Br'aad Vengolor

> "Like father, like gun." *-Br'aad, seconds before killing his father with an Eldritch Blast to the chest.*
>
>

Br'aad Vengolor is a Warlock (later Bard) previously with untamed magical powers after a ritual-gone-wrong resulted in him making a pact with the wrong god (Ob'nockshai). He is a member of the Fated Five and was played by Slimecicle, aka Charlie.

## Description

### Appearance

Br'aad is a half-elf man has long blonde hair past his shoulders and green eyes (that were temporarily purple while under Ob'nockshai's pact). He is fair-skinned, thin, and somewhat lacks muscle definition. His ears are pierced with golden teardrops. After forming his pact, he had a series of purple arcane tattoos wrapping around his arms, on his hands, over his chest, and snaking up the left side of his throat onto his cheek. Post A2 Episode 10: A Riddle In Time, the tattoos turned golden.

His magic is typically flavored to be purple (Arc 1) or pink (Arc 2).

Arc 1: His Arc 1 attire consists of a pale blue dress shirt rolled up at the elbows and held together with red and golden buckles, with two dark blue belts around his midsection with various items attached (a pink pouch, his kazoo, a pocket watch, potions, etc.). He wears a dark blue undershirt, as well, with blue pants and darker curly-toed shoes. He also has a bright red, billowing cape and a long green scarf around his neck. At his side he keeps a purple tome strapped to one of his belts.

Arc 2: In his Arc 2 attire, he wraps his green scarf around his waist to act as a belt instead, with extremely full, puffed Turkish-style pants, and a similar style of curly-toed shoes. He wears a pale green cropped vest which leaves most of his torso exposed, and additionally dons a deep purple cape in favor of his previous red one, with golden trimming and a starry pattern on the inner part.

### Personality

Br'aad is a very outgoing, extroverted, and flamboyant person. He is a natural entertainer, if often for mischievous purposes, and enjoys playing music and participating in hijinks. He is very creative and dramatic by nature. Though generally harmless and always acting in accordance with his personal moral code, he is a prankster/trickster and also has kleptomaniac tendencies, often stealing from people - especially the rich, such as Thardo. He and Sylnan are adept at scamming people, and Br'aad is talented as spinning lies and stories to pull these things off. He is extremely persuasive. He is also a little bit unpredictable and impulsive, behaving spontaneously at times and not always thinking about how his actions will affect others or even himself. He is often irresponsible, aloof and forgetful, even.

   Br'aad is extremely naive and forgiving, a firm believer in second chances and is easy to persuade. He is very gullible and trusting in general, even going so far as to "forgive" Brendan Vengolor and try to pursue a father-son relationship with him after his resurrection, despite all he did to him and his brother. Br'aad often wants to see the best in people, turning the other cheek to see the good over the bad. While naive, he is not unintelligent, as seen in the fact that he majority taught himself how to read, write, etc. and often is very good at solving puzzles where the rest of the group is not. He is also pretty good at chess from playing with and without Ob'nockshai, a notorious game of intellect.
He is a compassionate person overall and very friendly to nearly everyone he meets. He is always one to start a conversation and hold it with just about anyone. Though charismatic, he is "weird"/eccentric and can sometimes be off-putting or intense to people, as evident in how many NPCs react to him and even the rest of the Fated Five's (excluding Sylnan) initial reaction to meeting him. He seems to have trouble taking/understanding social cues.

He is the designated "class clown", if you will, of the Fated Five, more humorous and wittier than all of them combined, though it is sometimes to his own detriment. Br'aad uses joking to cope at times and deflects situations with it, even, in order to avoid talking about his feelings or confronting them, an example of this being when he, at first, went to tell Sylnan that he "let a friend tattoo [his] face" when his brother found him after making his pact with Ob'nockshai. While he sometimes comes off as an emotional person, often crying openly and the like, he more often bottles things up and ignores them to keep up a facade of stability. This behavior, and his projected confidence and cheeriness (though not entirely fabricated), masks self-hatred he harbors as well as heavy anxiety. Charlie mentions, and it is seen more than once throughout the campaign, that Br'aad struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. He also seeks the approval of and acceptance from others.

Morally, he believes heavily in not harming people but *especially* children, and feels strongly about their wellbeing/safety, as shown on multiple occasions (including when Velrisa killed the girl (needs citation) in Arc 2, causing him to lash out at her, as well as when he refused Ob'nockshai's deal to take another child's life in exchange for reviving Velrisa). This is likely at least in part due to him seeing himself and his brother in them and never wanting other kids to go through what they did or endure any suffering period, since he knows what it is like.

## Background/History

    King Rigmund, ruler of The Great King's Wharf, had Br'aad and Sylnan's mother, Miriam Vengolor, killed immediately following Br'aad's birth. Br'aad did not know his mother was murdered, and Sylnan did not recall until Episode 21: Ghostly Grapes, leading them to believe she died giving birth to Br'aad. The brothers were then abandoned by their father, Brendan (aka Alwyn) Vengolor - something that had bothered them both ever since, but Br'aad struggled with wanting a parental figure whereas Sylnan was only bitter at him for never being there. Regardless, this led to them living at an orphanage in the Wharf for many years. King Rigmund saw to it that they lived - even giving the orphanage a "gracious" amount of gold to ensure they were kept there, saying they were "needed for later". His motives for this are unclear (WIP).

Both brothers faced abuse and mistreatment from (mostly) other children at the orphanage, but also from staff. One thing they had that they considered themselves lucky for, though, was the fact that the brothers had a separate room together at the orphanage in their later years there, Br'aad around 7 and Sylnan around 10. Despite this fact, they were only ever given sparse hand-me-down items and clothes and blatantly treated with less care than other children there, treated as less than people. Both Br'aad and Sylnan faced hardship there, but Br'aad especially was more often an easier target to be physically and verbally attacked due to his timid and soft nature in childhood, causing Sylnan to stick up for and protect him, to varying degrees of success. In particular, one kid named Wendell was a repeat bully for Br'aad (and sometimes Sylnan) antagonizing him, calling him things like "knife-ears" and "pixie".

Eventually, sick of enduring all this mistreatment, Sylnan planned and executed an escape one night, easily recruiting Br'aad with him. The only thing Br'aad took with him from the orphanage when they left was a dress-up doll that had its ears fashioned out of wood to look like elf ears. They tied their blankets together and escaped out of the window of their room that night. Resorting to thievery to survive on the streets thereafter, they became a duo of con-men, and life hardly became easier, but at least they were free and on their own. They ended up squatting on the top floor of an old abandoned warehouse still on the Wharf, whilst sharing the bottom floor with an individual named The Rat King.

Due to his fears that he wasn't pulling his own weight/slowing Sylnan down and wanting to be more useful, Br'aad attempted to form a pact with a patron he read about in a book he found that would help get him and Sylnan out of poverty or at least help them have better luck. This backfired when Br'aad incorrectly drew the symbol of the patron he actually desired to summon, summoning Ob'nockshai instead. He regardless formed a pact with this incorrect figure, likely persuaded that he was good at first due to his gullibility, or perhaps just desperate enough to do it despite potential consequences, and gained magical abilities of which he could not control as well as bound his soul to an eldritch contract with the trickster deity. When Sylnan returned home to find Br'aad in a state, magic literally coursing through his veins, they fought, Br'aad saying he just wanted to be more useful and Sylnan at a loss for why he would go to such lengths without even talking to him first. Br'aad repeatedly apologized after nearly shooting Sylnan with an Eldritch Blast by accident, and said that he simply wanted to be more like Sylnan. Sylnan, who simply wanted to give his brother a better life and never see him mixed up in what he was (as he got to working for the crime ring on the Wharf by this point and often did dangerous and/or amoral jobs) stormed out, unable to look at the other. Br'aad, upset at himself but also Sylnan for not understanding, left the Wharf without telling him where he was going (he likely didn't know either).

He was gone on his own, out in the world away from the Wharf for an entire year, the events of said year never being fully laid out, though little details came to light here and there over the campaign; Ob'nockshai forcing Br'aad to kill and eat cow(s) being one of the most significant parts. Overall, it seems that much of Br'aad's time away was spent learning to control and harness his powers and getting to know Ob'nockshai more (for worse) as a byproduct. It can be presumed that Ob'nockshai (mentally) tortured Br'aad a lot while they were alone together, engaging him in "games" that included stopping time and playing chess with twisted stakes, due to the fact that in Episode 1: The Great King's Wharf, Br'aad is already familiar with Ob'nockshai doing these things to him.

When Br'aad was on his way back to the Wharf, he met Velrisa and Taxi on the ship home and immediately tried to befriend them, shoving himself into their lives. He urged them to come along with him when they got to the island, since it was his home and he could help them around. When they arrived there, Br'aad finally reunited Sylnan, harsh feelings between them forgotten but the guilt of the situation ever-present in them both, like ghosts in the backs of their minds - weighing them down.

## Notable Items

### Wand of Wonder

A wondrous item that essentially acts as a wild magic wand, casting a random spell or creating a random effect when used. Official info on the Wand of Wonder can be found here. This Wand of Wonder in particular included custom additions to the table as well -- some of which could once be suggested by supporters on the JRWI Patreon to be randomly added to the wand.

### Vengolor Crest Ring

A fancy ring with the crest of Br'aad's family name on it.

### Ring of Discordance

Magical ring received after Episode 5: The Beach Episode. Its original description, verbatim, is as follows: "Once per day, the user can choose a target, who has to make a wisdom saving throw with a DC of Spell DC+1 for every willing member making physical contact with the user. If failed, the target hears the loud noise of each party member holding a different note, similarly to 3:20 of JRWI episode 5, and is stunned for the next turn."

Ring of Cat Watching

Received in Episode 8.5: Br'aad's Bizarre Adventure from (aliens? i can't remember right now. Will come back.) in order to spy on Taxi. The reason for this is not expanded on before the end of Fated. Its original description, verbatim, is as follows: "Allows Dax to see through my eyes, and keep his own eyes on a furry friend of mine."

### Kazoo (Arcane Focus)

His instrument of choice is a kazoo he made himself, often referred to in-game as a "makeshift flute". It acts as his focus for casting bard spells, additionally.

## Relationships

### Sylnan Vengolor

Sylnan and Br'aad are brothers, Sylnan being 3 years older than Br'aad. Growing up, Sylnan often protected Br'aad, acting as his caretaker, not only from general danger, but from bullies that tormented the two brothers (though Br'aad took it especially bad) for being elvish. He would often console and reassure him that he is "perfect just how [he is]" despite what anyone said. Sylnan was also the one to give Br'aad his name.

They are probably the two most important people to one another, having an unbreakable bond. Even now, Sylnan is very protective of Br'aad, viewing himself as someone who needs to be strong for him and prevent him from becoming "like him" or Brendan. Despite, their relationship has still come under strain multiple times, and they are pretty bad at communicating. When Br'aad first made his contract with Ob'nockshai, Sylnan became upset, yelling and asking him why he did such a thing, to which Br'aad responded that he didn't feel he was pulling his own weight enough and that he just wanted to help his brother. Seeing Br’aad become like him (or, later, Brendan) is one of Sylnan’s biggest sources of stress, and this was one of the worst situations he could imagine. Sylnan ended the interaction by saying he couldn't look at his brother anymore at that time and leaving him curled up on his own. This caused Br'aad to become more upset than he already was and he fled the Wharf without telling his brother where he was going, disappearing for a year - leaving Sylnan to think he was potentially dead. During this time, Sylnan found an injured goblin man named Hilltree and took him in, coming to see him as a "replacement Br'aad", of sorts, and nursing him back to health, taking care of him and doing things with him he often did with his little brother to cope with the loss. When Br'aad returned to the Wharf and they reunited, they didn't talk through what had happened before he left. Sylnan admits to Katherine that he is immensely guilty about lashing out at Br’aad when he found him after making his pact with Ob'nockshai, and for never apologizing for how angry he got about it. He beat himself up for it for a long time, hating himself for it, but struggled with the communication to actually make it better. He worried that Br’aad hated him, though Katherine refutes this when she asks him. (wip)

When Sylnan was dealing with the gem demon that was corrupting his body, he became cruel and uncharacteristically mean to Br'aad at times, randomly lashing out and treating him harshly, causing rifts that Br'aad tried continually to mend, but it undoubtedly put a strain on their relationship. (wip)

### Taxi

*Main:* Relationship between Br'aad Vengolor and Taxi

## Trivia

* His background is Entertainer (Instrumentalist, presumably).
* Br'aad's (as well as the rest of the Fated's) character sheets are still public on DNDbeyond.
* His favorite food is ravioli, and his favorite drink is chocolate milk (ironically).
* Br'aad is canonically gay, as continually mentioned and alluded in-game, and confirmed by the cast (particularly Condifiction).
* In Arc 1, he insists his name be pronounced "Brad," but as the show continues on, everyone (including himself) fall into habit of pronouncing it "Brahd." (Likely from Taxi's accent rubbing off.)
* He is physically terrified of cows, due to trauma he endured while under Ob'nockshai's influence. This is alluded to in A2 Episode 25: Broken Faith. It is heavily implied that he, at one point or another, was forced to eat a cow (or multiple) while it was still alive by Ob'nockshai, traumatizing him.
* Br'aad and Taxi are confirmed by players Grizzly and Charlie to have been planned to become a canon couple by the end of The Fated, even despite Taxi's relationship to Oriana.
* Condi has confirmed that Sylnan and Br'aad were going to open their own orphanage together post-Fated campaign.

## References

1. ↑ (CW: Mentions of the previous DM) Wand of Wonder suggestion post on the JRWI Patreon
2. ↑ Condi responding to a post about Sylnan naming Br'aad
3. ↑ Br'aad's last character sheet on DNDbeyond, Level 8
4. ↑ Br'aad Is Gay 1
5. ↑ Br'aad Is Gay 2
6. ↑ Br'aad Is Gay 3
7. ↑ Grizzly's post of his and Charlie's conversation about Br'aad and Taxi
8. ↑ Screenshot from Grizzly's discord of him confirming the plan for Br'aad and Taxi to be a canon couple
9. ↑ Condi talks part of Sylnan & Br'aad's ending

## Art References

1. ↑ Official art of Br'aad in his Arc 1 attire by MadelineIllu
2. ↑ Official art of Br'aad in his Arc 2 attire by Bad Moon Art
3. ↑ Fanart of Br'aad by sug4rc4ne
4. ↑ Fanart of Br'aad & Sylnan by Kazzafraz