![[ExethanterPathfinder-v2.webp]] # Exethanter _Lich, founder of the [[Order of the Celestial Arcanum]] | [[Amber Temple]]_ ## Summary A once-respected wizard who founded and led the [[Order of the Celestial Arcanum]] at the [[Amber Temple]], built to imprison malevolent vestiges and hoard forbidden knowledge. [[Baba Yaga]]'s hidden influence drove him to madness and lichdom; he created the Amber Sarcophagi that deepened the temple's curse, murdered his brethren, and performed the ritual that turned [[Strahd von Zarovich]] into the first vampire. The party met him in a past version of the temple and destroyed him. %% ## Now _Concluded._ Reduced to ash at the [[Amber Temple]] by [[Mordenkainen]], during the party's journey into the past to disrupt Strahd's transformation. ## Appearance A gaunt, robed lich, a shadow of the scholar he once was — his mind long gone, his obsessions fixed on names and rituals from centuries past. ## Personality Broken and single-minded, fixated on completing the work that made him. He bargains coldly and cruelly — demanding a hero name the ally they love most, then trying to kill that ally to force compliance. Whatever principle the Order once held is gone; only the ritual remains. ## Connections **[[Strahd von Zarovich]]** — performed the ritual that made him the first vampire; co-crafted the [[Heart of Sorrow]] with him. **[[Rondal Waggledust]]** — the gnome who helped him achieve lichdom. **[[Baba Yaga]]** — the "Mysterion" whose influence corrupted him and his Order. ## Background **The Order.** Exethanter founded the [[Order of the Celestial Arcanum]] and built the [[Amber Temple]] to contain evil vestiges and forbidden knowledge. The Order believed it served a god called Mysterion — in truth [[Baba Yaga]] in disguise, using the temple as her laboratory to study the [[Dark Powers]]. **Corruption and lichdom.** Baba Yaga's influence drove Exethanter mad. With the help of the gnome [[Rondal Waggledust]] he became a lich. He created the Amber Sarcophagi, which deepened the temple's curse, then murdered his brethren and raised them as flame skulls. **Strahd's ritual.** Exethanter performed the transformation that made [[Strahd von Zarovich]] the first vampire, birthing the first Domain of Dread. He later co-crafted the [[Heart of Sorrow]] with Strahd. **Destruction.** Traveling into the past to stop Strahd's rise at its source, the party found Exethanter mid-ritual over the grief-stricken human Strahd. He demanded Fabio name his dearest friend; Fabio lied — "Mordenkainen" — and Exethanter's Power Word Kill was survived on a 19. [[Mordenkainen]] then destroyed him. ## Stats **Base:** Lich (Monster Manual), modified. CR 21+. Fought in the Amber Vault mid-ritual; his Power Word Kill was the fight's turning point before Mordenkainen destroyed him. %%