| Relatives | Chadicus Atherton (father), Maria Allen (mother), Dale and Lucy (younger siblings) |
|---|---|
| Languages | Common, Draconic |
| Affiliations | Tempest Brothers Expeditionary Company |
| Aliases | Allen Nittany, Nicholas Seawell, Suzie Bluth |
| Marital Status | single |
| Place of Birth | Seawell |
| Date of Death | N/A |
| Place of Death | N/A |
| Species | Human (Variant) |
| Gender | Male (he/him) |
| Height | 5'9" |
| Weight | 140 lbs |
| Eye Color | Gray |
Ren Atherton is a chaotic good human from Seawell. He has the Criminal background since he was falsely accused of a crime and exiled from the town. He started with one level in Rogue, and then began as a Warlock (Great Old One - Pact of the Chain).
Physical Appearance[edit | edit source]
Ren is a 21-year-old man. At 5'9" and 140 pounds, Ren is average height and thin. He has gray eyes, sometimes glasses, medium-length black hair, and generally dresses in darker clothes and wears a black jacket. His cat has black fur, so even when he sheds, it doesn't matter as much if you're already wearing black.
His familiar Morgana usually takes the form of a cat, with white paws and some white fur on his face and tail. Morgana usually also wears a yellow collar or bandana.
As of late, Ren wears two amulets: a Dark Shard Amulet, and a Clockwork Amulet. Neither is too loud, and both work with his monochrome aesthetic. He also has the bracers of archery on under his long sleeves, which both help in battle and aren't too uncomfortable in the perpetually autumnal weather of Amusa.
He dresses like someone who doesn't want to stad out too much, since he generally doesn't. Ren even wears glasses with no prescription, so he appears more unassuming and can study and explore in peace, while also doing heists and investigations as needed. He often wears a school uniform, shown in the picture, to blend in at the local university in Galik.
Personality[edit | edit source]
Ren is social and laid back, but he is hesitant to get too close with people too soon. While around town, he often hides his face, since he doesn't trust others quite as much after being exiled.
In his free time (if he isn't forging an item or learning something), he's usually petting his cat Morgana and trying different coffees around the neighborhood.
He's becoming a bit more comfortable with everyone in the company since doing a few missions with them, but he is also a bit nervous about there being a spy potentially.
Still, he doesn't relax at big festivals too much, since the one time he truly relaxed with others since arriving in Galik, it didn't go well - he doesn't remember it well, but vaguely tells people not to go to the circus.
He enjoys making coffee for people, and he can often be found at Cherrywood Cafe around the corner from the Tempest Brothers.
History[edit | edit source]
Ren grew up in the coastal city of Seawell with two parents and two siblings. His father Chadicus Atherton is a dragonborn blacksmith and locksmith, so he learned how to pick locks as his apprentice as a child. His mother Maria Allen is a changeling bard who teaches at the local school. He gets along well with his younger siblings Dale and Lucy.
Ren often ran late for school as a kid, so he learned to dash and hide as needed to convince teachers he'd been in class the whole time and was not late as they had thought.
He befriended a former thief named Andrew (out of character: his criminal contact from his "criminal" background), who changed his ways after breaking into a noble's house and being adopted instead of arrested. Andrew still knew how to pick locks and remain undetected however, and taught Ren how to do some of these things when absolutely necessary for the greater good.
While attending Seawell Community College, Ren saw a drunk man harassing a woman on the street at night, so he intervened, accidentally pushing the man to the ground. The man said that the city guard all follow him, claiming he'd sue for assault. The city guard believed the drunk man (who Ren was unable to identify, but suspects it was a member of the Stone or Bluth family), so Ren was found guilty of assault and exiled from Seawell.
Ren set out for the only major city he knew of, Galik, and stopped at an inn on the way there. That night in his dreams, a mysterious entity calling himself Igor spoke to him, offering a deal. In exchange for fighting for justice and taking down powerful and corrupt villains, Igor would grant him eldritch powers. Ren agreed and continued to Galik, where he joined the Tempest Brothers Expeditionary Company.
When he got to Galik, he signed a Pact of the Chain with Igor, and when he cast Find Familiar, it took the form of a magical cat named Morgana. The two then began adventuring together with the party.
Since joining the company, he has gone on several missions:
Megasession and Hunk's Vengeance:
He helped the party move the Arcane Forge away from the camp when it was under attack. That same month, he also saw the weird robots that melted when defeated; he doesn't really understand what was going on there.
Circus:
After some combat, he realized the importance of moving quickly, so he gained an additional level in rogue as the company returned to Galik. He decided to go with a few others to the circus, but isn't sure if they ever got there or not. He has vague memories of some circus employee at the dart game trying to jump in front of the darts? He tried to send Morgana to distract him by being an adorable cat, but even with a high persuasion roll, Morgana was afraid of this employee. Ren does not remember this person's face.
He doesn't really remember most of the rest of the circus, but he does remember the dream he had. His patron Igor sounded remarkably different and was torturing him. "Igor" or whoever he was, told him that if his family wanted to, they probably could have kept Ren from being exiled. He woke up and found out it was apparently a dream, but this whole encounter left him disturbed. He's also worried about his patron and still has a lingering doubt about his family. He then made sure to have some things under control that he could count on, so he spent his January downtime forging a Clockwork Amulet. This way, at least one attack a day would not be up to luck.
End of the Line:
Making sure to stamp out evil forces that use magic for cruelty, he and other company members went on the Galik City Railway to pursue a high-ranking cult member, one of the Groomsmen. There, he met a more experienced warlock from the company, Marion, who gave him a Dark Shard Amulet, since they had too many items and this could only be used by a warlock. Ren disguised himself as Allen Nittany, a student at the local college, to avoid suspicion. On the train, the party split up to investigate each car, and Ren had the misfortune of finding the conductor's dead body. Rather than startle the train, he tried to alert the party first, but did not hide his stress well, so some of the passengers thought he was the killer. Fortunately the party found the true killer, who then gambled everyone's lives in a game of poker. He and Marion ended up betting showing their true faces, and they lost that round, so the cult wizard has seen his face. The wizard then died though, so unless someone else was Scrying on the wizard, Ren hopes he should be ok. He then got his share of the gold they confiscated on the train and is in the good graces of the noblewoman whose gold was stolen.
Blood, Sweat, and Gears:
Ren decided to test his luck with the local nobility to raise money for the company. Instead of going in disguise, he used his real appearance to schmooze with the local nobility. He used Disguise Self as a party trick to entertain some guests. While he had good luck with persuasion, he noticed people who had liked him earlier were no reluctant to support the Tempest Brothers. It turned out that "Lambda" had been accusing them behind their back. He and Ronin were able to communicate telepathically to decide what to do.
Ren's first priority was the safety of everyone at the dinner, so he gave a speech to all the attendees that just as he could disguise himself, this "Lambda" was an impostor as well. After "Lambda" was defeated, Ren convinced the seven remaining warforged staffing the event (save for the doorman, who had disappeared) to stand down and join the company instead of continuing unnecessary bloodshed.
Lost and Found:
After successfully schmoozing with the nobles, Ren decided to continue getting to know about the society of Galik. He used Disguise Self to look as generic as possible, similar to the Allen Nittany disguise (which he used on the train in an earlier session). He looked so generic that the housekeeper was worried he was hear to cause trouble, just as the cultists who took Zyler looked.
He went with everyone to the Crypt after the party found records from the Archives. With buffs from Danke Schon, the dim lighting from the crypt, and a lucky roll, he got a critical hit with shadow blade, helping to turn the tide of battle.
With luck critical successes two sessions in a row, he was feeling (possibly too) confident going into the next session:
Make Galik Great Again:
After realizing how much influence the High Burgher can have in Galik, he wanted to learn about politics in the city and do his part to ensure a good leader is elected this year. He went with the party to investigate the Hearthornes. He accepted one of two daggers from Shelmlock Domes, so he was on the lookout for an opportunity to stab whoever had the contract for the bounty, in hopes of breaking it. He asked a question to two candidates about what they think the real issues are, and upon hearing a well-worded response from Alistair Hearthorne, decided he could get close to him by volunteering for his campaign.
Unfortunately, the window of opportunity for this was very narrow, so he had little choice but to get into the carriage with Alistair and his wife Lenore. He was promptly charmed into wanting to kill the party when he next saw them. Fortunately, he made the wisdom save to remember what he heard in the carriage and tell the party when he regained his senses:
They are working to acquire more bodies
They speak of increasing arms at Camp Emberclaw
Find the head of Ripjaw
To make way for their honored guest
He was lucky to be able to remember that. He had no more luck for the rest of the session, clearly very tired from the incident in the carriage. He was nervous when Ronin appraoched the carriage, since he would be compelled to attack him, but fortunately they were kept apart by guards.
The party broke concentration on Ren's charm effect before he hurt any allies. In the fight he dealt a measly bit of damage with Eldritch Blast, but was otherwise so tired that he couldn't hit someone standing next to him, even with advantage. He was downed when this random person hit two critical hits on him in six seconds. Fortunately the power of friendship prevailed as healers were present, so we all lived, though the Bride and Groom got away.
Ren is now more annoyed about politics than ever, and feels a renewed commitment to help the people of this city.
He was also glad to meet someone else from Seawell, Twilsby, a powerful wizard and seemingly a decent noble, which is refreshing.
Down in the Deep:
Ren ventured with the company to investigate rumors of connections between Sly, Lenore, and the large family that runs the docks. He and Morgana sniffed out the entrances to the sewers, and Twilsby figured out which one had been interfered with. Ren used his scroll of Pass Without Trace from earlier that week. On the surface, he and the party quickly defeated the thieves, though the others did not allow Ren to keep one of them alive.
In the sewers, he lent his Boots of Elvenkind to Heli so she would be stealthy enough despite her armor. The party then fought two guards and four myconids. Ren was more successful with Shadow Blade this time, keeping at a distance and attack the mushrooms and guards. This meant he never go charmed or blinded by them. In fact, he never took any damage from any enemies this session.
The sewers were dark, so Ren purchased Goggles of Night before this mission, which went well with Shadow Blade.
That changed at the end of the fight, when he didn't realize that Heli was still charmed to attack the party, leading to a fight between Ren and Heli. The rest of the party stopped Heli as Ren got away. Kh'jan briefly attacked Ren too at first, despite not being charmed, because he figured that if Heli was attacking someone, they must be a bad person. All was well in the end, and everyone lived.
Ren decided that it would be good to be able to heal himself or others, so he decided that once he has enough experience, he'll learn to make snacks to heal people in battle.
Who's Crying Now:
The Warden and his scientists were nearly done making potions that could cure effects of the spores, but they needed one last ingredient: the tears of a celestial. Ren ventured with the Wiggler, Lux, Otto, and Dr. Weedus to a ruined temple in the wilds to find this ingredient. While they did find what they were looking for, they also found plenty of enemies waiting for them. Jim Stacy, two gigantic plants, a cult scientist who got away, and a horde of zombies perpetually summoned by the plants made for a difficult - almost deadly - battle.
Trying to see over the walls of the ruined temple, Ren jumped onto a tall rock over the water, realizing at that moment that he was getting better at acrobatics since joining the company. Instead of defaulting to Shadow Blade, he used his shortbow for the first half of the fight to pick off zombies and occasionally damage the scary plants. But as they got closer, he was almost surrounded. Fortunately, he was able to get past them and aid a dying Otto with the soups he'd bought from Nettle. Ren briefly wished he had been better at healing as Otto fell once more, but miraculously, as if the gods of this temple were assisting, Otto got back up right away. The two of them worked together to take down on the plant. Seconds prior, they saw that as Lux and Wiggler defeated the other plant, it would also kill any zombies they'd summoned, so taking down the second plant was quite a relief. Ren recalled using his rapier to cut through the Spider Swamp many months ago, and how much he had grown since, while similarly cutting through this monstrous plant.
While the rest of the party then converged on Jim Stacy, Ren decided to hide and investigate cautiously. Even with Eldritch Blast, the scientist was too far away to do much to, so he turned his attention to the west. He noticed a figure in a black mask who had arrived on the scene during the fight. After Jim's defeat, Ren psychically asked the masked man what his purpose was here. Unfortunately, this gave him a mental connection with Mother for a moment. He saw visions of the old temple, of its decay and rot as the fungal cult invaded, and then he saw visions of the whole of Amusa falling to rot. He withstood this vision as the masked figure revealed himself as Lambda, their old co-worker and alleged friend.
Lambda monologued to a wounded party before disappearing along with the other stragglers, but otherwise the mission was a complete success, and Ren felt accomplished and much more powerful. Perhaps the temple's gods truly were watching Otto, as some celestial being granted the party the Divinely Favored feat, as Ren suddenly felt capable of healing others for once. He also felt more powerful as a warlock as he got on the ship back that evening, realizing he'd figured out how to pull fleeing targets with Eldritch Blast, and possibly track people with Mind Spike, which Igor confirmed to him in a dream on the flight back.
Unmasked:
Ren joined the party to investigate some goings on with the Hearthorne family once again. He had Morgana investigate a mansion, but Morgana was distracted by a can of tuna and thus kept failing perception checks. The party found and quickly defeated several guards who were told not to go to the top floor of the mansion. Ronin intimidated the guards into not talking, and Ren was able to use his new Spare the Dying cantrip to keep the guards alive.
But there was additional healing needed very shortly. When the party got upstairs, they found Jack of Hearts himself returning from a failed assassination attempt on the newly elected High Burgher, Alistair Hearthorne. The party fought off Lyreguard members who had been possessed by the fungal cult, and Ren helped in the effort to heal Jack, who seemed to be on our side. Jack and the party fled underground to head to City Hall before Alistair could rewrite the lawbook and undo magical protections of the city.
Safely underground for a brief few moments, Jack of Hearts removed his mask to reveal his other identity - Jacqueline Hearthorne! Ren tried to relate to Jack by using Disguise Self a few times to show how we all wear masks sometimes and that that's ok.
We then rushed to City Hall to protect the lawbook. Ren tried to use Grasp of Hadar, which he just learned specifically to stop the Bride and Groom from fleeing again, but they got away again on a teleportation circle to Thelrya. Still, they saved the city from destruction (mostly) and stopped the lawbook from being changed too much. Any city property that was given to the cultists was transferred to Jacquline Harthorne, and the two cultists were banned from the city in the lawbook.
Ren then let Jack know he'd be interested in working together in the future.
Megagame:
Ren joined the company on the quest to take down Mother once and for all. On day one, Ren assisted the underground journey to Thinwhistle. He and the party encountered a Mindflayer in a tower. Next, they found a Temple of Lolth, where there were some Drow hostages. After they defeated the enemies, Ren and Finney spoke with and freed the hostages. One of them was a general, Lux's estranged mother, who gave the party a knife to pass to Lux later on. Reaching the surface, they were surprised by the possessed zombies of former adventurers, including Sneeze, whom Ren then killed personally (though he himself had no idea who these people were). However, the trophy of Mother in this particular area was hidden in a bush, so Ren and Finney fought each other there in confusion, before they resisted the magic. Finally, they ventured forth to take down one last statue of mother. They fought the zombies of Thrax and others previously killed in Thinwhistle. Ren maneuvered into a house for cover, but then he was cornered by Thrax. Fortunately, with teamwork, good luck on Booming Blade and Sneak Attack, he was able to survive, and the party found all four possible trophies.
In the ruined village, the party found a trove of magical weapons from long ago. Finney was already attuned to three magical items, so Ren took one to return to her later - this was the Wand of the Old Kobold King, a +1 wand that also had charges for other spells, including Haste. Ren also took an item to keep permanently: the Blade of the Old Kobold Queen, a +2 Rapier that can frighten enemies it strikes a few times a day.
Out of spell slots and low on health, Ren was glad to get a restful night of sleep on the way to the next part of the quest.
On day two, Ren initially wanted to get revenge on the Bride and Groom, but he trusted his allies to take care of that, as he was needed elsewhere: Thelrya itself, where mostly only mages were headed. Ren joined the party to the Restoration of Thelrya, where they fought the avatar of Mother herself in front of an ancient cathedral frozen in time. While Ren initially went to deal damage, he noticed a powerful barbarian, Richard Weedus, who had been polymorphed into an ape. Recalling the wand he briefly had in his possession, Ren cast Haste on the polymorphed barbarian, and ran as far as he could in the opposite direction to maintain concentration.
However, Mother was not the only enemy on the field. Her champion, Lambda, strutted onto the battlefield, looking for a fight. Most of the party wailed on Lambda as Mother drew near, and Ren dealt the final blow to him from a safe distance. Haste stayed up for the rest of the fight as Ren was able to stay safe, being very glad he had Eldritch Blast and a bow. In another fight in another region, a magical bubble was put up over Thelrya, making victory possible. Thelyra was safe, and Ren returned to Galik with the rest of the party.
At company HQ, Ren watched over a celebratory feast held by Finny, and he healed those who had celebrated too vigorously.
Cherrywood Cafe:
Taking some time between adventures, Ren checked in on his friend Saul Cherrywood, a cafe owner from Seawell. Saul hired some of the company to go out of town with him on a quest, and Ren agreed to stay behind and watch the cafe. He advised the party on Seawell and its political situation, especially how many people get exiled from there.
Election Day:
After Alistair Hearthorne and his cult killed the rest of the Council of Burghers, the city appointed Tamlin Elkreak as High Burgher once more. His first act of business was to appoint new nobles to be the new Council.
Tamlin assembled a party from the Tempest Brothers, since we had helped save the city from Alistair, and so he could trust us to find suitable aristocrats to run the city with care.
Ren went with the team to investigate Houses Senrene, Purlurn, Webwell, Marshrence, Jengor, Tradsairn, Fletcher, Hazestone, and Davenriddle.
The party had generally pleasant experiences with most of the houses, save for Fletcher. Before heading out, the party met with Paul Fletcher, a kind historian who works with the company. He revealed that his family had shunned him since he didn't want to join the family business. Ren missed his own family, and sympathized with Paul since he had been exiled from his hometown. Ren discussed with the party whether they should even send Tamlin's invitation to the Fletchers at all. The party pointed out that while the Fletchers suck, it wasn't the party's assignment to decide which families to invite - also, this event was for an election, not to the council itself.
Ren and Ronin arrived at the Fletchers' and saw their youngest daughter who was ill and not let outside. They telepathically communicated with her that Paul missed her, and she was happy to hear from him. The father and brother Fletchers didn't really show up or seem to care about the invite, since they focused on short-term business duties instead of the potential gains they could have in influencing the city government itself.
Dryzzel Hazestone was much cooler. The party met her while she was at temple. She was somewhat hesitant to join the government since she already has a lot of duties at the temple, but the party won her over and she seemed happy to help. Ren also had a rare opportunity to speak Draconic with her, and she was happy to meet a human willing to speak in that language.
In his downtime leading up to that day, Ren had gotten to know some nobles throughout the city. He learned about the Senrenes, Purlurns, Webwells, and Marshrences, all of whom would be invited to the meeting to elect the council. The Senrenes and Marshrences are basically universally trusted in town for their religious service and preservation of nature respectively. The Purlurns and Webwells are newer families in town that had somewhat ambiguous reputations. The Purlurns were into new theatre from many cultures and had a mysterious amount of bad luck over the years. The Webwells were mostly Drow who worshipped Lolth and advocated for religious freedom.
At the megasession, Ren had had a run-in with some Drow at a temple of Lolth underground. However, he made sure to recall that not everyone who worships a particular god is the same, and that the Webwells had been on the surface for centuries. It turned out they were cool!
Ren also learned that Purlurn was in fact a pun like all the other names, as they were mostly tabaxi. The reason for their bad luck wasn't any wrongdoing, but that some of them worshipped Beshaba, the Goddess of Bad Luck, whose temple he had visited with Marion, giving himself oddly low rolls throughout that session.
In the end, Ren and the party presented a tier list to the High Burgher, who appreciated and geenrally agreed with our recommendations. Ren was happy to help appoint a good council, and is now confident, or at least cautiously optimistic, that Galik will not fall into bad governance like Seawell had. The company would be leaving the city soon, and Ren was ok with that.
In appreciation of this service, Tamlin gave each adventurer a magic item tailored to their needs. Ren received a Cloak of Displacement, which he has worn ever since. Feeling more confident and knowing the city better, Ren achieved more magical prowess, taking his fifth level in warlock, and eighth overall.
Remnants of Old Thelrya:
After the restoration of Thelrya, there were still some missing people descended from the ancient city, so a party was sent to find them. Ren and the party passed a mysterious magical circle in the woods, which tried to either contain something or keep something out. They then continued to a farm, which seemed very recently abandoned. After finding some clues and books about necromancy, the party found a mysterious well. Ren took a bottle to be analyzed later, and he was paranoid and did not drink from it. Heli and Ronin did.
Progressing towards the city, Ren and Ronin feared that Paul Fletcher, the historian from last session, had been replaced with a doppelganger. He grilled him with questions about his family that only he could know, though he felt bad about it.
In the mostly abandoned city, the party investigated for clues, and Ren found a mysterious attic. Ren sent Morgana up to investigate, but Morgana was killed by a trap - this was Morgana's first death since the start of the campaign, so Ren would need to get some incense to cast Find Familiar again another day. This attic had a mysterious mirror, which had a cloth covering it. Feeling paranoid, Ren did not want to open it himself. He summoned a Fey Spirit for the first time, which he had learned to do from Igor in the past few weeks. This Fey Sprit uncovered the mirror and was instantly killed. The doppelganger or whatever invisible thing killed his fey spirit in one attack, and Ren called the rest of the party upstairs.
The party quickly dispatched the specter, with Ren dealing the killing blow, but not before it dealt quite a bit of damage... and Ronin had disappeared outside. Unsure of what to do next, Wiggler and Ren decided to turn to a higher power and each cast Augury, as the Celestials had taught them how to months ago. With his question, Ren asked if he should attack "Ronin" the next time he sees him - fortunately, the answer was negative.
Ronin was fighting the doppelganger outside, possibly being taken over, but he was able to resist it successfully, so Ren did not have to fight his friend. Then they found Heli in a well after a long disappearance. However, Heli and Ronin both began to grow paler. They headed into the library to try to break the curse.
Ren and 22 worked to break the curse as everyone else fought off zombies. It took a while, and Ren had to swerve around some bookshelves, but it eventually worked and everyone lived and had no permanent curses.
After returning to HQ, Ren bought some incense and resummoned Morgana, this time as a pseudodragon after learning from Therrin's example, so Morgana could fly.
Fur and Fangs:
Ren may be a cat person, but he has a soft spot for animals in general too. An animal sanctuary had been fighting off poachers, and the party was sent to help. Recalling his near-deadly trek through the Spider Swamps, Ren was much more prepared this time to fight off any cursed creatures as they headed to the sanctuary. Unfortunately, as they learned when they got there, the animals they fought at first were actually on guard duty.
Without an opportunity to rest, they then had to chase down the poachers. These were not ordinary thieves, as thy used unique, strange spells Ren had not seen before. However, they made the mistake of starting on towers, shortly after Ren had learned how to pull people 10 feet towards him. While Ren never dealt the massive damage that Doctor Richard Weedus could, he was able to pull enemies to the ground and add some fall damage, bringing them into melee range for the party.
However, his greatest dilemma was near the end, when the head poacher Quinora, used Chain of Pain on Ren. Although he has some confidence in himself, he was unable to resist the magic of that spell, so he had to take decisive action to break it creatively. Chain of Pain links the damage or healing between the caster and the target, so whenever Quinora took damage, Ren would too, and healing Ren would heal her too. With 1 HP remaining, Ren recalled that each animal was in a special container with a pocket dimension. He released an animal from its ball, having Morgana fly up and carry it and his other rescued animal, and then he jumped into the ball, severing the spell, freeing the rest of the party to wail on Quinora.
Unfortunately, she teleported away, as people so often do, but at least everyone lived, and the animals were safe.
The Community Garden:
Ren decided to move with the company to eastern Amusa, as he still isn't welcome in Seawell just yet, though he heard Matthias Stone's political power in town is waning. Instead of being in an established city like Galik, the new base is in the woods, so the company needed to grow some crops to help feed themselves. Unfortunately, the employee starting this farm had not reported back to the company in weeks, so a party went to investigate.
Since Morgana had been slain as a cat on his last adventure, Ren resummoned him as a pseudodragon after buying some incense from Bulio. While people would teleport back to the farmhouse porch each time, Morgana could fly up and also out without too many issues, suggesting we as humanoids were being targeted specifically. Ren was concerned they fey trickery was at work, so we gave fake names to everyone he didn't already know, lest anyone "take" his name.
The party saw a mysterious goose.
We could not communicate with it.
But it was a bird.
And (as established in the horrifying trip to the circus) Morgana speaks duck.
Close enough.
Sadly, the only speech the duck expressed was violence. The archfey commanding it revealed herself, saying that she loved to toy with people before killing them. She was very manipulative, able to charm people into attacking others. Just as she altered the boundaries of the farm to trap the farmer in there for weeks, she could also move around the map quite easily, making for a difficult fight.
Even with his clockwork amulet, Ren couldn't hit for eighteen excruciating seconds in a row. When he finally did, it was only after being under her control, with an urge to kill the party. He recalled Matthias Stone's advice to his workers at Stonebucks: always go after healers first. So he went after 22, finally landing a hit. 22 kindly dispelled the magic on Ren instead of retaliating. Refueled with the power of friendship, Ren cast Summon Fey and had it attack his manipulative foe. On the next round, he and his summon were flanking her, both dealing critical, and ultimately fatal, hits to her.
The party discussed how to deal with the remains, both of the archfey and the goose, ultimately deciding to go with Zarrial's plan for a respectful burial. We did, however, loot the body, and Ren noticed a Deck of Illusions, which should prove useful in the future.
For the rest of June, noticing how much work is needed to keep the camp safe and how many materials we may be able to find, Ren foraged for supplies for Sugarsprinkle to be able to supply the company with even more powerful candies than she already had.
Vela's Venture
Ren joined a group of challengers from the Tempest Brothers to take part in a contest from a druid conclave that worships Vela. The contestants were paired up into three groups: the boys' team, the girls' team, and the "A-Team" of Ren Atherton and Eabha (pronounced like Ava). Each pair was sent far into the woods and had to navigate back to camp. Whoever did so first would win.
On one day, a man claiming to be in distress joined Ren and Eabha on their journey. Neither was insightful enough to find him particularly suspicious - or confident enough to find him virtuous - so they decided to be good neighbors and bring him along.
On day 2, he robbed Ren, taking 25G. Oh well.
On day 3, Ren and Eabha walked through a mysterious cave with an odd magical gas. This polymorphed them, which seemed a hindrance, but was actually helpful in the end.
Everyone reached camp at around the same time. The various druids would try to stop us from reaching the statue of Vela at the center of the camp. We simply had to pass them, not defeat them. As fast animals, Ren and Eabha quickly reached the statue, winning the contest. However, there was no harm in helping others place too, so they helped the others pass the druids to pass the time at the end.
Every Kingdom Falls
Ren mostly networked over the summer, not adventuring as much as he explored his new home in eastern Amusa. However, his new home was quickly under a new threat: eternal winter. Ren joined the quest to defeat Prince Ulftiir the Rimelord.
One part of his summer downtime was to network with the upper class of Xender. He called in a favor from this time, getting a concert from Séancé, a famous musican who performs so well they say she can bring back the dead. This gave everyone one use of bardic inspiration to use in this session.
Tempest's Landing - the newly established camp - was freezing as a portal had opened from the Plane of Ice. It was so cold that our airships couldn't even start at first due to the cold wind. Fortunately, Karma - a fire genasi - was able to warm the airship back into working condition, with assistance from Ren's use of a Wind Fan to oppose the breeze.
Once the engine was working, Ren had a relaxing time while others who were more perceptive noticed and made a deal with a devil on the other side of the camp. The pit fiend and his army would temporarily ally with us against the frost giants in the portal, but if we didn't kill Ulftiir, one of us would be in his service for all eternity.
As we entered the portal, Ren disguised himself as a small frost giant to confuse the enemy army. The small party, with the assistance of a devil army, ran through the frost giants' forces largely unscathed, before arriving at Ulftiir's castle, to find scrolls and information. We confirmed that Ulftiir and Ysildra were allies with plans to conquer the material plane.
At the throne room, Ren ate his Haste Bar from Sugarsprinkle, remembering the wonderful powers of caffeine that she and Saul had taught to him. Having an extra action or attack each turn was wonderful. Ren helped defeat the six goliath clerics who were assisting Ulftiir's apparent spell he was focusing on. Unfortunately, when Ren eldritch blasted the final cleric, Ulftiir's concentration fell, and it was actually on keeping the Ring of Winter's Wrath under control.
Soon thereafter, Ulftiir was defeated. With a leviathan in the world between the planes threatening to destroy the castle and everyone in it, regardless of what side we were on, Ren reached out to Ulftiir's final remaining general. With a persuasion check, even at disadvantage, Ren convinced the frost general to drop his hostilities and work together to escape.
Finally, most players worked together to help control the ring, return to camp, and close the portal once and for all. It was quite difficult though, so Ren and anyone in the effort had difficulties carry over to the next session as magical ice damaged their bodies.
Ren would have a level of incurable exhaustion until the end of his next session, would be vulnerable to fire damage, and have his speed reduced by 5.
Meet the Xandrians
Fortunately, Ren had a much easier time on his following quest, even with his temporary disease. Ren and the gang met some adventurers from Xandria, a land in the cold continent of Breme to the north. There were soldiers, two leaders, and several scholars, who were much more sociable than the former groups.
Some of the scholars had been kidnapped - or possibly killed - by poachers. It's also likely that the poachers were looking for a mysterious package that the Xandrians had lost somewhere in the woods. But we were not to know what was in the box.
We encountered poachers in the woods after leaving camp, and the party quickly defeated them, hardly spending any resources to do so. With some forceful interrogation, we learned where their base was.
Ren disguised himself as one of the defeated poachers and told the guard that he was bringing in some new recruits to the enemy camp. With a little bit of deception, even at disadvantage, Ren thinks you can talk your way out of most situations. And so far, it was proving true. The actual boss didn't quite buy the story, and he chugged some potions from a flask, so we all thought it was merely liquor.
Ren, still in disguise, convinced the guard to leave, even though he was starting to get suspicious as the leader began fighting us. He also hid in the bathroom before fighting the boss.
Even though the leader was hitting hard and was growing taller, we worked together to shut him down. He was blinded, flanked, incapacitated, and pulled by Grasp of Hadar into his own campfire before being defeated.
The party raided his potions and rescued the hostages, all of whom were still alive and well (enough). Back at the Xandrian camp, Ren befriended some of the scholars, helping convince Kyle and Ariel to join us at least for a time.
Inside the boxes were extremely venomous snakes. The political leaders wanted to use them to poison every enemy in a war back in Breme. Recalling how quickly people like Matthias Stone go mad with power, Ren pleaded with them not to go too far with their poisoning scheme. With disadvantage, he was only somewhat persuasive. Still, his disease was finally cured.
Into Thin Air
It's a good thing Ren went on that previous quest, because if he still had exhaustion going into today, he almost certainly would not have survived.
The party met Darien Tempest and Oliver Vincent Bartholomew, the latter of whom was a powerful but irresponsible survivalist. With heavy winter coats, we entered the Plane of Ice to venture to Ysildra's lair and loot her treasures after her defeat.
While Ren is theoretically great at survival, luck was not always on his - or anyone's - side. After a week of venturing in brutal cold and being chased by yetis, the party had a level of exhaustion. It was Ren's turn to be lead survivalist, and he did about as poorly as he could have (above table: a nat 1 due to disadvantage). This eventually lead to yet more exhaustion.
In the last few, desperate days of the 10-day journey, Ren took desperate measures to slow the yetis and find rest, often unsuccessfully. Ren summoned a fey to distract and ultimately feed to the yetis, but they were just too fast that day and caught up anyway, leading to another brutal day without good rest.
On the 9th night, with 3 levels of exhaustion and the possibility of going into the final fight with even more, Selene the Eladrin lamented that she hadn't yet figured out a way to fit the whole party into her lamp for a proper rest. However, in this life or death situation, she tried, and kept trying, as did the whole party. Ren sacrificed Morgana - who tried to fit into the lamp to expand it somehow - to give another chance. Finally, this worked, and the party felt a hint of warmth for the first time in nine days.
We went into the final battle with two levels of exhaustion - which would have seemed unthinkably terrible earlier in the mission - but now that seemed a welcome relief.
Still, we had a very literally uphill battle ahead of us. The yetis were at the bottom of the mountain as we were ascending a cliff face. None of us noticed the cryo-hydra also under the mountain, and unlike the yetis, it could reach us. To make matters worse, at the top of this 150 ft or so climb was a cyclops hurling boulders down at us every turn, pushing us down if we couldn't dodge. Finally, while Ren is dexterous and charismatic, he has very little raw strength - and that was all that could help him on this ascent. Fortunately, he had a berserk potion from the prior week. He drank it and eventually was able to ascend the mountain. On the way up, he was able to hit one of the hydra's heads, and the hydra itself - though Iris was far more useful for this, as she could do fire damage to it.
Near the top of the mountain, Iris was knocked out by the falling cyclops, but Ren was just able to get to her in time to revive her. Everyone finally reached the top of the mountain, where we found not just the treasures, but a spirit of a frost giant: the previous king, Ulftiir's father, who had been killed and trapped in ice by Ysildra. He asked us to free his body so we could free his soul. Ren and the party agreed, and Ren made sure the party freed him before touching the treasure.
A strange being calling himself Humphrey spoke to Ren from his icy container, insisting he was just a dwarf. None of us were too insightful after a long journey, so we freed him, and he turned out to be a demon. Fortunately however, we freed an angel and a genie. Ren gained an absurd amount of gold from this mission, and he took the Onyx Dog, a Figurine of Wondrous Power, which he named Koromaru, after a dog that belonged to one of Igor's previous warlocks.
Aliases[edit | edit source]
Since learning to disguise himself, Ren has taken on three go-to identities:
Allen Nittany passes himself off as a student at the nearest college to access their libraries and listen in on conversations to gather intel. This is the disguise he uses the most, including on the train.
Nicholas Seawell is allegedly a merchant with connections to the Port of Seawell. Ren sometimes takes on this identity to meet nobles and other officials.
Suzie Bluth claims to be a member of the powerful Bluth family of carpenters and developers that own a disturbing amount of the land in the Seawell area. She claims to be surveying other lands to find some places to build real estate, but Ren usually takes on this identity to gather info from men at taverns, before leaving when the 1-hour duration of Disguise Self is up.
His Patron, Igor[edit | edit source]
Igor appears as an old man with a long nose and a black suit. Although he appears the same as an old human, Ren figures he is far older, likely a Great Old One. He appears to his warlocks occasionally in dreams, typically in a dark blue room that sums up the person's inner thoughts. Upon meeting a new warlock for the first time, Igor will often say "welcome to the Velvet Room," or a similar statement. He usually plays around with decks of cards - especially tarot cards - while explaining arcane secrets to his warlocks. He will sometimes have an assistant who helps explain things, though this varies for each adventurer. He considers most of his warlocks to be "fools," not in that they are ignorant (though Ren only has 10 INT), but in that they have much potential and are at the starts of their adventures. He often vaguely alludes to Ren's "rehabilitation," possibly referring to getting over the grief of exile and finding a better purpose. To help him along this path, Igor gave Ren a familiar named Morgana, so someone who was exiled would have company for his journey to Galik and beyond.
In Ren's most recent meeting with Igor however, his patron sounded oddly different than usual, which Ren finds concerning, though he also wonders if this was merely a circus-related illusion.
Languages[edit | edit source]
Like most people in Seawell, he learned Common. He also learned Draconic from his father, who mostly spoke Common in town but would use Draconic half of the time at home and always when swearing after a workplace injury.
Powers and Abilities[edit | edit source]
Ren is the embodiment of "the power of friendship and this gun I found" (persuasion and Eldritch Blast). He tries to avoid violence if he can, turning toward Persuasion first. If he can stay hidden and disengage from melee, he almost always will try to. But if needed, he's happy to use Eldritch Blast and Hex to hurt and hinder enemies from a (hopefully) safe distance. With high dexterity and Mage Armor, he's harder to hit, but if he does get hit, things get rough for him.
Since his mother and siblings are changelings but he is a human and unable to shapeshift freely, he learned the Mask of Many Faces invocation so he could do the same once he returns home to his family.
His familiar, Morgana, can take on many forms, but is usually in the form of a cat. Ren plans on developing Morgana's surveillance skills as he gains a better understanding of the Pact of the Chain. Morgana can apparently speak duck, though he is usually in the form of a cat.
Within 30 feet anyway, he can psychically communicate with people, but only one-way. He's used this on the train to communicate secretly without alerting bystanders.
He now has a Clockwork Amulet, so he can get a guaranteed 10 roll on an attack once a day, and a Dark Shard Amulet, so (with a DC 10 Arcana roll), he can cast any warlock cantrip. He sometimes uses this to clean, via Prestidigitation.
Ren trained as a rogue since he needed a lot of skills to survive in Seawell given all the political backstabbing that happens there. He is Proficient in Deception, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth, with Expertise in Persuasion. Sadly most of these aren't that useful in the wilds between there and Galik, so he needed to take a Warlock Pact to make it to Galik alive. And like any good rogue, he's also proficient with Thieves' Tools.
He has since purchased Boots of Elvenkind and Goggles of Night to be able to get around stealthily and see in the dark.
With his second level in rogue since getting to Galik, he learned how to dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action, since he can't take a hit very well.
With his third level in rogue, he decided to be a Scout Rogue in case we ever venture into the Wilds again, picking up expertise in Nature and Survival.
With his fourth level in warlock, he swapped out his Mage Armor invocation (after buying some good armor) for Grasp of Hadar, which lets him pull anyone he hits with Eldritch Blast 10 feet toward him. He regrets that the Bride and Groom got away, but not he might be able to slow down a few enemies' retreats if needed. He refined his skills (took the Skill Expert Feat and also got Bingo) to raise his Constitution, get proficiency in Acrobatics, and finally become an expert in Stealth, as any self-respecting rogue should.
He also learned Booming Blade, which can work with Sneak Attack on his rapier.
After restoring the celestial temple in the wilds and helping to defeat Jim Stacy, Ren and all adventurers who were there were blessed - presumably by celestials of the upper planes - and given the Divinely Favored feat, granting them some cleric spells. Ren was grateful that Wiggler was there that day to keep people alive, so he decided to take this opportunity to learn some healing spells. He decided to learn Spare the Dying as a cantrip, and Cure Wounds as a spell he can do once a day. Ren could have Morgana do either of these spells as long as he is within 100 feet of him. He also learned Augury from this incident.
On the train, he learned how to play poker; oddly enough, he learned from the cultist who was holding everyone hostage, who kindly paused the game to teach others how to play. Ren was proficient with a playing card set already, but this game hadn't made it to the small city of Seawell, so he never learned until then.
Instead, his favorite card game is called Palace, called Castle in some regions, which involves running out of your whole set of cards by placing a higher or lower card as needed, with 2s as wild cards, and 10s as wild cards that also clear the board. After playing your whole hand, each player still hs six additional cards: three face up, and below those, three face down, which even the player does not see until randomly playing one. He likes that this game has equal parts strategy and mystery. His patron Igor also likes explaining powers via playing cards.
He also has a Periapt of Health!
Attacks and Weapons [edit | edit source]
Ren occasionally uses a shortbow from a distance, or of he's forced into melee, a rapier for sneak attack. He doesn't like melee though, so he tries to stay out of it.
While at Bulio's Bubbles and Boons to buy Boots of Elvenkind, he ran into Thordon, who was feeling generous. Thordon bought this new adventurer the Bracers of Archery, so he can deal additional damage when he lands a hit with his bow. These boots make his steps totally silent, giving him advantage on stealth checks no matter what surface he's walking on.
Most of the time though, he uses Shadow Blade, since it counts as a finesse weapon which means it can work for sneak attack, and it deals psychic damage, which few enemies resist. He doesn't have many spell slots though, since he's a warlock, so he does his best to maintain concentration by staying out of the fray.
As of the Megagame, he has a +2 Rapier: The Blade of the Old Kobold Queen. A number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus, when Ren strikes a creature with it, he can force them to make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened. A frightened creature must use its turn to get as far away from him as possible. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns.
Accounting:
He arrived at Galik with 0G on his person.
He earned 160G adventuring in the first three sessions total, and then gained 1200G from the train, for 1360 total.
Then he spent 800G on the Boots of Elvenkind, and 100G to make the clockwork amulet, so as of the start of February, he has 460G.
Got 60G as a tip from the nobles from Blood, Sweat, and Gears, so 490G.
Got 150G from the captain of the Lyreguard, so 640.
Bought discounted Goggles of Night from Bulio for 500, so 140G.
Got a whopping 1300G for helping get rid of the bounty, so 1440G.
An additional 400G from the sewer session, with a total of 1840.
He then spent 1700G at Pennyworth's for +1 Studded Armor, and 35G at Nettle's for a bowl of Canieddyd Family Stew, leaving him with 105G.
He spent 100G of that on healing soup from Nettle, leaving him with 5G to his name by the start of March. For his February downtime, he helped create two masks to resist the effects of the spores.
He earned 450G from "Who's Crying Now," and immediately paid that to Pash for a share of the Rod of the Pactkeeper.
He earned 1060G from "Unmasked." He spent 400 on some ice arrows which can slow enemies, from Bulio. Also 195 to Nettle for Bone Broth soup and two Heartier Heart Soups, all of which he used in the Megagame. He also bought a Wind Fan for 400G from Bulio. This left him with 65G by the Megagame.
After the Megagame, he earned 1100G, so as of mid-April, he has 1165G.
He spend 450G on a gilded flower for Summon Fey, and 100G on ten doses on incense for Find Familiar, leaving 615. Then he earned 850 and 800 from The Remnants of Old Thelrya and Fur and Fangs. He then spent 1600 on a Stormbow from Bulio, leaving 665.
