Page 52 - Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting

tal’dorei campaign guide

landmarKs
galdric tHe Wolf
caStle whiteStone
Castle Whitestone was erected not long after the city’s Given purpose and power as the companion to
founding, and has long been the royal seat of the de Purvon Kol, champion of the Matron of Ravens
Rolos, though it has recently been home to dark masters. during the wars of the Calamity, Galdric was sealed
Now the home of the Chamber of Whitestone, the castle within a relic of the goddess and interred with his
stands as a symbol of justice for the people of Whites- master in a tomb under the Marrowglade Loch in
tone once more. The castle’s interior has a certain stark Othanzia. Since a new champion had been named
regality to it. While the hunting trophies and tapestries in Vaxil’dan of Vox Machina, and Purvan’s vest-
that decorate its walls are clear signs of the de Rolos’ ments recovered, Galdric was released from his
wealth, there is a solemn, beautiful hollowness to its slumber and bestowed with the charge of guarding
corridors. Cassandra de Rolo says that something of her the Parchwood surrounding Whitestone. This large
brother’s melancholy seeped into its whitestone walls, and cunning wolf now stalks the woods as the city’s
and the castle will always carry the edge of his sorrow— silent protector, the people crafting new legends
and the Briarwoods’ evil. about their bestial sentinel. On moonlit nights,
some say you can see Galdric wander through
the corrupted ziggurat
the Greyfield to the Matron of Ravens’ shrine for
During the violent throes of the Calamity, before communion.
Whitestone existed, the god known as the Chained
Oblivion broke free from its prison beneath Gatshadow
and rampaged across Tal’Dorei. Seeing the mad god’s A number of mausoleums house the passed noble fami-
devastation, the Knowing Mistress baited it towards her lies, though the last generation of lost de Rolos were not
central temple in the Alabaster Sierras and confronted recovered following the rule of the Briarwoods. Elements
him. She was nearly destroyed in the encounter, and of necromantic desecration still linger within the Grey-
her temple sank deep beneath the earth in her sorrow. field, and the Paleguard are ever vigilant at night to quell
This temple was left abandoned for centuries until it was any unresting dead that occasionally claw their way to
rediscovered by the Briarwoods and excavated. With the surface.
dark knowledge gifted to them by the strange entity
the illuSory barrier
known as the Whispered One, the Briarwoods twisted
the uncovered temple into an engine of dark magic, pre- Haphazardly constructed during the time of the Chroma
paring a blasphemous ritual of the Whispered One’s own Conclave to avoid detection by their roving wyvern
design. Though the Briarwoods were defeated, the cor- armies, 5 whitestone obelisks mark the perimeter of the
ruption lingers still, all traces of the Knowing Mistress city and castle grounds. These obelisks form a dome-
faded and forgotten. like illusion between them when powered by an arcane
spellcaster, hiding the city under the guise of continued,
the Sun tree
undeveloped Parchwood, and shielding everything within
After the Chained Oblivion nearly consumed the Know- from arcane detection.
ing Mistress during the Calamity, a furious and vengeful For each spell slot that is siphoned into an obelisk, 2
Dawnfather pursued the fleeing Oblivion across the hours of illusion is powered per spell level sacrificed, and
mountaintops and over the sea to the peak of Gatshadow, the cover of the illusion barrier is incomplete unless all 5
where the mad god was eventually defeated and impris- obelisks are powered simultaneously. This siphoning is a
oned once again. The land wept with pain as the two very taxing experience, and for every 30 spell levels sacri-
wrathful gods laid waste to Tal’Dorei. ficed within a 24 hour period, the arcane caster suffers 1
After his victory, the Dawnfather returned to White- point of exhaustion.
stone and placed a single seed into the ground where the
Knowing Mistress was nearly destroyed. The god wept whitestone adventures
and from the seed grew a symbol of protection—a massive
the greyfield StirS
tree that became a beacon of light within the dark forest
that surrounded it. While the extent of the tree’s divine For mid-level characters: Members of the Paleguard
power remains a mystery, it stands as an emblem of unity have found fresh blood splashed upon the stones and
and hope both within the city of Whitestone, and upon its grave-markers of the Greyfield for three consecutive
official crest. nights, with no indication where it came from, or why.
The incidents have stopped, for the moment, but there
the greyfield
are concerns in need of investigation: How is the blood
The Greyfield has become the local name for the east- appearing in the Greyfield without anyone seeing or
ern graveyard on the outskirts of the city that harbors hearing the perpetrator? Who or what is causing it, and
generations of Whitestone’s buried dead, watched over why? Will it happen again, and is it building toward
and respectfully maintained by the priests of the city. some purpose?

chapter 2: gazetteer of tal’dorei 51