Delbaeth

Age: unknown.
Alignment: unknown.
Allies: Bertold (employer/friend), Angharad (friend), Cadfan (colleague/friend).
Enemies: unknown.
Allegiances: The Gold Ladder.
Hangouts: The Gold Ladder.

Appearance: The elf is tall, and slender. Though his face, arms and legs are covered with second and even third-degree burns in places, his torso and abdomen are mostly unscathed, probably because of the garments he was wearing when he was set on fire. He seems asleep at the moment, though his head moves from side to side erratically while resting on a linen pillow. His limbs shake every now and then with uncontrollable spasms. His breath is very shallow, and he seems to mutter, or whisper, as if talking through a bad dream. (...)

The elf opens his eyes, which are light brown, almost golden. You can see the flesh around them crack as his traits try to find a comfortable expression but fail to do so. It seems to take a long time for him to understand your words. He tries to move, but must give up as pain surges throughout his body: "The friars. Bertold. We... they were searching for clues. Everything seemed to go so well. We'd open the inn, and everything would go well. The friars would find refuge." - (IC Thread 1a)

Personality: Hard to tell with his suffering.  

Background: Delbaeth is one of Bertold's aids at the Gold Ladder. He was down underground with his boss and the Brothers of St. Fharlang when the mysterious "blue door" suddenly opened, with all sorts of creatures coming out of it, and suddenly, an explosion which wounded him pretty deeply. He flew away from the scene, up the long well to the main room of the Ladder, and caught on fire in the process. He is now resting and, hopefully, recovering in the upper levels of the inn.

Iridithil's Home

Location: East of Ptolus, along the King's River.
Related People and Places: unknown.

Appearance: unknown.

Background: "No idea who that Iridithil fellow might be, but his name was given to the elves' compound outside the city walls. That's how they call it - 'Iridithil's Home'. So I thought you folks might have been headed there, somehow." – Cadfan.

Destination: Iridithil's Home is the elven compound outside the city walls.

Knighthood of the Rattle and Spear



Founded in: unknown.
Alignment: unknown.
Leader: unknown.
Allies: unknown.
Enemies: unknown.
Allegiances: The Church of Lothian, at least until 425 of the Imperial Age.
Headquarters: unknown.

Beliefs and Organization: The Knighthood of the Rattle and Spear must have shared the beliefs of the Church up until it was disbanded in 425 IA. Whether the order still exists in some way, shape of form is not known at this point.

Background: The PCs found an edict from Dietmar Venandus Ylestos dated from 425 IA while investigating the incident that occurred under the Gold Ladder at the beginning of this year, 431 IA.  It was located in a chest that apparently was part of the belongings of the monks of St. Fharlang who helped Bertold in investigating the place underground, and read:

The Quaan

Founded in: unknown.
Alignment: unknown.
Leader: The Pact Lords.
Allies: The Toruk-Rul (troops/servants).
Enemies: unknown.
Allegiances: unknown.
Headquarters: unknown.

Beliefs and Organization: The Quaan seems to be some sort of pact or alliance between various Pact Lords. Their leadership seems to be authoritarian, and very harshly enforced, as Erarht’s testimony attests:

"I am but a lesser son of the Toruk-Rul." He looks carefully at Runch and Tudd. "Just like you."

"As for my allegiances. I serve the Quaan, and followed Gohruel and Moghool, our Chieftains, to retrieve the secret hidden within these walls, though I do not know what that is." (…)

"The Quaan! The Lords of the Pact do not suffer weakness or any other allegiances. There is no hope for me to return. If I become one of them... no! The Pact must not be broken!" The Orc looks straight back at Runch, now pleading again: "This is the Truth! KILL ME NOW!"

Background: unknown.

Brother Maulbert

Age: Adult (mid-30s).
Alignment: Unknown.
Allies: Bertold (protector).
Enemies: unknown.
Allegiances: Order of St. Fharlang.
Hangouts: The Gold Ladder.

Appearance: The monk suddenly turns to face Rissthil as he takes his hood off his head. "Were you talking to me?"

This is a small, very small fellow with a plump baby face, reddish hair and sideburns, plain lips and bright, blue eyes. After he's asked his first question, he seems to realize something is off, as if he'd forgotten where he was. He then corrects himself: "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

Gareth and Smeads recognize the hobbit that served as the model of the statue they found by the iron door earlier...  - (In-character thread 2B)



Personality: Good-spirited. Curious. Considerate.

Background: Maulbert is a hobbit, and one of the monks of St. Fharlang who assisted in the task of investigating the underground area under the Gold Ladder. When the "blue door" opened and the monks where attacked, Maulbert made it to the corridor west of the central dais area, but lost conscience there.

"That's right... we were here, Bertold was by the large crystal. I was studying the paintings. Then the door opened, and the demons poured in. Everything was aflame. I had to run, see? Find shelter. Everything was unstable. I found the secret passage. I ducked. I ... that's where I must have lost conscience."  (Maulbert, In-character thread 2B)

Since then, it seems the hobbit has been trapped in the strange limbo-esque parallel dimension underground Gareth, Smeads and Rissthil visited.

Erarht the Orc

Age: Hard to Tell.
Alignment: Chaotic?
Allies: None.
Enemies: Pactlords of the Quaan (banishment).
Allegiances: Runch?
Hangouts: The Underworld.

Appearance: Erarht is a fairly representative specimen of orc, though maybe a tad smaller than the average. He wears a leather armor and clothes that look more like rags than anything else. His hair is sparse, most of it gone due to disease and various scars inherited from his upbringing. His skin is an eyesore, between the acne, the ritual markings, and the faded war paintings he's worn most of his life. Strong brow, small but shrewd yellow eyes and black pupils; no lips to speak of; pointed teeth rotten to the core.



Personality: Coward. Shrewd. Observant.

Background: Erarht is a "lesser son of the Toruk-Rul." He was part of the retinue of the Chieftains Gohruel and Moghool who came to the area currently investigated under the Gold Ladder to find out or retrieve some sort of "secret" hidden there, though he doesn't know what that secret might be. After the explosion following the horde's entrance through the "blue door", Erarht and some of his fellow orcs and goblins found themselves isolated by the dais area. The tentacled horror and its flesh spawns attacked. Erarht decided to flee north and wait for the combat to be over. The orcs were partially victorious, since they repelled the monster without being able to slaughter it for good. Erarht was then banished from the group for his cowardice. The passage to the north of the dais was walled after the orcs piled up the dead in one of the storage rooms, leaving the deserters to fend for their lives against the monster which would surely return later on.

The deserters finally decided to barricade themselves in the other storage room by the dais and wait there until it would be safe to come out. A little while later, some mercenaries (the PCs) showed up from the surface and started fighting some of the dead that had come back "alive" or were diseased by the creature. The humans, elves and dwarves had the upper hand, made their way to the storage room where the deserters were hiding, and slaughtered them all but for Erarht, who remains their prisoner at this point.

Mundel of Kantz

Age: Mid-30s.
Alignment: Good.
Allies: Bertold (friend), Church of Lothian (faith), Imperial Guard (loyalty).
Enemies: Brother Malekh (Black Abbey, Church of Lothian) (unwanted chaperon/overseer).  
Allegiances: The Brotherhood of the Sword.
Hangouts: The Bladechapel.

Appearance: "The shape of a large man wearing black robes and suit of mail over them appears by the opening in the ceiling, climbing down the set of ropes leading to the basket resting on the dais. He is a large fellow, and wears a long heater shield, a broad sword and a staff or pole crossed on his back. He also carries a large leather pouch and dagger both secured to his waistband, and uses a set of chains to secure himself to the ropes while he is climbing down carefully."

The large man keeps on climbing down from the ceiling and finally reaches the dais. He carefully stores the chains he used to secure himself to the ropes in the large basket right next to him, and has a look around. He eyes are intense, inquisitive. After a few brief looks left, right, above and down later, he takes notice of your current positions and takes a few steps away (westward) from the basket. He unfastens some straps tightened over his chest and seizes his sword and shield before saying: "Mundel of Kantz. Brother of the Sword." (In-character Thread 2)



Personality: Proactive, brave, considerate.

Background: Mundel struggles with his thoughts for a split second, as if trying to put in direct terms a complex situation: "Let's just say that I am not here by choice. When Angharad came to the Bladechapel asking for our help, she interrupted... negotiations with the authorities of the Church. I thought best to send her on her way, refusing to agree to her demands in front of the Abbot's envoys, but fully intending to correct this falsehood later on."

He sighs, throws another look at Erarht the Orc, and continues: "What I did not expect was that we would be assigned a chaperon who would follow us on our city round. I decided to make for the Gold Ladder anyway - time was of the essence, as I understood it -, pretending to shut down whatever operations you would be engaged in if necessary."

"The truth of the matter is that I want to help - I am friend, not foe, and know Bertold well - but the Brotherhood cannot get involved. I have to make the Black monk upstairs believe I am being tough on you, so he will leave both the Brotherhood and the Ladder alone. Which is why I am here. Well, besides my own curiosity's satisfaction, of course, and the desire to see you make it back up if you need it." (In-character thread 2)