Rike

"They made me kill my sister!"

Sorensgard

The Raven Queen

Rike is a half-elven wizard who served as the steward for the Reidargard and a close ally of the Ash. He was later discovered to be a servant of Vecna and responsible for the events that led to the Sorensgard being summoned.

## Early History

Rike raised his younger sister Sarah from an early age. Approximately fifteen years before the start of the campaign, Sarah was trampled to death while trying to watch the departure of the Great Caravan. Heartbroken, Rike threw himself into the study of magic, desperate to return his baby sister to life and after several long years, he succeeded. Now a grown man, Rike hid his sister away but somehow his actions were discovered. He and Sarah were brought before the Judiciary and Rike pleaded for his sister's life. She had returned perfectly intact, not as an undead creature but as a little girl, exactly as she had been when she died and Rike argued that she had nothing to do with his actions and had the right to live. However, the chief Justice Syldun declared that her return was an affront to the Raven Queen and handed down a sentence of death. As punishment for his arrogance and blasphemy, Rike was forced to be her executioner.

After the sentence was carried out, Rike joined the Reidargard in an apparent effort to reform. In reality however he had sworn vengeance against the Judiciary, the Queen and all who had been involved in his sister's death. In addition to his own home, he found two abandoned houses in the city and cast teleportation circles inside them leading to a far-off place where he did his studying and later, his grisly work.

## Tenure at the Reidargard

While working as steward, Rike began to have nightmares in which he was approached by a sickly man who offered the means to his revenge. He continued his studies in secret and found himself drawn to the necromantic arts, egged on by the figure in his dreams. His desire for revenge extended further, and soon he had resolved to kill not only those involved in Sarah's death, but all followers of the Raven Queen and even the goddess herself. Following the instructions of the figure in his dreams, Rike began stockpiling corpses, planning to destroy the city with a tsunami of the undead as a final insult to the goddess he despised. He began to pursue the secrets of immortality in order to achieve his goals and at some point severed his own hand, replacing it with an artefact known as the Hand of Vecna. He later began collecting the ingredients necessary for the Ritual of Lichdom, and just prior to the start of the campaign arranged for the delivery of a dragon's egg, hoping to retrieve the heart of the beast within. His plan were thwarted by the Sorensgard who found the egg and killed the infant dragon. He made several attempts on the lives of the party, hoping to get them out of the way and resume his work in secret, but when they overcame his every effort he decided it was time to retreat to his 'workshop', now filled with 12 years worth of bodies, and begin his assault.

## Betrayal

During a chaotic attack, Rike slipped into the Reidargard vault and carved the heart from the dragon's corpse. He was, however, interrupted by the quartermaster Cecil and was forced to kill him to prevent discovery. Never one to let a corpse go to waste, Rike realised he could use Cecil against the recently-discovered paladin of the Raven Queen, Tommy, and took both the heart and the body to his home. Upon returning, he injured himself and waited to be found. When he was discovered by the Sorensgard and the Ash, he pointed blame at Cecil and resigned his post. While the Sorensgard began their wild goose chase, Rike retreated to his workshop and resurrected Cecil as a revenant, somehow convincing him that Tommy was his enemy. He then set his army of the undead loose on Soren's Fist.

During the Sorensgard's attempts to redeem the soul of a former paladin, Rike sent his astral form to speak with them, explaining his motivations and inviting the party to join him. When they rejected him, Rike disappeared and has not been seen since. He is presumed to be continuing his journey towards Lichdom.