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The Terror Tendrils of Acerak
In CY 8654, The Terror Tendrils of Acerak was the time of a powerful lich, perhaps one of the most powerful ever to walk Helca. From his lair in the Tolkisson Mountain Range east of the City of Oerdney, he swept the area clear of any opposition. Tendrils of fog that spread terror and madness were gradually sent into the space between his lair in the peaks to the outskirt of the High King of the Steel Realms‘ city of Oerdney. Farmers, soldiers, armies, and adventurers were put down or driven away in mad fear in countless numbers. Just as the vapors of terror were to reach the city and cause the High King to flee, a band of adventurers succeeded in laying low this lich and ended his threat.
Chronicle of The Terror Tendrils of Acerak
Knowledge is broken down by ease of discovery/availability & Meticulous Record Keeping may improve usability; Any attempt to know more than what's Pervasive will require a reference, source, knowledge, check, or access to someone who can get or provide either of these. Specific Lores may increase the chance of knowing specific elements.
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
In CY 8654, The Terror Tendrils of Acerak was the time of a powerful lich, perhaps one of the most powerful ever to walk Helca. From his lair in the Tolkisson Mountain Range east of the City of Oerdney, he swept the area clear of any opposition. Tendrils of fog that spread terror and madness were gradually sent into the space between his lair in the peaks to the outskirt of the High King of the Steel Realms‘ city of Oerdney. Farmers, soldiers, armies, and adventurers were put down or driven away in mad fear in countless numbers. Just as the vapors of terror were to reach the city and cause the High King to flee, a band of adventurers succeeded in laying low this lich and ended his threat.
The only two to survive of the dozen or more sent to end The Terror Tendrils of Acerak were Selthar ‘The Equilizing’ and Darius ‘The Black’ (as he was known then). His lair was looted, and the adventurers were made wealthy beyond imagination, though did not retire.
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
Acerak the lich came to terrorize the peoples and king of Oerdney. He unleashed his forces in CY 8654 and for 2 years his terror filled dreams and nightmares of the lands, along with his minions, drove farmers from fields, soldiers from duty, nobles from organizing, and his curses drew ever closer to the king of Gladnor in Oerdney.
Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty
CY 8659 is the year Selthar and Darius emerge from the Lich’s lair, with their friend Caerek the Cleric’s soul in a crystal prison that was once the tooth of the lich. Caerek is restored as Bardigan Grimtooth.
The Armaments of Selthar: The lair is mined for its vast wealth and metals to make swords and armors of mithiril and even stronger metals. For 100+ years the the forces of Selthar bring peace to the eastern central and northern heartlands in an age of prosperity and stability.
Cursed Armaments? But something happened, jealousy and ego took hold of the High King’s cousin, commanding his army. He convinced the High King who came came and took them in CY 8717 to equip a vanguard to invade the Dark Lands. The army at first was highly successful, but then the armaments started corroding and breaking. After 3 weeks it was fought to a standstill. Eventually it (along with Sir Harold, the high King’s general and cousin) was slaughtered as it tried to retreat. Both sides suffered over 20,000 dead in the short campaign.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
It took Acerak decades to make his home in the mountain hills east of Oerdney, and he creat a death trap lair. He sent out rumors of ancient treasure and accumulated undead minions from those seeking it.
Rare Knowledge / Very Hard Difficulty
The Sisterhood of Dohar Jaideen interrogated the remains of the Lich, its minions, and the wandering spirits later to piece together his origins and causes as well as demise.
Cursed Armaments? Darius hired all manner of evil and storng Orrish miners (Darius was notoriously unscrupulous and even evil by some standards) to rip the precious metals found in Acerak’s lair to be forged into armaments later. When it came time to pay for their services they were executed through powerful fire magics contained in a room hewn to match its dimensions.
The Tale of Crepitus
In CY 8322, the arch wizard known as Crepitus came from a far flung continuum or even different material plane and sought something from the Lich Lords of the north. Although powerful enough to come from outside, through the defenses of Helca itself, he was not able to defeat the combined stolen divine power of the death god and occult power of the Lich Lords themselves. Whatever he was seeking, he tried by coercion to get it from them, and they brought an end to him. It was said that in some place, the ice turned black.
Crepitus was captured and not killed. Taken into their fold, he was rebuilt as their puppet and emerged as the lich named Acerak. Not bound in the same way, not susceptible to the limits and triggers of the Cold Bargain. He could operate outside the cold north. He leveraged his unique knowledge of dimensional and planar magic to construct his lair after being sent by his new masters.
Cursed Armaments? It is believed the betrayal of the miners and the extra-planar nature of the materials led to a curse on the armaments.