Zuch Achtunge

**Zuch Achtunge** is lizardfolk male monk played by Dean

## Character Sketch

Zuch Achtunge is a silent, solitary figure, who speaks little and has few friends or associates. An air of mystery hangs about him.

## Biography

Zuch Achtunge was born in 3E:1060 in Har Ahktar into a family of slaves. When he was still an infant, the slavers ship he was on sunk, and he was on the only survivor, washing ashore on the Isle of Edlis. Zuch was rescued and raised by the monks there. He was present when one of the novice of his order, Shensen Tesseril, left the monastery over their refusal to shelter a bard. A few years later Zuch made the acquaintance of Ganriel T'renhazaan, a drow of a taciturn nature who was seeking Shensen, believing her to be his long lost daughter. After Ganriel saved his life, Zuch decided to repay the debt by helping the drow search for Shensen. In 4E:24, when Zuch was 34, they met the elf Enailis Nailo, and the trio travelled together, seeking answers. Their journey took them to Mokeria, where they met Thrain Chi-Minh and Agmar Schwarzwald. Together they would form the adventuring group known as “Salaphrim's Five”.

With his companions, Zuch broke the Brotherhood siege of Perist and was later partly responsible for the death of the Dark Matriarch of the Ralurians, Liselle Doomguard. After that he was trapped for a while on a distant and dark plane, an experience that traumatised him deeply, though he is reluctant to discuss it. He and his companions freed the Night Dragon from the control of the priest Sheramaku, defeated the dark lord Jask-Incalin, and then imprisoned the Night Dragon within that very same domain.

Zuch next reappeared in the Ruins of Castle Genio, in the Solitary Isles. Captured by the Twisted Claw Society, Zuch remembered little of the circumstances that led to his kidnapping, but with the aid of fellow prisoners, Shera Torlak and Zendra Kuthutulu, he was able to escape the ruins and the dread pirate Jack Shandy - but in doing so, he pledged himself to the service of the Horned God, a decision that would likely cause difficulties in the future.

He would later reunite with Agmar, now serving in the Ducal Guard of the Solitary Isles, and learn of the tragic fate of Ganriel - killed by Shera Torlak is self defense after he had contracted lycanthropy. Agmar, Zuch and Shera were the only attendees of the modest funeral given for the drow.

Some time later, Zuch was approached by Thadeus Moonsong, retired Legionnaire and innkeeper at the Golden Griffon Inn. Zuch, along with Shera, Zendra and Renshu the Orschan, was to escort the aarakocra Aaera of Aaqa to Silatan Island, and there convince the sole inhabitant of the island, Ramon the Burned, to give up the piece of the Rod of Seven Parts that he possessed. While the others took a ship, Zuch made his own way to the island. Upon arriving, however, they discovered that Ramon has been killed, and his fortress occupied by Orschans. Zuch and his companions drove off the Orschans, recover the piece of the Rod, and were awarded ownership of the now vacant keep.

Roughly a month later they assisted Thadeus with another task - solving the recent spate of murders in Bongenio. Two new companions joined them on this adventure: Mercy, Thadeus' adopted daughter, and the mysterious assassin Farvadin, a member of the shadowy Thieves Guild of Bongenio.

A month or so later he was present in the Golden Griffon Inn when it was attacked by the forces of Order, and escaped via the sewers to Fort Makmon.

After a harrowing escape through underground passages, they reached safety but had little time for rest. Mercy's father, Thadeus, along with the deposed captain of the guard, Agmar Schwarzwald, had been captured by the forces of Order, and both had been shipped to the infamous Granite Mountain Prison. A daring plan for their rescue was hatched, so Fort Makmon was left in the hands of trusted associates, while the heroes made their way to Granite Mountain Prison aboard the *Gannet*.

During the sea voyage, a storm damaged the ship, forcing the heroes to make an unexpected landing at a coastal strip of Tempest known only as the "Dark Place". Here the heroes tangled with a gacholoth and barely escaped from their lives. With the ship seaworthy again, they continued on their way to the prison.

The infiltration was a success, and Agmar and Thadeus were rescued and brought safely on board the *Gannet*. Unfortunately, upon the ship's return to the Solitary Isles, Zuch and his companions discovered that Fort Makmon was under siege by the forces of Khyron Bloodsworn.

Entering Fort Makmon through the secret entrance, the heroes managed to lift the siege, with Zendra slaying Khyron Bloodsworn to break the ranks of the enemy. The spellcaster Skaven Umbermead also died in the battle, but the other two commanders escaped. The leader of the occupation, Pierce McBrian, disowned Khyron and washed his hands of the blackguard's actions, but still refused to end the blockade until the chaos cultists were dealt with. Thanks to a tip-off from Raoul "The Crow", the heroes identified the leader of the cultists, Eliasia Ebon, and hunted her down to the Isle of the Basilisk.

After this, he and Zendra attended her brother Wilbur's wedding, and so was unable to participate in the mission to rescue Zenith Splintershield from Bhal-Hamatugn.

A month or so later, Dovinio Alariat, King of the Solitary Isles paid a visit to his realm from Macrodonia, and the heroes of Fort Makmon were invited to the traditional buffalo hunt. During the hunt, the king was murdered, and the heroes caught up in the turmoil. They found themselves ranged against Freija Doorgan, the Royal Mage of Macrodonia, who had masterminded the regicide as a way to place Dovinio's pliable son on the throne and rule through him. The heroes recovered the crown of the Solitary Isles and crowned Dovinio's sister, instead, defeating Freija in the process.

In the following months they took a ship to the Isle of the Ancestors, where they met Maavu Arlintal in Redgorge. Arlintal tasked them to find Alek Tercival, and request that the paladin withdraw his challenge to the captain of Cauldron's guard. Tracking Tercival to the Demonskar, they followed him through a Soldara gate to a distant vault in the Avera Desert. Here Tecival was killed by Nabthatoron, whom the heroes subsequently defeated.

Marooned in the Avera Desert, the heroes made their way to Balthasar, an isolated outpost on the edge of nowhere. The city's tower bore the sign of the Smoking Eye, but to enter it the heroes had to solve that horrific crime that had been committed behind Balthasar's walls. Borric Thalmann, a merchant lord of Balthasar had been killed in an arson attack, and the three suspects fled to an isolated subterranean lair in the desert. With the conspirators revealed as Yuan-Ti, the heroes defeated them in battle, as well as the terrifying yuan-ti leader, Yith'sehta. They returned to Balthasar in triumph, and were granted access to the tower only for Graymalkin, Shera's familiar, to transform into a humanoid sorcerer and beg them to journey with him to the demonic realm of Occiptius.

On Occipitus they faced the tests of the Smoking Eye, accompanied by the former Graymalkin (now calling himself Kaurophon). After passing the gruelling challenges they reached the final test, where they were betrayed by Kaurophon, who hoped to claim the power of Occipitus for himself. They defeated him and were transported to an unknown dungeon. Here they were taunted by Vervil Ashmantle, who told them of his plans to enslave them. Escaping the prison they found themselves in the depths of the dungeons beneath Castle Genio. They eventually found their way back to the surface, where they caught a boat from Aodh's Landing back to Fort Makmon.

Their next mission required them to infiltrate the distant port of Scuttlecove, a den of pirates and other reprobates. There was an increase in crime in the Solitary Isles, and narcotics originating in Scuttlecove were believed to be the source of it all. Disguising themselves as pirates, the heroes accompanied their old enemy Jonath Lever on the journey. Once in Scuttlecove they quickly identified the Porphyry House as the source of the drug, and making tenuous alliances with Kedward Bone and Tyralandi they infiltrated the brothel finding the ringleader, Wulvera, and killing her along with her minions. With their mission successful they left the island but Captain Lever, intoxicated on sannish, took them in the wrong direction and they ran aground on the infamous Isle of Dread.

To get supplies and assistance in repairing the ship, the heroes beseeched the villagers of Mora for aid. The village offered any help it could in exchange for finding its lost Zombie Master, Tilorak, and ending the magical storm that wracked the island. After braving the catacombs beneath the village, the heroes found Tilorak, now an undead monster, and defeated him and his kopru allies, ending the storm.

However, after the heroes returned with both supplies and labourers to their ship, Lever had gone, along with several of the crewmen. Villagers from Tanaroa confirmed to the heroes that Lever and his companions had left for the centre of the island, seeking a giant black pearl in the temple on Taboo Island.

As the group trekked through the island, they met with the mysterious rakasta and were shown the way to the central plateau. At the sole crossing, they were attacked by a swarm of pteranodons and a rogue tyrannosaurus rex. In the battle, Renshu was carried off by a pteranodon, to parts unknown, but the rest continued on their way to Mantru. Here they learned more of Taboo Island, and Captain Lever's reasons for journeying there. They took small boats to the island but were attacked by a giant crocodile. Farvadin dove underwater to finish the creature off. When they arrived on Taboo Island they were attacked by tribal warriors but survived this encounter to discover a statue of Demogorgon. The statue drew them into a dream world where they were given vital information about Adimarchus and the Cagewrights, as well as boons from Demogorgon, Graz'zt and Orcus.

The heroes continued to explore the ruins beneath Taboo Island an eventually found Captain Lever, captured by a group of kopru. After rescuing him, they returned to Mantru, only to come under the attack of the great green dragon Xiureksor. The wyrm's poison breath knocked all the heroes into unconsciousness.

They awoke some interminable time later, deep in the bowels of the Shrine to Zotzilaha in the ruined city of Tamoachan. Braving deadly traps, fearsome creatures, and cursed undead, the heroes eventually escaped from the temple, emerging on to the surface above where they reunited with Grinkle, Zendra's henchman. The goblin helped them escape the pursuing dragon and brought them to the village of Uskarn, where Captain Lever and their ship awaited them.

Upon their arrival in Uskarn, however, they discovered a dead body of an exhausted hermit, and a further complication of their ship being impounded by the village leaders. In order to have it released, they were required to investigate the mysterious death of the hermit. This would take them to the hermitage of Firewatch Island. There they uncovered the fate of the hermits - an attack by undead creatures known as "the Drowned". They fought off another assault from the creatures, rescued the survivors (including Renshu's sister, Kimiko, and then brought them to safety in Uskarn, before the headed off to find the source of the undead menace, a place called the Pit of Hatred.

## Notable Possessions

Zuch wields the mace Skullcrusher and the Bleeding Spear.