Ruin

B-class article · First seen: s10 · Last seen: s15
Ruin
Ruin the tiefling
Portrait of Ruin.
Character
StatusDead
First seens10
Last seens15
PlayerMordane
FactionSevryn's recruits

Ruin was a tiefling warlock played by Mordane from session 10 to session 15 (deceased), sent to the party by Sevryn’s letter after the death of Mordane’s first character, Harvo, with the warning “don’t confuse charm with harmlessness” [13]. Sharp-tongued and openly self-interested, he pilfered, struck private side deals and, in the Candy Cottage, bluffed Uncle Nibblecheek into lifting a deadly curse from two of his companions. He was killed at the start of session 15 when an Aurelian chain-master’s chain tore off his head, a scripted execution with no save [58] that served as the in-fiction send-off for Mordane’s departure from the table.

Appearance and personality

Tiefling. Warlock-coded: pyromancer / warlock vibe, low-affect, edgy-but-protective, charismatic-but-ruthless. The voice was bored as a default state, sharper when irritated.

His patter has the flavour of a man who has done this kind of thing before and wishes he weren’t doing it again: “Boredom” ([11][4], on his reason for following Sevryn’s letter). “Some someone who’s a bit more civil than the rest” [12][3], when Vasquez tossed him a tin of rations. “Are you fucking insane? Like, what is the point of just standing in their faces and getting it beaten up?” [5]. “How do you feel about this fucker burning to a crisp?” [7]. “Who the fuck would have guessed?” ([8], on the news that Aurelia exterminates tieflings on sight).

Sevryn’s letter introducing him noted: “don’t confuse charm with harmlessness” [13].

Background

Sevryn’s sealed letter, found at Harvo’s pyre in session 10, announced him [13]: the same recruitment pattern that delivered Harvo in s2, Earthwing the Owlin in s3, and Terry in s4. The letter was Mordane’s player vehicle for returning to the table after his first character’s death.

Tiefling-by-race in a setting where, as the party learned in s14, Aurelia exterminates tieflings on sight [14]. The s14 line “Who the fuck would have guessed?” was Ruin’s reaction to the news; the line tracks darker in the context of his death at Aurelian hands at the start of the next session.

Build

  • Race: tiefling. Fire resistant.
  • Class: warlock with a healing-type subclass. Eldritch Blast, Hex, Sorcerous Burst, large spell list. Mordane ran him as a mid-range damage-dealer with eldritch-blast-plus-hex as the staple.

Equipment

  • Standard warlock kit.

Campaign role

Ruin’s story runs from Umbrafall to Eldwythe over five sessions and the opening of a sixth. Sevryn’s letter at Harvo’s pyre announced him, and he walked into the party’s next camp hungry, knowing nothing of the quest beyond the letter that had sent him. In Umbrafall he was there when the Dawn Mercy Clinic gave up the secret that Aurelian forces were abducting the magically gifted, and his Eldritch Blast killed the Aurelian Paladin who ambushed the party in the streets.

On the road east and in Eldwythe he was the party’s opportunist: the failed theft at Starpoint Secrets, the apples from Thomas Feld’s orchard, and the private side deal he struck with Phil Flowerforge after Caelumn disowned his threats. He put his own survival ahead of honour, and told Vasquez and Hugo so after the paladin fight [15][16]. His tongue was as useful as it was sharp: in the Candy Cottage he and Terry bluffed Uncle Nibblecheek into lifting the mummy’s curse from Caelumn and Vasquez. He reached level 4 with the party when the cottage was cleared.

His last news, outside an occupied Eldwythe, was that Aurelia kills tieflings on sight. That night an Aurelian patrol hunting Althea Stormsoro found the party’s camp, and its chain-master killed him before a blow was struck. He was the campaign’s third player-character death, after Cholmondeley and Harvo.

Session by session

Session 10: Ruin Joins, the Aurelian Conspiracy, the Plate Armour

Main article: Session 10

Sevryn’s letter at Harvo’s pyre announced Ruin as charismatic and capable, though not harmless [13]. He walked into the party’s camp asking if anyone had food, caught the tin of rations Vasquez tossed him [17][18], and said Sevryn had done nothing but send him a letter from a stranger; asked why he had followed it, he answered “Boredom.” [19]. In Umbrafall he spotted four men trailing the party back from the Dawn Mercy Clinic [20]. In their ambush he healed Vasquez and cast Witch Bolt, and his Eldritch Blast killed the Aurelian Paladin just before the paladin’s last blow could land on Hugo [21][22][23]. Asked by Vasquez where he had been on the front line, he called standing in the enemy’s face insane [24], and over the long rest he identified the paladin’s plate as Nullstone armour [25].

Session 11: Owlbears and the Soulbinder

Main article: Session 11

In Umbrafall Ruin tried to lift a red potion from Starpoint Secrets while the others haggled; the fairy shopkeeper caught him, pointed at a string of severed hands and raised his healing potions from 50 to 60 gold each [26][27]. At the Whisper Coil Emporium he drank an experimental blue potion for the promise of a free healing potion, was paralysed for ten minutes, then left with a level of exhaustion [28]. On the road his Fire Bolt downed a pigeon in front of a family mending their cart, and the father warned that magic so near Aurelian territory could make him go missing [29][30]; the daughter, Kit, gave him her name, and he introduced Terry as “Shelly McShoutface” [31]. In the night’s owlbear ambush he cast Hellish Rebuke and, while healing Caelumn with his bonus action, pocketed one of Caelumn’s healing potions [32][33].

Session 12: Eldwythe and the Candy Cottage

Main article: Session 12

On his watch Ruin chased off a boy who was rummaging in Terry’s shell [34]. At Thomas Feld’s orchard he jumped the fence and took three apples, then kept the others between himself and the farmer while Caelumn paid five copper for them [35]. When Phil Flowerforge offered 100 gold for the return of his dragon, Ruin threatened to report the dragon to the law [36], and once the others had left he settled privately for 20 gold up front and a dozen cinnamon rolls [37]. At the Candy Cottage his Detect Magic showed the whole place was conjuration, and the candy he ate from the trail grew back ten minutes later [38]; inside, his Eldritch Blast helped bring down the animated doormat [39].

Session 13: Bubba Walker and the Gummy Sarcophagus

Main article: Session 13

Inside the Candy Cottage Ruin stepped back onto a pressure plate, and the rolling-pin trap it set off turned everyone but Vasquez and Caelumn into gingerbread, Ruin and Terry among them [40][41]. He warned Bubba Walker that he could die if he kept fighting and might live if he stood aside [42], and when Bubba drove a splinter into him he burned him with Hellish Rebuke [43]. In the basement, struck across the face by the rolling pin of one of the Gingerbread Steves, he answered with another Rebuke [44]. He identified the skeleton’s axe as a +1 greataxe [45], and his Detect Magic in the treasure room showed only the cottage’s usual conjuration before Caelumn reached for the gold [46].

Session 14: The Gummy Mummy and Aurelian Eldwythe

Main article: Session 14

With Caelumn and Vasquez cursed by the Gummy Mummy, Ruin and Terry went up to the kitchen posing as Uncle Nibblecheek’s new recruits. His Deception, backed by his inspiration, held [47], and his pitch that the cursed pair would make better candy workers than meals won Nibblecheek over: “give the baker a candy, you feed him for a day” [48]. Nibblecheek lifted the curse and bent Caelumn to his will, and Ruin’s Insight caught that Vasquez was only pretending to be controlled [49][50]. He reached level 4 with the party once the cottage was cleared [51]. Outside occupied Eldwythe, where wanted posters described all five of them, he learned that Aurelia kills tieflings on sight [52][53].

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

Ruin died at the start of the session, before initiative was rolled. An Aurelian patrol tracking the fugitive Althea Stormsoro reached the party’s camp outside Eldwythe, and when Mharos urged Vasquez to blame the arcane on her, Vasquez stood up and took the blame himself [54]. The patrol’s chain-master answered by firing a chain that caught Ruin around the neck and pulled so hard that it snapped his neck and tore his head off; no save was offered [55]. The party fled into the Eldwythe sewers behind Phil Flowerforge’s smoke bomb without his body, and he had no funeral [56]. His death was the table’s send-off for Mordane, whose seat passed to Maliwana and Althea.

Death

Session 15, lines 100-119. The Aurelian patrol entered the forest clearing demanding the fugitive Althea Stormsoro. Mharos whispered to Vasquez to “blame the arcane on her”. Vasquez refused and walked forward to take the blame himself. The Aurelian elite, the chain-master, responded by firing a chain that snapped around Ruin’s neck and pulled with such force that his neck snapped and his head was pulled off. No save was offered. This was a scripted execution.

Ruin’s body was not recovered; the party fled into the Eldwythe sewers under Phil Flowerforge’s smoke bomb. He was not given a funeral. The campaign’s third PC death (after Cholmondeley and Harvo).

The execution was, on the meta-level, the in-fiction send-off for Mordane, who left the table around session 15 (see Mordane). His replacement player, Maliwana, joined session 15 with Althea Stormsoro. Ruin’s scripted death cleared the seat in-fiction. The ruling was DM-driven and not subject to the standard combat-mechanic ladder.

Player

Mordane (Discord handle, full handle his name). Played Harvo from s2 to s9 (decapitated by dominated Hugo) and Ruin from s10 to s15 (decapitated by the Aurelian chain-master early in s15). Left the table around session 15. Replaced by Maliwana who joined in s15 playing Althea Stormsoro.

Notable quotes

“Boredom.” — Ruin, on his reason for following Sevryn’s letter, [4]

“I catch it. Oh, finally. Some someone who’s a bit more civil than the rest.” — Ruin, [3]

“Are you fucking insane? Like, what is the point of just standing in their faces and getting it beaten up?” — Ruin, [5]

“plus the owlbear. There we go. That’s very much a hit.” — Ruin, [57]

“How do you feel about this fucker burning to a crisp?” — Ruin, [7]

“Who the fuck would have guessed?” — Ruin, on the extermination of tieflings in Aurelia, [8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 10, line 69-82: Sevryn's letter at Harvo's pyre announces Ruin's arrival.
  2. ^ Session 10, line 169-170: Walks into the party's camp asking for food.
  3. ^ Session 10, line 221: "Some someone who's a bit more civil than the rest." (as Vasquez tosses him a tin of rations).
  4. ^ Session 10, line 263: "Boredom." (his stated reason for following the letter).
  5. ^ Session 10, line 1083: Are you fucking insane? Like, what is the point of just standing in their faces and getting it beaten up?.
  6. ^ Session 12, line 769-771: Negotiates a private side-deal with Phil Flowerforge (his 20gp share upfront, plus a dozen cinnamon rolls).
  7. ^ Session 13, line 1786: How do you feel about this fucker burning to a crisp?.
  8. ^ Session 14, line 1620: "Who the fuck would have guessed?" (re: tieflings exterminated in Aurelia).
  9. ^ Session 14, line 799-801: Bluffs Uncle Nibblecheek alongside Terry; deception 18 with inspiration.
  10. ^ Session 15, line 100-119: Decapitated by Aurelian chain-master; scripted execution, no save.
  11. ^ Session 10, line 262: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 10, line 220: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 10, line 82: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 14, line 1619: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 10, line 1083-1085: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 10, line 1215: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 10, line 170: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 10, line 220-221: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 10, line 260-263: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 10, line 779-781: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 10, line 845: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 10, line 963: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 10, line 1049-1054: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 10, line 1081-1085: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 10, line 1605-1643: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 11, line 467: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 11, line 478-506: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 11, line 589-620: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 11, line 822: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 11, line 837-839: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 11, line 861-864: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 11, line 1356: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 11, line 1536-1538: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 12, line 250-261: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 12, line 340-373: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 12, line 745: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 12, line 770-771: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 12, line 840-855: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 12, line 995-999: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 13, line 113-115: Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 13, line 145: Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 13, line 786-788: Inline citation.
  43. ^ Session 13, line 804-823: Inline citation.
  44. ^ Session 13, line 1783-1791: Inline citation.
  45. ^ Session 13, line 1962-1971: Inline citation.
  46. ^ Session 13, line 2114-2116: Inline citation.
  47. ^ Session 14, line 799-800: Inline citation.
  48. ^ Session 14, line 834-835: Inline citation.
  49. ^ Session 14, line 851: Inline citation.
  50. ^ Session 14, line 865-866: Inline citation.
  51. ^ Session 14, line 1333: Inline citation.
  52. ^ Session 14, line 1561: Inline citation.
  53. ^ Session 14, line 1619-1620: Inline citation.
  54. ^ Session 15, line 103-116: Inline citation.
  55. ^ Session 15, line 117-121: Inline citation.
  56. ^ Session 15, line 446-448: Inline citation.
  57. ^ Session 11, line 1542: Inline citation.
  58. ^ Session 15, line 117-119: Inline citation.