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[Nephraal]

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It had been several days since Admoreth had risen Charnel Hill into the battlement of Oblivion that it is now. The Lich Lord had appointed Nephraal as the keeper of Charnel Hill, perhaps for several reasons. One of which, Nephraal always spent his time within the dusty, decayed confines of the cemetery even before it had been changed. Another could be that the Lich Lord couldn’t force Nephraal to leave even if he wanted too. Nephraal had taken up permanent residence in Maabu’s old study ever since discovering it long ago.

The appointed Lord of Charnel Hill had grown ever more engrossed in the forbidden tomes he had found in the study and the ones that were moved from the Scholomance in Caina to the Order’s new home. Beyond just the mind tainting volumes he had taken possession of, Nephraal had become increasingly paranoid and possessive of the two rings he had laid claim to. The simple bands of gold had engravings of the Ebon Tongue on them that he had at one time some difficulty in reading but now the words flowed easily in his now twisted psyche.

“Halarn xa da Tazenkof” Ring of the Skull
“Halarn xa da Lavas’krosisgholad Dazarieng” Ring of the Lich Lord

He had found the ring of the Skull in Maabu’s study when he had first unearthed its many secrets. That ring was what drove Maabu on his quest and what ultimately resulted in his demise. The same ring was what drove the Seekers to find the Skull and succeed where Maabu failed.

The ring of the Lich Lord, Nephraal had taken from Nizar’s corpse when he and the others, Admoreth and Zh’Azhak, had betrayed the first Lich Lord and disposed of him. He had often wondered if Admoreth would attempt to claim it and what would happen if so. He knew deep down that he would never give it up as the pull of the first ring grew even stronger when he had taken the second Ring of Oblivion.

After claiming the second ring, Nephraal had soon after begun to grow increasingly pale and cold to the touch. He had always been sickly and had harbored the secret that his illness would soon be the death of him. This was why he had first searched for the secrets of Oblivion that the Brotherhood in Umbra had always tried to hide. He wanted to continue to exist. Despite his service to Oblivion then and now he wasn’t ready to be devoured by the Void just quite yet. Despite the sense of empowerment that these trinkets had given him, he did notice, ever so slightly, the change that he was undergoing – one that seemed most assuredly for the worse.

Nephraal’s collection had just gained a new addition since the ascension of Charnel Hill. During his long nights roaming the new bastion of undeath and decay, Nephraal had found another ring amongst the remains of some violated corpse in a nest of giant carrion beetles deep in the catacombs. This one was slightly different however as the substance it was made of wasn’t gold but of bone. An inscription like that of the other two however was found within the band and it was in the ancient Stygian dialect.

“Halarn xa Posile” Ring of Bone

Since discovering this gruesome new relic, Nephraal had been wearing all three rings at once. With the newest one he had felt this sense of power increase drastically. He did not notice however how his heartbeat had slowed down to barely a crawl and how he had grown cadaverously pale and thin. He no longer felt the need to eat and his sleep was often short and plagued of visions from Ages long past in another time and land.

On the fifth night since the finding of the ring of Bone, the necromancer had awoken with a start. Something had changed but in his groggy, night terror rattled mind he could not grasp what it was immediately. Looking over his body he was terrified at first to see hundreds of carrion beetles crawling all over his thin frame. They had started to feed on him though the wounds they left were shallow and contained barely a trace of blood. Perhaps more shocking was that the horror he first felt upon seeing these distant relatives of the beasts found deeper within the catacombs and the gruesome task they had set to on his body was fading quickly. He coldly and calmly brushed them off, for a more pressing realization had become known to him. There were other rings he now felt out there in the realms and the artifacts he now wore were starting to pull him towards them.

Nephraal quickly finished removing the creeping carrion beetles off his body and robes and set forth with a new task in mind. He would find these other Rings of Oblivion and would obtain the power and secrets locked within.
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