John Lancaster Cavendish

"I was exposed to a vaudeville performer at a young age, and it scarred me for life."

In the long-running the Eye of Anubis-campaign on the Fraternity of Shadows roleplaying forum, John Lancaster Cavendish was the main antagonist to the members of the Menetnashte Expedition.

Appearance

John Lancaster Cavendish appeared as a tall, black-haired and thin humanoid man dressed in the black coat and top hat common to undertakers in both Paridon and Mordent. He sported a well-groomed beard and moustache, and habitually wore glasses with smoked lenses. After his killing of Expedition guard Allikhain with a broken quarterstaff, he fitted the bloodstained weapon with a bone handle and carried it as a cane in order to demoralize and enrage the surviving members of the Expedition. His skin was grey and he had teeth like a shark. These traits made the members of the Menetnashte Expedition erroneously believe he was some kind of free-willed undead for a long time.

Identity & Motivation

It was revealed over the course of the campaign that "John Lancaster Cavendish" was actually an identity fabricated by the Scholar-Fiend Adramelech, better known in Port-a-Lucine by his favourite identity, philosophy professor Adrian Ramsey.

Adramelech had entered into a wager with Balfour De Casteelle, Umbra of the Fraternity of Shadows; each would make arrangements to be first to acquire the emerald known as the Eye of Anubis. If Adramelech won, De Casteelle would be obligated to induct him in the ranks of the Fraternity of Shadows in spite of its bylaws against non-human members and Adramelech's ineligibility on account of being a Cleric, rather than a Mage capable of casting Illusion-spells. If De Casteelle won, Adramelech would be obligated to use his contacts among the undead of Necropolis to grant the Fraternity access to the library of the University of Il Aluk.

Creating the identity of John Lancaster Cavendish was Adramelech's way of playing the game; in the guise of an exuberant and possibly insane Necromancer, he would harry and try to destroy the Menetnashte Expedition, which had been sent by De Casteelle. Gradually, however, Adramelech/Cavendish came to desire the gemstone because it was the prison of the malignant Vestige Beherith. This entity could potentially make the dread doppelganger 'god-emperor' of the Core and allow it to make the changes it had dreamed of inflicting on its kindred in Paridon. This potential prize far outstripped membership in the Fraternity of Shadows, and Cavendish eventually made a play for the Eye when it was in the Fraternity's custody, setting himself against them as well as the Menetnashte Expedition.

Powers & Evolution

"Travel broadens the mind. Even the mind of a psychopath."

Although John Lancaster Cavendish started out with the already impressive powers of Adramelech (a masterful Cleric of the Divinity of the Masters, a powerful melee combatant, a vicious manipulator, an experienced shapeshifter and Dominion-level follower of the Via Plubum), he developed new talents and improved his existing powers during the journey from Port-a-Lucine to Har'Akir.

As the campaign progressed, Cavendish took to animating ever more exotic undead slaves, moving up from standard ghouls to Lebendtod, animated fossils, and any number of exotics from the Libris mortis.

In Phiraz, as part of a scheme to discredit the Menetnashte Expedition, Cavendish created the illusion that the Expedition had in fact been working for him in a scam to defraud money from Diamabel. The enraged Darklord attacked Cavendish, who actually gave a good accounting of himself; neither combatant died, but Cavendish managed to escape. Be it due to experience gained from the battle or a reward from the Dark Powers, but Cavendish gained access to the Darkness domain of divine spells, which is not part of the official Divinity of the Masters-list of domains. In addition, Adramelech's mastery of Necromancy was deepened in that Cavendish learned the use of Fell Spell; a metamagic feat that let him infuse spells with negative energy and thus inflict energy drain as well as standard damage in battle.

Arguably even worse was the development and expansion of a song-and-dance routine, combined with heckling at the Menetnashte Expedition's expense and jokes when in combat.

Personality & Imago

Indulging in Adramelech's modus operandi of breaking people from the inside out, Cavendish repeatedly assumed identities and tormented the innocent. In Ravnika, Barovia, he impersonated a Bard and seduced a local woman, the better to turn the local populace against the Expedition, and at one point transformed into his Cavendish form in front of her to inflict mental pain. In Phiraz, he abducted and impersonated a local Confessor in order to turn Diamabel against the Expedition and cut off their return route to the Core. In Har'Akir, he impersonated a young girl for whom Tomas Eisenwald had developed an affection to manipulate the Expedition, leaving her wounded and alone in a spell-trapped tomb after repeatedly reading her mind and gaslighting her.

In spite of all the calculating cruelty, Cavendish seemed happiest when assuming his imago for grand displays of vaudevillian horror and combat. It could be argued that after decades of exile from its home of Paridon and having to live a life of hiding its power and genius under assumed identities, Adramelech found the Cavendish imago to be simply ... fun, as well as liberating. Notorious by name and feared as well as hated, Cavendish was free to be as evil and sadistic as he pleased and tackle his enemies with his full power, without any concern for repercussions. At the climax of the campaign, the dread doppelganger took on the form not of Adram of the Pomath Clan, not of Adramelech, nor of Adrian Ramsey; at what was to become the height of its triumph as it formed a pact with Beherith, it appeared as John Lancaster Cavendish one final time.

Game statistics

Neutral Evil Dread doppelganger Cleric 12+; Dominion-level progression on the Path of Lead