NPC Compendium
## Main Antagonists
- **Rath Modar / Greivar Staffshard**
- Role: Primary antagonist; duplicitous scholar-turned-Red-Wizard.
- Location: Waterdeep (fugitive) / operating network across Sword Coast and High Forest.
- Known motives: Acquire artifacts (Seeing Gem, Stone of Golorr, Lost Tome of Zar’thal), bypass magical wards, increase arcane power possibly toward godlike aims.
- Connections: Puppeteered local nobles and criminals; former mentor to Torji under alias Greivar.
- Hooks: Identity secrets, methods for bypassing Waterdeep wards, ultimate goal and allies.
- **Buzarach**
- Role: Rath Modar’s demon lieutenant; six-armed, snake-bodied fiend.
- Location: Summoned as enforcer within Waterdeep sewers and warehouses.
- Known motives: Serve Modar’s commands; fatal aggressor toward party and city guards.
- Unique features: Six arms; aversion or hesitation around Arranis’s bow; resistant to certain wards.
- Hooks: Demonic origin, summoning rune signature, whether she reports to a higher fiend.
- **Sarya Dlardrageth**
- Role: Ancient half-sun-elf half-fiend sorceress from Arranis’s backstory.
- Location: Escaped imprisonment; threat to the High Forest and Eaerlann.
- Known motives: Vengeance and destruction of her ancient foes; long-term antagonist whose return catalyzed the High Forest battle.
- Connections: Allied with hooded wizard during incursion; appears in historical threads tied to current artifact thefts.
- Hooks: Current whereabouts, whether her return ties to Rath Modar’s plans.
## Rath Modar’s Agents and Henchmen
- **Captured Assassins (warehouse/sewers cells)**
- Role: Hired killers used against the party; sources of local intelligence.
- Location: Operatives in Waterdeep criminal underworld.
- Unique features: Professional, coordinated, worked with Captain Drask and local crews.
- Hooks: Interrogation can reveal procurement routes, patron list, and contact methods.
- **Doppelganger Impostor (posed as Nindil Jalbuck)**
- Role: Infiltrator placed among city elites; unmasked by the Seeing Gem.
- Location: Posing within Waterdeep’s political circles.
- Known motives: Spy and sow discord; likely sent to enable Ward compromise.
- Unique features: Shapechanger with mocking cruelty; likely reports to Rath or his proxies.
- Hooks: Interrogation may expose infiltration network and replacement targets.
- **Hobgoblin Band and Human Leads**
- Role: Forest ambushers attacking the party near Tall Trees; tied to wider force in the High Forest.
- Location: High Forest approaches to Tall Trees and Nordahaeril.
- Known motives: Harass, capture, and report on party movements—possibly targeting Adran specifically.
- Unique features: Human fighter and human mage leading non-goblinoid forces; organized hits suggest sponsorship.
- Hooks: Captured leader and loot may reveal employer sigils, supply lines, or a staging area.
- **Quasit Watchers**
- Role: Small demonic scouts assigned to guard Torji in Rath Modar’s custody.
- Location: Modar’s temporary holding sites (sewers, warehouses).
- Known motives: Deny escape, harass prisoners, report to Modar’s summoning network.
- Hooks: Summoning pattern and bindings could lead to Modar’s summoning loci.
## City Allies and Officials
- **Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun**
- Role: Major arcane ally; ward architect and active field commander.
- Location: Blackstaff Tower and City of Waterdeep.
- Known motives: Protect Waterdeep, maintain and repair arcane defenses, counter Rath Modar.
- Unique features: Powerful gating and warding magic; personally intervened against Rath’s incursions.
- Hooks: Source for spells, artifacts access, and political backing; knows limits of the Wards.
- **Piergeiron Paladinson**
- Role: Civic leader and martial champion of Waterdeep.
- Location: Castle Ward and command center.
- Known motives: Defend the city and enforce law; assemble strike forces.
- Hooks: High‑level political influence and military resources.
- **Lord Byronae Trilluach**
- Role: Font of Knowledge ally and coordinator with Lords; nearly killed during encounters.
- Location: Font of Knowledge / Castle Ward.
- Known motives: Protect the city’s knowledge and artifacts; lead investigations into Ward compromise.
- Hooks: Access to Font archives, testimony at hearings, and liaison to Savant Sandrew.
- **Captain Rulathon**
- Role: City Captain and field commander in raids against Rath’s forces.
- Location: Watch/City Guard operations.
- Known motives: Arrest conspirators and secure the city.
- Hooks: Tactical support, arrests, and prisoner custody.
- **Savant Sandrew**
- Role: Font of Knowledge archivist and researcher.
- Location: Great Library / Font of Knowledge.
- Known motives: Trace artifact provenance (Stone of Golorr, Lost Tome of Zar’thal) and provide historical leads.
- Hooks: Archive searches, trial records, Waterdeep trial transcripts, and research assignments.
- **Watchman Dashhir**
- Role: Gar’rick’s cousin; Watch member wounded in warehouse fight and honored.
- Location: City Watch.
- Known motives: Protect the city and assist allies; personal tie to Gar’rick.
- Hooks: Local Watch intel, potential future assistance.
## Forest Allies and Backstory Figures
- **Adran Dalanthan**
- Role: Arranis’s father; scholar of Eaerlann and advisor to Caerilcarn.
- Location: Nordahaeril and Tall Trees.
- Known motives: Recover stolen artifacts (Stone of Golorr), preserve elven history, protect his family and homeland.
- Hooks: Deep knowledge of Eaerlann, portal lore, possible target of enemy forces.
- **Hierophant of the High Forest**
- Role: Spiritual leader and coordinator of forest defenses (historical).
- Location: High Forest and Fey-linked sites.
- Known motives: Defend the forest from demonic incursions and corruption.
- Hooks: Rituals to detect/cleanse corruption, contacts with treants and fey guardians.
- **Morgwais and Yrind Morninglight**
- Role: Leaders in the historical defense against Sarya; respected military figures in elven lore.
- Location: High Forest history and Tall Trees council memory.
- Known motives: Drive back demonic returns and hold the line for elven lands.
- Hooks: Legends, battle tactics, relic locations, and historical testimony.
- **Blink Dog Guardian**
- Role: Forest guardian that joined the party; scout and fey ally.
- Location: High Forest near Tall Trees.
- Known motives: Protect the forest and its allies; counter incursions and report anomalies.
- Hooks: Local guidance, fast teleportation for reconnaissance, possible link to Hierophant.
## Lesser Contacts, Background NPCs, and Leads
- **Captain Drask**
- Role: Dock captain implicated in the conspiracy and smuggling network.
- Location: Dock Ward operations and warehouse contacts.
- Known motives: Profit and collusion with Rath’s local proxies.
- Hooks: Shipping manifests, smuggling routes, and criminal associates.
- **Juror Thrane**
- Role: Corrupt juror involved in the plot to sell the Seeing Gem.
- Location: Judicial circles in Waterdeep.
- Known motives: Greed and influence; provided legal cover or insider access.
- Hooks: Legal manipulations, contacts within courts, and testimony value.
- **Lord Thann**
- Role: Noble conspirator involved in the sale; physically compromised during the sting.
- Location: Noble circles; warehouse purchaser cohort.
- Known motives: Black-market dealings and artifact trade.
- Hooks: Estate liquidation records, ledger trails, and patron networks.
- **Nell**
- Role: Gar’rick’s dockside mentor and surrogate father.
- Location: Dock Ward and Mistshore.
- Known motives: Protect Gar’rick’s family; provide mundane support and local knowledge.
- Hooks: Dock rumors, fisherman networks, and safe-harbor leads.
- **Torji’s Mentors (Jorathin Reese; Greivar alias)**
- Role: Jorathin Reese — original mentor in Evereska; Greivar Staffshard — reclusive scholar who later revealed as Rath Modar.
- Location: Evereska; Iriaebor; Waterdeep connections.
- Known motives: Jorathin pursued scholarship and guardianship; Greivar used mentorship to manipulate Torji into serving Rath’s plans.
- Hooks: Letters, correspondence, and Candlekeep/Darkhold leads tied to Lost Tome of Zar’thal.