D20 SYSTEM✦ Normal

The Redstone Requiem: Aria of the Succubus and the Sullied Saint

# Intrigue# Investigation# Urban# Arcane# Social

The final performance of 'The Crimson Requiem' at the legendary Redstone Opera House ended not with applause, but with a scream. The opera's star, the enchanting soprano Lyralei, has vanished, leaving behind only a shattered mirror and the scent of brimstone. Rumors whisper she was a succubus in disguise. Now, the exorcist cleric Valerius, famed for his purity, has been found wandering the docks, his faith shaken, pockets heavy with unfamiliar gold. Two powerful patrons of the arts, each with a desperate claim to the truth, offer the party a fortune to uncover what happened. But in a city where beauty is a currency and souls are collateral, every clue reveals a deeper rot. Who was the real monster, and who was merely a pawn in a jealous game?

Chronicle Prelude

The opulent, yet tension-filled, Grand Foyer of the Redstone Opera House. The velvet ropes are down, the stage is dark, and city guards question a handful of nervous staff and patrons. The air is thick with perfume, accusation, and the faint, lingering trace of otherworldly magic.

Environmental Traits

The city of Valdris is a glittering jewel built on precarious social contracts. The disappearance of a celestial (or infernal) talent from its most prestigious cultural institution threatens to unravel the delicate balance between its elite patrons, the celestial bureaucracy, and the infernal courts who sometimes walk in disguise. Failure to resolve the mystery will result in a bloody purge of the arts district by paranoid inquisitors, or worse, the establishment of a permanent, sanctioned infernal foothold within the city's heart.

Legendary Archetypes

Rayan

HP:45

STR:16

WIS: 12

CHA:11

Key Factions & Autonomous Nodes (8)

Lyralei, the Defiant Muse
A figure of breathtaking, ethereal beauty with faintly luminous skin and eyes that hold the depth of a twilight sky. Vestigial, decorative horns curve elegantly from her temples, often hidden by her hair. She moves with a dancer's grace, her presence radiating a palpable sense of melancholy and fierce creativity.
Valerius, the Broken Cleric
A once-handsome human man in his forties, now gaunt and hollow-eyed. His cleric's robes are stained and wrinkled. He clutches a tarnished holy symbol (the Sullied Symbol of Tyr) and flinches at sudden noises. A faint, dark aura clings to him, and his eyes sometimes flash with a panicked, golden light before dulling again.
Lady Aurina Goldmont
A human noblewoman of middle age, impeccably dressed in the latest Valdrisian fashion, dripping with discreet but valuable jewelry. Her expression is one of cultivated concern and practiced poise. She represents The Gilded Circle and is always found near the Opera House's public spaces.
Captain Marcus Dray
A human paladin in his prime, clad in polished but functional steel plate armor bearing the sunburst-and-sword insignia of The Argent Dawn. His bearing is rigid and his gaze sharp, constantly scanning for threats. He carries a heavy mace and a shield emblazoned with his order's symbol.
Maestro Gremwick 'Grem'
A nervous, slightly portly human man with ink-stained fingers and perpetually worried eyes. He wears the practical, slightly stained clothes of a stage manager and constantly wrings his hands or checks his pocket watch. He has access to all backstage areas but is terrified of losing his position.
Marquessa Veil
A strikingly beautiful human woman with sharp, predatory features and an aura of dramatic flair. Her dark hair is elaborately styled, and she wears a gown of deep crimson silk. Her smile is dazzling but never reaches her cold, calculating eyes. She reeks faintly of Midnight Orchid perfume and sulfur.
Stage Echo Guardian
A shimmering, translucent humanoid figure made of refracted light and sound. It flickers between the appearances of different opera characters—a hero, a villain, a lover—while speaking in a chorus of overlapping, ghostly voices reciting lines from famous arias. It guards the Stage of A Thousand Faces.
Barbed Devil 'Infernal Hound'
A hulking, fiendish creature covered in sharp, iron-like barbs and coarse, crimson hide. Its face is a nightmare of teeth and horns, and it moves with a terrifying, predatory grace. It reeks of sulfur and blood, and its eyes burn with malicious intelligence. It guards the entrance to the Infernal Cistern.

Chronicle Prelude

Environmental Traits

Legendary Archetypes

✦ Related Cases ✦

The Somnolent Masquerade: Vault of the Gilded Twilight

The Gilded Gears & Purloined Picks