Felix Lapubelle

Felix Lapubelle is a male human NPC in the Om campaign.

Felix Lapubelle is the personal spymaster of Duke Agrippa and an agent of The Triad. He helped convince Duke Agrippa to cut Royal Spymaster Atticus Brock out of intelligence briefings and appears to have encouraged or been the architect of his military action against both the Kirathi elves and the betrayal of the Thuns. It is very likely that he helped to fuel Agrippa’s paranoia and increasingly militant and questionable decisions. During the Battle of Waymere Lapubelle stabbed the duke in the back, murdering him before being captured by the Fate Fighters.

## Background

Orlesean by birth, Felix Lapubelle is an accomplished spy. At some point he became an adherent to The Triad and the protege of Damien Shrike. His mentor took him to the Green Temple of The Triad near Ba-Sing in the Jade Empire, where Lapubelle heard one of the Triad speak directly to him after a ceremony that involved the sacrifice of 100 slaves to power a portal. Through the portal his 'mistress' told him to serve Shrake and be rewarded and to fail at his own peril.

Shrake ordered Lapubelle to ply his trade and disrupt the powers in eastern Elira to pave the way for The Triad's return.

## In "Service" to Duke Agrippa

Lapubelle's overall plan was to destabalize and weaken the powers in the east, the better to prepare for the invasion of his Master's forces from the west.

To that end, Lapubelle made his way to Waymere where he managed to secure a position on court of Duke Marcus Cornelius Agrippa, convincing him that he was an exile from Orlesea and willing to work against them by serving Gildorn. By 465 he had built and maintained his own spy ring which he feigned to put at Duke Agrippa’s disposal, though he had his own loyalties to The Triad.

Lapubelle was, of course, still working with Orlesea, who also felt he had *their* best interests at heart as well. He conspired with Henri Neuville and Marquis Luic Dargent to arranged an Orlesean invasion of Waymere. To achieve this, Lapubelle worked for months to stoke Duke Agrippa's dislike and paranoia of the Kirathi Elves and convince them that they were a greater threat to Gildornian interests on Elira than Orlesea. He also worked to little by little get him to maneuver his forces away from Waymere.

## Sabotaging the Grain

Among Lapubelle's schemes was a plot to sabotage the grain coming out of Dunkirk, which would create food insecurity and possibly a famine in New Gildorn. He contracted a sorceress living near Dunkirk to enchant a number of rodents to devour the grain at a prodigious rate, and bribed Baron Webb to turn a blind eye to the problem.

Unfortunately for him, this plot was foiled when Royal Spymaster Atticus Brock sent the Royal Explorers to Dunkirk to investigate the grain shortage and put an end to the problem. They were quite efficient and hunted down the problem in no time, slaying the sorceress. However they did not uncover Baron Webb's complicity, nor Lapubelle's involvement.

## Assassination Attempts on Gunnar the Wolf

Lapubelle orchestrated several assassination attempts on Gunnar the Wolf, the Thuunish Prince of Balbanos, as it was imperative that Balbanos and Gildorn not sign a treaty of alliance. He took pains to ensure his agents made it look as though the Kirathi were behind the attacks, the better to foster war between the Thunnish people and the elves and further destabilize the region.

To Lapubelle's frustration, however, Gunnar proved exceedingly difficult to kill, and several attempts on his life failed. At least one of these schemes involved Lapubelle's agent, Preston Massaro, procuring a poisonous mushroom to be slipped into the Prince's food at the Red Axe Inn.

Lapubelle's final gambit was to convince the Wild Runner leader and fellow follower of The Triad, Tugadumness, to attack Gunnar while hunting. Knowing how hard Gunnar had been to kill, Lapubelle also forged orders in Duke Agrippa's hand to Colonel Babbington to execute Gunnar and his retinue if he should encounter the prince during their maneuvers. From Lapubelle's perspective this was a wholly acceptable consolation prize, as Balbanos attacking Gildorn would be just as destabilizing as them attacking the elves.

## Countering Atticus Brock

By necessity a rivalry developed between Lapubelle and the Royal Spymaster, Atticus Brock. This flared up when agents of Brock, the Royal Explorers, captured one of Lapubelle’s agents, Preston Massaro seeking to make contact with an Orlesean spy in Waymere. Massaro had been responsible for feeding Gildornian caravan information to the bandit captain Goddard Brandik and was responsible for at least one of the several assignation attempts upon Gunnar the Wolf.

Lapubelle had manipulated Duke Agrippa to keep Brock out of many intelligence meetings, however and was manipulating events to convince the Duke that the Royal Explorers had committed mutiny on the *Morning Star*, which served both to discredit Brock further and to issue warrants for their arrest and eventual execution. With Brock on the defensive Lapubelle set about purposefully destroying his influence in the city. Eventually he was able to get the duke to issue an arrest order for Brock, and was captured and slated for execution.

## Battle of Waymere

On the 20th of Twins, 465, Atticus Brock was slated to be executed alongside several other people that Duke Agrippa had marked as dangerous traitors to Gildorn.

Months of Lapubelle's work was also to come to fruition on that day, as he and his Orlesean masters had arranged for a surprise attack on Waymere that day. As planned, massive invasion force of Orleseans, Minotaurs and Brotherhood of the Coast pirates hitting Waymere.

As the execution was to take place the Royal Explorers, now calling themselves the Fate Fighters, also struck in an effort to rescue the condemned.

As the battle raged Lapbuelle stabbed Duke Agrippa in the back, murdering him. He then attempted to blend in with the crowds and slip away in the confusion. However he was spotted by Corin Ironcheek who, together with Apal, pursued Lapbuelle, beating and capturing the man.

## Captured by the Fate Fighters

Corin dosed Lapubelle with a heavy dose of Drow Venom to keep him unconscious, and then gave him a second for good measure, sending him into a coma. They took him back to their keep, Stonewatch Abbey, and installed him in the dungeon to interrogate him, where he woke up naked, chained to the wall and surrounded by a variety of imposing looking objects placed around the dungeon by Corin.

Lapubelle offered to tell the Fate Fighters all that he knew but only if they vowed to spare his life. He swore that now that he had been captured his life would be forfeit by both the Orleseans and the powers of The Triad, and that his goal now was merely to slip away and retire, living the rest of his life in comfort and awaiting the victory of The Triad.

The Fate Fighters were loathe to allow Lapubelle to keep his life and seemed willing to resort to torture, until he revealed that he'd taken out death contracts on all of them, and that he was willing to rescind them if his life were spared. Begrudgingly, they agreed, but they insisted on plucking out one of his eyes and placing a *Geas* upon him that he would remove the death marks and sit out the rest of the war.

Lapubelle agreed to the terms and indeed, answered all of their questions as agreed. The Fate Fighters then released him. He complimented them, calling them worthy opponents, and left for parts unknown.