Overview
Withers is an undead wight who serves as Acererak’s tomb custodian and oversees the maintenance of the Tomb of the Nine Gods. Before his transformation into undeath, he was an Omuan engineer named Gorra who was enslaved along with all of Omu’s citizens to construct Acererak’s tomb. When the archlich sacrificed the workers to their own dungeon, Gorra’s traps performed exceptionally well, earning Acererak’s favor and resulting in his transformation into a wight with enhanced intelligence and spellcasting abilities.
Role and Responsibilities
Withers supervises an undead maintenance crew of dwarf miners (transformed into wights) who keep the tomb’s traps operational. He acts as Acererak’s adjunct when the archlich visits and commands Omu’s gargoyles through his scrying pool in area 25. Using this pool, he can also speak to agents on the surface world. Withers and his tomb dwarves use secret staircases to move unseen through the tomb’s levels, retreating to their headquarters on level 2 (areas 27 and 28) when not working.
Personality and Motivations
Withers is fiercely loyal to Acererak and passionate about learning—a trait that followed him into undeath, granting him a rare opportunity to study for eternity. His office walls are covered with papers on natural history and anatomy. When encountering adventurers, he is keen to learn everything he can before attempting to kill them, showing particular interest in current affairs in Chult and the history of foreign lands. If humored, he behaves cordially while gathering information, then regretfully announces it’s time for them to die. He prefers escape over destruction and uses his spells to retreat if battles turn against him.
Game Statistics
Withers is a wight with the following modifications:
- Intelligence: 16 (+3)
- Equipment: Wears an amulet of the black skull (appendix C), no longbow
- Challenge Rating: 4 (1,100 XP)
- Spellcasting: 9th-level wizard (Intelligence-based, spell save DC 13, +5 to hit)
- Cantrips: acid splash, mage hand, minor illusion, prestidigitation
- 1st level (4 slots): detect magic, expeditious retreat, feather fall, thunderwave
- 2nd level (3 slots): darkness, hold person, rope trick
- 3rd level (3 slots): dispel magic, lightning bolt
- 4th level (3 slots): blight, wall of fire
- 5th level (1 slot): telekinesis
Important Locations
Area 25 (Scrying Pool): Withers uses this font to communicate with creatures outside the tomb and contact tomb guardians. He can observe through the eyes of patrolling tomb guardians as they move through the dungeon.
Area 28 (Withers’s Office): His cluttered office contains candles, a wooden desk, anatomical drawings in charcoal, and a skeletal songbird in a cage. Seven crawling claws follow him around and obey his commands. His journals track the history of Omu and the Tomb of the Nine Gods, detailing the arrival of the atropal and construction of the Soulmonger.
Key Possessions
- Amulet of the black skull (worn around neck)
- Bronze mask sculpted to look like a frowning visage (worn, worth 25 gp)
- Manual of golems (clay) on his desk
- Spellbook containing all his prepared spells, with “Khomara Blackfire” written on the inside back cover (command words for the mirror of life trapping in area 50)
- Control gem for the gray slaad in area 24 (kept in desk drawer)
- Skeletal songbird (tame but cantankerous, worth 75 gp in Port Nyanzaru)
Tactical Behavior
Withers avoids direct contact with adventurers when possible, confident that Acererak’s traps will defeat them. He actively monitors the tomb through his scrying pool and commands trap mechanisms remotely when he detects intruders (such as sealing the fire cell in area 47A). He uses wall of fire to cut off pursuers when fleeing and would rather escape than be destroyed or captured.
Relationships
- Acererak: Serves with fierce loyalty as tomb custodian and adjunct
- Tomb Dwarves: Supervises the undead maintenance crew
- Tomb Guardians: Commands them through the scrying pool
- G’lyh’rul (Aboleth): Communicates with the enslaved aboleth, who refers to him by his original name “Gorra”
- Omu’s Gargoyles: Commands them and uses them to study the natural world
Maintenance Activities
Withers sends tomb dwarves to repair and reset traps throughout the dungeon, including:
- Repairing the adamantine propeller in area 15 after breakdowns (by dawn the next day)
- Replacing destroyed zombies at area 21 within 24 hours
- Cleaning up after the wine trap in area 20 and refilling wine cisterns (by dawn the next day)
- Resetting the hieroglyphic floor trap in area 35B after 24 hours
- Creating new clay golems after 30 days if destroyed (using his manual of golems)