Black Garius

Black Garius was a powerful archmage of Luskan and a member of the city's sinister ruling cabal, the Arcane Brotherhood.

Description
Garius wore regal-looking black robes and regarded others with a deep, intimidating stare.

Abilities
A powerful necromancer, Garius was skilled enough to undertake the transformation into lichdom.

Early Life
Not much is known of his early life, save that he was once a lower-level agent of the Arcane Brotherhood. Garius was noted for his nigh-insatiable hunger for power and prestige, and his never-ending quest for this brought him into contact with the fallen Guardian of Illefarn, the King of Shadows. After he entered into an alliance with the shadow priests (unfortunates who were enthralled into the King of Shadows' clergy), Garius eventually came to realize that his place in this alliance did not suit his needs.

Serving the King of Shadows
As he searched for a way to dupe the King of Shadows, Garius enlisted the aid of many powerful beings. Among them was the only man who was able to defeat the King of Shadows single-handed: the mighty warlock Ammon Jerro. It's not known what Garius inquired of the warlock, but Ammon easily defeated Garius and his captors and returned to waging his war against the King. However, Garius learned of a weapon capable of destroying the King, the Silver Sword of Gith, and how it was split into many shards.

He eventually tracked down several of the shards and found them in the possession of a powerful adventurer, the Kalach-Cha or Shard-Bearer, from the village where the sword was broken, West Harbor. Thus, Garius engineered to bring them to Luskan. There, Garius thought to use his connections in the city to get the shards into his hands. He was however thwarted in this, as the Kalach-Cha, along with the aid of the skilled wizard and former Hosttower mage, Sand, was able to prove their innocence in court and succeed in the Trial-by-Combat versus the warrior Lorne.

However, this was but a temporary setback; Garius had all he needed for the ritual that would grant him the King of Shadows' power and thus usurp him. However, Garius's stronghold of Crossroad Keep (located in Neverwinter's territory) was assaulted by the Shard-Bearer and a group of Many-Starred Cloaks. Making it into the lowest chamber of the keep, they disrupted Garius' ritual. However, this was to the benefit of the Shadow Priests and the King of Shadows: Garius and the mages who aided him were transformed into the King of Shadows' greatest servants, powerful undead liches known as Shadow Reavers. Meanwhile, the Shard-Bearer claimed Crossroad Keep for the glory of the north.

Now granted invulnerability and immense magical power, Garius and his fellows set about the destruction of the lands of Neverwinter and the Shard-Bearer. However, aided by Ammon Jerro and a githzerai Zerth known as Zhjaeve, the Shard-Bearer used the power of the true name scrolls to undo the Reaver's invulnerability, destroying them one-by-one and turning back Garius's attempt to retake his Keep. The Shard-Bearer and companions then cornered Garius in an ancient Illefarn stronghold, where the undead wizard attempted to tempt Sand, Qara, Ammon Jerro, or Neeshka depending on who was present. Having already recited his true name at Crossroard Keep, the Shard-Bearer defeated and slew Garius and then proceeded to destroy the King of Shadows, thus freeing the North from their evil.

Appearances

 * Neverwinter Nights 2