Griggen
Type: NPC — Dwarf Elder, Interplanar Blight-Scholar Role: Elder of Clan Greyflame / The Grey-Robed Order; party ally and exposition-giver; mission-assigner potential Status: Active — in Neftis; has invited the party to Clan Greyflame's clan hall Affiliation: Clan Greyflame / The Grey-Robed Order First Appeared: Session 039
Description
A dwarf in grey robes, smoking a pipe, easy in his chair — the way old men who have seen too many things are easy. He had a scythe leaned against the wall beside him and a book open in his lap when the party first saw him in the library off the Temple's main hall.
His grey robes are close to — but not identical to — the robes on the dead scouts beneath the Toke Inn. When asked, he confirmed: those scouts were of his clan, Clan Greyflame. They had gone through the Netherese Portal to investigate the Blight and had not come back. He had not known, until the party told him, that they were dead.
He thanked Ubys for the burial rites.
What the Party Knows
- He is the living face of Clan Greyflame, the interplanar Blight-fighting order whose three dead members the party found beneath the Toke Inn in Session 032.
- The clan's name comes from their signature flame — the grey flame that repels and unmakes the Blight. "That is where we get our clan name from."
- He read the Prophecy Scroll — the ancient scroll bearing the party's names. His clan was among those who received it, broke vows to deliver it to the Raven Queen, and acted on what it foretold. "We have broken fate. And now we are writing a new future."
- He has tracked the Blight across twelve worlds. Each followed the same pattern: the Blight seeded into a world, cultivated, pushed to destruction, and then the souls siphoned off to the laboratory in Evernight. The Nagpa carry the catalyst between worlds.
- He guided the soul-trace ceremony on Crowley's necklace, working alongside Hauris and the black disc. The ceremony produced the vision of the Evernight soul-lab.
- He confirmed Crowley's sister's soul is safe. The necklace trace showed she had prayed at the last moment — or something like prayer — and her soul had diverted itself into a Godspark rather than be fed into the machine. "No harm came to this soul." He returned the necklace to Crowley.
- He has opened a standing invitation: his clan's hall, whenever the party is ready, to discuss what they want to do next.
Session 043 — Fourth Scout Found
A fourth Grey-Robed scout — a dwarf, grey-bearded, now undead — was discovered inside a magical protective sphere at a campsite in the Mire of Dead Men. The sphere was an Abjuration ward, still active: the scout had apparently cast it as a last-ditch measure. His robes and Clan Greyflame backpack were identical to those of the three dead scouts found beneath the Toke Inn in Session 032.
Moist used Turn Undead to destroy the zombie; the sphere collapsed with it. The party recovered:
- His research journal/spellbook — full of spells written as research notes, plus a mission diary. The final entry ends abruptly with no conclusion. The journal mentions he was sent because "the sill was broken" — Clan Greyflame had detected the breach from elsewhere and dispatched him specifically to the Mire of Dead Men / Tomb of Orcus region. Requires Read Magic + extended study to fully parse; currently with Moist.
- His backpack — Grey-Robed Order standard issue; contains non-standard currency: plastic squares with numbers and a silver strip, apparently from another world or plane (consistent with Clan Greyflame's interplanar nature).
Griggen has not yet been told about this fourth scout.
Session 040 — Clan Hall Visit
The party took Griggen up on his invitation. He opened a portal from the Temple of Nine Feathers to the Clan Greyflame Hall — a deep underground base in a separate, unnamed plane smelling of centuries of pipe smoke and filled with arcane travel mechanisms.
Key revelations Griggen provided:
- The Apocalypse Beetles — the beetles in the dwarven mine are Outer-Gods-sent reset organisms; their secretion makes Grey Flame Torches; the party destroyed the supply by shadow-dusting the beetles
- Mythrades is a clone (or simulacrum) — each clone collects knowledge across worlds and delivers it through death to the Evernight Mythrades; killing the clone helped him
- The Lexicon of the Sepulcher — Mythrades's ultimate objective; Evernight Mythrades now has the last known location of this scroll (delivered via the killed clone)
- The Shadovar motive — possibly cooperating with Mythrades because they want a world reset to reclaim Material Plane territory
- Grey Flame Candle full mechanic explained; gave the party 3 candles
- Party has access to the Clan Hall going forward
Griggen declined to come with the party: "My job is to hang back and make sure to send other people to die."