Aldric Voss

Aldric Voss, a necromancer of considerable learning, and with impeccable manners, has been slowly dying for roughly three years and, with the calm efficiency of a man updating his filing system, has organized his life around this reality.

He is not wicked. He is not brutal. He does not derive death as inferior necromancers do, in the manner of a show or a boast of power. He is fascinated by it, which is far more dangerous. For six years, he has been tracing the footsteps of Sammaster the Mad through the footnotes over half a continent, and he has come to Stormwreck Isle through the evidence, and because he is the sort of man who follows evidence wherever it leads even if the end is not reasonable.

He thinks that what he is doing is historically inevitable and academically necessary. Partly, he is not wrong about the first. He is terribly, disastrously, profoundly wrong about the second. Deep down, beneath the scholarship, he knows that these two things are not the same as morally justifiable. He probably thinks about this more than he would like to.

Tactics

Aldric does not physically engage in combat. He simply controls the situation and lets the events unfold with the help of other agents. His every tactical move revolves around two maxims: never put yourself in the line of fire, and let the dead do the work.

If the party berry him before he breaks the glyph:

He cannot bring up the undead from the coast. He is making the most of what he has, which is pretty good but not infinite. He launches into Danse Macabre, animating up to five corpses and whatever the shore supplies: old bones, drowned bodies, whatever time has left. He does this like an ordinary office thing, and then he immediately starts going backward.

He keeps his distance. Always keeps his distance. If someone from melee combat jumps on him, he ignores fighting.

He throws dimension door and appears somewhere causing distance between them, mid, sentence if possible.

"I really appreciate your conviction, but I'm afraid I have other matters to-" and he is simply no longer there.

Playing from his range, he casts web to groups of enemies, thus getting two or three of them at once while the raised dead take care of them when they are under the restraint. He doesn't target individuals with his major spells unless forced. His intention is not to kill anyone. He wants to stir up enough disorder so that he can accomplish his original intention and then exit.

Shield is raised the moment he gets smacked, which will bring his AC to 20.

Should the party fail to distract him and the glyph break:

He smashes the cane on the stone with a resounding crack tempting Command the Restless right away. All the undead on the shore that initially come under the talisman's influence will be at his command after that. He has ten zombies, ten skeletons, and a ghast now as a large protective wall between himself and the party, and he uses them as a shield without any hesitation or feeling of guilt.

He moves back through the undead, almost inviting them to come close to him, and with mere small gestures he guides their path instead of giving them direct commands. He is not a leader of an army. He is a scientist who, just by chance, has an army and he handles it with the cold and impersonal efficiency of someone who delegates tasks that he finds slightly below his level.

It is the ranged attackers and spellcasters first who get web. Skeletons take care of them. Zombies take care of whoever is pushing forward. If the ghast is still alive, it will go wherever the party is most concentrated.

He may have a vampiric touch ready if anyone comes close to him and the dimension door is on cool down but he looks as if doing something that is very unpleasant rather than something that is really satisfying when he uses it.

The Exit:

Assuming Aldric has agreed the matter is settled, or when his hit points fall to less than 20 and he decides that carrying on is of no benefit, he distance doors away. However, he is not running away in fright. He moves deliberately. If the journal is close enough, he grabs it. If not, he abandons it, and this costs him a good deal more than being wounded does.

Before leaving, if there is any lull in the action, he utters a few words. He always says a few words.

"Please try to survive. I am quite sure that we will be seeing each other again, and it would be very disappointing for me if you did not."

Then he disappears. The undead carry on without him. They don't require any instructions at this stage. They just need to be killed.