Natalie Shaw

## Synopsis

Natalie Shaw was the mother of Lane Coronato, grandmother of Malkoth. She conceived Lane Coronato in a one-night stand with Louche in Sigil. She was an adventurer in her younger life, and served on the Weavers Conclave until her death.

## History

Natalie Shaw was born and raised in Avallon. Always a lover of heroic tales of adventure and exploration, she left home at a young age to pursue magic at the College of Mimrinoth. There, she developed a fascination with the planes of existence and planar travel, and specialized her studies in conjuration and the magic of the planes. She had a special interest and fascination with the Outer Planes and their influence on the Material.

Natalie led a daring life of adventure along with a band of compatriots, including Immanuel Belder, Elrah Saevel, and Ruby Rainsong. She and Elrah Saevel had something of a unrequited romance. Elrah pined for Natalie, and she did not feel the same about him - though at times their proximity and friendship gave him the wrong idea.

On one adventure, her band of adventurers endeavored to reach Sigil, the City of Doors in the Outland. To do so, they found a crossing to the Shadowfell, where they traversed the River Styx through the transitive planes, eventually reaching Sigil.

In Sigil, Natalie had a one-night stand with a powerful devil, Louche, at a tavern. Certain that she would never see the devil again, she absconded in the small hours of the night, taking with her as a memento an infernal amulet that she found among his possessions - the Imlaq Amulet. Elrah Saevel was deeply hurt by this incident, considering himself to have been wronged by her, and resented her for it until her death.

It wasn't until weeks later, back on the Material Plane, that Natalie realized she was pregnant. To her surprise, when the child was born, it was not a tiefling as she expected, but rather a true fiend (an incubus, specifically). Nevertheless, Natalie named the child Lane Shaw, and attempted to raise him as her own. Lane cared little for his mortal mother, and left her at a young age to begin his own life, changing his name to Lane Coronato. Before he left, Natalie bequeathed him with the infernal amulet that she had taken from her tryst with Louche.

Natalie retired from adventuring after the events that took place in Sigil, particularly due to the increased tension between herself and Elrah Saevel. She was later invited to join the Weavers Conclave, where she served until she died of natural causes at her home in Avallon.

## Life's Work

During her years as a member of the Weavers Conclave, Natalie focused her work on the development of tuning forks for the *plane shift* spell. She only ever completed one such fork, for the plane of the Outlands - from whence she surmised that she could reach the other Outer Planes via the doors in Sigil.

Natalie's other major project during her years in the Conclave was the development of a Material Resonator - a device whose schematics she found in Ossidia. It was designed in the early years of the Age of Rest by a mage named Basel Anselmo, but he was never able to actually create the device due to the waning magic of that era. Natalie believed that the awakening of Primordial Chaos had reached a point where the Resonator could function, and spent the last few years of her life building one. The machine, by her design, requires the Imlaq Amulet to operate. It was her hope that one day Lane Coronato would return, and then she could gift him the Resonator.

## Death and Inheritance

At the end of her life, Natalie contacted Elrah Saevel and asked him to store her belongings - most notably including her writings, her tuning fork to the Outlands, and her Material Resonator - in his *magnificent mansion* demiplane for safekeeping. She asked him to keep these things as her inheritance for her son, Lane Coronato, should he ever return; or otherwise, any descendants that Lane might have. Elrah agreed to this arrangement, under the pretense of honoring her last wishes. In truth, he hoped to keep the inheritance for himself, and even conspired to use it to entrap and kill Lane Coronato, who he still resents due to his obsession with Natalie.

### Notes From Inheritance

#### Tuning Fork

“This conjuration tuning fork is attuned to the plane of the Outlands - home to the City of Doors, Sigil. Sigil is the center of the Outer Planes, and by most reckoning, the center of the interplanar structure itself. It is also where I met your father.

Sigil, by design, cannot be accessed by teleportation or interplanar conjuration. Its ruler, Aedra, the Arbiter of Equilibrium, abjures the entire city against such magic, only allowing the city to be entered via existing portals scattered throughout the planes -  the “doors” for which the city is named. As such, a plane shift spell, even using this tuning fork, cannot take you directly to Sigil.

However, with several years of painstaking experimentation, I was able to develop something of a ‘workaround.’ If you attempt to use a plane shift spell with this tuning fork to teleport to Sigil, you will instead arrive at one of its doorways - a portal leading to Sigil from somewhere else within the Outer Planes. I urge you to use great caution when using this magic. It is impossible to predict exactly where it will take you, and the Outer Planes can be extremely perilous for mortal beings.

If I have earned the chance to see you again - if you would only speak to me just one last time, my Lane - I will be waiting for you in Sigil. However long it takes.

At the time of this writing, the plane shift spell is known only to a handful of the world’s most powerful arcanists. If you need assistance, Elrah should be able to aid you. Tell him that it is the last thing I will ever ask of him. He has always been a dear friend, and I have no doubt that he will help you.”

#### Resonator

“This device is called the Material Resonator. Its schematics were originally designed during the Age of Arcana by a famed artificer named Basel Anselmo. It can be used by a talented conjurer to summon creatures and items from Primordial Chaos, a powerful tool for any adventurer.

I worked tediously for the past several years to produce this item, following Anselmo’s schematics. It began as a mere intellectual curiosity, but in time I grew to see it as the capstone of my life’s work in conjuration.

I have modified the apparatus such that it requires your father’s amulet to operate. It is my gift to you, unconditionally. I hope that you will find it useful, and that in some distant way, I am able to protect you from afar from the dangers of this world.”

#### Journal

“My Lane,

This journal contains the stories of my days as an adventurer. Stories that you begged me as a child to tell you, but I always refused. I only ever meant to protect you, but in that I clearly failed. I can never justify the ways that I failed you as a mother, but I hope that reading this journal at least helps you to understand me, and perhaps even yourself, a little better.”

Reference the DM wiki for notes on her early life and the beginnings of her adventures.

Tales of their adventures, mention that she speaks often of Elrah, and you’re able to glean that there was something of an unrequited romance between them. Elrah had feelings for Natalie, which she didn’t really return, but the two were still very close as friends and allies, which she expresses would sometimes lead to confusion from him, as their proximity and friendship sometimes gave him the wrong idea.

The tale of their final adventure, Elrah took them to the Shadowfell, then reference the DM wiki on Styx.

The reason that they went to Sigil was in pursuit of a magic item called a Conjuration Anchor - a device supposedly made by a famed artificer in Sigil named Logic. It could be used by a powerful conjurer to harness and store a tremendous amount of Chaos, and use it as a power source for various arcanotech. Essentially an arcane conjuration battery or engine.

In Sigil, they never found Logic. Their adventure got derailed by an argument between the party and Elrah over who would keep the Anchor if they found it, wherein Elrah accused the rest of the party of taking advantage of him, growing especially angry with Natalie in particular.

That was the night that she ended up meeting Louche and spending the night with him, which she describes as basically just a fling, though there’s some insinuation that she was in a way doing it out of spite to intentionally hurt Elrah. Had no idea what the amulet was, just took it thinking that it could be powerful.

After the events that took place in Sigil (including the Natalie / Louche situation), they eventually gave up their search as tension grew between the party, especially Natalie and Elrah. They found a one-way door to the Material Plane and came home, and their party disbanded shortly after.

## Afterlife

Ten years ago, when Natalie died, her soul found itself in the city of Sigil - a place with which she had a strong bond over the course of her life. She returned to the place where she once met Louche, but on this occasion, he was not there. Instead, she met with Israphel. Israphel, as was his divine calling, encouraged her to return with him to Elysium. But she refused, insisting that she wanted to remain in Sigil, in hopes of eventually reuniting with her son. It was through this conversation that Israphel learned of Natalie's tryst with Louche, her theft of the Imlaq Amulet, and the existence of Lane Coronato.

Natalie remains in Sigil still, hoping to one day be reunited with her son in the afterlife. She has been there for about ten years, and has managed to avoid contact with Louche during that time.

## Conjuration Anchor

During her adventuring days, Natalie learned of a conjuration anchor - a device that could be used to conjure a tremendous amount of magic from Primordial Chaos and store it for various applications - that existed somewhere in the Outland, made by a famed artificer in Sigil named Logic. Her discovery of the device was related to her search for information about Basel Anselmo. Though she never found Logic or the artifact herself, she wrote about it in her journal, which is among the possessions in her inheritance. Malkoth will need to retrieve this anchor in order to power the Imlaq Colossus.