A robed figured entered the Rikdah’s room with magical flames sparking in his eyes.

“You asked the mayor for me come see you. What do you need?”

“I was just interested in learning more about undead. They have always been fascinating to me.”

“I do have a couple of books on them. If you would follow me I will lead you to my library.”

The wizard walked out of the room. Rikdah stood up from the bed on which he was sitting on and slowly followed him. Stopping him at the doorway one of the two guards outside said:

“The lord has a task for you when you finish your business with the wizard.”

Rikdah nodded his head in agreement and continued following the wizard. The room of the wizard wasn’t very far from Rikdah’s. The door of the room was engraved with runes loaded with arcane energy. The robed man didn’t mind the runes and opened the door. Inside the room was messy, there were books everywhere. One of the shelves immediately cаught the Dark Elf’s attention it was full of scrolls some of which were scrolls of teleportation, Rikdah had rarely seen this kind of scroll. He knew that he would need it if he wanted to travel to the Castle of the Archon.

“By the way my name is Alexander. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Rikdah, nice to meet you too. About the books I wanted to borrow - are you sure you know where they are?”

“What do you mean? Of course I know where they are.” He looked through the piles of books on one of the many shelves fell and opened itself. It was an old leather bound tome with a symbol which was almost unrecognizable due to the time it had spent in this pile. It caught the Drow’s attention. Rikdah kneeled to pick it up but the wizard was too occupied to notice what his guest was doing. What was written inside the book was in old elvish which seemed strange to him. Quickly looking through it the contents seemed insignificant, but on closer inspection it revealed itself to be the journal of a powerful lich, complete with all the recipes for his dark rituals and spells.

Why would this wizard have this? And what is up with the runes on the door, a detection mechanism maybe? was all Rikdah could think about at this moment.

A cold arm grabbed Rikdah’s shoulder. He jumped up from this surprise, his heart skipped a beat. He was so lost in thought that he never noticed the wizard who was now standing behind him, and asked him several times if this was what he needed. The Dark elf wasn’t the only one surprised seeing as the wizard had already prepared a spell and was going to cast it at the unsuspecting elf. Neither one moved, they just stared at each other and after Alexander had stopped channeling the spell they continued.

“I found this book about the undead it is an encyclopedia on them with some additional notes about liches, these buggers are a pain in the ass to fight.”

“Thank you, can I borrow the book and go to my room or do I need to read them here?”

“Either way is fine.”

“Ok then, if that is everything I shall be on my way.”

Rikdah had a few things on his mind to think about while going on his short way to his room. The strange things which he saw today deserved more time to think about.

At the door of his room stood the two guards looking at a particular spot on the wall. Seeing the elf approaching they mentioned that the lord wanted to see him.

“Guess nothing could be done about that.” He thought

“I’ll go after a minute or two just let me leave the books inside my room.”

The two men nodded in agreement. The Elf entered the room dropped the book about the undead on his desk and put the journal in the inner pocked in his cloak. Leaving the room the two guards led him to the mayor’s office.

Rikdah already knew the way, after a short walk down the same looking hallways he found himself in front of the office. The large wooden door opened with a creek. Lord Indam was already inside, sitting on his red leather chair behind his desk. Looking aside from the documents he was signing he saw the Drow in front of him.

“So you did decide to show up. I will be sending a scouting party to go in the stronghold of the thief’s guild. I don’t want you to go outside this castle tomorrow because the guild may be on the run and if they discover you are on my side they will kill your friends.”

“Very well I had some books I wanted to read anyway.”

After this short conversation the drow went back to his room, once more followed by the two men. Entering the door he saw that the book he had borrowed was still on his desk and his bed was made and the room cleaned, presumably by one of the many servants of the lord. He sat of his bed and opened the book. None of the details were new to him his uncle was once a lich, which made Rikdah unnaturally interested in the undead. He considered them as easier to deal with than the living but here raising the dead was considered taboo so he never spawned his servants. Quickly reading past some of the pages he stumbled upon the page with the liches on it. The information was insignificant, no one wanted or got close to a lich to gather information, at least alive that is so they were unpredictable and smart, quite the dangerous combination for a monster of their power. The journal interested him more so he closed the encyclopedia and opened it. The journal itself was also interesting. It had a vague arcane aura around it which could barely be detected. It detailed the life of this lich and all the secrets he learned over the centuries which he lived. He had detailed a number of thought to be lost magical spells and ritual which no sane man would attempt. Fortunately Rikdah wasn’t one of the sane. The most interesting one of them was the exact ritual of turning oneself into a lich. This greatly interested Rikdah as any way to gain more power was welcomed. His mission was difficult yet he had to complete it so any help would be welcomed. The unsettling ritual required a number of plants which could conveniently be found on this island. The decision whether or not to turn himself into a lich wasn’t a new one. Rikdah had already though it out he was going to do it. This would ruin the chances of him forming a normal life once more but his patron had already done that anyway. Today was the day he fully lost his humanity.