Archmage Null 18th-level Mage

AC -6 (bracers of defense AC2, cloak of protection +2, ring of protection +4 MV 12; hp 36; THAC0 15; Dmg ld4+5 or better (dagger +5, inflicts double damage on a 19 and triple damage on a natural 20 Str 9, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 5; AL CE (NE). Spells (wizard): 5 each of 1st- through 5th-levels; 3 6th-level, 3 7th-level, 2 8th-level, 19th-level.

Null is a nondescript, whining little fellow. At 5' 3", he is very self-conscious about his lack of height and secretly wears boots with raised heels to appear taller. He has thin, straggly black hair and brown eyes. This is a man whose sebaceous glands have run riot all his life, so Null is greasy, acned, and thoroughly unwholesome.

Null is easily bullied by Iuz or the High Priestesses, but he has formed an alliance with Jumper, partly because of their mutual fear of Kermin. Null and Jumper worked well together in the invasion of the Shield Lands and the Horned Society, but most importantly, Null managed not to make any serious mistakes during the war. That earned him the promotion to the Greater Boneheart.

Null declined the offer of rulership of the Shield Lands, knowing that he didn't have the personality or authority to do the job well, so he had Vayne sent there instead. Null has found a specific niche for himself where he can stick to what he is good at. Null is the experimenter par excellence. He has developed the bonewand, enchanted many of the magical skulls along the Road of Skulls, and has placed unique magical defenses and powers in some of the watchtowers and castles of the empire. Now he spends much of his time in Fleichshriver, trying to develop more malign new spells and magical items. Null's treasured pet project is an undead creature, zombie-like, which will explode into a great acid-laden firestorm when destroyed. The trick is trying to get it to not explode if destroyed within 20 feet of a priest or mage of Iuz, and that is causing Null some difficulty. Null has a bonewand and wand of frost, both fully charged, but he places great store on protective items given his relatively low hp total. He has a ring of spell turning and a unique magical brooch which radiates a permanent shield effect, valuable against magic missile attacks, which can also generate mirror images 3/day with at least two such images. He has a magical amulet which casts protection from fiends 10' radius as Null wishes, so that no fiend can approach him unless he attacks it first. It also casts banishment and symbol of pain against fiends only, 2/day each. Null neither likes nor trusts creatures from the Outer Planes.

In addition, Null has a talisman which can cast a stoneskin 3/day, and has cast a permanency spell so that he can detect invisible at will. He has protective stone golems in his own chambers of the Boneheart Citadel and also in Fleichshriver. Null always has teleport without error spells memorized and available on scrolls, and has a contingency spell operative at all times to teleport his body back to his chambers if he is slain, held, feebleminded or otherwise incapacitated. Finally, Null has employed a wish spell to grant himself a saving throw against spells which normally do not permit one, such as power word, maze, etc. The wish will protect him against the next four spells of such a type used against him.

Null is an obsessive man who is only concerned with his magical experiments. He is also extremely self protective, and managing to slay him would be a great feat indeed, certainly requiring several adventures and more than one slaying to finish him off for good. Of course, though, he does have an embryonic clone in temporal stasis . . . .