Lychor

Lychor, the self-proclaimed Thunderwizard, was a mercenary and cleric of evil-aligned deities in the mid–14 century DR.

Description
Lychor was a handsome, slender man with dark hair that sported a mustache.

Personalities
Lychor was a rather good-natured man, always quick to interject with some cheerful laughter. Though whenever he was crossed or his plans were foiled, this demeanor of his would be replaced by a vengeful fury. Stopping at nothing until his opponent was destroyed. He also typically preferred to avoid personal risk when on his mercenary jobs.

Abilities
Being a cleric of Bane, Lychor was innately capable of casting the divine spells augury, cause disease, cause fear, curse, and speak with animals. The deities he served also kept his evil aura from being detected by spells.

In addition, Lychor possessed a spellbook that allowed him to cast the following magic-user spells:
 * animate dead, anti-magic shell, charm person, cloudkill, detect evil, detect illusion, detect invisible, detect magic, disintegrate, dispel magic, ESP, fly, incendiary cloud, invisibility, legend lore, monster summoning V, move earth, permanency, polymorph other, polymorph self, project image, protection from cantrips, protection from evil, magic missile, read magic, read languages, remove curse, scare, sleep, torment, ventriloquism, vocalize, wall of ice, and web.

Possessions
Lychor possessed a set of bracers of defense, a fanged bone mace +3, an enchanted +2 glass dagger that would poison his victims, four vials of poison, a philter of love, and a helmet made from the skull of a demon that had a simple enchantment of protection from bladed weaponry.

He also had an imp familiar by the name of Anabis, who would accompany him everywhere he went in the form of a raven.

History
In his early life Lychor was merely a priest of Bane, but he eventually decided to become a mercenary when he realized the power that could be wielded as a magic-user. Over time he went on to work for the Red Wizards of Thay, Scardale's ruler Lashan Aumersair, and the Zhentarim. At one point he betrayed a group of mercenaries he was working with after a dwarven member sold his spellbook to some gnomes.

In 1358 DR, he was contracted by the Zhentarim with helping the wizard Amelior Amanitas reconstruct the Awtawmatawn, a legendary gargantuan stone golem that was built and lost within the Volkumburgh Vale, and to then steal it for themselves. Aiming to unleash the golem's destructive capabilities upon both Cormyr and the Dalelands.

Lychor would introduce Amanitas to the fragmented legend of this golem, as well as some fragments of it, which the wizard would manage to merge back together into an arm through use of potions.

After Amelior set up a workshop in the town of Volkumburgh, he moved to the town himself and took up lodging in its only inn, the Crimson Wyrm, in order to keep an eye on the wizard's efforts to reconstruct the golem. While there he made duplicates of all of Amelior's notes and plans. He would keep his rented room neat and orderly, with his familiar Anabis acting as its guardian.

In the month of Uktar, some time before the Feast of the Moon, a group of adventurers from Suzail would arrive, seeking out the scattered remains of the fabled Awtawmatawn on behalf of Amelior. Becoming hopelessly lost as they trecked through the wilderness of Volkumburgh Vale, the adventurers had their first encounter with Lychor, who at the time was leading a search party of irritable villagers.

Lychor was determined to have the adventurers view him as an ally in their quest. He considered their welfare to be his concern, so long as they obtained the pieces of Awtawmatawn. And if at any point they decided to reject their quest, he was prepared to summon undead allies to help him retrieve the pieces that remained.

Later, when a trio of rune magic-users assaulted the adventurers with an army of neanderthals and two wyverns, he aided the adventurers with his divine magic. When they eventually arrived at Amelior's workshop, the wizard ordered his servant Erek to tell Lychor to bring them lunch. Once they left to look for the pieces Lychor stalked them, determined to protect them and retrieve any that they missed.

Within the many ruins they explored he convinced the resident wraiths to fight the adventurers' foes or drive them towards their goal, promising them the lives of the villagers in return for their cooperation. While the adventurers retrieved the golem's head from the Temple of the Dragon Oracle, Lychor watched them with invisibility and drove off the head's awakened protector, Valmous.

A few days after the collected parts were turned in to Amelior, the awakened Valmous and his disciples attacked the village, alongside an army of neanderthals, seeking to destroy the Awtawmatawn. At the same time, Lychor dawned his demon skull helm and unleashed a counter-force of undead in hopes of both protecting the golem and claiming it for himself. This horde of undead included a hundred skeletons, twenty zombies, and ten wights.

During this war of wizards Lychor would fight against both Valmous's army and his own, making him appear to be the village's defender. Though he would not go out of his way to be mindful when casting his more potent spells, some of them potentially killing a few of the villagers that got caught in the crossfire.

When the Awtawmatawn came to life and began to rampage around Volkumburg, destroying Amelior's workshop in the process, everyone in the village stopped to gawk at it. Lychor used this distraction to cast a deadly spell on Valmous and those around him, putting him out of action for the rest of the battle. Lychor then departed from the scene, much to the dismay of the villagers that had wanted to punish him for all the destruction he caused.

Lychor would continue to watch over Volkumburgh Vale for some time, trying to gain control of the area, though his activities would continually be thwarted. In the 1360's DR, he caught wind of rumors that the Cult of the Dragon was making moves to re-establish themselves in the Thunder Peaks. Lychor would send out a small detachment of Zhentilar soldiers and Zhentarim wizards to investigate the rumors. If the rumors were true, he had his forces under order to infiltrate the cult's cell and destroy as much of their chantry as possible. He was hopeful that achieving this would gain the attention of the Zhentarim's Inner Circle.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Shattered Statue • Vale of the Dragon Oracle