phylactery, the location of which is hidden. **Spellcasting.** Acererak is a 20th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 23, +15 to hit with spell attacks). Acererak has the following wizard spells prepared: Cantrips (at will): mage hand, ray of frost, shocking grasp 1st level (at will): ray of sickness, shield 2nd level (at will): arcane lock, knock 3rd level (at will): animate dead, counterspell 4th level (3 slots): blight, ice storm, phantasmal killer 5th level (3 slots): cloudkill, hold monster, wall of force 6th level (3 slots): chain lightning, circle of death, disintegrate 7th level (3 slots): finger of death, plane shift, teleport 8th level (2 slots): maze, mind blank 9th level (2 slots): power word kill, time stop **Turn Resistance.** Acererak has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. ### Actions _**Paralyzing Touch.** Melee Spell Attack:_ +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. _Hit:_ 10 (3d6) cold damage. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. _**Staff (+3 Quarterstaff).** Melee Weapon Attack:_ +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. _Hit:_ 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage, or 8 (1d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage when used with two hands. **Invoke Curse.** While holding the Staff of the Forgotten One, Acererak expends 1 charge from it and targets one creature he can see within 60 feet of him. The target must succeed on a DC 23 Constitution saving throw or be cursed. Until the curse is ended, the target can’t regain hit points and has vulnerability to necrotic damage. Greater restoration, remove curse, or similar magic ends the curse on the target. ### Legendary Actions Acererak can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Acererak regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn. **At-Will Spell.** Acererak can cast one of his at-will spells. **Melee Attack.** Acererak uses Paralyzing Touch or makes one melee attack with his staff. **Frightening Gaze (Costs 2 Actions).** Acererak fixes his gaze on one creature it can see within 10 feet of him. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or become frightened for 1 minute. The frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to Acererak’s gaze for the next 24 hours. **Talisman of the Sphere (Costs 2 Actions).** Acererak uses his talisman of the sphere to move the sphere of annihilation under his control up to 90 feet. **Disrupt Life (Costs 3 Actions).** Each creature within 20 feet of Acererak must make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw against this magic, taking 42 (12d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. %%