Adzerak

Necromancer Lich, Betrayer, Devotee of Deneir
 

Overview

Adzerak Adzurael was a powerful necromancer and a scholar of the Weave, remembered in equal measure as a traitor and a tragic figure. Once apprenticed to the time-twisting archmage Melkerech, Adzerak was also a quiet devotee of the god Deneir, seeking not power for its own sake, but knowledge preserved and rightly used. His final lair was hidden beneath the ruins of his ancestral home at Barrenstone, where his tale reached its bitter end.
 

Apprenticeship and the Deception

In the early 4th century DR, Melkerech recruited Adzerak as a promising arcane prodigy. Despite his grim leanings, Adzerak carried the sigil of Deneir and filled journals with his own divine-scripted reflections, believing all magic to be part of the Great Glyph, the secret script of existence.
  As part of his apprenticeship, he travelled across Faerûn with a notable band of adventurers: Bryton Taysith, a wandering Netherese sorcerer; Josidiah Starym, a bladesinger of Myth Drannor; and Elminster Aural, Chosen of Mystra. Though publicly committed to their shared cause, Adzerak secretly funnelled certain recovered relics and tomes back to Melkerech.
 

The Theft of the Rite

  Though Melkerech had already achieved lichdom by the time of their falling out, the precise ritual and arcane method he used remained closely guarded. Adzerak, ever the devoted scribe of Deneir, believed such knowledge should not be hoarded. During his travels, he pieced together fragments from ancient sources and eventually discovered where Melkerech had hidden the original rite.
  Adzerak copied the forbidden knowledge and performed the ritual in secret, severing all ties to his former master. With undeath as his shield, he vanished from recorded history.
  Melkerech, betrayed and exposed, unleashed his vengeance not on Adzerak directly, but on his bloodline. The descendants of House Adzurael were bound by cursed compulsions, warped into hunters who would spend their lives seeking the one who had defied Melkerech’s will.
 

The Barrenstone Refuge

Adzerak fled to Barrenstone, the ruined site of his family's former seat. Once a noble stronghold, the castle had been torn from the earth by Melkerech’s magic and transformed into a flying fortress. In its place, Adzerak carved a vast lair into the stone beneath, forming the hidden complex now known as the Barrenstone Tombs.
  There he remained, deep underground, surrounded by wards, undead guardians, and divine script etched into every chamber. He continued to transcribe magical knowledge, storing it not for conquest, but for the preservation of truth, believing that Deneir would guide worthy seekers in time.
 

Death and Legacy

In 1369 DR, a party of adventurers entered the Barrenstone Tombs, sent by Melkerech to retrieve a specific tome. Among them was Kastur Dofaroc Stonehill, a cleric of Tymora, whose blade delivered the final blow.
  Adzerak was believed destroyed, but many who have studied his writings suspect he engineered his own defeat to protect the knowledge he had hidden. His fate remains uncertain, and some claim his phylactery was never recovered.
 

Devotion to Deneir

Unlike many necromancers, Adzerak’s writings reveal a deep reverence for Deneir. He considered undeath a prison of necessity, not a prize. His hidden sanctum was more library than lair, filled with preserved scrolls, illuminated texts, and prayers scribed in celestial shorthand. Some believe he hoped Deneir would one day send a true scribe to finish his story.
 

Rumours and Fragments

  A sketch found in a ruined manor near Arabel shows Adzerak standing beside Elminster, Josidiah, and Bryton. One of Deneir’s lost Librams contains a single page attributed to Adzerak, referencing a “book that should never be opened, yet cannot be unwritten.” The glyph wards in the Barrenstone Tombs are still active, awaiting someone who can read them.
 

“Knowledge must outlast its keeper. Even me.”