Villains' Lorebook.pdf - Department of Political Science

54
excelled by anticipating treachery, and mercilessly
murdering those underlings and rivals who sought to
challenge his power. Sememmon often performed
missions for his master; many of these involved uncovering
or defeating power-acquisition schemes of
Fzoul Chembryl. (This resulted in Fzoul’s deep and
abiding hatred of Sememmon.)
Seeing his potential, Manshoon selected Sememmon
to a seat on Inner Ring when the previous
member died. (While the circumstances surrounding
that death are unknown, the possibility certainly exists
that Sememmon, Manshoon, or both arranged
for the vacancy.) Fzoul, resenting the presence of
one of Manshoon’s former pupils in the Inner Circle,
proposed Sememmon take command of Darkhold, a
position worthy of Sememmon’s power, but one that
was comfortably far from Fzoul and the hub of Zhentarim
politics at Zhentil Keep (and later at the
Citadel of the Raven). Sememmon accepted the appointment
and has excelled in his duties
Motivations/Goals: Sememmon strives to remain
neutral in the politics of the Zhentarim, for he believes
that Manshoon and Fzoul will eventually turn
on each other. At that point, he’ll either decide to
help the winner of the conflict or step into the leadership
role of the Black Network himself if the other
two Inner Circle members destroy or cripple one another.
This carefully planned neutrality inadvertently
does much to stabilize the innermost workings
of the Zhentarim.
Beyond this, Sememmon is constantly strengthening
Darkhold’s defenses; due to his efforts, the
place is practically impregnable now.
Campaign Uses: For campaigns set farther west
than the Dalelands, Sememmon and Darkhold provide
an opportunity for DMs to include the machinations
of the Zhentarim as obstacles for their PCs
to confront. Sememmon is patient above all; his
plans commonly take months or years to reach
fruition. The PCs will never cause Sememmon to
make any rash mistakes.
Sources: Ruins of Zhentil Keep boxed set, Castles
boxed set.
Szass Tam, Zulkir
of Necromancy
29th-level necromancer lich;
formerly a human male
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVE: 6
HIT POINTS: 64
THAC0: 9
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
STR 11, DEX 14, CON 19, INT 19, WIS 16, CHA 18
Spells (10/10/10/10/9/9/9/9/9; includes bonus
spells): 1st— burning hands, circle*, detect undead,
gaze reflection, know school, magic missile (×2), read
magic, unseen servant, wall of fog; 2nd— darkness 15’
radius, dazzle*, ESP, levitate, Melf’s acid arrow, preservation*,
spectral hand (×3), stinking cloud; 3rd—
clairaudience, feign death, fire lance*, fireball, fly, hold
undead, lightning bolt, Melf’s minute meteors, proof
from teleportation*, vampiric touch; 4th— Beltyn’s
burning blood*, confusion, contagion, emotion, enervation
(×2), Evard’s black tentacles, fire shield, ice storm,
negate magical weapon*; 5th— animate dead (×3),
cone of cold, disintegrate, magic jar, sending, summon
shadow, wall of force; 6th— animate dread warrior*,
chain lightning, death fog, death spell, ensnarement,
imbue undead with spell ability*, invisible stalker, project
image, true seeing; 7th— control undead (×3), finger of
death, power word: stun, prismatic spray, spell turning,
Simbul’s synostodweomer*, teleport without error;
8th— Bigby’s clenched fist, clone (×3), flensing*, incendiary
cloud, symbol, trap the soul, unlife*; 9th—Bigby’s
crushing hand, energy drain (×3), meteor swarm, mage
tunnel*, power word: kill, shape change, spell-lash*.
Weapons of Proficiency: Dagger, dart, staff.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Ancient history
(Thay), ancient languages (Thorass), astrology, engineering,
etiquette, fire-building, gem cutting, healing,
heraldry, herbalism, local history (Thay), navigation,
reading/writing (common, Thayan), religion
(Faerûnian), spellcraft; 6 open.
Equipment: As a zulkir, Szass Tam has access to
most any form of mundane equipment, including his
vast armies of undead creatures.