Nkisi, Winter's Hearld

Nkisi was born to a small band of barbarians on the edge of the tortured lands who venerated a local
lich as a god. The Lich asked little of the band, but every new moon the band had to send one of their
number to the lich to be brought into his fold, a ceromony that was considered a high honor to the band.
Nkisi dreamed of the day he could join his god, that was until he learned the truth of the ceromony on
his 13th birthday. That day a wizard from the south came seeking rare ingredients for his magic, a man
in old threadbare green robes called Ran. Ran exposed the Lich to the tribe for what it was, a greedy
malevolence that used the sacrifices to extend its undead life. The band, seeing the lich for what it
turely was, turned upon it. The battle was intense and lasted many months before the lich was
destroyed, however during the battle the lich managed to send its minions to destroy the food stores of
the band, leaving nothing for the rapidly coming winter.
That winter saw the death of the entire band, but the birth of a new horrifying creature.
As Nkisi watched his family and friends die slowly in the winter he offered what help he could; he
killed those too weak to fight through the cold nights and fed their remains to those who were too tired
and hungry to object. Every day he prayed to anything that would listen for a release from the
suffering, but the only response was the enduring cold of the harsh winter that had come.
In that hell of snow he had a great epiphany those who died where far better off than those that lived,
no longer suffering and forced to survive on the scraps of their loved ones. He then turned on his
remaining band and slew them all, offering their suffering to the cold and releasing them from the hell
they occupied. Once his grim work was done he stripped naked and walked into the building blizzard
that raged outside. There he stayed on the verge of death as he had his first communion with the spirits
of the dead who thanked him for their release, who told him of the warm lands beyond life that awaited
him, and all who he freed from their suffering.
As the blizzard passed Nkisi set out to find the Wizard who set these events into motion. Eventually he
found Ran in the city of Melvaunt, where the wizard had been working with the nobles there to develop
some kind of weapon. Ran welcomed Nkisi when all others shunned him, shared with him food, drink,
and knowledge, as well as his own tale of woe. He trained Nkisi as a wizard for a time, teaching him
how and where to seek out other mentors in the arcane arts who had passed beyond the mortal coil. One
such location was the tower of sorcery in melvaunt where those wizards who proved too weak for the
art were sacrificed to the tower. Their souls, ran said, would often linger for a time before being
consumed by the magic of the place. Ran also speculated that the lich who destroyed Nkisi's band
could be forced to divulge its secrets, as his spirit was likely tied to the place of its final death. Such
knowledge usually comes with a deal, which is almost always worth the price. He told Nkisi about the
deals he had to make in order to survive in the Fae Wylds and about the eventual day when those deals
would tear his soul asunder. Nkisi, feeling a kinship with this wizard, agreed to a deal; When Ran met
his end Nkisi would find a way to recover his soul and grant him the freedom that should be granted to
all in death. The next day Nkisi found that ran had left Melvaunt and that he himself was no longer
welcomed in the city. Nkisi traveled for many years around the area and eventually returned to the
place of his fallen people.
Using the bodies of his family and friends Nkisi began to rebuild. The bodies became valued friends,
and the head of his mother became his holy symbol.
Recently Nkisi came across a village decimated by a large force of Werewolves. The survivors where
all cursed horribly by their wounds, and all spoke of the ferocity of the wolves, fueled by some sort of
disease or plague that ravaged their bodies and minds. Nkisi helped what survivors he could, and
offered a release from suffering to those he could not. He decided to follow the hordes tracks and
discovered they are moving towards the city of melvaunt. Knowing he alone could do nothing to stop
the horde he has decided to track down a band of heroes in the area who have claimed an ancient orc
war fort as their home. Hopefully the brotherhood live up to their reputation.

Domains and extra spells

Mother Cyst
1 Necrotic Awareness
2 Necrotic Cyst, Necrotic Scrying
3 Necrotic Bloat
4 Necrotic Domination
5 Necrotic Burst
6 Necrotic Eruption
7 Necrotic Tumor
8 Necrotic Empowerment
9 Necrotic Termination

Winter: +2 on all wisdom checks during winter

1 Snow Sight
2 Snow walk
3 Winter's Embrace
4 Ice Storm
5 Blizzard
6 Death Hail
7 Control Weather
8 Summon Frost Giant
9 Fimbulwinter

Ghost: Cast Ectomancy spells at +1 CL

1 Protection from possession
2 Hold person or ghost
3 Undead bane Weapon
4 Proper State
5 Contingent spell lock
6 Undeath to Death
7 Repel Ectoplasm
8 Trap the Soul
9 Force Cage

Wizard Spell Book

1- Spirit Worm, Ebon Eyes, Nerve Skitter, Unseen Servant, Comprehend Languages, Detect Undead,
Mount, Mage Armor, Shivering touch (lesser), Summon undead 1, Ectoplasmic Armor, Suspend
Disease, Tongue Tendrils

2- Spectral Hand, Summon Undead 2, Summon Swarm, Heat Leech, Ghost Touch Armor, Spider
Climb, See Invisibility, Detect Thoughts

3- Tongues, Phantom Steed, Gaseous Form, Dispel Magic, Summon Undead 3, Crack Ice, Ectoplasmic
Feedback, Shivering Touch
4- Ice shield, Summon Undead 4, Curse, Remove Curse, Evard's Black Tentacles, Ice Storm, Animate
Dead, Contagion

5- Cloud Kill, Summon Undead 5, Magic Jar, Haunt Shift, Night's Caress, Gelied Blood, Soul
Shackles, Stop Heart

6- Heart Freeze, Incorporeal Nova, Move Earth, Spectral Touch, Dispel Magic (greater), Circle of
Death, Create Undead, Shadow Walk

7- Avasculate, Awaken Undead, Ghost Trap, Ice Castle

Cleric spells commonly used:

1- Bane, Cause Fear, Death Watch, Doom, Inflict Light Wounds, Remove Fear

2- Augury, Darkness, Death Knell, Desecrate, Gentle Repose, Inflict Moderate Wounds,

3- Animate Dead, Contagion, Helping Hand, Inflict Serious Wounds, Remove Disease, Speak With
Dead

4- Death Ward, Dimensional Anchor, Discern Lies, Dismissal, Inflict Critical Wounds, Neutralize
Poison, Poison, Repel Vermin

5- Atonment, Break Enchantment, Commune, Inflict light wounds (mass), Insect Plague, Mark of
Justice, Raise Dead, Slay Living, True Seeing, Unhallow

6- Antilife Shell, Create Undead, Harm, Inflict Moderate Wounds (mass), Undeath to Death
7- Control Weather, Destruction, Inflict Serious Wounds (mass), Ressurection

Holy Symbol: The Shriveled dried head of a person who died and mummified in the cold filled with
various poisons and rare metals worth 100gp

Feats
Human- Corpse Crafter
1-Tower Mage
3- Craft Wonderous Item
6- Undead Leadership
9- Deadly Chill
12- Destruction Retribution
15- Craft Arms and Armor
18- Craft Golem

Feats bought with Flaws

Endless winter: a storm of snow begins to build after a few hours for a few miles around Nkisi. The
storm lasts until he moves on again, slowly following him. The storm appears Haunted to all who look
at it, with eerie sounds of the dead wroiling through it. Because of the storm Nkisi is perpetually cold
and susceptable to high heat areas. In any temp above 70 he needs to begin making checks for
exhaustion at a -2, further all spells to help him deal with the heat have a chance at spell failure, a
Caster level check dc (10+ ½ Nkisi's HD) to affect him, failure means the spell fizles out and Nkisi
becomes immune to the effects for 1 hour.

Transdimensional Spell: Nkisi can affect incorporeal creatures with any specially prepared spell,
however when these spells are prepared he opens himself to the whispers of the dead who follow him,
giving him a random negative condition for 1 hour (which kicks in whenever Jake decides he wants the
haunting to happen). Nkisi cannot banish or control the spirits who inflict these haunting effects, as
they are a narrative device instead of an actual monster.

Mother Cyst: Nkisi has a tumor that gives him necrotic power, however the cyst in his brain causes
him to become more and more crazy as time progresses. The madness within him manifests as a
derangement called “power object fixation” which requires him to have a special item on him in order
to remain calm. This item is a set of 3 voodoo dolls, each representing one of the 3 types of magic he
can cast ( a wizard doll, a cleric doll, and a Tumor ridden doll) should one of these dolls be stolen or
destroyed he must make a concentration check dc 15+spell level from the associated type of magic or
lose the spell he attempted to cast, further he is at -4 to all attack rolls, saves, and skill checks as he can
“Hear” the spirit of the doll calling out to him. Replacing the doll is relatively easy, requiring only 10gp
of materials and a number of HP of blood equal to the caster level of the class to be “fed” to the doll.

Secret of the Mother Cyst: The cyst was actually part of a Lich's Phylacterie, acting as a sort of horcrux
to allow the lich to re-emerge if its actual phylacterie was ever destroyed. After its defeat by the hands
of Nkisi's people the lich went dormant for a time, but has recently started becoming more aware. It is
the mentor that trains Nkisi in the necromantic arts, it is the voice of arcane magic that speaks through
the doll. Eventually it may grow powerful enough to try to escape and reform its self, but until then it
waits and watches as its star pupil grows an even larger undead army...

Leadership: Score- ECL 18 + Cha Mod 3 + Undead Leadership 2 = 23

Lvl 1 – 90 (45 skeletons, 45 zombies)
Lvl 2 – 9 (Ghostwalk ghosts of lvl 1 warriors)
Lvl 3 – 5 (Ghostwalk ghosts of lvl 2 Warriors)
Lvl 4 – 3 (Ghostwalk ghosts of lvl 3 warriors)
Lvl 5 – 2 ghouls
Lvl 6 – 1 Shadow
Cohort: Farrow Blackcast lvl 10 sorceror/ ghost

18th level character wealth: 440,000 (116,450 remains)

Master work Dagger, bracers of armor +3, headband of intellect +2, ring of protection +2
adventurer's kit
spell book + holy symbol
Cadaver Golem x 10 (heroes of horror)
Rod of undead mastery (LM)