Excorant

From AoCWiki

Deep within the Black Ring Citadel in a facility buried far from the light of day works Excorant, a sorcerer capable of molding stone to create mockeries of human life.

The infamous gargoyles of Kheshatta, city of magicians have long been feared yet one mad philosopher of the dark arts seeks to study them and unlock the secret of their creation. He has been partially successful and continues to work feverishly to discover their profane nature.

Deep within the Black Ring Citadel in a facility buried far from the light of day works Excorant, a sorcerer capable of molding stone to create mockeries of human life; blasphemous gargoyles replete with fangs and talons capable of tearing armor to pieces, puncturing shields and ripping flesh to shreds.

Excorant’s experiments require a continuous supply of victims. Criminals, the destitute and the insane are supplemented by slaves, foreign prisoners and unlucky citizens of Kheshatta snatched from the back streets and slums. What happens to them is unspeakable as they are foully sacrificed in the creation process. All that is ever found are the open-chested corpses left outside the laboratory’s arched gate for other Black Ring magicians to utilize.

The alchemical concoctions and foul mixtures Excorant uses to animate his stone sentries are unknown; he protects his formulae closely against jealous competitors and is always guarded by his ever-watchful stone sentinels.

But despite his alchemical powers and inhuman escorts, it is another sorcerous power which keeps the treacherous Black Mages at bay. An eternal fate far worse than death…