Elzabeth approached her master’s chambers, for what she hoped would be the last time, and spoke the loross password which allowed her to reach the door without triggering the enchantment that warded it. She’d drilled the adventurers on the exact pronunciation of word in the dead language of the netherese. They’d each need to say it when they followed her or suffer the effects of the symbol spell, which would not only wrack their bodies with horrible pain but alert A’mon Sol to the intruders, jeopardizing their plans to destroy him and likely cost them all their lives. Having been forced to serve the vile seventeen century old netherese lich for the last few years as the price of her survival, exactly how long she couldn’t be sure since there was no reliable way to count the passage of time in the perpetual darkness of this horrid dungeon, she could scarcely imagine being free of him and this hellish place. She hadn’t seen the sky or smelled fresh air for so long that she barely remembered what they were like… nor had she eaten decent food… surviving on the rations recovered from fallen intruders and what his goblinoid underlings brought back from hunting and raiding. But she had to tamp down her excitement or he’d surely sense that something was amiss. Although, in his arrogance, the thought that she’d dare to ally herself with the adventurers he’d sent her to kill would never occur to him. Especially since he held her under a geas, preventing her from taking any action against him directly or she’d die a slow and painful death, even if he was destroyed. Standing before the door, she couldn’t help but remember the first time she’d passed through this dread portal, literally being dragged between two of his hobgoblin minions… bloody and beaten into complete submission. Having just witnessed the group of adventurers she’d come here with to loot his lichdom be slaughtered before her eyes, when she was dumped at the foot of his throne she expected to suffer a horrible death at his hand, likely after being made to pay for her hubris in thinking she could take what was his. However, having been impressed by her prowess in the Art, he demanded she kneel before him instead, while he offered her the opportunity to not only live but learn the arcane secrets of the netherese… but only if she swore to serve him as a willing thrall. As repulsed as she was by his very presence, the opportunity to gain access to the ancient lore of the greatest spell-weaving society to ever rise on Faerun, only to fall in calamity due to their unchecked hubris, woke her insatiable hunger for arcane knowledge and that alone was enough to sway her. However, had she known then just how depraved and loathsome a creature he was, she might’ve considered death… but then he would’ve raise her into the damned existence of undeath to serve him anyway… so it really wasn’t much of a choice. No sooner had she sworn to serve him, then the vile lich had demonstrated the cost of failing him by calling out the leader of his hobgoblin minions and turned his wrathful gaze on him for not stopping her and her companions in the outer reaches of his lichdom. She watched in horror as the goblinoid warrior was reduced to a convulsing wreck who could do nothing but scream in agony and beg for mercy, which only brought an evil smile to the lich’s face. The only reprieve he received was death, but even that was temporary as A’mon Sol then cursed him with undeath, raising him as a zombie to continue to serve him. It was then that she realized the longer she served him the greater the chance she’s fail him in some way and meet the same fate. But now her only chance at freedom was to find a way to destroy him, the most evil and fearsome creature she’d ever seen, not just a lich, but a powerful wizard as well. Held under his geas to not take any direct action to harm him, she knew she’d need help from another band of would be heroes, so she covertly manipulated the defenses of his lichdom into a series of lethal tests to find the one group who could rid her of him… but were these five that group? ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* Disclaimer: Some of the material presented here may be the property of Wizards of the Coast, LLC© taken from the Dungeons & Dragons® Forgotten Realms® Campaign Setting authored by Ed Greenwood & Sean Renyolds, the Dungeons & Dragons® Forgotten Realms® Campaign Accessory Silver Marches® authored by Ed Greenwood and Jason Carl and/or other sourcebooks registered to Wizards of the Coast, LLC©. This is unofficial “Fan Content” permitted under Wizards of the Coast, LLC© Fan Content Policy, it is not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, LLC©.