Acererark is a powerful lich (or demilich) and the main antagonist of the Dungeons & Dragons adventure module Tomb of Horrors and its sequels Return to the Tomb of Horrors and Tomb of Annihilation. Originally from the world of Greyhawk, he eventually moved to Toril in the Forgotten Realms.

Appearance[]

Acererak is a Demilich who lost most of his physical body long ago. He usually shows up in the form of a floating skull with gems for eyes.

Biography[]

As a mortal, Acererak was a Cambion (half-demon) the product of a Balor named Tarnhem who took his human mother by force. Apparently an ancient conjurer summoned a demon that was far beyond his ability to control. The demon devoured the wizard, and forcibly conceived a cambion son in one of the wizard's servant girls.

Acererak's mother survived her son's birth, but she was killed by a angry mob ten years later. The boy was rescued by none other than Vecna, the infamous lich archvillain, who killed the advisors that urged him to kill the child and instead took the half-demon on as an apprentice. Even then, ten year-old Acererak loathed life, looking forward to becoming undead like his master. During Vecna's siege of Fleeth, the lich was severely wounded and rescued by Acererak. Vecna subsequently promoted the cambion.

As he worked to achieve lichdom, Acererak constructed a number of dungeons and tombs in order to draw out, defeat, and claim for his phylactery the souls of adventurers that sought to destroy him. One particular dungeon hidden within a hillside, known as the Tomb of Horrors, would go on to claim the lives of hundreds of adventurers. It would also attract the attention of many necromancers, who would go on to construct a settlement around the hillside to seek the teachings of Acererak.

At some point, Acererak went to the tropical land of Chult and defeated the Nine Trickster Gods of Omu. He then enslaved the Omuans and forced them to build the Tomb of the Nine Gods. Acererak killed all the Omuans after the tomb was completed, and buried them alongside their gods.

At some unknown time not long before the late 1480s DR, Acererak traveled to the Negative Energy plane and found an Atropal fetus there, which he decided to nourish to godhood. For that purpose, he built a powerful artifact called the Soulmonger and placed it in one of the tombs he possessed, the Tomb of the Nine Gods. The tomb served as the Atropal's nursery while the artifact nourished it by trapping the souls of the dead and draining the souls of those who had been beneficiaries of resurrection magic. This was known as the death curse. Not much else is known until he built his famous tomb of Annihilation.

Personality[]

Acererak is very fond of building complex dungeons full of death traps and lure in foolhardy adventurers with artifacts he gathered from around the D&D multiverse. He's also a sadist who enjoys seeing adventurers get killed by his traps and then absorb their souls in his phylactery.

Although he's an evil and power hungry necromancer, Acererak is not interested in achieving godhood and having worshippers, despite having his share of minions.