DOSSIERS & ASSESSMENTS

Anastasia "Ana" Ravenswood

Human · Artificer 11

The smart one, which is why it offends me professionally that someone spent 9th-level money rewriting her memory. Dean Damill's Modify Memory is confirmed; what he erased is not. Her home city, Cathmoira, sleeps drowned in the Shattered Teeth. Ana wards our valuables, cuts anchors out of monsters, and once insulted a stranger into a windstorm. Handle with respect; she builds things that hold grudges.

Finnick "Finn" Marigold Mossglow

Gnome · Illrigger 11

A devil-knight with a patron who makes fireplace calls and a mother who ran a blood cult under a tannery. His name was on the cult plinth, scratched out. He left, which tells you the important thing about him. Reliable in a disposal situation (see: the Pip matter, of which there is no matter). The Sun-Saw was a good purchase.

Grai Malin

Half-Orc · Barbarian 11

Our front line and our conscience, in that order. Bears the Curse of the Hells' echoes: 4d10 psychic every morning, by her own choice, rather than owe anyone a Wish. That's the hardest bargain I've ever watched someone take standing up. She also wears a crown nobody can see, acquired in a spider mine, and I have elected to be professionally incurious. Greatsword of Wounding does what it says.

Imdra d'Vadalis

Human · Druid 11

Speaks with summoned creatures, deploys a healing unicorn I have privately named the reverse-hurting horse, and can wildshape into a giant slug, a skill acquired at a slug party, which I attended, and about which the less said the better. Eight days bonded to Zelthrax made her our dragon whisperer. Underestimated by everyone we fight, which I encourage.

Ki Nightwhisper

Aarakocra · Bard 11

A historian of the Cobalt Soul, which means the crew has a cop in it. A librarian cop. I'm handling it. Carries a demilich's gem-crusted skull as an arcane focus and the Quill of Preservation, an artifact rated for the apocalypse. Currently molting, which he blames on a cursed cloak. Ended a haunting by percussion. Watch what he reports to Griselda; assume everything.

Bohdi Shadowtwist

Bugbear · Sorcerer 11 · Spook of the Clasp

Author of this archive. Healer, banisher of ghosts, drawer of escape circles, survivor of a marble hand, and the reason half this crew is alive. Recently promoted to the Clasp inner circle. In a relationship with Mama Mara of Jorenn Village. Net worth: 0 gp and one exceptionally fine black cloak. Assessment: flawless. Self-assessments are permitted; I checked the rules I wrote.

Thrack

Dwarf · Companion · +15 lbs and climbing

Ran into us at our door (NOT trapped, NOT "Thracked"), negotiated 2 gold per night not spent in the mansion (a clause I frame and admire) and became family the day we paid his 200gp debt in Emberhold, his hometown. Knows Yug'Voril's slaver routes. Sells session intelligence for waffles. Loyal as gravity.

Zeloah

Spireling · Shadows · My Sponsor

Handed me the black cloak and the Spooks rank. I evacuated her to Cloudwatch personally during the Graz'zt retreat, which is the kind of deposit that earns interest. Trust her exactly as far as the Clasp trusts anyone, which is to say: keep making yourself useful.

Fetch

Spireling · Secrets · Underweave Haberdashery, Westruun

Being framed (forged signature on Myriad letterhead) for the fall of Kymal. Gave up the Remnants' location (Shadebarrow, Ebonroot) under pressure I applied with, I think, considerable style. If the frame job succeeds on a Spireling of Secrets, no one in the organization is safe. Finding the forger is Spooks work now.

Sable & Kellen

Kymal Chapter Survivors · Saddled Planes Cow

Sources on the Kymal guild war: Clasp routed, Myriad won, money "came from somewhere." They believe Fetch sold them out; the forged letterhead says otherwise. They also once shaved me in Kymal, an incident this archive does not otherwise contain.

Sylas

Clasp · Black Pudding Logistics

Received my sign like an insult, got shaken down for 10 platinum by my crew, rode off allegedly to murder guards. Either the Clasp has factions or Sylas has opinions. Now that I outrank him: looking forward to the performance review.

Katalina Caines & Gaggle Thunderfist

Slithering Fang, Kymal

Believe Fetch was the traitor. Katalina could have run Kymal and chose not to, the most interesting fact in the whole Kymal file. People who decline power always want something more expensive.

Mama Mara

Goliath · Proprietor, Shady Tap Room · Personal

This file intentionally kept thin. She runs the best room in Jorenn Village, pours honestly, and stayed calm through an evacuation. What a Spook writes down can be taken from him; some things I keep where the Clasp doesn't file.

Gilmore

Merchant · Gilmore's Glorious Goods, Emon

Restored my marble hand and later hosted the discount spree that zeroed our treasury. A merchant who sells you back your own dignity and makes you grateful for the price. Immense respect. Guard your coin purse anyway.

Zelthrax the Folded Promise

Vellum Dragon · Walking Library

Freed from the Remembrance book, made of paper and planar secrets. Identified the divine gate, confirmed the captured anchor, keeps Bigby's Hand prepared. The single most valuable document I have ever met.

Prince Windybranch

Fey · Creditor

Sold us an escape through the moon and collected a hand, a story, a rune, a bond, and frogs. Every item in that invoice was a technicality. I respect the craft and want the account closed permanently.

Eskil

Diviner · Found At His Crib

Scried Liora for us: dead or on another plane, which for a scry is a shrug with production values. Hard to reach, worth reaching.

Buddleia Austan

Widow of Westruun · Former Ringbearer

Haunted by her sister Camilla Tenver's murder ghosts until we un-haunted the premises with extreme prejudice. Surrendered the cursed signet ring, a key to the Shadebarrow's iron gate. The second family ring is missing, presumed with Blaine Kraverrogg.

Father Abraham

Priest of the Dawn Father · Bastion of the Fading Dawn

Eighteen years alone, holding a sun-lattice against the Hells with prayer and irritation. We brought him an apocalypse in return. Status after the gate: unknown. If he lives, we owe him. I dislike owing clergy; they charge in virtue.

Vespera the Dream Stitcher

Moonstone Dragon · Not From This World

Gave Ki the Quill of Preservation, "an anchor if the world begins to unravel." Entities who hand out apocalypse insurance know actuarial things we don't. Politeness advised.

Quash & Vex

Suppliers of Intelligence & Potions

Quash delivered the constraint that shapes everything (anchors cannot be teleported) plus the Unmake Magic notes. Vex handed us eighteen healing potions, a gift that doubles as a prognosis.

Griselda Cassius

High Curator · Cobalt Soul

Ki's chain of command. Sharp, direct, and correct, which is the dangerous combination. Sent us to Umbra Hills as the last uncommitted asset on the board. Everything Ki knows, assume she knows. Everything she knows, assume I'd like to.

Graz'zt, Demon Prince of Indulgence

Archfiend · At Large

Came through a divine gate under raining gold and a dark-iron trident and took the measure of us in minutes. We retreated; Jorenn Village evacuated; Grai carries his echoes every morning. The only entity in this file I recommend never meeting again without a plan, an army, and someone else's body double.

The Abyssal Anchors

Planar Bombs · 2 Deployed, 1 Vaulted

Tenfold artifact yield, anchored to Hell, the Abyss, and the Far Realm. Cannot be teleported: every anchor moves on someone's back, which means every anchor has a paper trail. Alignments: Gap Shadow (Chained Oblivion), the Vecna temple, Umbra Hills (Lord of Hells). Ours sits in the Cobalt Reserve vault.

Blaine Kraverrogg

Excavator · Bound for Ebonroot

Holds, in all likelihood, Camilla Tenver's second ring, a key to the Shadebarrow. Digging toward the Remnants in the region where I grew up. Race in progress. I intend to win it and be insufferable about it.

Morgranth

Illithiliche · "Deceased"

Mind flayer, planar saboteur, employer of enthralled grad students. The spider wore his skull and became a lich; the trail went cold at his convenient death. His correspondence with a hag proves the conspiracy has co-authors. File stays open. Liches are a subscription, not a purchase.

Liora Mossglow

The Mawl · Dead Or Planar

Finn's mother. Ran the tannery cult, wore an anchor's inscription in her own manic hand, Dimension Doored out of our fight. Eskil's scry can't find her on this plane. Mothers-in-law are traditionally difficult; ours may be in the Abyss.

Dean Damill

Lyceum · Memory Editor

Cast 9th-level Modify Memory on Ana. Whoever pays for ninth-circle enchantment on a student is protecting something worth more than the spell. His spellbook is in friendlier hands now. His reckoning is on the schedule.

The Chain Mother

Below Yug'Voril · Collects Weekly

An entire underground city pays her a weekly sacrifice tariff. I've run protection schemes; this is the genre perfected. We left her alone. She noticed us not at all, I hope.

The Clasp

Ours

Three branches: Shadows (Zeloah, Golesh), Secrets (Shen), Blades (Morin, Melquior). Above the rank and file, the inner circle, where the Spooks work. Smuggling, secrets, and now, apparently, saving the world, because the world is where we keep our business.

The Myriad

Rival · Won Kymal

Took Kymal from us with money that "came from somewhere," and their letterhead carries Fetch's forged signature. Either they framed him or someone wants both organizations at war. Both options are somebody's product. Find the customer.

The Cobalt Soul

Monk-Librarians · Ki's People

They vault our anchor and direct our missions, and their curator is the smartest person we answer to. An alliance of convenience so convenient I keep checking its pockets.

The Order of Desolation / The Mawl

Cult Network

Devil-worshippers, Shadow Masters, spider whispers, tannery basements. The Mawl carried an anchor inside a mutant. Zarissa, the drow who led them, is still unlocated. Cults are franchises; we keep closing branches and the brand persists.

The Iron Authority

Bane Revivalists

Working to bring back the god of tyranny. Calmyros the Unbroken stands against them, which is why the Council wants his forces turned to our column. Recruiting trip pending.

The Remnants

Objective · Shadebarrow, Ebonroot

The people who can place the third anchor where it needs to go, and possibly recover Alorah Vasorin's soul. Under a barrow in my old home region, behind an iron gate that opens to a dead woman's rings. We hold one ring. Blaine holds the other. Everything now runs through this door.

Ebonroot & the Shadebarrow

Home

Where I grew up, now the most important dot on the war map. The Remnants sleep under the barrow. I left Ebonroot without meaning to return; the universe has a documented sense of humor.

Westruun

Current Base of Operations

Clasp bar: the Saddled Planes Cow. Fetch's shop: the Underweave Haberdashery. Anchor storage: the Cobalt Reserve. Murder ghosts: handled. A city that keeps giving.

Jorenn Village

Silver Boom Town · Evacuated & Recovering

Frontier town, no Council presence, Shadewatch keeping order. Home of the Shady Tap Room and its proprietor, to whom my file refers you elsewhere. We saved this town by Skywrite. It had better reopen the Tap Room.

Yug'Voril

Underground Metropolis

Mind flayer architecture, reversed days, a caste system, a mithril ley-core, and a goddess collecting protection weekly. Big, orderly, and wrong in the joints. We did good work in its mines and left before it noticed.

Emon

Friendly Port

Gilmore's, Azalea Park, the Laughing Lamia. Where my hand became a hand again. Sentimental rating: high. Everything in Emon costs money and is worth it.

Cloudwatch

Council Seat

Where the masters of their fields meet and hand out impossible errands in order of urgency. Reached by my teleportation circle, a fact I mention whenever the room goes quiet.

The Bastion of the Fading Dawn

Shrine · Status Unknown

One alabaster tower against an infernal waste, warded by one stubborn priest for eighteen years, breached in an afternoon because we visited. Return trip required, with the cavalry this time.

Syngorn

Where It Started

Elven city, excellent library, briefly on fire. We took one book out of it and the world has been rattling like that wardrobe ever since.

Stop the Abyssal Anchors

The contract over all contracts. Two placed, one vaulted, three eyes out there smiling. Payment terms: continued existence of the planes.

Clear the Baron's Barrow

The Shadebarrow, Ebonroot. Ring in hand, gate ahead, Blaine racing us with the other key. Personal, professional, and geographic: my trifecta.

Recover Alorah's Soul

She asked for help and marked it "not urgent." We were slow; her soul was taken. The Remnants may know the way to get it back. This one is conscience work, the most expensive kind.

The Forged Signature

Someone framed Fetch on Myriad letterhead. Spooks jurisdiction. When I find the forger, the Clasp will hold a performance review.

Turn Calmyros the Unbroken

His forces oppose the Iron Authority's Bane project; the Council wants them aimed our way. Diplomacy by adventurer: what could go wrong that hasn't already.

Investigate Dean Damill

Who paid for a 9th-level rewrite of Ana's memory, and what did it delete? The spellbook is evidence. The Dean is a loose end. I dislike loose ends with tenure.

The Mawl & Zarissa

Cult decapitated, leader unlocated, franchise presumed operating. Liora's fate is a subfolder of this file and a dinner-table hazard for Finn.