Atropos

by Lichbrush

**Atropos**, for all appearances, is a elderly human woman who lives in a cave 5 miles outside of the village of Nekkraut. For generations she acts in the role of a herbalist and magical help to those in the area. Atropos breaths in vapors and casts chicken bones to tell the future of people who visit her. She acts lecherously to those who visit her. Teacher of Divan and Drexl the Bloodthirsty. She appears to have bad eyesight due to her milky white eyes.

But there is evidence there is more to her than her frail human form conveys. She possesses super-human strength and seems to be aware of things beyond what she should know about. She also seems to be aware of what will happen in the far future, such as the rise of Nekkraut and the Breaking. She appears to still be alive in the Age of Iron, thousands of years later.

Atropos, according to a vision of Divan's, was first brought to the land of Bravo at a magic circle at Drexl the Bloodthirsty laboratory. A being from a "Inner Plane" claims later however that Atropos was not "summoned".

The crack in the floor of Atropos's cave likely connects to The Pit (Proto Plane), with the horrors visible if one gazes down into the void.
Atropos describes this rift as "The dawn of fate. The rifts to the divine. There is no other place like this.".

She is able to commune with other planes, helping Divan acquire a yugoloth servant from an "Inner Plane".

Shares the name of the alleged Winter God of Hunger and Famine.

## Investigations into Atropos

Divan used ESP on her, but her thoughts are a bottomless pit of that can never be filled, as well as strange humanoids being tortured.

A being from a "Inner Plane" claims that Atropos is not mortal.

Feywild woman (Saphie) says she is "one of the dark ones, one of the forces of nature that drive all people".

Cassandra, Divan's apprentice, used the magical Sorona to learn more about Atropos and discovered that Atropos isn't human and was terrified about what she has found, and the never ending hunger that consumes her.

Velthara's Chosen Cleric in the Age of Heroes, Chronos the Hill Giant, looked to the stars seeking knowledge about Atropos, he sees nothing but void, the name has "nothing" attracted to it, it is empty and missing.

## Actions

When her apprentice, Hera, tried to kill Atropos, Atropos dealt with her. There was strong hints that Atropos ate Hera.

An abandoned town in the north-west of the Red Hills area was slain, their bones put into a pit. All those who visit the town will forget the town exists after they leave. Ghosts in the town re-enact their last moments before their death each night. Divan discovered that Atropos was behind the death of the town and likely the curse that prevents people from remembering the town exists.

At points during Divan's training, seemingly took parts of Divan's soul over time and took it to the plane of shadows. "Shadow Divan" would eventually be formed from this and seemed to experience any wound that the real Divan experienced, however those wounds never healed properly.

She is still alive in year 1514 of the Age of Iron, around 3000 years after Divan's adventures.

## Winter God Theory

A theory is that Atropos is a remnant of the fallen Winter God she shares a name with. Atropos is unnaturally long lived and filled with hunger.

One legend holds that the Winter Gods were killed at the end of the Age of Mist, which is why there are no stars in the Winter Sky. If a god is in the world, they no longer show as a constellation in the sky.

In the Age of Heroes, a Hobgoblin religion worshiping "The Great Maw" is known as The Hunger. When a combatant falls in battle the victor has to eat their defeated foe so their soul can ascend to The Great Maw which will return it to the soil for it to be reborn anew.

## Items (Age of Heroes)

* Magical Bracers that are Moderately Magical in the Abjuration School
* Magical necklace
* Magical ring

## References

1. ↑ Dicing with Death: Episode 191
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dicing with Death: Episode 208
3. ↑ Dicing with Death: Episode 207
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Dicing with Death: Episode 212
5. ↑ Dicing with Death: Episode 198
6. ↑ Dicing with Death: Episode 214
7. ↑ Dicing with Death: Episode 215
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dicing with Death: Episode 216
9. ↑ The Lazarus Expedition: Episode 11