The Engineer
In-fiction alias (added session 035): The Architect. Sir Titus surfaces the name at the Leilon tower when KeYs delivers Mythrades — "I know who he is. He's known as the Architect." Both names refer to the same man. Vault links may use
<a href="/wiki/the-engineer" class="wikilink">The Engineer</a>or<a href="/wiki/the-engineer" class="wikilink">the Architect</a>interchangeably; in λ-035+ recap-voice, the Architect is the in-fiction default.
Race: Human (apparent — true form / origin TBD; cf. the Crowley reveal in session 034) True name (revealed session 034): Mithradies the Anthropologist — the same man who walked the Caves of Chaos in AC / Crowley's previous-campaign childhood, placing marks on the village children of Bakersfield Description: A man in fine garments — a 3-piece suit and a handlebar moustache. Affiliations: Operates with The Tracker and The Surveyor as a trio. Coordinates with Mythrades the Nagpa and the Heiress of Orcus (confirmed at the auction in session 034). Long-arc probable alignment with the Bedegar / Fortress-of-Memories destruction-of-worlds project. Status (latest): Confirmed as The Wraith King. In Session 053, Mithraides manifested in the Bedagar Keep courtyard as the Wraith King — floating, dark-robed, bearing legendary-tier power. The party confirmed: "He is now the Wraith King." He has subsumed or fully taken on the Wraith King's form and power. He engaged the party during the refugee evacuation, absorbing significant damage while using Legendary Resistances to block two Banishment attempts. He survived the encounter. The pocket plane was destroyed by the World Eater in the aftermath; the Engineer's current location is unknown. (Prior status: at large after Session 034 escape, holding the Sepulchral Lexicon.) First Appearance: Session 004 Reveal Session: Session 034 *(promoted from "robber-baron-of-the-rail-rush" to long-arc campaign-spanning antagonist with a personal grudge / interest in AC / Crowley).*
What the Party Knows
- Session 004: Stepped out of the dark with The Tracker and The Surveyor after the party destroyed four zombies on the road to Lodestone. Quite upset at the loss of his "property." Promised to find the party at the Toke Inn to discuss compensation.
- Session 006: As the party flees Lodestone, they pass back through the zombie-fight site and see the Surveyor picking up the bodies, with 2-3 new zombies doing the grunt work. The Engineer's operation is running a recovery and replacement loop.
- Session 034 — the auction. Bid against Mythrades the Nagpa on lots throughout — they conferred privately in the ruined castle's back rooms. Won the Sepulchral Lexicon (the map to the last-known location of the Lost King's scroll; not the scroll itself) at the close of bidding. Sat down in the ruins with a candle and started reading it.
- Session 034 — the recognition. When AC (disguised as Sir Gertz) drew a fake map of the Tomb of Orcus in the dirt — riffing off Greyden's Bedegar Keep description — the Engineer's head came up off the Lexicon. He walked over, looked, said *"This isn't right. This is where it all began."* He looked up at Sir Gertz holding the stick. He squinted. He named AC: "You're that well-boy from that little village. Crowley. Bakersfield. You'd know better than me." And he saw the holy symbol on AC's neck and added: *"We're missing the godspark of the egg. But we have a godspark — around his neck."*
- Session 034 — the escape. When initiative was rolled, the Engineer anti-magic-shelled himself and pieced out. No exchange. No spell-trade. Gone before round 1 ended. The Heiress and Mythrades were left to fight the party alone.