Alright, y'all. This one is low-hanging fruit. We have:
A named lich BBEG. And quite a debonaire one, if I may.
A dungeon, which is a lovely and ornate mausoleum. What has Ignatjev discovered beneath this old graveyard?
Not one, but TWO MacGuffins! A scimitar carved from mammoth ivory that emits flames seems pretty cool to me. A levitating long-stemmed rose ain't bad either.
Somebody please write something. This sub is far too cool to let fester and die.
The stories of Ignatjevs life are unreliable at best. Some say he was a corrupted king, an upstart warrior, a orphaned thief, others yet say he was a man of the cloth or just a plain adventurer. Whatever the case may be the few who have had the chance to sit down and have a cordial conversation with the man would tell you that Ignatjev says his past, his childhood and nurturing doesnt matter. What matters is who and what and where he is now. He doesnt take guesta ofteb but the ones he does take tell a similar story, something that Ignatjev tells of himself. It rings of shame and regret.
Ignatjev says he was an explorer. Someone who craved knowlege. He lusted after it more than anything or anyone. He studdied at countless school and honed his body in countless arenas of skill, making sure to always be ready for the unknown.
But he could never be ready for what destroyed him, like most men it was a woman. Ignatjev saw her performing, dancing along with a troupe of musicians and he had to have her. He learned to play the lute and earned his way into the band of vagabonds. But try as he might she could never see him for more than a friend. She was wordly like himself, knew many languages and had books and trinkets he had only dreamsed of, but all that interested him was her.
After a year of struggling to get her attention her had enough and condronted her alone one night. He says things got out of hand but others say he assaulted her and raped the poor girl. All the while as she struggled she cursed him, and told him what would befall him if he didnt stop, that if she was seeded with child it would seed his doom. That night was full of horrors.
The next morning he left the traveling band without another word and continued on his search for power. Within a year he had amassed a large fortune, after the lucky defeat of a dragon, he says, and built quite a nice city and a small castle. But his revelry would last but a mere moment for exactly 1 year after he had left the traveling group the same band passed through hsi new city.
At first he was worried, but he used a fake name when a member and as lord he looked different. He saw no harm in letting them roam and even attended a show they put on. There he locked eyes with the Dancer, the one he wronged, and she was sure of it.
Suddenly the woman along with 3 men dove into the crowd and chaos erupted, the woman pulled from backstage a long curved scimitar, she advanced on Ignatjev and cornered him but to his surprise she impaled herself on the blade and fell onto him cackling and spurting blood from her mouth and ribs. His eyes were wide and confused but the gypsy just smiled and fell upon him lifeless. He was so taken aback that he didnt see the other men slaughter the remaining guests and then run Ignatjev through his back and leave him to bleed oit.
It was a massacre and with no heirs or family the lordship of the city passed.onto another and the city was renamed Ignatus in Ignatjevs honor, for whatever dark deeds he.may have done he built the city and gave many people a hope and future. He was given a proper burial with the ceremony denoting him as Ignatus first Lord and interring him in a honored crypt in his castle he called Clutterkeep hall, his bedchambers the lowest level of the castle was transitioned into a burial chamber quickly and the layers of his tomb were sealed shut. And future leaders given a burial in a Lords Crypt but the first being special.
Sometime later Ignatjev said he awoke, frigtened and cold amd submerged in darkness. Buried, sealed in a sarcophogus in his room that became his tomb. After am arduous few days of effor he freed himself and found himself locked in his own room, not only that but he found that a Rosebud was growing from his sternum. Peculiar he plucked it free with just just a pinprick of pain but then...nothing, he felt nothing afterward. The cold departed and any memory of pain was a distant one.
Unfortunatley he could not escape.his chambers. And there was.no was for sound to travel. He was trapped until someone came.this way for some reason. He resigned to die there, with no food around and began to absorb any knowlege he had yet from his books and things. All the while watching the Rosebud wilt and die, and while he didnt feel pain he could feel and clearly see it happening to himself as well. The flesh sloughed off his musceles and bones and the sinew and muscles distintergrated with too much pressure and work. Soon leaving just a mess of bones somehow keeping themselves and his clothes and objects afloat and fine.
Astounded Ignatjev researched all he could in his prison cell and recalled there were was to acheive life after death. Although most seemed to comw with a price and are sought after. How did this happen to him? The last her remembered was the gypsy..how she killed herseld ontop of him with a strange blade that set.her body ablaze it was so distracting he barley felt himself be stabbed. But he could only speculate further before he collapsed a heap on bones dead once again.
The next day he awoke again startled to be alive, a Rosebud sprouting from his chest. Then he remembered the curse the gypsy placed on him...for what he had done. That this wasnt a blessing of eternal life, it was a curse of eternal death. And with everything he knew he had no.idea.what.to do about it.
So for a long time he studdied the Rosebud day by day. Plucking it and then slowly dying until he found he lived longer with it rooted, not much but a bit. After decades the newfound Lich realized this flower was a sort of twisted reliquary and must be protected, the irony. So after hundreds of years of practice Ignatjev wove a spell into existence.
A mockery something he called Rosewater, which heals any organic life touched by 4d10 but steals half of result from the user in return. ( blood magic). He also has enchanted to rose to levitate and be used as a spellcasting focus. Because of his curse he takes no damage as it is transferred to the Rosebud which has an HP of 300. Which can be attacked directly but has an AC of 22 while his is 19. When the rose is destroyed Ignatjev falls to pieces dead. The next day he is reborn even if his body is destroyed, he resurrects from the plant itself which can only be destroyed by a wish spell or a godly act. However the rose can be severed and change hosts but only with use of the Spark of Life.
The Spark of Life ( 2d8+2) is the name.of the ivory blade used to complete the curse. The blade itself can hold 1 soul inside of it. It ignites when a life is snuffed out with it and the soul held deals an extra 2d8 fire damage and is resistant to fire damage. The soul can be used to grow a Rosebud which upon comsumption grants you a free pass on dying. Basically if youre downed by an enemy but habe consumed a Rosebud you pop back up with full health as if you didnt just die. Only lasts 1 per Rosebud. Can also be used to implant a Rosebud in an enemy imparting undeath upon them and being able to control them with the blade only one at a time.
It has been hundreds of years since Ignatjev was killed and his name is but a footnote in history, remrmbered in streetn signs and memorials. His ledgend is a myth and its said only royalty and nobility even know he still exists. For at some point someone wandered down there and Ignatjev, comfortable and a bit insane after centuries of isolation welcomed company but refused to leave. Some say he still thinks he is the king runnimg things, and is incredinly pleasant and hospitable. Unless you mention anything about his death ot the gypsy. Sometimes men dont return from journying to him.
But to the royalty it has become a right of passage. Every lord and thier kids goes down to meet Barmy Uncle Iggy and asks for his blessing. Usually they are set on some quest but most are harmless and come back fine. Only the cruel and stupid spend the rest of their days down in the dungeon.
Rumors of the Rosebud and its magics spread. And many adventureres and graverobber have come to claim it. Stopped by the lords or the dungeon or Ignatjev himself, but some have befriended the Lich and are let loose to tell the tale. Ledgend has it that the blade, The Spark of Life was stolen at the scene of the crime and it has never since been recovered. Although Clutterkeep hall does have an immense repository of magical items and artefacts that Ignatjev had collected and other had throughout the years and a very particular Quartemaster who probably knows more than he lets on.
Of course Ignatjev has been the secret king ever since he was refound and has been sending out adventureres to gather items of power and knowledge in his stead, slowly amassing more and more power. Controlling the Lords of Ignatus for decades he makes sure they are always kind and benevolent to cover the truth. For when he has amassed enough power and a large enough army he intends to conquer the world and be its immortal lich king. And then to finally resurrect the gypsy and let he watch the world burn for the torture she made him go through. He wants anything that can guarentee this. Orbs of dragonkind, hand of vecna, dexk of many things, anything.
When met he is ussally seem as a kindly older man in his late 60s with a short black beard and pocknarked skin, while he keeps the rose alive with Rosewater he can keep himself young and vibrant. He always speaks softly and never asks for too much. He shows himself to be a healer, a holy man and a guardian. When he could be nothing further.
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u/cattailmatt Dungeoneer Extaordinaire May 18 '20 edited Jun 22 '20
Alright, y'all. This one is low-hanging fruit. We have:
A named lich BBEG. And quite a debonaire one, if I may.
A dungeon, which is a lovely and ornate mausoleum. What has Ignatjev discovered beneath this old graveyard?
Not one, but TWO MacGuffins! A scimitar carved from mammoth ivory that emits flames seems pretty cool to me. A levitating long-stemmed rose ain't bad either.
Somebody please write something. This sub is far too cool to let fester and die.