Elanthielrian "Rian" Wright

Official image of Rian, drawn by @grace.pptx on Instagram

Elanthielrian Wright is a Player Character of Arc 11 played by Dylan.

## Description

Rian is a Half-Elf Warlock / Paladin multiclass, with his Warlock patron mechanically being The Great Old One, with the flavour of it being the entity that he theorises to be the greater consciousness bound by the train tracks.

They are tall and lanky, and constantly mildly wrinkly. Their hair is just shaggy enough to get him in trouble while also not technically being against the rules of their employer, Albion Rail, for which he works as a bartender on the Ascendant Engine.

There, Rian generally just wants to get their job done, and then get back to their room, in which they have a map with red string over their bed. He tries to keep track of the path the train goes, because he has a theory: according to them, the rails bind a greater consciousness, and have a runic pattern to them. The map shows the traintracks and is annotated with information about travel density on each route, as well as a projection of the rune these tracks might form.

On his job, Rian also keeps an eye on the customers, checking whether any of them are fey. For this, they have a bowl of mints on the counter, since no fey would take food uninvited, toothpicks in a cold iron cup, which fey would not usually touch, and sometimes ask "can I have your name?".

His magic item is the "Not On My Watch", a pocket watch with which they can cause or cancel a Nat 20 once a day. The pocket watch helped him learn bartending. Apart from it, he also uses mage hand to shake the drinks, and has a Decanter of Endless Water that also does tonic.

## Backstory

Rian has an Eladrin parent, who chose his first name, and his last name comes from his Human father. They are raised to be worried about the fey courts, and to know the importance of exact wording and knowledge. His mother has a deal with one of the fey courts that was worded wrong, and when Rian is twelve, she is conscripted. They do not know whether their mother is even still alive, or whether she died in a fey war somewhere. Their father actually is a wright, and does all necessary repairs in town. Trying to follow into his footsteps, Rian goes to college to become an Artificer.

There, in one of his earlier semesters, he works on one of the Albion Rail trains for a project, where he realises that the trains are sapient. He starts theorising that the trains are all connected to one larger brain or entity, and that the tracks are binding something that is not meant to be contained. When they voice their theories, they are kicked out of school.

When Albion Rail starts building the Ascendant Engine, he becomes suspicious, since the new train can lay its own tracks. Thus, they apply for a job on the train, and actually manage to become a bartender, despite their lack of qualification. He manages to learn some skills, though, mostly thanks to his magic pocket watch.

By the time of Arc 11, he has worked for Albion Rail long enough that he knows his colleages pretty well. They know about Chet's contraband guns, and recognise the sound of him shooting one, as well as Atelut's face when she is focused on something.

## Character Arc

Before boarding the Ascendant Engine for its maiden voyage, Rian has to buy lemons, because nobody else bothered to do so. He gets Chet his carrot sticks, and, once on the train, offers the stressed out Atelut a drink, even serving it in a way that everyone else would assume it to be water. Quickly, he has to deal with Foq, who has never been on the Material Plane before and seems both weird and weirdly entitled, but Rian does not bother doing more than just asking him to please wait until service commences 30 minutes after departure, and Foq does so.

Rian is the only person tending the bar, but has a bit of support from Turnbuckle, a robot with a tray on his head. The two of them have worked together before, and Turnbuckle has a bit of a less shiny spot in the middle of the tray, where Rian gives him pets.

Despite being friends with Suds, Rian is a bit concerned about what him being there might mean, especially because Rian as well has a theory about there being a consciousness behind the Ascendant Engine. When the train starts acting weird, though, the staff, Suds, and Foq decide to work together. Suds opens up about being able to talk to the train, and Rian, in turn, presents his theory about the rune and a greater consciousness being bound by the tracks. He sees his theories supported by what Suds heard from the train. In order to be able to help the others figure things out, Rian just promotes Emory from customer service to bartender. The added layer of other planes makes it harder for them to think about the rune, but their theory still seems to work. As the train planeshifts again, Rian considers casting *Counterspell*, but then decides to trust the train and casts *Guidance* instead.

They re-appear in the Feywild, which concerns Rian, but they don't have that much time before they have to fight a fairy dragon. Foq ends the fight early by sending the dragon away, but Rian fears that it might come back with friends, especially as Foq reveals being a prince of the Feywild and wanted for treason. While they are in the Feywild, he tries to keep the guests entertained, arms and familiarises himself with one of Chet's guns, and finally helps Foq open the box he stole.

After three levels of security, there is a golden ring inside the box, which is so cold that Rian takes some damage just from opening the silver box around it. At first, Rian is entirely against Foq putting it on, as he is aware of powerful fey artefacts, and knows that something kept under this much security must be dangerous. However, Suds proposes that a powerful ring might help them in potential fights, and Atelut finally decides that Foq can have the ring. As the train planeshifts into the city of Dis, Foq is possessed by the spirit in the ring, Jeh'baqqan the Frozen Fool. He starts fighting the others, and tries to kill the train. Rian joins the others in trying to follow Foq and keep him from the engine, and he is willing to risk falling off the train if it means keeping everyone else safe. It is Rian who finally stops him with a *Witch Bolt*, but Foq doesn't fall unconscious, but instead dies as Jeh'baqqan is defeated.

Rian first refuses to believe that Foq is dead. Even though they were always annoyed by Foq, they never wanted him to die, and are struck with guilt as they realise that he is actually gone. He zones out, and Atelut tries to help him by giving him clear tasks for the funeral, Suds tries to reassure him that it wasn't his fault and he is not to blame, while Chet is just there for him and shares a carrot. Still, Rian is not much more than physically present for the funeral, while trying to put the puzzle box back together to secure the ring once more. When Foq manages to reappear as a reflection and detectable thoughts, they all try to help bring him back into his body, which overwhelms Rian a bit. Then, Bartholomew Albion himself appears in the staff car, and Rian and Atelut go to talk to him. He fires Atelut, and Rian hears the edge in their voice, so he distracts Bartholomew enough that Atelut manages to cast a spell on him. As he tries to use the earring of *Sending* to say something, presumably to other higher ups of Albion Rail, Atelut asks Rian to help them, as they are unable to harm Bartholomew without taking half of the damage. So, Rian swings their hammer at Bartholomew to make him shut up, which kills him. Together, the two of them chuck Bartholomew out the window. With the help of Scenda, Foq manages to come back as a ghost right infront of Rian, and gives him a kiss, which kind of passes through Rian, before merging back with his body to wake up again.

The train moves into a celestial train station, and Rian is already saying that they regret helping Foq come back to life as he tells them how he forgives them. In the train station, while the others follow Scenda's voice, Chet and Rian have a race to the back to investigate the vats, which are completely empty, including the dissolving acid. They then check out the vending machines, only to find out that they don't actually work. Together with the rest of the staff and passengers, they then help Scenda fully ascend to godhood, and meet her outside the train. There, she tells Chet and him to give Albion Rail hell, which Rian is very willing to do. While Atelut refuses to accept being fired, Rian feels like he put in his resignation with Albion, and is more than willing to fight against the company that probably wants to kill him. As they get back to the Material Plane, Chet and Rian flee out the back of the train together with Piper, hoping to be able to start a revolution.

## Trivia

* Rian does not particularly like sweet drinks.
* Following the Arc, Rian's pact weapon is a gun. However, since Scenda's only idea of a gun comes from Chet, it is still a bit shitty, but also holy.