Cyril Lambrecht, Resolute Ritualist
Past. Cyril Lambrech was once a mild-mannered hedge wizard, performing odd jobs for the farms, businesses, and lord of his countryside town of Saint Clarine. When reports emerged that an Aslakian dragon had been seen stealing livestock in the countryside nearby, Lord Hubert de Saint Clarine sent to the nearby city of Saint Martens for aid—but aid never arrived.
Cyril never learned why the dragon attacked—whether Saint Clarine had offended it, or whether it was merely the first volley in the war that followed—but when Saint Clarinewas reduced to ash and embers, Cyril was one of the few survivors.
When his efforts to seek his family and neighbors' resurrection from the Church led only to his imprisonment for unlicensed magecraft, Cyril became determined to bring them back himself. After a chance visit allowed him to obtain the long-lost spellbook of infamous ritualist Benoit Dumont from a bookshop owner (who almost certainly didn't know what he had), Cyril spent six months decoding the runes within, then used Dumont's notes and spells to become a powerful necromancer himself.
After Saint Clarine's destruction and the perpetrator's capture and execution became the casus belli of a Lumontish-Aslakian war, Cyril spent the following years recruiting and training a small army of apprentices from victims, deserters, and refugees. Satisfied and emboldened by the zeal of his followers, Cyril set off to complete and carry out Dumont's final, unfinished ritual: one that would allow the caster to consume the souls of thousands in order to become a new god.
Present. Now in middle-age, with greying salt-and-pepper hair, pale skin from days spent indoors and underground, and sunken eyes from too many sleepless, nightmare-filled nights, Cyril was, and remains, a mild-mannered, well-dressed man who knows he has come too far to turn back now. He is unfailingly polite, though at times fails to prevent his countryside roots from showing. He bears little anger toward Saint Martens or the ruling class of Lumont now—only a quiet, unbreakable, grim conviction that justice has come for them at last.
At the time the players arrive in the Tomb of Divine Rays, Cyril is in the Tomb's Gathering Hall with his undead guard and zombie dragon "pet," monitoring and controlling the flows of energy from the leyline beneath the catacombs as he prepares to unleash the ritual's final phase.
Future. Cyril has long believed that he has no future. He intends to use his power, once ascended, to restore the lives lost in the border towns through necromancy, starting with Saint Clarine. Once his task is complete, he fully intends to abdicate his power and relinquish his spirit to the void.
Cyril, Resolute Ritualist
HP 112 (25d8) AC 13 (mage armor) Speed 30 ft.
STR 10 (+0), DEX 10 (+0), CON 10 (+0), INT 18 (+4), WIS 16 (+3), CHA 18 (+4)
Saves CON +4, INT +8
Gear 1 yew staff
Actions
Ray of Frost. +8 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of Cyril's next turn.
Burning Hands (4/day). DEX DC 16, each creature in a 15-foot cone. Effect: 11 (3d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
Doomstorm (2/day). CON DC 16, range 300 ft., each non-undead, non-construct creature within a 20-foot-radius. Effect: On a failure, a target takes 21 (6d6) necrotic damage and falls prone. On a successful save, the target takes half damage and doesn't fall prone.
Expanded Resilient Sphere (1/day). Range 30 ft., 1 minute (concentration). A shimmering sphere encloses a 10-foot-radius area, preventing anything from passing through the barrier. The sphere is immune to all damage, but is destroyed if targeted with a disintegrate spell.
Bonus Actions
Arcane Vigor (3/day). Cyril expends up to two hit dice and regains a number of Hit Points equal to the result plus 4.
Reactions
Counterspell (3/day). CON DC 16, one creature that Cyril can see casting a spell, range 60 ft. Failure: The spell has no effect. (The slot isn't expended.)