Cipher

* COS 2

Cipher after failing a performance check

### Affiliation

The Confederate League of Adventurers (operative)Barovian Freedom Fighters and Ezmerelda d’Avenir (prisoner)

### Catchphrase

"You'll, uh, have to take that matter up formally with the CLA."

## Physical description

### Style

Pretty?

Cipher is a skilled CLA illusionist who was captured by the Barovian Freedom Fighters.

## CLA Work

Cipher was a CLA operative who formerly presided over the town of Vallaki. He was a charismatic leader who made his public addresses via illusion, likely because people threw daggers at him in public. His physical body was tucked safely away in Van Richten's Tower, where he set up an illusion to make it look like rubble and clutched a *contingency* doll in his unconscious hand. (He did not have a spell assigned to the *contingency*.)

Under his command, Vallaki seemed to flourish—the population had grown, the roads were fixed, and the CLA-centric economy was booming. Overall, his illusion of prosperity was nearly flawless.

This golden age of Cipher's success came to a screeching halt one day, when his existence was considered offensive by the Barovian Freedom Fighters.

## The Barovian Freedom Fighters

Cipher first encountered the Freedom Fighters in Vallaki. His guards nearly attacked Twiggy in the middle of the street, but he called them off for reasons unknown. At the public address, Cipher came under both verbal and physical attack—Tokili bombarding Cipher with awkward questions and Rudolph Van Richten Jr. throwing knives.

In session 3, Cipher was captured eleven (11) steps outside his hideout after the Barovian Freedom Fighters launched a full frontal assault (calmly and slowly parking Tokili's airship beside the illusory rubble, loudly discussing razing the location, tackling Cipher when he tried to run). They discussed further over his prone, panicking form, then knocked him out and took him aboard the airship.

### Interrogation

Tokili employed his concerningly well thought-out interrogation tactics against Cipher, learning a fair deal of information about both Cipher and his employers, including:

* Cipher's real name is not Lucas Reynauld Enigma.
* Cipher has little knowledge of the CLA's going-ons.
* Cipher is either unafraid of heights or a good actor.

### Post-session 5

As with all other locations and NPCs, Cipher was painfully unloaded when he left the Barovian Freedom Fighter's render distance.

## Trivia

* Cipher dismissed Tokili’s public complaints of being on the CLA’s kill list. This was his second mistake (his first mistake of course being joining the CLA).
* At some point in Curse of Strahd 2's development, Cipher's codename was "Rose".
	+ This was likely changed to avoid Cipher and fellow CLA agent Thorn being compared to Rose and Thorn Durst.
	+ This also may have been changed to prevent any theorizing, as roses and thorns are clearly related. Do the two agents have a close relationship? Are they the romance mentioned in the opening monologue/promise list? Though one must consider that while related, roses and thorns are not equal. Would that make Thorn Cipher/Rose's child? A younger sibling? Could Thorn possibly be an illusory copy of Cipher, managing a second mission over in Ravenloft?