Hi everyone.  I need help to link my current campaign, an island which has been deserted for years due to a calamity with my new campaign, killing the Lich who caused it all.  I am posting a summary below from an earlier post.  

My question is, where is the Lich?  I was thinking a nearby island but am open to other suggestions.  How do the PCs find him and how do they get there?  Right now, they just know his name.  Is there anything else they could do to prepare for a very tough fight?  

There were twins born about 150 years ago.  Despite being twins, they were as different as can be.  The older (by 5 minutes!) was dark haired, broad shouldered, stern and just.  He was named Uther and despised magic and duplicity.  The younger, named Ragar, was petite with light hair.  He was conniving, spending his time searching for power and long-lost secrets, eventually becoming a mage.  Uther went to sea, developing a trading fleet and building a trade outpost on an island.  He met a woman, Porphyria, and brought her to the island to be his bride.  Ragar came to the extended marriage festival, which lasted for two months.  Ragar seduced the girl (perhaps by magic) and impregnated her before the ceremony.  Uther married Porphyria unaware that she was pregnant with his brother’s bastard child. 

No one suspected anything when the child was born eight months after the wedding.  Porphyria never told anyone what happened.  They named him Pengalar.  Years later, Uther discovers his son/nephew has magical abilities.  Uther has no magical abilities and despises magic.  He begins to question his "son's" lineage.  As the boy continues to grow, his resemblance to his uncle becomes more striking; he is lithe and has light hair. Once Uther is convinced Pengalar is actually the bastard son of his brother and not his own child, he locks Porphyria in a cage for her infidelity and leaves her to die of starvation and exposure!  He debates what to do with the teenager, torn by his justice as the boy did not choose his parents.  Before he can decide the son/nephew, torn by the torture of his mother, throws himself down from the top tower of the keep, splashing into the fountain in the courtyard!  His spilt blood curses the keep and the entire island, killing numerous guards who rise again as undead in a month. 

Ragar visits the island only once, to see for himself what happened as he senses a travesty.  His letters have not been answered in some time and he knows Uther’s suspicions of Pengalar have been growing.  He sees Porphyria’s body in the cage suspended from the castle walls; she is already decomposing.  His son is in the nearby inner courtyard, dead but unburied.  Uther and the remaining townsfolk have barricaded themselves in the keep to avoid the undead.  He kills Lord Uther in his own great hall and splits his epic war hammer into pieces.  The magic ruby in the pummel is used to animate an iron golem, to keep out all intruders and grave robbers.  He leaves the new undead soldiers alone, to further guard the site.  He kills the remaining inhabitants although many have already fled, leaving scorched stones on some of the watchtowers.  He also sinks the remaining ships in the harbor, some of which are blasted in two.   Creating more undead with the corpses, he leaves the island, never to return. 

As he grows old, his grief at the gruesome death of his son and former lover twist him.  His pursuit of magic is all he has left.  Cheating death, he learns the secret of becoming a lich.  Evil and demented, he delights only in causing pain and suffering to the living. 

The travesty happened about 100 years ago and the PCs have explored the island already, finding the destroyed ships, scorched towers and bodies of Uther, Porphyria, and Pengalar.  They have been able to ascertain who the bodies belong to and have reassembled Uther’s magical hammer after destroying the golem. 

They need a way to get off of the island and kill Ragar.  I was thinking the inner courtyard where Pengalar died could open a portal if they restored and cleaned it.  Or, there is a ship in a grotto that can be accessed from the keep’s cellar.  It was kept by Uther for a quick escape but was never used.  This would obviously necessitate that they know where to sail to.  Open to other ideas. 

The first thing I thought of was the phylactery. The lich needs to "periodically" feed souls into it, though that term isn't defined. But it can also be anything. I immediately went to the gem in the iron golem, but that seems too easy, maybe, though it could work. But you could say the whole island is the phylactery. Then the PCs have to figure out a way to destroy an island, or the lich will just re-appear on it. As for how, probably some ritual. Something to "sink" it could be cool, maybe bring in whatever god rules the oceans and say that the sea will consume it. (side quest to get the ocean god on board) and then you force the players to figure out how they'll get off after it sinks. Or maybe a purification ritual, kill all the undead, cast hallow a few times, or find/research some ancient artifact that can cleanse the impurity.

I think the portal might be a good idea. YOu could make it one where the party can figure out the coordinates, so they can use other portals to get to it later if needs be. It can take the party back to civilization, and also allow them an easy way to return to the island when they figure out how to destroy it.

Personally, when lich hunting, I always go for the phylactery first, so I don't have the ticking clock of finding it before the lich just re-spawns. But if you do go with the whole island route, then they could do that on purpose. Kill the lich somewhere, knowing he'll re-appear on the island, then go to the island and smash the lich again, and then deal with the island once and for all. You could either say the party needs to come up with it, or have them find that out over the course of the campaign that's the only way it will work, if you want to force a big set piece this-ends-here type battle.

As for where the lich is. That's going to depend on how long you want the campaign to go. The easy way is the party hearing stories of a lich terrorizing the countryside, just over that ridge! Takes care of it in a session. Or, you could have him biding his time, really anywhere, (Ideally somewhere near a character backstory plot point or two) doing little things as he works to unleash his master plan. And the party eventually either stumbles into it (while they're resolving that character story), or they hear about a strange thing in a faraway place and go check it out. Then you can distract them with some shiny side-quests on the way, or if they get there and you decide its too quick, maybe they only found somebody in the lich's network, but that leads them to somebody else, and on up the food chain.

I think part of the problem here is that there is little in your story about the actual lich character - with no knowledge of where he goes, what he does as his bastard son grows up and ultimately dies, we have little to go on. In your story, the Lich is a character who appears at the beginning and again at the end!

I would consider trying to write in a bit more about the Lich to work off for linking the characters. How does he discover the secrets to Lichdom, and how does he feed his Phylactery?

ideas would include him travelling to a cursed fortress on the coast or another island where he learns of undeath and lichdom. Perhaps a dungeon below the island itself, which is entered by a sea cave at low tide. 

The next question is motivation - what is this Lich doing that makes the party want to end him? this will likely result in part of the "where" being revealed - the harbourmaster says "ever since the inexplicably low tide this month, we've been losing all ship coming up from the south!", turns out the Lich awoke at the low tide, and has been wrecking ship to feed his Phylactery. The party will investigate, find the island, find the Lich, and piece together the story.

I tend toward lazy when I need the party to get info and they don't have a viable, sensible method of attaining it.  Some or all of the party experience visions while sleeping.  Vague enough to not point a bright arrow at the target, but there dos seem to be a slight glow in the Northeast kind of idea.  Maybe the gem carries some form of residual energy from the lich and the person sleeping with it near them feels a pull in some direction.

If any of them have a background that grants them water vehicle proficiency (and Navigator's tools) they might find the one of the ships wasn't too badly damaged and could pretty quickly be patched to seaworthiness if needed.  Otherwise a portal or some such might work, but I'm drawing a blank on why a portal is here.  Whatever the case, on the path, they can find reports maybe of others who have hunted the lich and failed, each offering clues for what worked well and what failed utterly, to allow them to try and sort through the clues and come up with a solid plan for the encounter.  You could have the "pull" of the stone sharpen when they enter the lich's lair, but it would pull toward the phylactery instead of the lich itself now.

There are definitely some loose parts in the story.  Part of that is intentional, why create too much that will never be used but I understand your point.  Maybe he lived on a nearby island during his life, to stay near his love and keep an eye on his brother.  After his brother's and lover's death, he spent his middle age and elder years searching for magical power and found eternal life as a lich before he died.  He then spent 100 year doing "evil stuff."   Giving kids noogies, listening to banshees wail, I dunno.  The one concrete idea I had was he captured trading ships to add more souls to his undead army and to generally cause havoc.  Following up with that, what if the undead left on the island were funneling souls to him.  Phylactery are supposed to be single, but what if this one is not?  What is there are multiple islands that feed every castaway and sailor looking for water to the Lich?  Or maybe through some sort of portal system to a central location of the phylactery?  The portals would allow the PCs to eventually travel to his lair?  

Also, I did leave out a few details about the campaign for brevity's sake.  When they re-assembled the war hammer, the statue of the god worshipped by Uther told them to avenge his death.  

I feel like I'm still struggling to see why the party will want to find and kill the Lich.

You need to get the plot-hook for them, so:

• what exactly are they currently doing - did they find the island accidentally? were they sent to stop the ships being wrecked? Were they on one of the ships?
• What would make them seek out the Lich? An ancient diary detailing a priests concerns for the younger brothers practices? A survivor who reports an evil island they passed before being shipwrecked?

Where the lich is is immaterial right now, though you need to decide (i'd pick one of three, depending on how you expect them to get there: If they're walking, the Lich is below the island in a dungeon. If they are sailing, then the Lich is on another island. If they are high enough level to deal with underwater, the Lich is in a dungeon onder the ocean, with a whirlpool that feeds his Phylactery). The biggest issue I see here is "why would they go there".

If you're strapped for ideas, put the lich in a dungeon under the island and have them find the entrance. That will usually result in the people playing "dungeons and dragons" saying "ooh, a dungeon!" and they're hooked.

I agree with Thoruk, the plot hook is going to be critical here. The background you've given about the lich is fine and all, but a player has no intrinsic reason to care unless there are stakes that affect their character in the present and immediate future. 

For the most part, DMs are far more interested in their world's history than players are. I've been fortunate to have players who really love lore, and even they aren't interested my villains' backstories. What happened prior to the campaign has no real impact on how they play their characters - unless it's tied to their characters or their characters' motivations. The thought you're putting into the lich's story will likely never get seen by your players at all, so it's more effective to focus on what the lich is doing in the present and why the party would be motivated to intervene. 

If you want to do the portal thing, have at it, but give them a reason to want or need to use them. Maybe the lich's evil machinations opens up a portal that sucks them into it, and they have to defeat him to get home. Maybe they are unwittingly carrying an ingredient he needs for a ritual and he's actually summoned them to his lair to use it. What's even better is if you can present options in the current campaign that will have ramifications on the lich one. What if their exploration of the deserted island accidentally releases the lich from prison and allows him to rain down havoc? That'd be pretty strong motivation to deal with him, since they would be directly responsible for endangering the world. Giving players agency to shape the world and then showing the consequences of their actions is great storytelling - but if you do that, I encourage you to foreshadow the danger they might unleash. Otherwise they might feel like you took advantage of their ignorance to screw the world over and blame them for it, which isn't fun as a player. 

More background is in order....

We started off a level 1 Antarctic campaign 6 months ago.  We played for three game and real months, starting the game in the dead of winter.  The players were "barbarians" loosely modeled after the Inuit people.  Their families had lived in this area for generations, a land they called Thu Knick Khan.  The winter, always severe, was particularly brutal this year.  The villagers were starving.  Their mission was to find enough food for their village to survive until the spring equinox.  They ended up discovering that the winter was being augmented by a Bhur Hag coven and when they killed them, the ice began to melt.  They also met some dwarves and humans who were establishing mining outposts in the region to unearth kopai, a mysterious, malleable ore that (unbeknownst to the PCs) is worth far more than gold in the rest of the world.  Great campaign.  Lots of fun.  Unique and limited weapons.  Unique economy (no gold, just caribou and whale bones for currency).  Unique transportation (dog sled and snow shoes).  Really great.

When we finished, I knew we needed to head to a different continent.  The Antarctic region had only primitive weapons and almost no magic.  I didn't think that would make a great next campaign and we all agreed the PCs had wanderlust and wanted to go out and see the world.  

The human merchants they met during the first campaign were only there because their ship had been frozen in the early sea ice.  Very few non-natives can survive here and the merchants only lived because the PCs showed them how to stay warm, hunt for food, etc.  When the sea ice began to melt, they took up passage with them, back to the mainland.  None of the PCs had ever left Thu Knick Khan.  On the way, they had a run in with some fraudulent merchants and a sea monster.  After several battles, the sea monster sank the ship and the PCs jumped into the ocean, losing a lot of gear in the process.  They floated in the ocean for two days with other survivors.  Sharks and currents killed many of the sailors but the three PCs and three NPCs (including the ship’s carpenter) eventually washed ashore to this island.  They have discovered the abandoned towers, port, and main keep over about three game weeks. 

The ship’s carpenter is still alive.  I though this could be an option an how to leave the island although building even a small sloop would be a herculean effort for a small group of men. 

Sometimes when I hit a wall like this, I feel like the best thing to do is to throw the whole thing out and start over.  They have cleared 90% of the island and discovered the dead royal family (Uther the father, Pendagar the son and Porphyria the mother).  They have reassembled the hammer and been told to extract vengeance.   They know everyone on the island is dead and they saw scorch marks on many of the towers.  But perhaps I can still change the story going forward.  Perhaps I need to throw out some of the backstory and make something more feasible???

I am not sure at this point.  I have been running two campaigns for the last three months, this one and another, playing at least weekly.  Then my kids are playing through the 2 campaign as well.  Maybe it is just too much D&D and I need to take a break to clear my thoughts before picking up my pen again. 

Ok, so at this point it's worth considering intermingling your stories.

as a campaign, it's very good fun (I've found)  to put a story down until you think they've almost forgotten about it, and then pick it back up.

For example - they've cleared the island, been tasked with exacting revenge, and there's nothing left here. The carpented finds a boat he can patch up, and after just 2 more weeks, they are ready to leave the island. get them to the mainland, get them started on some other quests, let them start to focus elsewhere.

Then have a celebrtation in the city, at the return of their King from his conquests in the North - all hail King Uther the 9th! watch as they struggle to place the name, until they realise that the Lich has an entire kingdom, is disguised as his own son each time, bringing up an orphan to age then killing him, magicking him into looking like the old king, then transforming into the younger prince, and declaring assassins have killed the king and now he's the new king, thus maintaining control for years.

You can do the reveal once you know exactly what you want the plot to be behind it all. It might never happen - but putting a plot down can make it brew into something altogether better!

I stepped back from this for a bit, and took a trip out of country.  Feeling better and more in the writing mood....

I had a few more ideas that I would like feedback on.  

I am still thinking that the PCs need an interlude, where they go to the mainland and end up in a city.  They need to be able to buy and sell some things as they have never had access to a merchant!  Any city adventure ideas?

On my travels, I saw a huge sea cave created by the largest tides in the world (40 feet).  Both terrestrial and sea animals are constantly getting stuck in the cave because the cave is flooded when the tide is in, and dry when the tide is out.  I was considering putting a similar grotto in my world and all the marine life that washed into it transported to the lich's phylactery, feeding his soul.  One of the two key NPCs could be lost in this way, giving them an impetus to track down the lich.  

I also thought some more about his phylactery.  During his life, he lived on a nearby island checking in on his illicit lover and bastard son.  He made his living by tricking ships to sail onto a reef, and when they sank, he took the goods.  As a lich, he has been cursed to continue this process, but now the ante is upped.  He has built a magical lighthouse, which is only lit when the two moons are new and the night is darkest.  The lighthouse is intentionally misplaced, so instead of warning ships to stay away from a reef, it intentionally directs them to come closer to the reef.  When the ships strike the reef and sink, the souls are swallowed up by the phylactery, which is actually the light in the lighthouse! 

The above idea could give me a way to rope them in....their ship sinks on the reef and their is no other way out and/or they hear rumors about a very treacherous island that sailors try to avoid, especially on moonless nights.  

Feeling better about the whole thing but would appreciate your comments....I like Thoruk's idea about putting this plot down while they complete a side adventure and then coming back to it.

An option to tie them in is to make the lich more responsible for the tragedy. For example they could have intended the murder of their son as some kind of ritual of curse brought against the brother.  This lich could have a continual MO of creating powerful sorcerers to kill for magical rituals to extend their power and life.  This is relatively easy to hook in as any sorcerer could be part of this plot and he is likely to be a very powerful figure.

There is also this specific sorcerer lich home brew which is kind of similar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J_Cyzs_Okk

This is what I have come up.  Full disclosure, I borrowed the main idea from somebody else on the internet.  I can't remember what website or I would give them credit.  

The sun has just set and a few stars are starting to come out.  The twin gibbous moons shine over the ocean waves.  As darkness gathers, a green flash lights up the horizon.  You stare at it, but see nothing. Then a faint green light appears where the flash occurred.  After watching for several minutes, you think it is coming closer ang growing brighter. 

After 15 minutes, there is no doubt.  The light is noticeably brighter and is approaching inerrantly towards your position.  Fog begins rolling in off the sea towards you.  After a few more minutes, the fog surrounds you in every direction, but the green light can still be seen through it, glowing a sickening green. You have the feeling that it is right on top of you now, but no longer moving. 

<If they approach>  After walking a few hundred yards, a gondola appears in the mist.  The slender boat has a green lantern suspended on a post.  At this distance, the light is dazzling.  There is a hood figure on the boat, who appears lithe and nimble.  <If they go closer>  The figure looks at you but you cannot see the face under the hood.  He is clothed in dark robes.  He beckons to you with his hand.  You can’t even see the ground through the fog, which is mounded up around the boat, level with the gunwale.   

<If they attack, the boat and figure are invulnerable as they are from Shadowfell.  If they board the boat…> The ship rapidly lurches and turns around, moving silently though the mist, gliding forward.  The warm tropical air suddenly changes and turns cold and the light from the lantern on the boat dims noticeably.  Every few seconds, the air temperature continues to drop and the light fades.  After 30 seconds, the surrounding world is almost entirely black and you begin to shiver.  You glance up at the sky…the stars and moons which lit up the beach have disappeared, leaving a vapid blackness. You hope the boat will take you to someplace more hospitable and you certainly do not want to fall over into this desolate terrain. 

After continuing for what seems like hours, you notice occasional bit of landscape flitting past.  They are devoid of color, and you simply see areas that are "dark black" and some that are "light black".  Nothing seems to be moving below and there are large areas of empty fog (or is it water?) punctuated by small landmasses.  You see a castle below, with silent ramparts. 

By the time you think it is around midnight, a small island, several hundred yards wide rises out of the fog.  The island has large standing stones along the rim, each 15-20 feet tall.  In the center of the island is a dark, solitary figure.  Also lithe, but taller and unhooded, with dark hair flowing in the breeze.  As the boat slows, her face loses its look of despair and you see the hint of a smile.  Besides the stones and the figure, the island is featureless.  When the boat stops at the shore, the hooded figure gets out and walks towards the woman.  They stand next to each other on the little knoll and she points towards the largest stone. 

<If they walk towards the stone> Upon searching, dark letters are barely visible on the inner surface of the stone.  In common, they say, My name is Porphyria Duran and I lived long before any of you were born.  I would tell you my story myself, but your mortal ears would not be able to tolerate the sound.  I was born on an island and loved the ocean.  As a teenager, I watched the boats go in and out of my father’s harbor.  Many of the sailors would come regularly to our island, crossing and re-crossing the trade routes.  There were a pair of brothers who often came.  Although twins, more different men you could not have found.  The virulent, dark-haired twin captained the ship.  The brother was thin, almost gaunt and taciturn.  He negotiated the trades with my father.  All the ladies looked for the dark-haired twin but we all avoided the other. 

When I was approaching 20 years old, my father arranged a marriage for me with the captain.  His name was Uther Duran and he was 10 years older than I.  I rejoiced, because I was already enthralled with him and was worried Father would have picked an old rich man for me instead.  We were to be married that summer.  In late spring, the twins came to our island to arrange the final matters.  On the last night of their stay, I awoke with a terrible headache and felt like I had too much wine.  My body also ached.  When I got married the next month, I knew something was wrong.  I could feel life growing inside of me.  I hid this from Uther and when I gave birth to a son that winter, he was overjoyed!  His brother was there at the birth and suggested the name Pendagar.  Uther’s joy was dampened over the years as I never conceived again.  Also, the boy was so different from Uther.  He was shy, quiet and loved reading.  Pendagar annoyed Uther and he rarely spent time with him.  We settled an island in the center of the busiest trade route and built a port, then a tower and then a castle. 

Over time, I saw my son, Pendagar, had magical powers.  Uther had always hated magic and I worked to hide Pendagar’s abilities from him.  Uther’s brother Ragar had gone off on his own now and we only saw him rarely.  He seemed more interested in Pendagar and I when he came to our island than Uther.  I finally understood that Ragar had taken me in my own father’s house and Pendagar was actually Ragar’s son. 

Over the years, Uther’s suspicion that something was not right continued to build.  His personality clashed more and more with my son and he spent time at sea, avoiding us.  I think he knew the truth for at least a year before he finally confronted me.  I did not know what to tell him.  I described the headache and pain the night after Uther and Ragar’s visit to my island before our marriage and said he must have forced himself on me, although I did not remember the event.  Uther became enraged calling me a harlot and cursing his brother.  He beat me and Pendagar too.  This misery continued for months, the beatings.  Pendagar had already taken to living in a cabin, far from the keep, which gave him some insulation from his rage but I could not escape.  He despised me so much, he had me locked into a cage overlooking the precipice.  I starved to death.  Although I loathed my life at this point, death was worse.  When I awoke, I was on this island.  I have been waiting a very long time.  Pendagar is here with me, but we both long for eternal sleep. 

We brought you here to help.  I cannot leave this land as a spirit, but I could leave if I was surrounded by flesh.  Let me possess your body, and we will leave the island and escape this curse!  If you can, avenge my death. Although Uther killed me, the blame really lies with Ragar.  Although it sounds impossible, I think Ragar has escaped death over all these years.

If she possesses a party member, they will board the gondola which will then sail back from whence it came.  If they make it out of Shadowfell, the ghost will exit the character’s body unharmed and will fade into nothing. The fog will disappear, and the characters will be back at their campsite. If a portion of the party stays behind on the island, they may be trapped forever in the Shadowfell.