Night Torches

#### Night Torch Agent

The Torches operates in the interests and at the behest of Warden of Vardenwall. Originally formed as an elite unit of spies and scouts during the War of Swords, the Torches became the eyes, ears, and daggers of the Varden people. They represents the best of the Warden’s operatives—those with the skills and authority to take on the most harrowing assignments for the benefit and glory of Varden’s Warden.

The Torches operates throughout Vardenwall as the ultimate agency for dispensing the Warden’s justice. Local watches and constabularies can call on its agents when a crime or situation poses a threat that spreads beyond their jurisdictions. Agents can also insert themselves into any situations, as they desire, since they wield the authority of the Warden. The Torches also conducts operations beyond Varden’s borders, gathering intelligence, performing covert missions, and vigilantly working to keep Vardenwall's safe from its enemies.

Part spy, part inquisitive, and part soldier, the agent serves Wall and country with his heart and soul. He might have the training of a rogue or a fighter, a wizard or a sorcerer, but he has been forged by the Torches to rise to the top of this extraordinary institution. Everything the Night Torch agent does is for the good of Vardenwall, and he sometimes receives missions from the Warden that require their unique abilities. More often, however, he is left to their own devices. They is trusted to perform in the best interests of Warden and People without having to be constantly monitored or told what to do. They has his oath and his duty to guide him, and he is expected to always operate with the good of Vardenwall in mind.

**Skill Proficiencies:** Any two skills, depending your field of exeprtise.

**Tool Proficiencies:** Anyone of your choice, depending your specialty.

**Languages:** One of your Choice

**Equipment:** A signet (a ring or a brooch) from the Warden of Vardenwall denoting the agent’s favored connection to Wall and Nation.

#### **Night Torch Agent Specialty**

*The Night Torch agent can serve the warden in many ways depending his training a role.*

Choose the role you played the Night Torches, or roll on the table below using a d8.

1 Assasin

2 Spy

3 Inquisitive

4 Bodyguard

5 Soldier

6 Diplomat

7 Magic Support

8 Researcher

#### **Feature: Diplomatic Protection**

The Night Torch Agent acts in the name of the warden and has protection from the law. In Vardenwall, this protection is absolute (though violating the laws of the land can lead to trouble for the agent). Agents who push their luck—meddling in the affairs of government in lands other than Vardenwall, killing wantonly, or otherwise flouting the law at every turn—are likely to suffer “accidents” that are completely disavowed by authorities in those lands. In other realms, a Night Torch elite’s diplomatic protection is meaningless.

#### **Alternative Feature: Noble Contact**

A Night Torch agent has a contact close to the warden that provides information, assistance, and resources on an infrequent basis in exchange for the completion of missions and assignments that personally benefit the Varden Warden. The type and degree of assistance this contact can provide is largely in the province of the DM. As a general rule, this contact can perform the same function as Persuation check, a bardic knowledge check, any Knowledge skill check, to accomplish a specific task, not simply to earn money, or to make or repair a single item. Other functions are possible, at the DM’s discretion. A Night Torch agent can call upon this noble contact no more than once per adventure (or however the DM feels that is needed).

### **Suggested Characteristics**

-D8 Personality Trait

1 I idolize my Warden, and constantly refer to his deeds and example.

2 I’m haunted by memories of  War. I can’t get the images of violence out of my mind.

3 I’ve lost too many friends, and I’m slow to make new ones.

4 I don’t like to get my hands dirty, and I won’t be caught dead in unsuitable accommodations.

5 I quote (or misquote) The Wisdom of Duncan Arathel proverbs in almost every situation.

6 I am tolerant (or intolerant) of other nations and respect (or condemn) the ruleship of other kings.

7 I am always calm, no matter what the situation. I never raise my voice or let my emotions control me.

8 I always have a plan for what to do when things go wrong.

-D6 Ideals

1 Responsibility. I do what I must and obey just authority. (Lawful)

2 Charity. I always try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost.(Good)

3 Independence. I must prove that I can handle myself without the coddling of my superior. (Chaotic)

4 Power. I hope to one day rise to the top of the Citadel. (Evil)

5 Nation. My city, nation, or people are all that matter. (Any)

6 Responsibility. It is my duty to respect the authority of those above me, just as those below me must respect mine. (Lawful)

-D6 Bonds

1 I will face any challenge to win the approval of the Citadel.

2 I will do anything to protect the King and Country.

3 Nothing is more important than my fellow agents and commrades.

4 Those who fight beside me are those worth dying for.

5 I owe my life to the Citadel agent who took in me and trained me when my parents died.

6 I will someday get revenge on the corrupt superior agent who tried to eliminate me for knowing dark secrets.

-D6 Flaw

1 An fellow agent lost his agent status for a violation of the Citadel's rules that I did. I’m okay with that.

2 I have little respect for anyone who is not a proven agent.

3 I made a terrible mistake in a mission that costed lives—and I would do anything to keep that mistake secret.

4 I hide a truly scandalous secret that could ruin some Citadel superiors forever.

5 I obey the law, even if the law causes misery.

6 My hatred for the other nations is blind and unreasoning.

### **Missions**

The elite agents are the best of the best, saved for the most dangerous, most important assignments or granted latitude to serve the Warden and the People as he sees fit. With a title such as the Warden’s Blade, the Warden’s Shield, or the Warden’s Wand, the Night Torches the elite agent answers to the highest-ranking members of the Wall, the Vardenwall Warden’s intelligence adviser, or in rare cases to the Warden himself.