recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Ringwell

**This article contains planned content**. Content in this article has been discussed in worldbuilding streams or other venues outside the game, but might play out differently, and may contain spoilers for future campaign plot points.**Ringwell** is a massive dungeon hidden beneath the city of Capital, best known for being the hiding place of the Wards of the Last Emperor.

## History

The origins of Ringwell are not known, but it is believed that Octavius Maximus, the last of the Caelian emperors, quested into it during his youth. When Maximus realized that the Caelian Empire would soon fall, he decided to use Ringwell as a hiding place for his vast collection of powerful artifacts and lore, known collectively as the Wards of the Last Emperor.

### The Forbiddances

One of Maximus's allies, a Solar named Sunlight Reflected in a Lover's Eyes, agreed to be sealed within Ringwell in order to establish the Forbiddances, a number of powerful magical effects that sealed Ringwell not only from discovery and intrusion, but also from living memory. Living beings who knew Ringwell's secrets forgot them, and books detailing its location had their texts become warped and unreadable. But the name remained, and the hunt for Ringwell and for the Wards of the Last Emperor continued for centuries.

### The Failure

Approximately 1500 years after Ringwell was sealed, something happened that caused the Forbiddances to fail. Sunlight Reflected, having gone mad from his confinement, wandered out onto the streets of Capital and began to inadvertently cause death and mayhem until being killed by the Chain of Acheron. Just before his death, Sunlight Reflected telepathically spoke his last words to Slim.

“*The forbiddances Fail! The seals are broken! The emperor must restore them!*”
— Sunlight Reflected in a Lover's Eyes
With the aid of Copper's Primeval Awareness, the Chain was later able to trace Sunlight Reflected's path out of Ringwell, which led them to an abandoned butcher's shop.

## Behind the Scenes

Ringwell is Matt Colville's personal megadungeon, which he has been developing since 1985.
The Night Before...

The Commander approaches Kenway, Lady Sariel, and Nekodemus, art by Conceptopolis

## Episode Order

### Next

Red Sky at Morning

**The Night Before...** is the introduction of *The Chain*. Although it was not streamed, it took place on January 30th, 2019.

## Summary

The Commander and the Lieutenant arrive at the graveyard in the city of Blackbottom at midnight, learning of a new contract the Chain can fulfill. The two meet three figures: Lady Sariel, Duke Kenway and Baron Nekodemus.

Although under Kenway's name because of her vampiric state, Lady Sariel is hiring the Chain of Acheron to assassinate Ajax's wizard Mortum. She explains that in six hours Mortum will come out of the Church of St. Clement the Journeyman after meeting with the bishop.

The two senior officers have some questions on how they could assassinate someone as powerful as Mortum, and that is when Lady Sariel hands them five *red arrows*. She explains that these arrows can pierce all magical wards, and describes that the arrows are made out of the same material as the *Teeth of the Dragon*.

They also ask why Lady Sariel just doesn't assassinate Mortum herself, however, she gives no answer and simply acts mysteriously.

Despite not getting an answer, the Commander agrees to the conditions and signs the Final Contract.

## Chronicle Entry

*In those days, the Chain was in service to Lady Sariel.*

*They met in a graveyard.*

“I have given you arrows of *liannar*,” the woman said. “The bloodmetal. Made by father. Forged in the same fire and of the same steel as the Teeth of the Dragon. Use them.”

“You’ll have to get close,” the nobleman next to her said. “The range on those things is short.”

The Commander shook his head, openly skeptical. “We need…you said you’d give us the tools we need and we get this? Aren’t you some kind of…? Mortum’s got so many wards, his wards have wards.”

“Look to your chronicle,” the ethereal woman said. “The bloodmetal pierces all such defenses.”

“Commander?” the Lieutenant asked.

“Yeah?”

“Mandrake’s sword is made of bloodmetal.”

“Is that right? Ok, well…. If one sword could kill Vitae, maybe five arrows will do the trick.”

“Baz-**kor**. Korz rogesh. Bezdin **tok**,” the half-orc baron barked.

“What did your half-orc say?”

The noble shifted in his armor. “He said five arrows is a waste of four arrows.

**“Because you’ll only get one shot.”**

## Behind the Scenes

The Night Before... is the introduction of the Chain campaign. Before “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1), Matt Colville took Lars (playing the Commander) and Phil (playing the Lieutenant) into his office to play out the negotiation between the three figures.

When asked why Lady Sariel doesn't take care of the problem herself, Matt did not have an answer right away and bluffed by having Lady Sariel do nothing.

Later on, Matt clarified that the arrows are made out of Zodiakol and not Liannar.
Kenway Dalrath's Contract

**Kenway Dalrath's Contract** is a signed and sealed agreement between Duke Kenway and the mercenary company the Chain of Acheron. The contract states that upon the death of the archwizard Mortum, the Chain will be paid 100,000 gold. The contract has not been completed.

## Transcript

**In Order** to affect the **Death** of the Archwizard **Mortum**, I, Kenway Dalrath bearer of the **Shield of Aendrim** and rightful Duke of Aendrim, in alliance with **Sariel**, Princess of the Orchid Court, Oracle, hereby swear to pay the **Officers of the Chain of Acheron** 100,000 golden crowns upon completion of this task.

**I, Duke Kenway, Agree** to provide the **Chain** any support necessary to complete their contract insofar as the assassination of the wizard **Mortum** may require special tools unavailable to the **Chain**.

**Mortum's Body** must be deceased, delivered, and identified by myself or a duly appointed representative.

**In the Event of my death**, verification and payment will be handled by Lady Sariel, Nekodemus Baron of Rend, or my lieutenant, Lady Avelina Knight of the Coals.

**This Contract** does not forbid the **Chain** from assuming other duties, undertaking other contracts, or obligate them to field their soldiers in battle except insofar as doing so may be a necessary component of affecting the death of the Archmage **Mortum**.

**Should the undersigned perish** due to any cause, including treachery, combat, natural causes, chance, luck, suicide or the direct or indirect intervention of a **GOD**, **SAINT** or agent of the timescape, the next ranking officers of the **Chain** assume the responsibilities of the undersigned, and agree to complete the terms of the contract, even should it cost their lives.

**BY THE ORDER OF**

Kenway Dalrath

**WITNESSED BY**

Sariel, Princess of the Orchid Court, Oracle

**SIGNED and SEALED**

The Chain
Equinox

According to Heart's End:

"Manifold 9, EQUINOX, the Twilight World, the Shadow Realm, also known as Dusk.

Ruled by The Shadow Over Two Lover's Hearts, the Queen of Shadows, third of the Three Sisters Below, Equinox is the home of the Twilight Celestials, also known as the Shadow Elves, the Dusk Elves.

Equinox has a chronographic index of 7.73 relative to Manifold 1. Because of the covariant metric tensor, Equinox waxes and wanes, growing in strength as its partition of unity approaches 1 relative to Manifold 1.

For the last 7,000 cycles, Manifold 9's greatest constructive interference was with Manifold 11, but now the power of Dusk wanes relative to the World Below, and waxes relative to Manifold 1.

Manifold 9 is a Parasitic Manifold. Because its metric tensor is less than 1, it cannot exist except as an index to another Manifold. Because Manifold 1's index constructively interferes with Manifold 9, the rulers of Dusk seek to use this concordance to bridge the Sea Between Worlds, first terraforming, then colonizing Manifold 1."

1. ↑ This was revealed during Ep 15 of Dusk

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1233073235?t=00h50m26s
Grumbles

“*I'm Hungry*”

**Grumbles** is a retainer of Slim and a member of the Chain of Acheron.

## Description

Grumbles is about 15 years old. He was given the name Grumbles, because of the noises his stomach was making when the chain found him.

## Biography

According to Matt's Notes:

“*Illario is young and eager to make a name for himself. He hoped to become a herald for some great house and so applied at the Royal Heraldric Society. But he ​ meant ​ to apply at the Society of Royal Heralds. He realized his mistake too late, but he’s still eager. Now he is a failure and would be ashamed to return.*”

#### “**The Crypt of House Sibelius**” (Episode 16)

He was found by the senior officers of the Chain when they were investigating the Library looking for the document tasked to them by the Royal Heraldric Society. By the time they found him, Grumbles was emaciated and desperate. He acknowledged a debt to the Chain, and helped them find their document, as well as plan their safe exit from the island.

#### “**Chain's King to Dragon Three**” (Episode 17)

Grumbles' part in the plan was to be knocked out by Judge's Illrigger life-stealing ability. The Chain passed him off as the object of their search, while transmitting the document to Angel.
MCDM Talk

**MCDM Talk** is a web series hosted by MCDM Productions that interviews various Dungeon Masters with their history of running Dungeons & Dragons. The web series shares some similarities to Chain Reaction.

## Cast

* Matt Colville as the host
* Dael Kingsmill as a guest

## Behind the Scenes

On May 18th, 2019, MCDM Productions' Twitter account posted a photograph with Matt Colville interviewing Dael Kingsmill as a test of their new interview stage. A few months later, on August 22nd, the interview was uploaded to the MCDM YouTube channel.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/helloMCDM/status/1129536663212838912
Mouse

**This section contains planned content**. Content in this section has been discussed in worldbuilding streams or other venues outside the game, but might play out differently, and may contain spoilers for future campaign plot points.

## Status

### Status

Alive

**Mouse** is a mousefolk druid and is part of the heist job for the key into Ringwell. He is played by Tom.

## Abilities

Mouse's ability scores are as follows:

Mouse is a sixth-level Druid circle of the shepard, with the urchin background.
Role Cards

The role cards are based on the official designation of each senior officer and some junior officers in the Chain of Acheron. Most grant abilities in combat, similar to feats. Unlike feats, however, they are not tied to a single player or character. For example, when Red was killed, Sweet, who had been the Lieutenant until that point, took the Commander role card and gave the Lieutenant card to King.
The Chrysopolis

**The Chrysopolis** is the floating city fortress that serves as Ajax the Invincible's seat of power.

Its unprecedented access to all of Orden is likely the reason that Ajax can maintain hope of ruling over a world-spanning empire after his planned conquest of the planet.

## History

Originally a Sky-Elf city, it lost its power of flight when its makers disappeared from the Mundane World. Ajax's wizard, Mortum, rediscovered the means to make the hulking landmass float again, and the city has served as Ajax's mobile base ever since.

Ajax refers to the Chrysopolis as his "city of gold."

 Trivia

* The term "Chrysopolis" is a construct of the Ancient Greek words "chrysos" (χρυσός) and "polis" (πόλις), meaning respectively "gold" and "city." It shares its name with the Greek city-state that flourished between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C.

## References

1. ↑ https://youtube.com/watch?v=60yA7TofHEM&t=26m9s
Soot

**This section contains planned content**. Content in this section has been discussed in worldbuilding streams or other venues outside the game, but might play out differently, and may contain spoilers for future campaign plot points.

## Status

### Status

Alive

**Soot** is a derro ranger and a junior officer of the Chain of Acheron.

## Biography

The derro barely survived the anticlimactic decimation of his people in the City of the Glass Pool, and fled alone to the forests of Vasloria, where he lived for an unknown amount of time. He quickly adapted his survival skills to suit the world above, and discovered a remarkable talent for hunting nocturnally.

After meeting Copper and Bigcat, with whom he was instantly enraptured, the derro joins the Chain of Acheron, later adopting the name Soot. He admired Copper's status as the best ranger, and saw Copper as having "the palpable spirit of my god," pledging to serve "the chosen master," until his dying day.

In the weeks leading up to the fall of Blackbottom, Soot was assigned to the Advancers, and reunited with the Chain on the Pellet.

## Behind the Scenes

Soot was an original character of the Chain of Acheron created by **Chandler Candela** as fan art for the show. Inspired by the derro's design, Matt Colville made the character an official junior officer, first shown in the “**Idle Hands**” (Episode 23).
Dwarves

Short, proud, and stocky, the dwarves of Orden mostly stay in their underground cities and keep to themselves.

The dwarves were one of the first intelligent mortal creatures in Orden, and the second to found a civilization. The dwarves even invented time itself, as the never aging elves had no use for such a concept.

They believe themselves to be created by their god Ord, the god of the earth, who they say built the world.

After the fall of the Steel Dwarves of Kalas Mithral to the armies of the Army of Night and the Astral Celestials, the Stone Dwarves remain the last civilization of dwarves. They reside in the Hanging City of Kenkarra, in the Granite Mountains.

With the rise of Ajax the Invincible, the Wood Elves of the Viridian Wode betrayed the stone dwarves by revealing the secret entrance to Kenkarra to Ajax. The Stone Dwarves were defeated, but bowed to Ajax, and were allowed to continue to govern themselves if they gave slaves to Ajax in tithe. For this reason, dwarves now despise elves for their treachery, and they are themselves despised by humans as slavers.
Odie

*This article is about Leech's imp. For the player, see OD.*

Art of Odie on Leech's shoulder, created by Phil

**Odie** is an imp and the familiar of Leech. As a familiar, he is played by both OD and Matt Colville.

## Description

Unlike most familiars, Odie is incredibly disobedient and self-centered. Odie often grumbles about requests he considers beneath him - "don't want to!" - although he does usually begrudgingly obey. Leech often describes that he is cursed as to having the imp.

## Abilities

Odie's ability scores are as follows:

In addition to his Imp features, Odie also has the Pact of the Chain, granted from Leech's class. This allows Odie to return back to physical form if dropped to zero hit points after Leech casts *find familiar* again.

## Biography

When Leech formed a pact with his Celestial, he was granted great powers, but in return had an imp cursed with him, designed to constantly torment the drow. How the imp was given the name Odie is currently unknown. When Leech joined the Chain of Acheron, Odie presumably joined as well.

## Behind the Scenes

Odie is the imp familiar of Leech and was named after his player, OD, largely as a joke. When roleplaying the imp, Matt Colville sent a tweet midgame explaining that he is simultaneously the best and worst thing that could have happened.

## References

1. ↑ https://youtube.com/watch?v=greMW5KLzI8#t=1874 “**Angel's Report**” (Episode 14) at 1874
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/mattcolville/status/1113641594958168066
Mooncat boots

This boots use to belong (or will belong) to Mooncat a famous burglar from Capital.

Were acquired from Sumat Pol

### Properties

*Mooncat's boots* requires attunement.

```
1. Extra 10' of movement
2. Ignore difficult terrain
3. Cannot be knocked prone
4. Always land on your feet
5. Reduces falling distance by 30'

```

## References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKl4AYF5hgA
Rosso Cielo

The **Rosso Cielo**is a Riojan galleon that the Chain used to escape from Blackbottom during “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1). It is captained by Lady Massingham. The first mate is named Gedesto.

## Miniature

The miniature of the Rosso Cielo is the Sea Wolf Frigate by DarkOps.

## Trivia

* The Rosso Cielo's name is Italian for "red sky", which is part of a threefold pun in the name of the episode 1 title, Red Sky at Morning.
Inan

The daughter of a minor family in Khousir, her technical knowledge, and skills as an inventor saw her revolutionizing the printing press and how it was used.

Given her noble title by Lady Shirome of the The Assayer's Guild, she is more interested in tinkering and engineering than the expectations that come with being a noble.

Not a people person, she wants to spend her life improving the press. Her work will be her legacy.

## References

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBYiVE3oncE&list=PLTsnSjGlraRPYmIwYY9Fs1dD3xAGSmgY6&index=5
The Library Job (Contract)

*This article is about the contract the  Chain has completed. For the episode, see The Library Job.*

**The Library Job** is an ongoing contract between the Honorable Pursuivant Illithweth of the Royal Heraldic Society and the mercenary company, the Chain of Acheron. The contract states that upon the Society retrieving a specific document of certain serial number, the Chain will be paid. The contract is ongoing.
Duchess Lenore Valetta

“*Do you believe in destiny? That even the Law of Time could be broken for a single, terrible purpose?*”
— The Dead Lady
Duchess **Lenora Valetta**, now more commonly known as **The Dead Lady**, is a powerful vampire and one of the lords Capital. She is the chief tax collector in the city of Capital, and has tended to remain neutral in the power struggle between the guilds and the old noble houses, frequently abstaining from voting in the Privy Council.

## History

Lady Lenora became a duchess by marrying the then-duke of House Valetta. When her husband died under mysterious circumstances, the Duchess, in her desperation, turned to powerful necromancy in an attempt to raise him. Using the power and knowledge contained within the Codex Mortis, Duchess Lenora enacted the Ritual of Desecration late one night. The ritual failed for reasons unknown, and although Lenora had attempted to clear out the surrounding area before attempting the ritual, about 3,000 people were too close, and lost their lives to the malfunctioning magic, transforming into undead under the control of the Duchess, now a vampire.

As a vampire, Lenora took on the role of Duchess reluctantly. Agreeing with the attitude typical of the nobility that ruling is the domain of men, Duchess Valetta continued collecting taxes but refused to disburse the collections, declaring that the funds would be released when her husband returned. It was because of this that The Prince of Capital, running out of money, allowed the heads of three of the guilds to buy their way into the nobility.

After Lady Sariel was vaporized by the destruction of Orion, Duchess Valetta called forth her retainer, Lady Czorgan, requesting that Czorgan fetch a book for her.

“*The Game is begun. Bring me the book.*”
— The Dead Lady
She later sent Czorgan to acquire the Scepter of Count Rhodar von Glauer after The Chain retrieved it from Ringwell. The Chain were unwilling to give it up or let Lady Czorgan harm one of the Prince's Men during her search and defeated her in battle, bringing them in conflict with House Valetta.

## Behind the Scenes

The Dead Lady is inspired by Strahd von Zarovich from the Ravenloft campaign setting and Mr. Freeze from *Batman: The Animated Series*.
Alloy

**Alloy**, also known as the Burning City and the City of Brass, is the capital city of the elemental plane of Quintessence. Some time in the past, The Chain of Acheron were in service to the Lady of Brass, then the leader of the city, serving as her private army in Alloy and elsewhere. The city is now ruled by Yxmic, a fire dwarf.

## History

Until recently, Alloy was ruled by the Lady of Brass. Her rule was threatened when her general, Xorn betrayed her and turned her armies against her. In response, she hired the mercenary company known as the Chain of Acheron to put down the rebellion. The Chain fought Xorn's forces for three days in the Battle at the Doors of Morning, which ended with Xorn defeated and the rebels having surrendered.

Three years later, while the Lady of Brass and the Chain were in the World Below, a Fire Dwarf called Yxmic with an army of djinn and efreet assaulted and conquered the city. Yxmic enacted a pogrom in the city, killing all those not native to the plane. More than two million of the city's inhabitants fled, reducing its population to a few hundred thousand. The Lady of Brass, upon seeing what had happened in her absence, dismissed the Chain and took refuge in her own castle, whose fortifications Yxmic had failed to penetrate, and flew the castle out of the city and into the Mundane World.

## Demographics

Before Yxmic's pogrom, the city had a diverse population of over 3 million beings from across the multiverse, with the largest non-native population consisting of tieflings. When Yxmic seized power, however, most of the non-native peoples fled, leaving only a few hundred thousand to remain in the city.

## Behind the Scenes

Matt considers Alloy to be his world's version of both the City of Brass and Sigil.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Handout: “Who Are The Chain?”
2. ↑ https://youtube.com/watch?v=C8mrKY-adF0#t=705 “**The Sun Elf**” (Episode 18) at 705
Caelian calendar

The Caelian Calendar is the calendar used in Orden. A version of it is used throughout the world, with each region taking the format and giving it their own names for the months, holidays, and days of the week.

It has thirteen months, eleven with 28 days and one with 29, summing to 365 days. The calendar was shown and left in the description of "Time and Calendars, Running the Game #34"

The 28 days are divided into 4 seven-day weeks, with each day of the week having a name.

The first 11 months each have 28 days, with the final month having 29. The 29th being a special day to celebrate the years end. While this day is a part of the month, it does not lie in one of the days of the week, so that there is no shift between the day of the week and the day of the month.
House Vorona

**House Vorona** is a greater noble house of Capital and a key faction in the great game. It is a military house, and it administers the navy. It is led by Duke Marco Vorona.

## Agents and Assets of House Vorona

* Capital's Navy - Duke Marco Vorona is chief admiral of the Navy, charged with safeguarding the ports and protecting the trade vessels moving in and out of the city. Capital's marines are also part of this group.

* The Military Academy- A college for training the men and women of the navy
* Vorona (Russian - Ворона) - means "Crow" in Russian. Which is probably the origin of the house crest - a raven
Into the Bowels of Vallenguard (Stream)

**Into the Bowels of Vallenguard** is a three-episode Dungeons & Dragons one-shot stream hosted by Phil Robb. The game takes place in Sanctuary, which is a different world from that of Orden where *the Chain* takes place.

## Cast

* Phil Robb as the Dungeon Master
* Matt Colville as Morag Quicklime
* Lars Bakke as Ragne Stoneheart
* Tom Schmuck as Dagmar Briarthorn
* Matt O'Driscoll as Yeastnor Broomaster
* Justin Cherry as Helldust Bonebraid
Nekodemus

“*Five arrows is a waste of four arrows... because you'll only get one shot.*”
— The Count of Rend
**Nekodemus**, the **Baron of Bedegar** is a half-orc eldritch knight and a member of The Shield of Gravesford. He serves as a vassal to Duke Kenway of Dalrath, ruling over the Barony of Bedegar in Vasloria from Castle Rend.

## Biography

### The Shield Of Gravesford

Nekodemus and The Shield of Gravesford wrested control of Broken Spire Keep from the orc warlord Bonebreaker Dorokor. In the process, they rescued the young Baron of Bedegar, Lord Edmund. Both to legitimize the occupation of the castle and to prevent Lady Avelina, Knight of the Coals, from seizing the Shield of Aendrim, Edmund made Nekodemus the Count of Rend, the first to hold such a title in living memory. Broken Spire Keep was then renamed to Castle Rend.

### The Siege of Castle Rend

When Lord Saxton and his army marched on Castle Rend, Nekodemus gave then-Baron Kenway of Dalrath the Shield. Kenway murdered the young Baron of Bedegar, knowing that in the coming conflict with Ajax the Invincible, he would need the support of a stronger, more battle-hardened Baron like Nekodemus behind him.

### The Fall of the Chain

Nekodemus acted as a witness at the meeting between Lady Sariel, Duke Kenway and the senior officers of The Chain that brokered the Chain's contract to assassinate the wizard Mortum.

Nekodemus was authorized to verify the completion of the Final Contract and pay The Chain their reward in the event of the death of Duke Kenway.

## Character Information

### Notable Items

#### Current items

* Wound - a powerful black-iron greataxe taken from Bonebreaker Dorokor

#### Former Items

* Arcturus, the Sword of Stars - Given to Sai and then Salar Bearmantle.
* The Shield of Aendrim - Currently owned by Duke Kenway of Dalrath.

## Associates

* Duke Kenway of Dalrath
* Sir Aarkizovar, his retainer
* Alejandro de Modesto
* Graves
* Kek
* Skoros
* Dirinka
* Salar Bearmantle

## Behind the Scenes

Nekodemus was a player character in Matt's previous campaign, played by EJ.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/mattcolville/status/1090939749399842816
Chain Reaction

**Chain Reaction** is a web aftershow hosted by MCDM Productions that is uploaded to YouTube whenever a critical point in the story of The Chain is reached. In the web series, the cast of the Chain answer questions asked on MCDM's Patreon.

## Cast

* Matt O'Driscoll as the host
* Lars as a guest star
* Anna as a guest star
* Töm as a guest star
* Tom as a guest star

## Episodes

*Main article: List of Episodes#Chain Reaction*Only two episodes have been uploaded to YouTube so far, both of which was hosted by O'D prior to his inclusion as a permanent cast member of The Chain. The first episode had Lars and Anna as the guest stars, and the second had Töm and Tom as the guest stars.
## Behind the Scenes

Chain Reaction is a web series created by Matt Colville as a way to show the behind the scenes but from the player's point of view. The show is inspired by Talking Dead, a live television aftershow that discusses episodes of the AMC television series *The Walking Dead.*
Court of All Flesh

The Lords of Chaos who rule over the world of Primordius, the Sea of Eternal Change.
If you have a high concordance with a chaotic power the White King may grant you the help of one of this Servitors.
The Court of All Flesh is composed by Maladar Dictum, Lord Rall, The Queen of Bones and Korsoth Vastikan.

## Maladar Dictum

“*This would be an excellent place to rule.*”

Chief of the Court of All Flesh, this dude grows new limbs every time you hit him. Not arms, mind you, Well, they could be arms. They could also be tentacles or claws! It's a surprise!

## References

1. ↑ https://strongholds-and-streaming.backerkit.com/hosted\_preorders/project\_updates?page=5
2. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/255133215/strongholds-and-streaming/posts/2234819?lang=fr&page=2
Mandrake

**Mandrake, the Betrayer** is brass dragonborn and a former member of Good King Omund's Dragon Phalanx. He betrayed his comrades and defected to support Ajax in overthrowing Omund. He owns a bloodmetal sword which was, according to Red, used to kill the wizard Vitae.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.mcdmproductions.com/the-chain
Relg

Photograph by Blues Light Painting

“*I love officers!*”
— Relg
“*Oi, I fink somfin's pokin' me!*”
— Relg
**Relg** the Descendant, Lord of Retch, is a very powerful demon in service to Ajax the Invincible.

## Biography

### Red Sky at Morning

During “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1), Relg was summoned to Blackbottom by Ajax using the Jade Hand. He attacked the Chain, killing and devouring the Commander, prompting the rest of the company to flee.

Later it was revealed that Relg had "mastered" Red.

## Miniature

Relg's miniature is the King of Ruin by Creature Caster. It was painted for MCDM by Blues Light Painting.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/mattcolville/status/1091076052107968512
The Lord of Madness (Character)

*This article is about the Aboleth. For the episode, see The Lord of Madness.*

“*You will become a featured player inside my puzzles.*”
— The Lord of Madness, to Judge
**The Lord of Madness** is an insane Old One from the World Below and the one who possessed the Crown of House Valetta.

## Biography

### Negotiations with House Valetta

Prior to Duke Valetta's death, The Lord of Madness told Duke Valetta that he was being manipulated, that the energies he was sponsoring would act indiscriminately, and offered to aid the duke. The reasons as to why the Lord of Madness wanted to aid Duke Valetta is unknown, but likely involves the Old One's plot to dominate the world.

Bargaining the Crown of House Valetta, Duke Valetta withdrew his aid, forcing the Old Ones to go to Lord Saxton, and had to be more circumspect in revealing who they were and what they wanted.

The details on how the Lord of Madness was able to obtain the crown after the negotiations are unknown.

### The Underdark Job

The Chain of Acheron was hired by Reginald Orpheo to retrieve the Crown of House Valetta, heading to the World Below. Before they arrive, Leech warns the rest of the senior officers the powers of the Lord of Madness as well as its lair: the Temple of Antisanity. He explains that once they enter the temple, they will entering the Old One's world, and to play by his rules.

The Chain enters the temple and is greeted by numerous puzzles created by the Lord of Madness. They also learn that the Lord of Madness has trapped many creatures to feature as pawns in these puzzles, including a Celestial and a Fire Giant.

Solving each of these puzzles, the Chain was able to survive their way into the home of the Lord of Madness; a recreation of a Riojan solarium. They see a simulacrum of Duke Valetta (actually a mummy lord) with the crown upon him, eventually leading to a battle between the mummy and the Chain. As the fight continues, the room begins to darken as the Lord of Madness begins to emerge out of the large bath, forcing the Chain of Acheron to escape with the crown as quickly as possible. Although Boots was able to resist, Judge temporarily fell under the Old One's domination when he notices the shadow of the being, but thanks to the rest of the senior officers Judge was able to escape the temple and his domination.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/notes-for-job-26430040
The Fisher

The Fisher as it is referred to by the crew of the Rosso Cielo is an extremely large figure floating in the Sea of Stars dragging behind it a net. The crew call it the Fisher as it appears to be searching for something.

## Trivia

The Fisher is likely inspired by the Wading God (also known as The Fisher), from the Corum series of novels, written by Michael Moorcock.
Copper

Copper, art by Javier Charro

*"Hey, fuck you."*
— Copper
**Copper** is a goblin ranger and the Standard Bearer of the Chain of Acheron. He is played by Tom.

## Description

Copper is a small green-skinned goblin, often seen carrying the standard of the Chain and riding his tame displacer beast Bigcat. Since the events of “**The God Factor**” (Episode 5) he has taken to wearing Sweet's old stovepipe top hat, along with a monocle he found in Capital.

Copper uses Bloodpebble Armor, found on the *Somnium Tenebris,* which increases his base AC, but covers his skin in blood-red stone lumps.

## Abilities

Copper's ability scores are as follows:

Copper is a seventh-level ranger, with the Monster Tamer as his ranger archetype. The Monster Tamer is a custom archetype created by Matt Colville.

As the Standard Bearer of the Chain of Acheron, as an action, Copper can wave the standard to give members of the Chain 10 temporary hit points within 30 feet of him.

Copper tends to fight at range, using his bow in conjunction with Bigcat's ferocity abilities to deal high single-target damage. He also offers some utility to the senior officers via spellcasting and the special abilities given to him by the Arrows of Elrik the Archer.

## Biography

At some point before the stream, Copper joined the Chain of Acheron, tamed Bigcat, and became the Standard Bearer.

### “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1)

As the Chain's most skilled archer, Copper was given the major role of penetrating Mortum's powerful wards using Lady Sariel's bloodmetal arrows. Copper succeeds, hitting Mortum in the shoulder. However, the struck wizard was actually Mandrake in disguise, a Dragonborn knight in service to Ajax the Invincible.

The strike on Mandrake appeared to have summoned the Flying City and Ajax himself, who would order the destruction of Blackbottom and its cathedral, the last one standing in Vasloria. Copper and his fellow Chain members witnessed Red's death at the hands of Relg the Descendant, prompting them to flee.

As Standard Bearer, Copper lead the company during their escape. He used his knowledge of the sewers of Blackbottom to help his companions reach the docks mostly unscathed.

### “**No Confidence**” (Episode 26)

During the election of the new Commander, Copper votes for Judge.

## References

1. ↑ https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59b345e82994caee6bd4c397/t/5c5a32e31905f4a645c10cde/1549415139097/Matt%E2%80%99s+Ranger.pdf
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/mattcolville/status/1166933157100212224/photo/1
Shield of Aendrim

The **Shield of Aendrim** is a magical shield and one of the signature items of the ancient kings of Aendrim. In living memory it was first wielded by Count Nekodemus, but is currently held by Lord Kenway of Dalrath.

It served as part of the inspiration for the name of the small adventuring company "The Shield of Gravesford" featuring the previously mentioned Count Nekodemus.

The shield has the potential to gain more and more magical effects as it recognizes the heroic deeds of the user. One effect that the shield has shown is the ability to minimize damage from a powerful attack and reflect it as healing magic for the allies of the wielder.
King Omund

**King Omund**, popularly known as **Good King Omund**, was the last king of the region of Vasloria. He was killed by Ajax more than fifty years ago.

## History

Good King Omund was the architect of the last Age of Law in Vasloria. He united the Dukes of Vasloria and repelled the encroaching chaos of the wilderness from his realm. His court wizard, Vitae, created the incorruptible Dragon Phalanx to uphold law and Justice throughout the kingdom.

Unfortunately, one member of the Dragon Phalanx, Mandrake, captain of the Brass Dragonflight, was corrupted. He betrayed Omund, killing Vitae with a bloodmetal sword and turning over the secrets of Omund's defenses to Ajax the Invincible. With this knowledge, Ajax was able to kill Good King Omund in his 75th year.

## References

1. ↑ https://the-age-of-conquest.obsidianportal.com/wikis/main-page
Justin Cherry

**This article is about a real person.** Please respect their privacy by only posting information that they have voluntarily shared about themselves and that is relevant to the purpose of this wiki.Justin Cherry (@nephelomancer) is an illustrator who worked on Strongholds & Followers and appeared in the three episodes of Phil's one-shot campaign, *Into the Bowels of Vallenguard*.
Sweet

Sweet, art by Conceptopolis

“*You want to finish this? We’re gonna have to get our hands dirty.*”
— The Commander
**Sweet**, more commonly referred to by rank as **The Commander** and, before that, **The Lieutenant**, was a human pugilist. He was the Commanding Officer of the Chain of Acheron. He succeeded the previous commander in Episode 1 of the stream. He was played by Phil.

## Description

Sweet was Vaslorian and wears a long red coat and tall stovepipe hat.

## Abilities

Sweet had incredible strength and an ease around workers and junior officers, though he had a tendency to be closed off.

## Biography

Sweet was born in the city of Blackbottom and eventually joined the Chain of Acheron. He was recruited by Judge. At some point during his membership in the Chain, Sweet was promoted to Lieutenant, second in command to The Commander at the time.

### In service to Lady Sariel

Sometime after the events in Alloy, The Chain undertook a contract by order of Kenway Dalrath, in alliance with Lady Sariel, to kill the archwizard Mortum, a pawn of Saint Ajax the Invincible. The signing of this contract was witnessed by Sariel herself. Red and Sweet were given five arrows of Zodiakol that were supposedly capable of piercing the many wards protecting Mortum.

### “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1)

After Red was seized by Relg, the Lieutenant in desperation hurled a *javelin of lightning* at the demon lord, hoping to give his commander a chance to escape. The javelin struck its massive target, but Relg could not be made to drop him. When Relg killed the Commander, the Lieutenant received an unwanted battlefield promotion. The new Commander's first order was for the Chain to flee for the harbor.

The Commander expedited the escape significantly through his knowledge of the city of Blackbottom and the tremendous strength of his fists (backed by his Belt of Hill Giant Strength), smashing a wooden gate blocking their path into splinters.

### “**The God Factor**” (Episode 5)

Sweet died when he stabbed Nails with one of the red arrows releasing all of the energy trapped inside of him. He stopped Nails from becoming a god but was instantly disintegrated.

## Character Information

### Abilities

The Pugilist is a custom class available on the DM's Guild.

## References

1. ↑ Handout: “The Night Before”
2. ↑ “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1)
The Assayer's Guild

The Assayer's Guild, commonly known as the Fulcrum, is a powerful guild in Capital. Run by Lady Shirome, it controls the trade into and out of the city, as well the Imperial Bank, and controls Capital's monetary policy.

The Fulcrum sets prices for goods and interest rates for loans. They track ships enterting the city for the purposes of trade, and are reliant on the navy, controlled by House Vorona, for the protection of these ships from pirates. House Vorona has repeatedly threatened to stop protecting the ships, which would cause problems for the Fulcrum.

The Fulcrum are one of the richest guilds, and sponsored/loaned money to other guilds for entry to the Privy Council, as well as paying for their own entry.

The Fulcrum rose to prominence following the disaster befalling House Valetta. After that, Duchess Lenore refused to perform any duties relating to the treasury until her husband returned. Shirome of the Assayer's Guild then arrived with the money to assist Capital, aiding the guild's rise to prominence.

The Fulcrum's headquarters are on the second floor of the basilica of Saint Bonogratia, patron saint of gambling and risk.

## Assets and Forces

* The Imperial Bank
* The Exchange
* The Royal Heraldric Society
* The Goldbuttons
* The Knights of the Stamp, also known as Hammers
* The Stays
Cook

“*Everybody's gotta eat.*”

**Cook** is a retainer of Judge and a member of the Chain of Acheron. As a retainer, she is played by both Anna and Matt.

## Description

Cook is an older Halfling woman with freckled skin and frizzy red hair who grew up as an urchin in Capital, stealing food to provide for herself and the other homeless kids in their district. Despite her matronly appearance, she's quick with her cleaver and is learning to apply her knowledge of cooking chemistry for other uses (flash powder, smoke bombs, poisons, etc.) with the assistance of Buts.

## Behind the Scenes

Cook is a retainer of Judge, who uses the **Cutpurse** rules found on page 79 of Strongholds & Followers.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.mcdmproductions.com/the-chain
Ix

An island chain south of the Bale Sea, the people of Ix are known as the Uaxatlal. Closely related to the Gol, they are a primitive people, denizens of the islands across many Ages with little change. Untouched by the various human empires that have come and gone over the history of Orden, they remain primitive, with most of their industry going toward maintaining the massive ziggurats that mark the centers of their cities.

While their cities are large, the largest built in the middle of a volcanic lake, they have little influence over the surrounding land. They know something of farming, especially surrounding their major cities, but the jungles are so rich that foraging remains a viable means of collecting food.

They know little of working metal, having no natural metal deposits on the island, depending instead on obsidian or chert. As a result, the Uaxatlal rely on their natural stealth and dexterity, as well as extensive poison use to defeat their enemies.

They have one of the largest pantheons in Orden, and each man is 'adopted' by a totem animal as part of his coming of age ceremony.

The region is guarded by the titan Gahzemak, described as an enormous lizard akin to Godzilla.
Duke Marco Vorona

Duke Marco Vorona is the Lord of the Admiralty​, head of the Marines (Capitals Army). His navy protects the seas and trade routes of Capital.

He very often comes up against Lady Shirome. He disagrees with the buy of her nobility, and the strangle hold she has on the trade of Capital. Without his navy, she would not be able to trade, and the seas would see an age of piracy not yet seen on Orden. Duke Marco threatens this, but so far has not gone through with any actual action.
The Chronicler (role)

**The Chronicler** is a role card.

## Abilities

Unlike most of the other role cards, the Chronicler does not grant any mechanical benefits in combat. The Chronicler is responsible for keeping the Chronicle up to date with the adventures of the Chain of Acheron.

These entries are posted upon MCDM Production's website, from the narrative of the Chain's respective Chronicler.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.mcdmproductions.com/the-chronicle/2019/1/31/red-sky-at-morning
Liannar

**Liannar,** also called **the Sunmetal**,is a very rare elvish metal imbued with magical properties. The knowledge of its craft appears to belong to the elves. Crafting a weapon out of sunmetal can take years.

## Sunmetal Items

* Teeth of the Dragon
* Mandrake's sword (possibly retconned to be Zodiakol later)

## Behind the scenes

The Red Arrows were initially stated to be made of Liannar, but it was later stated that were always intended to be made of Zodiakol, the blood metal.
Chronicle

**The Chronicle** is a large book created and owned by the Chain of Acheron. It contains a record of the members and adventures of the Chain, and is very important to the group. If the Chronicle is lost or destroyed, the Chain is no more.

## Properties

The Chronicle keeps track of the progress of the Chain throughout its entire history, most of which is not written in Common.

The Chronicle can be used to help the reader make knowledge checks.

If the Staff Sorcerer of the Chain studies the Chronicle for eight hours (i.e. a long rest), they can choose a spell they know that can be cast at higher levels, and cast that spell at one higher level without using a higher level spell slot.

## Chronicle Entries

Several entries of the Chronicle can be found on MCDM's website, acting almost like a blurb for the episode the entry is representing.

1. Red Sky at Morning
2. Soldier Take Warning
3. Sailors on the Sea of Stars
4. A Dark Dream
5. The Changeling
Tom Schmuck

**This article is about a real person.** Please respect their privacy by only posting information that they have voluntarily shared about themselves and that is relevant to the purpose of this wiki.**Thomas Schmuck** also known as **Töm** or **Tom** (not to be confused with Tom), is a player on The Chain. He designed the font that's used for the title on the cover of Strongholds & Followers, as well as the logo for MCDM Productions.

He has also released a single named "Slipped" with the Band "Dead planets". The full album named "Remnants" was released on 11/15/2019.

## Player Characters

### The Chain of Acheron

* Nails, human sorcerer
* Boots, human bard

## Trivia

* Characters played by Tom have a tendency to get in trouble and knocked unconscious.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/mattcolville/status/908807893033484288
2. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qrS5Tvx6E6XN2CWj0FniX
3. ↑ [1]https://open.spotify.com/album/0BhvpX4Cr7QPVzfLxgf6wr?si=RexlYVEYSLe9wYssipdHDg
Priest

Priest, a Fantasy Hardboiled by Matthew Colville

**Priest** is the first volume in the Ratcatchers series. Priest was released as a paperback and on Kindle on August 10th, 2011.

## Blurb

*"So you do it for them. You murder the giant, so the farmers don't have to. So they can go on being... normal people."*

*"What an awful way to live," Sir Idris said.*

*Heden shrugged. "It's not so bad."*

For centuries the people of Ollghum Keep relied on the knights of the Green Order to protect them from the horrors of the haunted wood. Now, as before, a monstrous army marches on their small town. But this time, the Green Order is nowhere to be found.

The Bishop sends the priest Heden into the wood, to find out why. Arriving at their secret priory, Heden discovers their commander is dead, the remaining knights paralyzed with despair. They will not act, they will not tell him what happened, and with each hour the monstrous army gets closer to Ollghum Keep. Thousands will die if the priest fails.

When the knights start dying one by one, Heden must race to unravel the conspiracy of silence and save the knights from themselves so they can save the people they were sworn to guard.
Lars Bakke

**This article is about a real person.** Please respect their privacy by only posting information that they have voluntarily shared about themselves and that is relevant to the purpose of this wiki.**Lars Bakke** (@sigvari) is Head of Development at MCDM Productions, as well as a player on The Chain. He plays King, the cleric, and played the first Commander in “**Red Sky at Morning**” (Episode 1).

## Player Characters

### The Chain of Acheron

* Red, human fighter
* King, human cleric

### As Above, So Below

* Sigurd, human rogue/monk
* Salar Bearmantle, elf druid

## Trivia

* Lars is highly strategic and calculative as a player.
Flea

“*The circus wasn't working out.*”

**Flea** is a retainer of Judge and a member of the Chain of Acheron. As a retainer, he is played by both Anna and Matt.

## Description

A lanky, stringy-haired Gol teenager who lost his pack of skinwalkers after a new Alpha came in, chasing any potential threats to their claim out of the territory. Hungry, alone, and distrustful of settlers (those who aren't nomadic), he joined a troupe of performers in a travelling caravan. After being stiffed on wages one too many times (his gimmick was transforming into the "wolf boy" for three shows a day), he decided his skills were better applied elsewhere and joined up with The Chain when their paths crossed.

## Behind the Scenes

Flea is a retainer of Judge, who uses the **Skinwalker** rules found on page 75 of Strongholds & Followers.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.mcdmproductions.com/the-chain