our nerves and sharpens our skill.
- Edmund Burke,
Reflections on the Revolution in France
The heroes encounter three characters with complex backgrounds, abilities, motivations, and goals. Full descriptions of Chardath, Maleffluent, and Marble appear here.
Demilord of Aggarath
Chardath Spulzeer
8th-Level Human Fighter,
Chaotic Evil
| Armor Class | 7 | Str | 14 | ||||
| Movement | 12 | Dex | 18 | ||||
| Level/Hit Dice | 8 | Con | 12 | ||||
| Hit Points | 48 | Int | 16 | ||||
| THAC0 | 11 | Wis | 6 | ||||
| No. of Attacks | 3/2 | Cha | 8 | ||||
| Damage/Attack | 1d8+2 |
Chardath bears the vague likeness of a weasel. His pointed nose, small mouth, and narrow, upturned chin all combine to create this feral impression. And his small, deep-set eyes, tangled, bushy brows, and scraggly goatee further enhance the bestial image.
Chardath has long, sandy hair, which cascades over his jutting ears. past his collar, to the center of his back. His nails are long, chipped, and scarred from neglect and abuse. He sunken eyes permanently squint when he looks out on the world, for years of living in the dark places of the spirit wilt do that to a man.
Background: The Spulzeer clan are infamous natives of the world men call the Forgotten Realms. Few in that fabled land do not know their name or recall unfortunate incidents which left that family cursed and shunned.
Six hundred years ago, the Spellseer family (as it was called then) stood as one of the richest and most powerful clans in all of Amn's southeastern frontier. At the height of the family's power and fame, however, a dark shadow fell upon the clan.
Kartak Spellseer, self-described as the "All- Seeing," was arrested at the castle and charged with kidnapping and killing fourteen young men and women. Kartak was but a distant cousin of the primary branch of the family, but he bore the Spellseer name. Kartak was accused of "slaughtering the children ofAmn during unspeakable acts of evil while executing heinous rites of necromantic magic." He was tried, convicted on all counts, and sentenced to hang.
At midnight on the eve of his execution, a number of Kartak's allies engineered his escape. The necromancer fled from his enemies, vanishing into the Kuldin Peaks. In 856 Dale Reckoning, the fugitive died by his own hand, drinking a potion that turned him into a lich. No one in the family knew of his transformation at the time; they learned only later, through rumors, gossip, and the tales of servants.
In the meantime, members of the family had changed its name to hide the shame of Kartak's deeds. No longer did they call themselves Spellseer, but Spulzeer.
In time, Castle Spulzeer came to be the home of Kaisha Spulzeer, her son, Chardath, and a deaf- mute daughter she never named. By then, however, the family fortunes had all but vanished. Without the Spulzeer money, Kaisha and Chardath eked out a living by catering to the bizarre tastes of the jaded and debauched, offering gambling rooms and other "entertainments."
Eventually, Kaisha died and Chardath became Lord of Castle Spulzeer. His nameless, silent sister, meanwhile, had grown into a beautiful if speechless woman locked away on the top floor of the castle. Chardath called her "Marble" because of her pale skin, raven hair, and her inability to speak. Most of Chardath's acquaintances were unaware of her existence, and he kept it that way. Though he allowed Marble to move freely about the castle, her years of captivity had made her afraid of anyone but her brother. Chardath respected her reclusive nature and protected her from discovery. She was the one bright spot in his life.
Chardath had dreams of building a future for Marble and himself. It was his intent to set aside the dark legacy of his name, leaving behind both the evil of Kartak and the debauchery of Kaisha.
It was not to be. All this time, Kartak had been living his unlife in the Kuldin Peaks, advancing his powers as a lich. He fed his anger over the centuries until it developed into a glowing hatred for the Spulzeers. His forma! expulsion from the family, conducted when the family changed its name, fueled his hatred. Kartak cursed the castle, the land, and the family of Spulzeer.
The revenge he desired, however, would not be easily won. During his years of exile, Kartak had managed to get himself killed once again. As a lich, however, he had planned for such an eventuality many years earlier. Hidden away within the walls of Castle Spulzeer was a magical tome, a silver-bound relic into which Kartak's phylactery was built. As long as it survived, so too did the essence of the lich.
As the years passed, Kartak's spirit called out to his kin. Faintly, but persistently, it tugged at their minds. Eventually, one of them would answer this summons.
On an ominous night, when winds howled through the drafty castle, Chardath had difficulty sleeping. He rose, lit a candle, and began rambling about the place. Eventually he entered the library that hid Kartak's phylactery. The old, worn hinges groaned as he pushed the door open. A century's accumulation of dust covered the furniture and floor.
Chardath found himself guided to the silver libram. In a daze, he opened the strange book and read, allowing Kartak to influence his thoughts. As he turned each page, the young lord fought a losing battle for control of his own mind.
When he finished reading the book, Chardath stole into Marble's room as she slept. He grabbed her and carried his terrified sister into a hidden chamber beneath the castle. Unable to control himself but fully aware of what he was doing, Chardath cut his sister's throat with the accursed dagger Aggarath. As her blood poured out, the evil magic of this offering restored the lich to life.
As the dagger clattered to the floor, its blood-red hilt-stone escaped its setting. Chardath collapsed, his spirit broken and his mind shattered by the deed he had done. As he wept over the body of his sister, the young lord became aware that he was no longer alone in the chamber. Kartak had returned. Scooping up Marble's body, he turned and fled.
That night, Chardath knew final despair. He had killed Marble, his only flesh and blood, his sister. There could be no redemption.
Thus began Chardath's descent into madness.
Chardath buried his sister the morning after those terrible events. He placed Marble in the rose garden she had loved and turned her room into a shrine of sorts, forbidding the servants to change anything within her quarters.
Soon, Chardath entered a deep state of melancholy. Filled with self-loathing and withdrawn from the world, he grew severely depressed. He relived that hideous night over and over in his dreams until he could think of nothing else. Slowly, his mind began to twist.
The tortured Chardath returned to the obscene distractions his mother had offered visitors. In time, he began to embrace evil and darkness. Though a competent warrior whose thoughts often turned toward revenge, Chardath believed himself too weak to take on his undead ancestor. Instead, he simply nursed his hatred for Kartak until it consumed his tortured mind.
Kartak, meanwhile, was mostly absent from the castle. After Chardath left with Marble's corpse, the lich hastily set magical seals on the doors and teleported to his lair in the Kuldin Peaks of Tethyr. For the next several years, the lich essentially left Castle Spulzeer and its shattered lord alone.
Once per year, however, on the anniversary of Marble's death. Kartak found himself magically summoned to the castle. He was drawn to the room in which Marble died and could not leave the castle by any means, magical or mundane, for twenty-four hours. He never encountered Chardath during these annual summons, as the melancholic lord could not bear to be in the castle on the anniversary of his sister's death and always made arrangements to be elsewhere,
Chardath's chance for revenge came years after the death of his sister. While exploring a recently discovered cellar complex beneath the castle, he came upon a djinn who had been imprisoned there by Kartak during the days before the lich embraced undeath. In exchange for his freedom, the djinn stole a portion of Kartak's power and bestowed it upon Chardath.
Deep in the Kuldin Peaks, Kartak felt suddenly weak. He knew at once that he was in peril, for the anniversary day when he would be forced to return to Castle Spulzeer loomed near. His sudden loss of energy could mean only one thing: The vengeful Chardath was laying a trap for him.
Kartak was not one to wait idly for his fate, however. For years his agents had been tracking down the missing hilt-stone of Aggarath. The gem had disappeared after the murder, thus magically rendering the weapon untouchable by either Kartak or Chardath. If the gem were restored to its setting, the dagger would become empowered against them, but would also become a deadly weapon in either of their hands. Kartak had been seeking the gem to keep it from being returned to Aggarath without his knowledge. And after nearly two decades, he had finally located it - in the possession of an unwary party of adventurers who had no idea of the ruby's significance.
He contacted the mercenaries under false pretenses and hired them to recover Aggarath from Castle Spulzeer. If he could destroy the weapon or wield it himself with the gemstone restored, victory would be his.
At the castle, the adventurers searched for the dagger they were hired to retrieve. In the process, they encountered ghostly apparitions and learned about the brutal murder that took place years before. During their explorations of the castle, they encountered both the mad Chardath and the ghost of Marble.
Chardath Spulzeer, consumed by thoughts of revenge against the lich Kartak, behaved erratically. He was alternately threatening, pleading, and cordial. It soon became apparent that the lord of Castle Spulzeer was not sane - Marble's lingering spirit beseeched the party to find the knife used to kill her and give it to her. This, of course, was Aggarath, the same knife for which they searched.
Meanwhile, the anniversary hour of Marble's death arrived and Kartak was summoned back to the castle by the magical dagger. With ali of the pieces in place, the fate of the Spulzeers was finally ready to be sealed.
When the adventurers ultimately found the dagger, Kartak, Marble, and Chardath all appeared to claim it. A great battle ensued, during which the hilt-stone was recognized for what it was and returned to its setting in Aggarath. In the conflict, all the evil and madness of the Spulzeer family became focused by the stone. A great vortex appeared, drawing the entire structure and alt those within it into the stone itself. Only Kartak, by means of his powerful spells, was able to escape.
Matters did not end there, however, for so great a nexus of evil could not be hidden from the Mists of Ravenloft. When the last remnants of the Spulzeer estate vanished into the gem, the gleaming stone folded in upon itself and popped out of existence- All that remained behind to mark the long legacy of the Spulzeers was an empty stretch of twisted, foreboding land which seemed always awash in the murky vapors of an endless miasma.
Current Sketch: Even before Chardath became the lord of Aggarath, grief and evil had driven him mad. In the days since he was pulled into the Land of Mists, things have only gotten worse, indeed, Chardath's mental collapse has finally become complete.
The lord of Aggarath is constantly tormented by his desire to see Kartak destroyed. He knows that the lien escaped consumption by the crystal and fears that this lucky break has placed him forever out of reach. Still, the fledgling demilord refuses to accept that fact as a final truth.
Chardath is well aware of the life-draining nature of his domain-and so longs to see Kartak drawn into it. Watching the lich slowly weaken and die seems an ideal fate to him. Indeed, the lord of Aggarath has no great desire to escape the gemstone. As long as he believes that it might be possible to draw Kartak into it, he is content to stay where he is.
The fate of Marble is also of great importance to Chardath. He blames himself for her death and the fact that she cannot rest easily in her grave. If a way could be found to undo the terrible things that were done to her, Chardath would leap at the chance.
Apart from these two goals, Chardath's life lacks direction. His madness causes him to behave quite eccentrically. One minute he might be overcome with paranoid fears and the next he might be benevolent and friendly. To reflect this, any encounter with Chardath should begin with the Dungeon Master rolling a few dice to determine his reaction to the party. The following table can be used to determine Chardath's mood and emotional state when he is encountered. (For the Dungeon Master's convenience, this table is reprinted in "The Eleventh Facet" section, where characters encounter Chardath.) Those who wish more detail should use Table 70: General Traits from Chapter 12 of the Dungeon Master Guide.
| 1d20 Roll |
Emotional State | |
| 1 | Hot-tempered and antagonistic | |
| 2 | Arrogant and aloof | |
| 3 | Mischievous abd irreverent | |
| 4 | Careless and absentminded | |
| 5 | Courageous and foolhardy | |
| 6 | Curious and prying | |
| 7 | Stern and exacting | |
| 8 | Friendy and trusting | |
| 9 | Covetous and greedy | |
| 10 | Generous and kind | |
| 11 | Morose and vengeful | |
| 12 | Naive and gullible | |
| 13 | Bigoted and blustering | |
| 14 | Cheerful and pleasant | |
| 15 | Cynical and sarcastic | |
| 16 | Quite and retiring | |
| 17 | Level-headed and reverent | |
| 18 | Paranoid and scheming | |
| 19 | Boorish and crude | |
| 20 | Violent and sadistic |
Note that the actions of player characters generally have no effect on Chardath's mood. He is insane, after all, and his motivations are not immediately obvious to the outside world. If the heroes spend an extended period of time in the company of Chardath, they find that his mood changes frequently. Dungeon Masters should reroll his emotional state after 1d4 turns.
Of course, if he is attacked or otherwise threatened, Chardath defends himself. Similarly, he will not take well to people he believes to be allies of Kartak or enemies of his beloved sister. In either of these cases, the Dungeon Master should roll until an aggressive mental state is indicated.
Sudden changes or surprise also cause Chardath to undergo radical mood swings. Whenever he suffers damage (even by accident) or is called upon to make a saving throw of any kind, the Dungeon Master should roll for his new personality.
Closing the Borders: No one can escape Aggarath without at least three enchanted rubies and the silver key Chardath wears around his neck. Depending upon his mood, Chardath may willingly lend prisoners the key, or may have to be fought for it. Should captives reach the portal in the Twelfth Facet with the necessary tools, Chardath cannot stop them from leaving.
Combat: When in battle, Chardath wields his battle axe, Maieffluent. Details of this sinister, intelligent battle axe and his powers follow.
