Christof the unknown's page

The lich under the guise of the daywalker spell used his status and wealth as a noble from when he had been alive to plead with the regional authority to aid and protect him from the adventurers, offering up substantial coin of his own for the reward and a little extra on the side. So rumor-mongering, political pull and a little bribery I guess?
In case any are interested here is the text from the wanted poster:

Wanted - Dead or Alive
Sir Selcar Tadriel
10,000 gold
Elven Wizard with pale skin and long white hair last seen in Belhaim.
Typically seen wearing dark robes and carrying a bow as well as a staff.
Wanted, dead or alive for crimes against the crown of Taldor.
Reward to be paid by Duke Cisco Fernand and the City of Yanmass.

2,000 gold reward offered for known associates:
Sir Delgar Grimgrog - Dwarven cleric of Sarenrae, wields a Warhammer
Dame Tindomerel - Shadow person and rogue, deadly with her bow
Dame Talulla Lane - Lizardperson and ranger, travels with a large wolf.
Any others found to be aiding the wizard shall also have a bounty of 1,000 gold each.

Crimes listed:
Treason, Defamation of Character, Slander, Larceny, Coercion, Manipulation, Murder, Attempted Murder, Assault, Consorting with enemies of the realm

Brief:
While in Belhaim, Selcar Tadriel and his associates coerced the local baroness to consort with the likes of kobolds, orcs, lizard people and creatures from the shadow plane. After murdering Lady Elvina Hunclay the Wizard Selcar proceeded to wage a campaign of defamation and slander against her cousin Lord Balthus Arin Hunclay, claiming him to be a Lich. He used these lies to ransack and pilfer Lord Hunclay's personal belongings, then coerced the baroness into granting him Lord Hunclay's holdings in the form of estate and lands. He and his associates proceeded to attempt to murder the venerable lord who has now fled to the safety of Yanmass where he grieves the loss of his cousin.
Further the traitor Selcar, using the illusionary threat of dragons and dracoliches attacking the town coerced the baroness of Belhaim to grant himself and his associates knighthoods. Needless to say, these knighthoods should not be honored and any harboring these fugitives from justice shall face steep fines and possible imprisonment. This false knight of the realm has left the once peaceful town of Belhaim crawling with kobolds and other monsters and is even now seeking to end the life of our esteemed Lord Hunclay. Take great caution as Selcar is known to be a powerful conjurer and travels with likewise capable allies.
Proof of slaying in the form of his head is required if taken dead; ensure silenced and bound if taken alive. Of all the possessions Selcar has stolen from Lord Hunclay the only item of note is a book titled Secrets of the Dreaming Dark. There is an additional 10,000 gold reward if this book can be recovered intact.

That's true, I was having a hard time thinking how they could expose the lich without him being foolish enough to be in front of the nobles and the party at the same time but a trial would give them reason to be in the same room. He does want the Secrets Of The Dreaming Dark book back from them (nevermind that they already destroyed it and scattered the remains) If he was cocky and sure of triumphing over the party he would show.

I think the root of the problem was that I created my own corner. I failed to think about the long term implications of the twist. It fit with the type of evil the lich would do and is more interesting than torture, murder, and hordes of monsters. It was also very rewarding in the moment and made for a great session. When the players realized that they had gone from being knighted and respected heroes of the realm to feared fugitives the reactions were priceless.

It also served the story to force roleplaying as they are somewhat overpowered and have a tendency to destroy everything in their way. There will likely be ramifications for killing the good and neutral alligned adventuring band of bounty hunters, blowing up local heroes into icy chunks in the middle of a tavern should not be easily forgiven espicially if the Inquisitor does take their side.

It's clear they're going to need an ally with some clout outside of the village, not necessarily a fix it with the easy button, but some leverage. I have some ideas now and a potential direction, any other thoughts or suggestions are more than welcome.

Originally had thought the inquisitor to be a corrupt bureaucrat that would not take their side regardless of the truth, but making him an ally may make matters simpler.

So I ran the Dragon's Demand adventure module with my own twists along the way. Namely that the wizard Hunclay came back as a lich in service to Yog-sothoth (so cthulu flavor and not a standard lich.) The group defeated him and then the dragon, received their knighthoods and accolades from the town of Belhaim and set off to track down the lich's phylactery in the city of Yanmass to destroy him once and for all.

Problem is that Hunclay using a daywalker spell made alliances with the nobles and convinced them that the party had tricked the original town of Belhaim into believing him a lich, killed his cousin (who he had actually killed), that they attempted to kill him and stole his lands and property (which were granted to them as part of their knighting), oh and that they had conned the town into granting the knighthoods after slaying illusionary dragons and convincing them to deal with kobolds, orcs and shadow people. The last is partially true as the kobold tribe that had originally been serving the dragon did broker a peace and trading agreement with the town with the aid of the party and there was a benevolent orc witch from the swamp that aided them in defeating the dragon along with the shadow person that Hunclay had originally summoned and imprisoned and her daughter who is one of the PCs (a shadow-elf rogue archer).

So now they're wanted fugitives with a bounty on their heads and can't just stroll into his complex to destroy the phylactery. Before they realized they were fugitives they brutally destroyed a group of bounty hunters in a small village just a day's travel from Yanmass and the nobles that they had been escorting to Yanmass saw the wanted poster first and fled only for the party's wizard to chase after them using a necromantic version of the flight spell (he was confused as to why they were fleeing from him.)

The party is now headed back to Belhaim but will find that their wanted posters are notarized by the crown and spread throughout the kingdom. An inquisitor is on his way to Belhaim to verify the truth of the claims and two regiments of the army coming from opposite directions are headed to Belhaim to clear out any monsters found therein. Those should arrive within a week. The baroness can stand by them but likely be deposed for being complicit with their supposed schemes or can denounce them to save her own hide, thus making clearing their name all that much harder.

I'm not sure where to go from here which is making game prep infinitely difficult. I can always send more bounty hunters at them, the army, the inquisitor, but none of that moves the story forward, helps them clear their names or ultimately destroy the lich and his phylactery. I have ideas for other big bads down the line but I need to get over this rut to move the story forward. Any advice is more than welcome.

(Addendum: The party is currently 9th level and made up of an Elf wizard who is the Lich's arch nemesis, the Shadow-Elf rogue archer, a Human barbarian from Numeria, his partner a Human witch who wears a gown of vampiric touch and has a raven familiar, & a Forlorn-Elf witch/vitalist with his goat familiar) The last three are new allies but have shipped their lot as having aided the fugitives so bounties are out for them as well. Two of the original party members have left for other destinations and may encounter off screen tribulations (former players.)