Page 95 - Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting

tal’dorei campaign guide

traverSe Junction since before the first sovereign. PCs can buy chellerum
here for 5 sp each, and a roasted gourd can feed a group
It looms over the bustling center of the Erudite Quarter,
of six for a full day. However, there is a 10% chance such
shining like a pyramid of pure sapphire, its walls thrum-
a gourd is poisoned, and any who eat it must make a DC
ming with arcane energy. It is the Traverse Junction,
14 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned and
and it is one of the most magically-active structures in
occasionally vomit uncontrollably for the next 1d6 + 1
Tal’Dorei. In nearly every major Exandrian city exist
days. Young Foryuna Catyurit has been secretly replaced
teleportation circles that link mages to other circles
by a doppelganger with delusions of grandeur, which
around the world. Each and every one of these major
has been covertly poisoning Emonian produce for the
circles has a twin in the Traverse Junction, a travel nexus
past two weeks.
for approved mages and world leaders. Any characters
renowned in Emon or honored by the Alabaster Lyceum
may make use of the Junction (perhaps at cost), allow- emon adventures
ing them to travel to major cities such as Westruun,
primordial children
Syngorn, Kraghammer, or even far-off Ank’Harel. The
For low-level characters: Rumors of terrible creatures of
telemagi who curate the circles are always in search of
fire and teeth stalking the sewers begin to spark across
new teleportation sigils to different lands; perhaps brave
tavern bars throughout Emon, with such mutterings going
adventurers can aid them?
largely ignored. However, an investigator has recovered
the black baStille what looks to be broken remains of a large, leathery, red
egg not far from a collapsed tunnel beneath the Cloudtop.
Named for its ash-blackened walls, the ominous Black
It seems one of Thordak’s primordial dragon spawn sur-
Bastille is a single-story prison that sprawls across the
vives beneath the city, and is growing quickly.
eastern end of the Military District. The compound has
no windows, no open courtyards, and only one entrance,
two imposing steel doors flanked by watchtowers. ruins of o’noa
During the reign of the Chroma Conclave, the prison
was one of the first buildings attacked, setting hundreds (new o’noa)
of Tal’Dorei’s worst criminals loose to sow chaos across
Emon. The Black Bastille has since been rebuilt, but
Small Town • Population: 336 (85% Human, 15% Other)
dozens of its most deplorable inmates still run free, and
The first human colonizers of Tal’Dorei journeyed across
the Arms of Emon are eager to recover them. Some
include the human demon-summoner Felrinn Derevar, the Ozmit Sea, weathering terrible storms and deadly
betrayer of the Arcana Pansophical; the half-elf pyro- waves, and first landed in Daggerbay. From there, they
mancer Illaman Falconsong, exile of the fire Ashari; and founded the port city of O’Noa, and though the city
the vampiric tiefling Ixrattu Khar, cultist of the Whis- quickly grew in wealth and influence, it became a site
pered One and Tal’Dorei’s foulest mass murderer. of contention with mistrustful Syngornian elves. When
Warren Drassig took the throne of Emon, no city was
tomb of the laSt Sovereign devastated more than the contested city of O’Noa. It
Uriel Tal’Dorei II, the last of his line, was slain by the became the site of one of the Scattered War’s bloodiest
noxious breath of the green dragon Raishan during the battles, and the arcane energies unleashed to end the
attack of the Chroma Conclave. Uriel’s wife, Salda, struggle left most of the land scarred and the city in
survived him and petitioned the reformed Council of ruins. Built within a cursed bay, and without fertile land
Tal’Dorei to build their last sovereign a tomb befitting to grow, it was agreed after the war that neither the new
his benevolence and magnanimity. They complied, and nation of Tal’Dorei nor Syngorn would attempt to rebuild
the monumental Tomb of the Last Sovereign is now the city, instead letting it stand as a reminder of the hor-
home to not just Uriel’s ashes, but to tribute from all rors of the Scattered War.
who loved him. Those with wealth gave gold, while those Over centuries of dereliction, the ruins became a
whose hearts outweighed their purses gave more per- haven for looters, and eventually the ostracized and
sonal tribute. Of late, the Gravewatchers have closed the immoral. This small community of criminals, addicts,
tomb to all. The act is within their right as defenders of and opportunists began calling their home New O’Noa,
the dead, but Salda Tal’Dorei grows suspicious of their taking this place of destitution and dust and making it
true intent. into a lawless hotbed of thieves and delinquents ruled
but their chosen leader, a charismatic tiefling called
catyurit farm
Waken who rose to prominence through honeyed words
The Catyurit family has grown chellerum gourds on and selective murders.
their land for generations, and the farm is currently run “New O’Noa” still appears abandoned to the eye of
by a human single mother, Helina, her two sons Rych the outsider, its inhabitants living and hiding among the
and Empi, and her youngest daughter Foryuna. The standing buildings and shacks while avoiding or paying
chellerum is a briny vegetable known for being a hearty off any inquiring Emon interests that follow whispers of
meat substitute, and has fed Emon’s people in thin times their organized den of sin.

94 chapter 2: gazetteer of tal’dorei