A simple ACS scripted mod for both Heretic and Hexen where a monster called Zardaz appears after every half a minute to ruin your day with his deadly spells, just watch out for the blue light and get as far as possible from him to make him leave without hurting you. Credit goes to Virtue for producing Zardaz.
Zardaz was a high ranked sorcerer and the advisor of D’Sparil. He has been serving D’Sparil till the end of his regime and later began serving Korax. His whereabouts became unknown since the downfall of Korax and he doesn’t seem to be serving Eidolon, the third and oldest of the serpent riders.
D’Sparil was aware of the Sidhe elves rebelling against his rule and tasked Zardaz to take care of the matter. Zardaz would then open the pits of hell, revealing the half dragon half beast creatures which would tear apart almost all of them. One of the elves Corvus however survived the attack and vowed revenge against D’Sparil and his minions. He was well aware of Corvus’ rampage around the City Of The Damned so he would try to surprise him out of nowhere after every minute. He would even cast his second in command, the wraith after him who was invulnerable to all attacks except D’Sparil’s. The only way to put Zardaz down is to prepare for his every attacks and surprises and dodge them. Don’t even think of trying to fire at him because it will not work against him.
Who was Zardaz?
Zardaz was a well-educated noble ranked powerful sorcerer who mastered all forms of mystic arts and gained enough arcane knowledge to overthrow anyone who dared to cross paths with him. He used to live in the outer worlds, pieces of rocks isolated from Parthoris, Cronos and Thyrion. The race of Zardaz is unknown but it is implied that he belonged to the horde of the undead that were brought in by the Serpent Riders during their invasion on peaceful worlds.
Zardaz’s world was conquered eons ago by the Serpent Riders. Zardaz was a self-taught sorcerer who gained knowledge all by himself without relying on anyone.
It is also implied that one of the Serpent Riders D’Sparil was impressed by the knowledge and work of Zardaz and took him in as his advisor in his throne. During his days in Parthoris, Zardaz applied many different theories and experiments on his victims and is also responsible of the construction of the Iron Liches and horrific abominations like Sabreclaws, Golems and Nitrogolems. Zardaz gathered the souls of many different powerful wizards throughout Parthoris, corrupted them and stuffed them into the Iron Liches, making the iron skeletal heads alive.
D’Sparil gave Zardaz only one task: To find and kill Corvus the most brutal way possible. Zardaz however, despite applying all the dark spells he could think of so far failed to kill the elf.
After the death of D’Sparil, Zardaz moved to Cronos to assist the second serpent rider Korax and changed all his experiments to not repeat the same outcomes as it happened back in Parthoris. The Warlord Zedek of the Legion captured and took all the people who denied his harsh law applied by Korax to Zardaz who then transformed all of them to Ettins and Centaurs. All of the fallen members of Legion, Church and Arcanum were then replaced by the new demonic dark bishops. He was also responsible for corrupting and granting inhumane powers & artifacts to Zedek, Traductus and Menelkir, the three ruthless rulers of Cronos. Artifacts such as Quietus for Zedek, Wraithverge for Traductus and Bloodscourge for Menelkir, the three powerful weapons crafted from the dark depths of the netherworld were given to the three corrupted rulers.
Korax too gave Zardaz the same task as D’Sparil did in the past: To find and kill Baratus, Parias and Daedolon but this time along with some side tasks. Zardaz also had to restrict some paths with hard to find puzzle items to slow the heroes down and summon in more monsters to take them down. However, here too Zardaz failed to complete his main task and this was where his journey ended forever.
The journey of Zardaz ended along with the death of Korax and he was never seen or heard of since Hexen 2. Either he was killed along with Korax or Eidolon got rid of him for failing his task the second time as the third and final Serpent Rider didn’t show any mercy unlike D’Sparil and Korax.
Give Zardaz a visit in: realm667: Realm667.com
Also check out the original Ritual Knife by Infirnex and PillowBlaster here: Realm667.com
