Description
Zander very much looks like a stereotypical “Hot Boi”. While he is a Hexblood, those unfamiliar with that race might instead think him a nymph or dryad. His skin is a soft spring green and his eyes the golden yellow of autumn leaves. His ears are pointed, almost elvish, but are forked at the tips. He’s strong, but not overly muscular - more of a lean “swimmer’s body” kind of deal. His hair is the brown of rich, healthy soil, and a crown of branches grow from his skin (he very deliberately styles his hair to try to cover the fact that this is actually attached to his skin, not just an odd choice of accessory). Otherwise, he has a strong jawline, high cheekbones and a killer smile.
So, yes. Despite his race… “Hot Boi”.
Ideals
People: I’m committed to the people I care about, not to ideals. (Neutral)
Bonds
I was brought to this plane to protect my sister, and even now I would lay down my life for her.
Flaws
I’m quick to assume that someone is trying to cheat or trick me.
Personality Traits
I tend to act on instinct before thinking things through.
Despite being a distrustful person, I always want to see the best in people.
Motivations
- Currently “finding himself” now that his life’s original purpose — protecting his sister — is no longer urgently needed
Backstory
Appeared as a 6-year-old when his parents (minor nobility somewhere else) bartered with a hag for someone to protect their newborn daughter. There was a prophecy connected to the daughter, now known as Lysandra the Lightbringer. Zander spent his whole life dedicated to protecting her while she fulfilled her purpose — the two consider each other siblings, despite the circumstances of his creation. Now that the danger to Lysandra has passed, Zander travels, trying to “find himself.”
Relationships
- Lysandra the Lightbringer — The sister Zander was created to protect; the two regard each other as siblings
- Ambystoma — Fellow party member in the original Flesh to Dust party
- Gwen — Fellow party member
- Thrum Stoneheart — Fellow party member
- Gizzard — Fellow party member
Notes
- Joined the original party (Ambystoma, Gwen, Thrum, Gizzard) for the first session of the Flesh to Dust investigation in Malachite.
- Notably encountered the silver man construct guardian on the Highland plateau during the “Geometry and silver” session — engaged it in a flexing contest (briefly “taken” to the highlands mid-scene) and was cheered on by nearby goliaths, charging the dodecahedron (space) shape during the elemental geometry sequence.
- Investigated the outer storage facility in Chrysalis alongside Gwen, contributing a notable Investigation roll (21) toward uncovering the hidden library and portal room.
Description
Gizzard is an old, grumpy dragonborn — purposeless, by his own reckoning, and so he travels. Little else about his appearance or manner is recorded in the vault.
Ideals
Bonds
Flaws
No joy left in fooling around with women.
Personality Traits
Grumpy. Old. Purposeless.
Motivations
- Not documented — left as an expansion hook.
Backstory
Gizzard is haunted by past relationships, the details of which aren’t recorded anywhere in the vault. Whatever happened left him without purpose, and travel is what he’s done with that since.
Relationships
- Ambystoma — Fellow party member in the original Flesh to Dust party.
- Gwen — Fellow party member.
- Thrum Stoneheart — Fellow party member.
- Zander — Fellow party member (early sessions).
Notes
- This page is noticeably thinner than his fellow party members — the vault has very little dedicated material on Gizzard specifically, mostly stealth/perception rolls and stage directions from raw session notes rather than backstory or characterisation. Filled in only what’s actually attested rather than inventing motivations, ideals, or bonds.
- Played by Andrea. Joined the original “Flesh to Dust” party (Ambystoma, Gwen, Thrum Stoneheart, Zander, Gizzard) starting at the docks of Malachite, investigating the originium/oripathy crisis.
- Session 2: led the party correctly through a branching forest path outside Malachite (notable Survival/navigation moment) during the goblin camp investigation; was among those exposed to crystal dust at the goblin camp (everyone except Gwen).
- Session 3: helped recover Magallan and the crystal-laden wagon from the goblin camp. A session note at the Iris Tavern reads “Gizzard is not affiliated with the group” — unclear whether this reflects an in-fiction development, a player absence, or just a stray note. Flagging rather than resolving; worth checking your own memory or the full session log before publishing.
- Session 8: still with the party (alongside Ambystoma, Gwen, and Thrum) on a visit to Rhine Labs, where researcher Melusine expressed interest in studying dragonborn — likely relevant to Gizzard given his race, though the note doesn’t name him directly.
- No record found of Gizzard’s eventual fate, current location, faction allegiance, or role — left blank in the frontmatter rather than guessed.
Description
Ideals
Honor. If I dishonor myself, I dishonor my whole clan. (Lawful)
Bonds
Flaws
I am too enamored of ale, wine, and other intoxicants.
Personality Traits
I’m driven by a wanderlust that led me away from home.
Motivations
Backstory
Thrum Stoneheart, a towering Goliath with a passion for music, was born into a tribe where strength and stoicism were highly valued. However, Thrum was different. He possessed an innate love for music, a trait that set him apart from his tribe. The rhythmic beats and harmonious melodies flowing through his veins were misunderstood by his kin, who couldn’t appreciate the beauty he found in the notes. One day, while exploring a remote and abandoned village, Thrum stumbled upon a dilapidated church. Inside, he discovered a dusty, forgotten organ. Its keys, once vibrant, now creaked and groaned with age. Undeterred, Thrum felt an instant connection to the instrument, and, with his innate musical talent, he managed to breathe life back into the old organ. Enthralled by the newfound instrument, Thrum decided to bring it with him on his journeys. The haunting echoes of the organ’s tunes resonated with his Goliath heart, and he began to weave tales and songs that echoed through the valleys and mountains. However, the other Goliaths in his tribe couldn’t appreciate the beauty Thrum found in his music. Feeling like an outcast and unable to share his passion, Thrum made the difficult decision to leave his home behind. With the organ strapped to his back, he set out on a quest to explore the world, spreading the enchanting melodies that only a Goliath bard could produce. Thrum Stoneheart’s journey took him through perilous lands, teaching him the art of swordplay as he faced various dangers. In the midst of one intense battle, his beloved organ met its demise. However, fortune favored him in the next town he visited. A skilled artificer in the city crafted a unique tower shield that doubled as a functional organ. Though not as grand or heavy as his original instrument, this new creation produced equally clear and melodious tones. Undeterred by the loss of his previous organ, Thrum continued his dual pursuit of music and combat. The ingenious fusion of the tower shield and organ not only provided him with a means of defense but also allowed him to share his music with the world. As he ventured forth, Thrum Stoneheart became known not only for his prowess in battle but also for the enchanting melodies that resonated from his shield-organ. The harmonious clash of steel and song marked his presence wherever he went, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts of those who crossed paths with the Goliath bard.
Relationships
- Ambystoma — Fellow party member; traveled together from Malachite through Chrysalis investigating the originium crisis
- Gwen — Fellow party member
- Gizzard — Fellow party member
- Zander — Fellow party member (joined for the first session before departing the group’s later adventures)
Notes
- Party member alongside Ambystoma, Gwen, and Gizzard (and briefly Zander) in the “Flesh to Dust” investigation that began at the docks of Malachite.
- Was present for the party’s visit to Rhine Labs and the encounter with Melusine, and at the edge of the Rhine Labs rocket launch site.
- Was among those who entered the hidden Druidic Garden of Cats in Feygarden alongside Amby, helping with Amby’s cat-spirit curse.
Description
Looks 27 years old, is actually 2. A Way of Mercy Monk, Simic Hybrid, created in the deepest parts of Rhine Lab’s ecological section by Melusine, head of the ECO section. Amby’s birth is a milestone for the research being done at Rhine Labs — a testament to artificial cultivation of life, and a product of the Guardian Project, an initiative aimed at creating an army of superior soldiers.
Ideals
Bonds
Flaws
Personality Traits
Motivations
- Find her sister Urodela, who works for Kristen Wright
- Understand her own origins and purpose as a “test-run” sent out into the world with a spell that lets her creators track her location
Backstory
Ambystoma didn’t have a normal childhood — to be fair, she didn’t exactly have a childhood at all, given she was made in a lab. Specifically Rhine Lab, a research institute with a sub-section expanding the knowledge of biology in the world. They specifically test experimental medicine, which provides most of their funding. Behind the scenes, however, Rhine Lab has been delving into humanoid experimentation under the Guardian Project, working on various human enhancements before recently succeeding in creating their first fully artificial humanoids — Ambystoma and her sister Urodela among the very first, and by far the best, in Rhine Lab’s aquatic sector.
Melusine (or “Mel,” as Amby calls her in turn) and her assistants did their best over the few years Amby was growing to map her talents. She showed exceptional promise in physical education and the arts of healing — with this in mind, Melusine taught her the martial arts she knows today.
Ambystoma was sent out into the world as a “test-run” with a tracking spell cast on her, so her creators always know where she is.
Relationships
- Urodela — Ambystoma’s sister, also created by Rhine Lab’s Guardian Project; now works for Kristen Wright
- Melusine — Her creator; an elf wearing round glasses, often seen with a raincoat over her lab coat. Head of Rhine Lab’s ECO section. Keeps most people guessing about her true nature
- Gwen — Fellow party member
- Thrum Stoneheart — Fellow party member
- Gizzard — Fellow party member
- Zander — Fellow party member (early sessions)
- Kristen Wright — Co-founder of Rhine Lab; employs Amby’s sister Urodela
Notes
- Angered a cat spirit of some kind early on and was haunted by it, causing her to see other dead cats wandering areas where they used to live — resolved (or addressed) by visiting the hidden Druidic Garden of Cats in Feygarden, where a Druid of the Moon offered to remove the curse via druidic blessing or divine cleansing (cleansing water).
- Per “Characters Natasha may use” notes: under a “Pact of the Monarch” curse from the cat sanctuary, she had to scratch the cats’ bellies once before she could rest.
- Was part of the original party (alongside Gwen, Thrum Stoneheart, Zander, and Gizzard) that began the Flesh to Dust investigation at the docks of Malachite.
- Visited Rhine Labs and met Melusine in person; was handed a sample box containing material from the Dragon Swan.
- Was present at the edge of the Rhine Labs rocket launch site during the “Pioneer Project” reveal.
- Rhine Lab considers her stolen property and reportedly wants her back, given her status as a Guardian Project creation.
Description
Gwendolyn Genevieve, short Gwen, comes from a wealthy and successful family of wizards and is an extremely charming girl — was the Valedictorian of the Wizarding Academy until it was discovered she had no real understanding of formal Wizarding magic at all. She was secretly a Sorcerer using innate magic, and later made a pact with a celestial being to maintain her academic facade.
Ideals
Bonds
Flaws
Trusts people too easily and too deeply — confided her secret in her only friend Aron, which led to her downfall.
Personality Traits
Charming, used to being on a pedestal and admired without question; struggles with genuine friendship since most people only approach her for her status.
Motivations
Backstory
Gwen was born with magic interwoven into her soul — both her parents are powerful and experienced wizards. However, while Gwen could cast magic since she could crawl, she never bothered to learn to control it through formal Wizarding spells, despite her family’s high expectations. Her older brother and younger sister had no inherent connection to magic but learned the formal spells naturally, making Gwen the family’s “black sheep.”
Things changed when her parents forced her into the wizarding academy. She learned she still couldn’t draw a single magic circle correctly, but discovered she could fake the incantations and gestures while letting her innate sorcery produce the results her teachers expected. This made her, unintentionally, the star student of the entire academy — a fact concealed from the school (her unregistered sorcery should have been formally declared).
She was offered the chance to travel to Terra on behalf of her academy to “jump start” her career — planned right after her final exams.
Her only real friend was a fellow outcast named Aron, in whom she eventually confided the truth about her faked magic. Facing exams she could no longer bluff her way through as her classmates caught up to her skill level, Gwen broke into the academy’s restricted archive and made a pact with a celestial being — sacrificing her body after death (and any control over it for eternity) in exchange for being able to draw on the celestial’s power while alive.
The pact was discovered when the academy installed integrity-detecting crystals during an exam. Forced to use her celestial pact-magic to survive a summoned monster in front of the class, she was immediately expelled. Her trip to Terra was cancelled, but she talked her way onto a ship anyway and arrived on Terra’s shore with a mountain of luggage and no plan.
Relationships
- Aron — Former best friend at the Wizarding Academy; unintentionally caused Gwen’s exposure by asking a professor a hypothetical question about her situation
- Ambystoma — Fellow party member after arriving on Terra
- Thrum Stoneheart — Fellow party member
- Gizzard — Fellow party member
- Zander — Fellow party member (early sessions)
- A celestial patron (galaxy-themed, associated with a corrupted notion of “hope”) — holds a pact over Gwen’s body after death
Notes
- Pact details: after Gwen dies, the celestial receives her body to walk the mortal realm, gaining all her skills/abilities. In exchange, Gwen can use the celestial’s power while alive. The fine print: Gwen’s soul cannot leave her body after death — she would be trapped, conscious, while the celestial controls it.
- DM idea floated in source material: each time Gwen drops to 0 HP, her body could visibly shift toward the celestial’s physical traits (e.g., one eye becoming night-sky patterned) as a creeping visual indicator of the pact’s cost.
- Karen’d her way to free dinner for a week at the Iris Tavern early on.
- Was the only party member not exposed to crystal dust during a goblin camp stealth encounter (rolled a notably low stealth result but avoided the contagion radius regardless, per session notes).
Description
Magallan is a mineral researcher attached to Rhine Lab’s Scientific Investigation Section (SCIEN) — the department consisting of explorers who venture outside the borders of civilization to investigate Terra’s mysteries and uncover relics of its previous civilizations. She is currently doing fieldwork near a goblin camp on the western outskirts of Town Malachite, hiding nearby and taking notes on stolen originium samples at considerable personal risk. She will attempt to physically stop anyone who tries to enter an active originium crystal’s contagion range — she knows exactly how dangerous Stage 1 exposure is and isn’t shy about intervening.
Motivations
- Documenting active originium samples and their behavior firsthand, even when it means working alone near danger (goblin camps, active crystal deposits).
- Preventing bystanders from exposing themselves to originium’s contagion radius — she understands the Oripathy risk better than almost anyone else on the ground and acts on that knowledge without hesitation.
Role in the Campaign
- Introduced as an early expert NPC on originium and Oripathy: she can explain that the mineral is found only on Terra, grows on biological material, and clusters in the tunnels connecting to the deepdark.
- Found hiding near a goblin camp taking notes on stolen originium loot; Dwargon Malachite may ask the party to look after her once they learn she’s out there alone.
- The party (Ambystoma, Gwen, Thrum Stoneheart, Zander, Gizzard) escorted and ultimately rescued her during the “Flesh to Dust” investigation — Session 2 saw them escort her toward the goblin camp, and Session 3 saw them find the goblins dead and rescue her hiding in a bush, recovering a stolen wagon of originium crystal in the process.
- Her fieldwork connects the goblin camp incident to the parallel Outbreak on the Farm quest — both draw from the same active originium vein, and she can point the party toward the farm as another data point in the same outbreak.
- Per the Rhine Labs DM-Notes, “Investigating Magallan’s disappearance/danger near the goblin camp” is suggested as a more grounded, low-level entry point into the wider Rhine Lab thread.
Relationships
- Rhine Lab — Her employer; operates out of the Scientific Investigation Section (SCIEN).
- Dwargon Malachite — Asked the party to look after her once he learned she was alone near the goblin camp.
- Ambystoma, Gwen, Thrum Stoneheart, Zander, Gizzard — The adventuring party who escorted and rescued her during the goblin camp incident.
Notes
The air shimmers with possibility and the faint metallic tang of originium. Butterfly murals adorn Victorian walls while nature grows deliberately between the buildings—a city that refuses to choose between progress and preservation. Chrysalis pulses with ambition, where scientists chase breakthroughs, politicians vie for power, and beneath it all, ancient secrets buried 400 feet deep wait to reshape the future.
City Overview
Chrysalis City stands as Terra’s beacon of technological advancement and medical innovation. Known for its beautiful butterflies in the summer season and its tall visible walls in winter when the trees lose their leaves, the city deliberately preserves parts of nature between its buildings and city structures—a living symbol of its philosophy that progress and preservation need not be enemies.
The city lies west of the volcano Titania, roughly five days’ journey from Port Town Malachite to the northwest and three days from Rural Town Morain to the east. A river runs through the heart of the city from north to south, dividing it into its western and eastern halves before continuing south into the surrounding farmland and forest. Its Victorian-style architecture—tall buildings with ornate details, gas lamps being replaced by Originium-powered lights, and wide boulevards—creates an atmosphere of cultured sophistication.
Chrysalis Labs dominates the city’s economy and culture, funding education in medical research, engineering, and sociology. Its influence extends into every district, from the libraries and lecture halls of Snowford to the outer processing facilities at the city’s edge—and 400 feet below Dawn Town, where Facility 59’s ancient Sarcophagus has been quietly discovered.
Population: ~4,000 (45% human, 30% dwarf, 15% goliath, 10% other races)
Government: Elis Kulf serves as current mayor and Speaker of Chrysalis Labs, though a hotly contested election approaches that could reshape the city’s future. The Oligarchy of Terra’s major factions maintains ultimate authority, with Chrysalis Labs holding the greatest sway within the city walls.
Defense: City militia supplemented by Chrysalis Labs’ Defense Section. The stone walls encircling the city proper provide both symbolic and practical protection, most visible in winter when the surrounding trees shed their leaves.
Commerce: Medical technology, originium research, education, timber, advanced manufacturing. Chrysalis exports medicines, technical innovations, and trained professionals throughout Terra. The river that bisects the city also drives several of its industries, powering mills and providing easy transport of timber from the southern forests.
Current Crisis: The recent public death of a citizen outside Chrysalis Labs—crystallizing and disintegrating to dust in broad daylight—has transformed simmering concerns about oripathy into open fear and political ammunition. Fine black dust has been observed settling in secluded streets. A six-year-old child was seen begging near the river with visible crystallization on her skin. Politicians are calling for the labs and medical facilities to be moved outside the city walls entirely. Unlike in Malachite where anti-dwarf sentiment is muted, here the other races increasingly blame dwarven industrial techniques for the spreading disease.
Town Districts
A river divides Chrysalis into its western and eastern halves. The walled city proper contains six districts—three on each side of the water. Beyond the walls, two outer districts extend into the surrounding countryside.
Inner Districts
The heart of Chrysalis, where the city’s wealth and power concentrate. These districts feature well-maintained streets, originium-powered streetlamps, and Victorian architecture at its finest.
Outer Districts
Beyond the walls, Chrysalis extends into the surrounding landscape. These outer districts lack the polish of the inner city but have a directness and self-reliance that their walled neighbours sometimes lack.
Notable Locations
Sites worth taking your time to check out. Ordered by district.
Northward
New Church
Chrysalis Labs
Snowford
Evertide District
Mistheart
Feygarden
Dawn Town
Background
- Chrysalis Before the Crystal
- The Discovery That Changed Everything
- The Shadow Beneath Progress
- The Rhine Lab Question
- Facility 56 and What Lies Below
- The Approaching Election
- Current Tensions
Starting the Adventure
Player characters can become involved in Chrysalis’s troubles through several entry points:
- The Election Campaign
- The Public Health Crisis
- Disturbed Tribes in the Mountains
- Secrets of the Outer Storage
- The Druidic Garden Emergency
- The Missing Researcher
- Direct Start: Arriving in Chrysalis
Rumors and Information
Characters spending time in Chrysalis’s taverns, markets, and public spaces will hear whispers and gossip. Some rumors are true, some are half-truths, and some are deliberate misinformation spread by the election campaigns.
Related Notes:
Race: Ancient Elf
Class:
Role: Head of Ecological Section (ECO)
Affiliation: Rhine Lab
Location:
“Imagine, an environment untouched by originium.”
| Status | Alive |
| Condition | |
| Base | Rhine Lab |
Description
Melusine — pronounced Me-lu-sine — is an ancient elf and head of Rhine Lab’s Ecological Section. She has greenish blonde hair and is short for her race. She is typically seen wearing round glasses, a raincoat layered over her lab coat. There is little publicly known about her; she keeps people guessing and gives only vague answers. Only those closest to her know her true nature and history.
She is cheerful and openly warm toward Ambystoma, whom she created and raised. She has a notable scientific interest in dragonborn, as specimens are rare.
Rhine Labs Key Figure
Head of the Ecological Section. An ancient elf with greenish-blonde hair, short for her race, almost always cheerful when Amby is around. Creator of Ambystoma and the Guardian Project’s aquatic sector. Her motivations: to create lifeforms resistant to the originium disease, and to discover unpolluted places for her elven tribe to thrive. Amby has a sister, Urodela who is now working directly for Kristen Wright on the Pioneer Project, a development that worries Melusine.
Motivations
- Create lifeforms resistant to the originium disease.
- Discover unpolluted places for her elven tribe to thrive.
Role in the Campaign
Melusine is the party’s main point of contact at Rhine Lab for the Chrysalis/Malachite surface group. She shares intelligence about events on Terra — Titania’s condition, goblin activity, Malachite Forges’ drilling — and acts as a conduit between Rhine Lab’s concerns and the players.
She has received an offer from Kristen Wright to join the Pioneer Project aboard the vessel being prototyped. She is conflicted about accepting: the project would allow her to continue her research and potentially locate her tribe, but she is uncertain whether the choice is the right one.
She also raises an open and unanswered question she has been sitting with: originium appears to be confined entirely to Terra, and people infected with oripathy who leave the island do not survive the journey. She does not yet have an explanation.
Relationships
- Ambystoma — Melusine created Ambystoma as part of Rhine Lab’s Guardian Project and served as her primary caretaker, training her in physical education and the healing arts. She calls her Amby; Ambystoma calls her Mel.
- Urodela — Ambystoma’s sister, also created by Melusine. Urodela is currently working for Kristen Wright.
- Kristen Wright — Has extended Melusine an offer to join the Pioneer Project. Melusine’s answer is undecided.
- Saria the Vouivre — Colleague at Rhine Lab.
- Titania — Deeply worried about Titania’s oripathy infection. Received word of her condition via a letter from Morlock.
Notes
- Her tribe’s current location and fate are unknown to her — finding them is a core personal motivation.
- Her true nature is a deliberate mystery; Only people close to her know what she really is.
Dawn Town occupies the southeastern road out of Chrysalis, east of the city walls. The name predates the current settlement—it referred to the miners who began their shifts before sunrise, working the ore deposits that once drove this corner of the island’s economy before medicine and research displaced extraction as Chrysalis’s primary industry. Those mines are largely exhausted now, but their tunnels remain, and the infrastructure built to service them—reinforced buildings, wide roads capable of handling heavy loads, deep storage cellars—has been repurposed for Chrysalis Labs’ more hazardous work.
Dawn Town operates around the clock and smells of it. Fine black dust sometimes hangs in the air—originium particulate from the processing facilities. Cases of oripathy appear more frequently here than anywhere else in Chrysalis. The workers know this. Most have made their calculations and decided the wages are worth it, or have no better option.
At the district’s outermost edge, where the road disappears into the trees, stands the Outer Storage Facility—officially an archive of old research papers and sample collections, repurposed from a decommissioned power station. Its true contents are more interesting than its name suggests.
Character: Industrial, worn, running-at-all-hours
Notable features:
- Secondary Chrysalis Labs facility (materials research, energy experiments, originium processing)
- Remnants of the old mine network (some tunnels still accessible)
- Industrial housing for shift workers
- Heavy equipment storage and maintenance yards
- The Outer Storage Facility at the district’s edge—a converted ancient structure connected to the surrounding forest and deeper mysteries below
Worship: A small shrine to Boldrei stands near the entrance to the old mine tunnels, maintained by workers who leave offerings before descending. Whether they expect the goddess to hear them this far from home is debatable, but the shrine is never left empty.
Population character: Shift workers, lab technicians, former miners, and security personnel. Dawn Town has the highest concentration of oripathy cases in the city, and a corresponding undercurrent of fear and resentment. Workers here are aware that they bear risks that the residents of Snowford and New Church do not.
Description
Daeloth Al’ar is a drow and a member of the Al’ar family — the noble house of drow that is quietly positioning itself to establish control over Terra’s surface. He operates as the family’s enforcer on the surface, coming at night for those who are indebted to the Al’ar and making quick work of those who do not comply with the family’s wishes.
He is the brother of L’oriel Al’ar, who manages the Dragon Logistics office in Malachite.
Motivations
- Serve and advance the Al’ar family’s agenda on the surface
- Collect on debts and enforce the family’s interests through intimidation and force
Role in the Campaign
Daeloth surfaces as a threat or pressure point when the party crosses the Al’ar family’s interests. His role is that of an operative who handles things the family cannot afford to do openly — debt collection, coercion, and enforcement. He and his brother L’oriel represent two faces of the same Al’ar agenda: L’oriel as the legitimate surface-world face, Daeloth as the muscle behind it.
Relationships
- L’oriel Al’ar — Brother; Dragon Logistics manager in Malachite
- Al’ar — Noble drow house; his family and the power he serves
- Leonore of Alyss — Al’ar-backed mayoral candidate; a political instrument of the family
- Kristen Wright — Al’ar ally through the RALA alliance
Notes
- Originally a player character (played by Øystein Johannes), repurposed as a recurring NPC.
- The vault has minimal detail on Daeloth beyond his enforcer role and family ties — description, class, and quote fields are left blank pending further development.
Race: Drow
Class:
Role: Dragon Logistics Manager, Malachite
Affiliation: Dragon Logistics · Al’ar
Location: Town Malachite
""
| Status | Alive |
| Condition | |
| Base | Town Malachite |
Description
L’oriel Al’ar is a drow and member of the Al’ar noble house, currently posted on the surface as the manager of the Dragon Logistics office in Malachite. He is the public, legitimate face of the family’s surface presence — running a transportation and guide business that offers lizard mounts, wagon hire, underground mapping, escort work, and cargo transport.
His position in Dragon Logistics is not coincidence. The Al’ar family’s embedded influence over Dragon Logistics — and through it, over what survey data of the underdark reaches the surface — runs directly through L’oriel. The most detailed underdark passage maps at the Cartographers’ Office in Chrysalis are kept locked on the family’s request, and L’oriel is the one who ensures they stay that way.
He is the brother of Daeloth Al’ar.
Motivations
- Maintain and expand Al’ar influence over surface-world logistics and information
- Manage Dragon Logistics operations in Malachite as a legitimate cover for family interests
- Control the flow of underdark knowledge to the surface — what is shared, what is withheld, and with whom
Role in the Campaign
L’oriel is a recurring contact and potential employer in Malachite. He presents as a businesslike and professional operator willing to offer the party lucrative work — escort missions, mapping contracts, underground guide jobs. Parties that build a relationship with Dragon Logistics will eventually be approached by L’oriel directly with work that goes beyond standard contracts.
He is an entry point into the Al’ar family’s agenda and the RALA alliance, likely the first face of either that the players encounter. Whether He is a trustworthy patron or a manipulative handler depends on how deep the party looks.
Relationships
- Daeloth Al’ar — Brother; Al’ar enforcer on the surface
- Al’ar — Noble drow house; his family and the authority he ultimately serves
- Grothor Morain — Speaker of Dragon Logistics; his nominal superior on the surface, likely unaware of the full extent of his family’s involvement
- Kristen Wright — Ally through an alliance
Notes
- Originally a player character (played by Frans), repurposed as a recurring NPC.
- Flag: The vault uses both L’oriel and L’oriell across notes (session logs favour the double-L spelling). Standardise before publishing.
- Flag: Her Malachite office is placed in Pearl Hill in one wiki note and in the Docks in another. Resolve location before publishing.
The air carries the sharp tang of smelted metal and sea salt. Dwarven smiths hammer at their forges while dock workers haul crates of black crystal—originium—from the mines below. Malachite stands as a testament to industrial ambition, where ancient traditions meet dangerous innovation.
Town Overview
Malachite is a coastal settlement of approximately 200 years, built upon rich deposits of the mineral that gives it its name. Green-shingled copper roofs gleam in the sunlight, while smoke from countless forges fills portions of the sky. The town is primarily populated by dwarves, who have transformed this once-modest port into Terra’s industrial heart.
The discovery of Originium twenty years ago changed everything. What began as cautious experimentation has become the foundation of Malachite’s prosperity—and perhaps its doom. The black crystals fuel the forges with unprecedented efficiency, but whispers of a crystalline disease have begun to spread through the population.
Population: ~2,000 (65% dwarf, 20% human, 10% goliath, 5% other races)
Government: Grothor Morain serves as mayor, though the Oligarchy of Terra’s major factions holds true power here. Malachite Forges and the Dwarves Union maintain their headquarters within the town.
Defense: Town militia supplemented by Malachite Forges security forces. The outer districts are prone to tsunamis and earthquakes, but the main facilities have been reinforced against natural disasters.
Commerce: Industrial metalwork, ore refinement, shipping. Malachite exports refined metals and originium throughout Terra and beyond.
Town Districts
Districts
Notable Locations
Pearl Hill
Copper Ward
- Malachite Forges
- Alchemy and Alcheyou
- Barrel Factory
The Docks
- Bam’s Bangers and Boomers
- Street Market
- The Butcher
Old District
- Iris Tavern
- Firewine Tavern
- Tunnel Entrance
Background
Starting the Adventure
Player characters can become involved in Malachite’s troubles through several entry points: