Editing Acererak

'''Acererak''' is the name [[E. Gary Gygax]] bestowed upon THE [[Lich|LICH]] in [[Tomb of Horrors]], technically a demilich as of module S1 1978. He's called "The Devourer" after his self-portrait in that module. *erRRp*

[[Bruce R. Cordell]] two decades later, in ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors'', laid out the backstory (with Gary's blessing):

Acererak, [[cambion]] son of Tarnhem balor [[tanar'ri]] and a human woman he'd raped, lived a long life doing dark arts. Somewhere in the Negative Material Plane, the man found Moil, "The City That Waits", which no less a horror than [[Orcus]] had ripped off planet Ranais. Later, nearing death himself, he chose to become a lich. He set up his own tomb, in that swamp which (later) separates the [[Scarlet Brotherhood]] and more civilised folk. This tomb is, in the remake, Acererak's gateway to Moil.

Acererak as a lich rediscovered Moil still floating around the Negative Material. The lich went there and recruited the local [[undead|deadites]] to build his new, ''real'' tomb of horrors: the Fortress of Conclusion. Acererak is going for an Apotheosis - to pick up where Orcus left off. (In this part in Orcus' career, that other undead god is going by "Tenebrous"; he's handled [[Dead Gods|in inferior work]].) Meanwhile Acererak's filled the Fortress ''and'' Moil with traps partly because he's a dick like that; also because the higher levels adventurers attain, the more potent are their souls to fuel his Apotheosis.

Over the course of ''Return'' the heroes get to foil Acererak's plan - in fact, even to destroy his phylactery. Although later canon will say nahh, he's fiiine.

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Undead]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]