Lich, The Yellow King
Undead Dungeon Lord
The word lich means "corpse," though it is sometimes more polite to call them "flesh-body bodhisattvas" to their face. Regardless, liches are corpses that remain animate and passably sentient long after death.
Liches are miserable creatures. We're not playing the tired refrain that "Living forever is a curse and a burden." It isn't. Life is usually desirable. Life unending is a desirable thing. But lichdom is not. Lichdom is not eternal life; it is eternal death.
Lichdom is only possible for the truly mad and the truly obsessed. One does not—cannot—become a lich if they have good intentions sadly bound by brief mortal constraints. To become a lich, one must have an obsession that they cannot give up, not even in death: some love, some vengeance, some task that must persist, long after their muscles give out, their skin is torn away, and their bones crumble into dirt.
Many have attempted to attain a state of lichdom. Few have succeeded. The Yellow King is one who has entered these blasphemed ranks. The Yellow King's name is cursed forever. He is synonymous with evil and sorrow.
The Yellow King is obsessed with unrequited love. He speaks in simpering tones about his one true love Kloë, their short affair, and their tragic parting. In actuality, this lich is a big misogynistic moron.
Attributes: Swords 3 | Pentacles 3 | Cups 3 | Wands 6
Likes: Rambling About Unrequited Love, Romantic Poetry, Performative Weeping, Magical Theory
Hates: Being Interrupted As He Raves, Strong Acids (like wine), Puns
Special rules
When defeated, a lich's body crumbles away until a single impenetrable, invulnerable crystal skull remains. The crystal skull will eventually regrow a body unless the lich's phylactery is destroyed.
A lich's phylactery is the key to their immortality. The phylactery can be anything, as long as it's an object of complete obsession for the lich. It can be an egg, a shell, or a broken dagger. It's almost always transitory and vulnerable—that's why the lich is obsessed with it. The lich almost always has their phylactery nearby.
Lastly, liches usually have powerful items they can employ during battle—a crown of archwood, in the case of the Yellow King. Taking these away will deprive a lich of power, but they can rarely be used by someone else.
Phylactery — Health/Defense: 1/0
The Yellow King's phylactery is a love letter from Kloë, filed away on a shelf of seemingly identical letters in his chambers. The Yellow King will always regrow his body unless this phylactery is destroyed.
Crown of Archwood — Health/Defense: 1/4
The Yellow King wears a crown of archwood that allows him to use his magical powers without having components in hand.
Notching the crown deals 2 Wounds to the crown. Destroying it disables the crown entirely. Disarming the crown knocks it from the Yellow King's head, denying him these abilities until he Recovers the crown.
While wearing the crown, an adventurer with the Gramarye talent can make magical attacks as if they were wielding an archwood wand. Adventurers cannot use the Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft or Day of Tears and Mourning abilities. The crown can be sold for 1,000g in the City.
The Yellow King has the following powers while wearing the crown.
Notes
- Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft.
The Yellow King can levitate as a miscellaneous action, hovering in the air for as long as he wishes. While he hovers in the upper reaches of the room, the Yellow King can only be struck by ranged attacks.
Lesser dooms
- If the Poison Won't Take You My Dogs Will.
The Yellow King makes Attacks with arcane energy up to one zone away. He adds his Wands attribute (instead of Swords) to these Attacks on his turn. The Yellow King is never engaged by using this ability.
Greater dooms
- Day of Tears and Mourning.
While wearing the crown, the Yellow King can cast any spells from Appendix A without components. Cast spells by playing a lesser doom Speak Incantations action and discarding a greater doom card instead of spending Resolve. Each additional greater doom card discarded counts as an additional +1 Resolve.
Body — Health/Defense: 5/9
If defeated, the Yellow King will be reduced to an invulnerable crystal skull that will eventually regrow a body as long as his phylactery is intact. While his body still lives, he has the following abilities.
Notes
- Breathless and Undreaming.
The Yellow King ignores any effects related to living processes. He does not breathe. He does not sleep. He cannot be poisoned. He is immune to the Poison Blood of seablooded orcs.
- Second Sight.
The Yellow King permanently benefits from the effects of second sight. He can see and identify magical effects and perceive Shrouded creatures.
- Rotting Brains.
The Yellow King ignores any attempts to manipulate his mind. He is immune to the Inspire effect. He cannot see illusions.
Lesser dooms
- I Am the Fucking Death Dealer/I Am the Butcher of the World.
The Yellow King manifests and strikes with a weapon of hate—a sword of blood, a whip of tears, etc. Treat as a melee Attack that deals Piercing damage.
- May Failure Be Your Noose.
If an adventurer fails to hit the Yellow King's Initiative, the Yellow King may immediately play a card to make any standard Challenge Action against that adventurer. This action does not count towards the one card per turn limit.
- Sorrow! Sorrow! Sorrow!
Role-play a few sentences about unrequited love. Play a lesser doom card and compare its value to the Initiative of each character who can hear the Yellow King. If the Yellow King does this on his turn, he adds his Wands to the total value. Characters he succeeds against suffer the Stun effect.
Greater dooms
- Do You Doubt Me, Traitor?
When the Yellow King takes damage, discard a greater doom card to force the attacking player to cross something off their character sheet—a talent, a motif, their name, a pack slot, anything. Put a big X through it. The adventurer regains the crossed-out part of the character sheet at the end of their next Camp Phase. This action does not count towards the one card per turn limit.
- Faithful Servant, Tender Companion.
Play a greater doom card to create a temporary clone of any dead person from the guild's past. The clone knows everything they knew in life and has HD 1/0.
- Soft Is Their Throat, Soft Is Their Skull/Fragrant Is My Many Flower'd Crown.
When the Yellow King Attacks, discard a greater doom card to attempt to enchant a single target. If successful, the target is Controlled to accomplish some insane task. Example tasks:
- Protect something because your heart has been put inside of it.
- You aren't wearing anything. Cover up!
- Make a meal for your baby. Your baby likes meat.