The Grey-Robed Order
Type: Interplanar Blight-fighting clan — now identified as Clan Greyflame Affiliation: Loosely aligned with Neftis / the Raven Queen's network; independent in methods Iconography: Grey robes of non-native textile; the Grey-Flame Torch (picky-ignition; Blight-repelling; Blight-unmaking); the Grey-Flame Candle (time-reversion within radius). Confirmed Members: Three (deceased) — see The Three Robed Bodies; Griggen (dwarf elder; alive; in Neftis) First Appearance: Session 032 Identified: Session 039 — confirmed by Griggen on-screen
Update (Session 039): The Grey-Robed Order is now confirmed as Clan Greyflame. The name comes from their signature flame — "That is where we get our clan name from." — and Griggen acknowledged the three dead scouts beneath the Toke Inn were his clan members. See Griggen for the living contact.
Description
A multi-racial order (at least 1 Dwarf + 2 Half-Elves seen, all in the same field expedition) that enters the Material Plane through the Netherese Portal beneath the Toke Inn. Their textiles, torch-haft, and candle-wax are non-native — the materials are not from this plane, per Ubys's read. Their signature instrument is the grey flame: cold, dim, and lethal to the Blight.
The party's only on-screen contact with the Order so far is three of its dead.
What the Party Knows
- They came through the Netherese Portal in the Rat Queen Chamber beneath the Toke Inn. The portal was dormant by the time the party arrived; the Order's expedition got through while it was open, then the portal closed (or was closed) behind them.
- The Rat Queen killed the three scouts — before she was bound to the obsidian Blight-spike. The chronology is (1) portal opens → (2) Order arrives → (3) Rat Queen kills them → (4) Rat Queen is bound (by someone else) → (5) party arrives session 031.
- The Blight does not touch their bodies. Even a month-or-more after death, the chamber's Blight avoids them. Whatever the Order is, it is anti-Blight at the body-level.
- They carry standard kit. Each member observed had:
- One Grey-Flame Torch (in the expedition leader's hand; alien-haft; Blight-fighting).
- One backpack (under the robe; possibly Bag-of-Holding-class; appeared empty but felt magical).
- Two Grey-Flame Candles (one in a belt-pouch; one set out as if mid-ritual placement).
- A grey robe of non-native textile.
- Their magic is non-divine in feel. Ubys's Sacred Flame did not light their torch — non-trivial, given that Ubys is a Raven Queen cleric of high enough caliber to read the Tablet's Beast Lord script. Their fire is not responsive to Material-Plane divine invocation.
- Their fire is responsive to a familiar's fire. Moist's familiar's fire did light it. Greg, mechanism unclear — spirit-source? non-mortal-source? specific creature-type?
What the Party Doesn't Yet Know
- The Order's name in its own language. (Party calls them "Grey-Robed" descriptively.)
- The Order's deity / patron / pact — if any.
- The Order's home-plane (or home-ruin, if they are Material).
- The Order's purpose on the Material Plane. Are they here for the Blight? For a Netherese site? For something else?
- Whether more members are coming. (The portal is dormant now; the Order's next-wave arrival is plot-banked.)