Vance Dungrim

> "*I welcome you all to a banquet of victory! But also a banquet of new beginnings. We are here to celebrate the rescue of the illustrious Ruby Wizard from the clutches of the Underdark, and on the road ahead he shall embark upon to deliver us from the Arkhosian menace!*"
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**Vance Dungrim** is one of the Pride of Maelbrathyr. He is now an alternate personality that is part of Hannault Thrayban, capable of manifesting his body from him only when his personality is in control, the result of Torog's punishment of Thrayban. When active he is one of the Mad Lords of Maelbrathyr, taking up the derelict House Dungrim in a false masquerade of Maelbrathyr's celebrations before its fall.

## Fall of Maelbrathyr

### Maelbrathyr's Plight

Vance was among five nobles chosen as champions of the City of Maelbrathyr during its time of need. Each champion represented one of Maelbrathyr's noble houses; Vance represented House Dungrim and was joined by Aleeria Shaltzar of House Shaltzar, Hannault Thrayban of House Thrayban, Marta Ravenhook of House Ravenhook, and Ordu Dekaan of House Dekaan. They became known as the Pride of Maelbrathyr.

During this time the great empire of Bael Turath was on the verge on losing its longstanding war with the rival power of Arkhosia. In the centuries past, a mage and general of unsurpassed skill had come from Maelbrathyr and led Bael Turath's armies to huge success. He was known as The Ruby Wizard, and before he ran afoul and was captured by the servants of Torog, many believed he was on track to defeat Arkhosia. The Pride was tasked with delving into the depths of The Underdark to liberate The Ruby Wizard from his imprisonment. Once restored, all hopes rested on the wizard being able to turn the tide of the war.

### The Quest

Although members of the five houses had joined together under an allusion of unity to save their city, the houses were all rivals who sought to outcompete each other for control. Among them Vance maintained the most true goodwill, intending to keep the group united in their grander objective. The Pride itself was led by Hannault Thrayban, but during the journey his leadership became increasingly challenged because of the poor handling of a number of situations. Marta saw Hannault as unfit to lead and implored Vance to help her remove him for the good of the mission. While Vance agreed that Hannault was problematic, he refused to conspire in his elimination.

Shortly thereafter Hannault engineered an accident that resulted in Marta's death in order to secure his position. Now realizing the true threat posed by Hannault, Vance began plotting against him. However, Hannault realized this and outwitted Vance, pushing Vance to his death in the same Aboleth-infested pit that he intended to drop Thrayban into

The remaining three members of The Pride succeeded in their mission, rescuing The Ruby Wizard even with the tragic 'sacrifice' of two of their members.

### Torog's Punishment

When The Pride returned to Maelbrathyr they were met with much fanfare. Yet this was short lived. Torog was infuriated by the slight against him made by stealing a prisoner from his torture pits. The Crawling King sought out a just punishment for the transgression and turned his ire towards Maelbrathyr. He pulled the whole city into the Underdark on the eve of their celebratory carnival, entrapping its citizens and crumbling buildings in the forsaken depths. For The Pride, Torog cursed doubly. He made Hannault immortal, but struck his mind with a very specific affliction. Torog bound the personalities of Vance Dungrim and Marta Ravenhook, those who Hannault had murdered, inside his own head. Now he had to contend endlessly with their hateful whispers and insults in his mind. Worse, when the conditions were right these personalities could take over Hannault's entire body. He would transform physically into one of them, entrapped helplessly in their mind as he lost control over his own body to another.

Sustained by the immortality of Torog's curse but bound to the crumbling city, Hannault has become one of its three rulers: contested by the similarly cursed Aleeria Shaltzar and Ordu Dekaan. Yet despite Hannault's bids for control over the city, the personality of Vance takes over on occasion. He retains little care whatsoever in Hannault's designs and immediately begins his own plots once in control. It is well known that whenever Vance's personality is dominant he begins a banquet in the abandoned remains of House Dungrim. The banquet is attended by dopplegangers under Vance's employ who masquerade as members of the Pride, nobles of old Maelbrathyr, party attendants, and most notably The Ruby Wizard. The banquet is thrown in mock honor of The Pride's success, an imitation of a victory Vance never got to see.

Although he indulges in this fantasy whenever he can, Vance seems more aware of his real situation than he often lets on. He is a powerful psion and most of his doppleganger servants have been forced into service for fear of him. He secretly manifests plots throughout the city through these agents, although they take exorbitant time to come into fruition given he can only act when in control of Hannault's body.

Eventually Hannault's original personality or Marta Ravenhook's personality will become dominant, ending the banquet and Vance's plans in pursuit of their own.

## A Cry in the Dark

### The Rod of Amoth

Prior to the campaign, Vance's agents successfully uncovered the Rod of Amoth, an immensely powerful psychic artifact. Vance had the Rod brought to Maelbrathyr and hidden in the Prison Ruins to protect it before he reverted to Hannault. Him somehow learned that Vance was in possession of the Rod, which became a necessary part of His plan to revive Amoth. However, Him did not know where Vance had stashed the Rod and his ability to investigate was hampered by the watchful eyes of Mind Flayer Spies. Thus Him contracted The Underparty to bring out Vance's personality, thus starting the banquet, and using it to uncover the Rod's location.

### Appearance to The Underparty and Weed Incident

The Afterparty succeeded in getting alone with Hannault Thrayban and they hit him with a strong burst of Stunshroom, facilitating his transformation into Vance. Vance was disoriented and confused, but was convinced by Celeste Alinet that he was smoking The Good Kush and that The Underparty were marijuana dealers. Impressed by them, Vance invited the group to his banquet as to get another hit.

After arriving at the banquet, The Underparty got Vance into a back room to unveil their new strain of weed, known as a 'weed baby' (in actuality this was just Machi). Vance proceeded to get quite high, claiming to have the pseudonym 'Psychic Deity', and letting slip the Rod was located in the prison ruins, right under Ordu Dekaan's unsuspecting nose. Things proceed to get further out of hand after The Underparty tries to poison Vance in a vain attempt to kill him at the behest of the doppleganger impersonating The Ruby Wizard. The poison only gets Vance higher and het is lit on fire. The damage eventually causes Marta Ravenhook's personality to surface and The Underparty quickly flees.

## Trivia

* It is unknown what Vance's plans for the Rod of Amoth were. Given his penchant for psionics, his persistent fantasies, and claims of being a 'Psychic Deity', he may have wanted to use the Rod to manipulate reality to undo the events of Maelbrathyr's fall.
* Vance's claim to be known as 'Psychic Deity' is a joke reference to Psych Diety, whom Vance somewhat resembles.