3.0 KiB
3.0 KiB
type, role, location, alignment, race, class, status
| type | role | location | alignment | race | class | status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| npc | Regional Cult Leader | Valhold | Chaotic Evil | Human | Warlock (Fiend) 9 | dead (end of Arc 1) |
Keeper Valdrek
Appearance
A gaunt, hollow-eyed man in his 40s with ritual scarification covering his arms — seven spiraling cracks carved into his skin, one per seal. His voice is a hoarse whisper from years of chanting. He wears the black robes of a Keeper, with four of seven cracks filled in with silver thread.
Personality
- True believer — genuinely thinks he's saving the world
- Unstable — years of channeling primordial energy have frayed his sanity
- Cruel but not sadistic — he kills efficiently, not for pleasure
- Desperate — fears failure above all else; the Pontiff does not tolerate it
Role in Campaign
- Mastermind of the Eastmarch plot (Hook 1-3 of Arc 1)
- Traced to Valhold after the party follows clues
- Arc 1 climax boss: found in the Undercroft of Valhold, mid-ritual to crack the second seal
Stat Block (CR 8)
- HP: 104 (16d8 + 32) | AC: 16 (mage armor + DEX) | Speed: 30 ft
- Spellcasting: Warlock 9 (DC 15, +7). 2 spell slots (5th level). Pact of the Chain (imp familiar — Krazik, a crow with glowing red eyes).
- Key Spells: fireball, wall of fire, hold monster, banishment, investiture of flame
- Invocation: Agonizing Blast — Eldritch Blast deals +4 CHA damage per beam (2 beams)
- Invocation: Devil's Sight — sees through magical darkness
- Ritual Channel (Lair Action, Initiative 20): While in the Undercroft, Valdrek can use the seal anchor's energy to cast darkness (centered on a point he can see) or deal 2d10 force damage to all creatures within 10 ft of the obelisk.
Combat Tactics
- Opens with wall of fire to divide the party
- Uses hold monster on the party's highest damage dealer
- Sends Krazik (imp familiar) to harass spellcasters with stings (3d6 poison)
- At 25% HP: offers to betray the Pontiff in exchange for his life (bluff — he's too terrified of Vosseth to actually do it)
Loot
- Cult Cipher (finally decipherable — spells out the Hand of Ruin's full plan)
- Keeper's Grimoire — contains 3rd-5th level warlock spells for copying; also contains a personalized note from High Pontiff Vosseth: "The seals crack one by one. You will be the hand that breaks the second. Do not fail me, Valdrek. The Wrath does not forgive."
- Signet Ring of the Hand — a black iron band with the spiral sigil. Grants advantage on Deception checks when posing as a cult member.
Secrets
- Valdrek was once a respected scholar at the The Silent College — he found the same forbidden texts Vosseth did.
- He joined the Hand of Ruin to save his wife from a terminal illness. The Pontiff "cured" her — by turning her into a spawn that Valdrek keeps chained in his quarters, feeding it prisoners he takes.
- His final words are never defiance. They are: "I just wanted to save her."