Many Worlds Tavern

Akuzai, the Evil Scroll (Bonus Post!)

Added 2024-10-29 21:00:07 +0000 UTC

Akuzai wasn’t always a scroll. He wasn’t always that evil either.

The clever side of his ambition began to manifest centuries ago, when he was still a young gnome at the most renowned wizarding school on the prime material plane. He was eager for the rewards and recognition that came with being the college’s top student, but was humble enough to know that his magical capabilities fell short of receiving those marks.

He was also well aware that in the eighty-ninth paragraph of section six hundred and fifty-five in the eleventh volume of the school’s published rules and policies, he was not to “enter a formal agreement and/or pact with entities with means to disrupt or advance the magical capabilities of a wizard that said wizard had already reached by study and scholarship.” That is, pact and divine magic were grounds for school expulsion.

So Akuzai began searching for ways around this, eventually realizing the clause said nothing of innate, sorcerous magic.

In further research that began leading him to darker ideals, Akuzai eventually made contact with a cult of mages. They claimed to have the means to exchange his naturally unmagical body for that of a naturally magical one, all while keeping his present personality, knowledge, and magical skills. He agreed without a second thought, and they transcribed his soul onto a piece of parchment.

The cult had believed they tricked the gnome, now possessing a tremendously powerful soul-infused scroll. They didn’t expect Akuzai to have such presence of mind or force of magic that he’d be able to animate the scroll as his new body.

In an arcane fury, the scrollified Akuzai disintegrated several cultists before flying to his school seeking help, where he was then expelled for seeking extracurricular help of such ill means. In another wave of arcane fury, Akuzai dueled the headmistress and then disintegrated her as well. Realizing then that he had then proven himself as the top wizarding student at his college, Akuzai thought he was well on the path to proving himself as the most powerful wizard of the prime material plane…and possibly several other planes it intersected with.

But even then, he wanted to hone his magic further before committing, and a shred of humility still within him reminded him that he should start small. His earlier research had led him to discover a lesser known realm—a place for godless souls, called Latehaven. He thought this would be the perfect place to begin dabbling in the creation of necromancies and transmutations, and there would be no shortage of dead to draw from for mindless followers to defend himself. He did believe, after all, that he was entitled to at least some followers of some kind. And maybe his power would attract people naturally, too.

And as he thought more, he did feel entitled to rule at least one plane. And a quaint one with neither a ruler nor any religion would be perfect to start.

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Akuzai is a legendary tiny construct NPC spellcaster (say that five times fast) with a Challenge Rating of 17! His release includes:

• His character card, which includes his character art and NPC stat block.
• Ecto-Armament, a spell somewhere between Mage Hand and Arcane Hand. You'll see.

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