Jul 6

Jul 6 Dalkos Arkanium (Busker) & Lorraine Volcain (Banshee)

Header Images: Go Home Griff You’re Drunk by QueenCordite and Pathfinder 2e Bestiary by Paizo Publishing

Dalkos Arkanium - Busker

Unkempt and haggard, Dalkos is a busker of some renown. He has been a fixture on the Ferrum canal for over a decade. He plays daily, armed with his intricate six string lute, harmonica, and bass drum, entertaining the locals and visitors alike.

**Art inspiration for Dalkos;** Go Home Griff You’re Drunk by QueenCordite

Physical Description

In need of a bath and shave, Dalkos outfit is always the same; a worn vest, matching suit pants, and a surprisingly crisp fancy shirt. His motions are slow and purposeful except when he plays his music. Then, Dalkos' gaunt 6-foot frame comes alive with frenetic energy as he plays his instruments.

Backstory

Like many tieflings, life has not always been easy for Dalkos. He's been viewed with suspicion and the victim of malice since a young age. Retreating into himself, he found comfort in music, getting lost in the melodic notes of all music. Wanting to create such sounds, he taught himself to play any instrument he could get his hands on. The lute came quickly to him, but Dalkos can also play the bagpipes, drums, horn, and other instruments when given time to practice.

Now in his mid-forties, Dalkos' life has been full of excitement, travel, and opportunity. He has traveled with several adventurers, lending the power of song to battle and entertaining them around the campfire. He's trained under the greatest bards and tutored the children of kings. Dalkos has performed in taverns and great halls. He's been the court musician for the elven kingdom in western Talia. He's sung songs of war and triumphs for hobgoblin and orc clans and tales of woes and sorrow for the tribes of the great deserts. Dalkos has lived in squalor and possessed riches one could only dream of. Regardless of his status or occupation, Dalkos' cared only for his music, moving on when an opportunity to learn a new style of music or train in an instrument with a master presented itself.

Dalkos is a bit of a mystery to the locals, almost as if he appeared out of thin air approximately ten years ago. The truth is much more commonplace, arriving in town with a group of traveling minstrels. Looking to rest after a long life on the road, he settled in Ferrum, living in a small apartment near the canal. Found every day playing along the canal, he plays the flute, harmonica, and drum all at once and is the foremost busker in the district.

Quick Reference Traits

Personality Traits. Quiet and reserved until he performs.
Ideals. Music is the soul of the cosmos
Bonds. When performing, Dalkos forms a powerful connection with the audience
Flaws. Often gets lost in his own thoughts.

Adventure Hooks

Dalkos is in a panic, for his lute has been stolen. He is willing to pay any cost for the party to find and return his most prized possession.
The party has been hired by city officials to quell a kobold uprising, one of the primary workers in the sewers. They would like to avoid bloodshed at all costs, and it's suggested the party hires Dalkos to assist them.
A local gang forces Dalkos and the nearby merchants to pay protection money. Local merchants want the party to shut down this extortion ring, and Dalkos has volunteered to help in any way he can.

Lorraine Volcain - Banshee

Betrayed by a faithless husband, Lorraine prowls through her dilapidated manor screaming for revenge. Before her death, Lorraine believed to have a loving husband, but in the final moments of her life, she learned that Elrand, her husband, had only been using her for her beauty and that she had grown too old for his tastes. In this act of betrayel, she vowed to destroy him and all he held dear.

**Art Inspiration for Lorraine;** *Pathfinder 2e* *Bestiary,* 2019 by Paizo Publishing

Physical Description

Lorraine appears like a blue-tinged elven ghost of a middle aged elf, wearing the outfit she died in. When once it may have been beautiful, it is nothing but tatters and stained dark blue where her blood had stained it.

Backstory

Lorraine Voclain, formerly Lorraine Bellerose before her marriage to Elrand Voclain, was once thought of as the greatest beauty in the city, even from a young age. It wasn't long before Elrand Voclain had his eye on her and won her hearts by bringing her gifts. These gifts included jewelry, flowers, event exotic pets like a blink dog, drakes, and others. They married when Lorraine turned 70, with Elrand her senior by 200 years.

What Lorraine had thought to be a wonderful marriage turned into a nightmare in her final hours. A hundred years had passed between Lorraine and Elrand, and during that time she had been an ornament on Elrand's arm, though she never thought so herself. She had believed herself to be an important element in his life, but she soon learned that she had had a vapid marriage when Elrand decided she had grown too old, and that her beauty was beginning to fade.

A Beautiful Death. At the end of a party, Lorraine went home with Elrand like always. She had noticed him growing cool towards her, but thought it was merely stress from his job of managing his large import and exports business with naval trade. She hadn't yet realized that he was believing her too old to remain his wife, and he had already been scoping out the party that they had just gone to, looking for a new, beautiful bride.

Upon their arrival home, she retired to their bed chambers only to be awakened brutally woken up by her husband who begin dragging her to their bathing room and their large, golden bath tub. Fresh, hot water filled the tub, and while she tried to free herself, she ultimately failed as Elrand threw her into the bath and drowned her. During her final moments, struggling to breathe, she realized what was happening and vowed revenge.

Cover Up. Elrand later claimed that she had committed suicide, that she had always been distraught and he had suffered for years to make her happy. Lorraine lingered within the house as a minor specter, unable to form herself into a true ghost, but forced to watch as Elrand continued these lies about her. It wasn't until the wedding outside her old home that her fury was great enough for her to transform herself into a banshee and attempted to kill Elrand and his new bride.

From that day onward, the manor has been left deserted while she roams the hallways, screaming for revenge against the man who betrayed her.

Quick Reference Traits

Personality Traits. She is consumed with her death, forgetting almost everything else from her life.
Ideals. Lorraine only has a single goal to find revenge, ignoring all else.
Bonds. Lorraine is bound to her home, if it were to be destroyed, she would disappear.
Flaws. She assumes that everyone wishes to use her like Elrand used her.

Adventure Hooks

Elrand has hired a team of adventurers to return back to his manor, which he has left abandoned for several years, to try and recover several priceless pieces of artwork he was forced to leave behind when the ghost took over. He wishes to restore those items to their former beauty. One of these items is necklace laced with diamonds and pearls and is in the bathroom where Elrand killed Lorraine.
Lorraine resides primarily in the same room she died in, screaming for revenge against Elrand. She replays her death over and over, her shrieks easily heard in the manor.
If the party listens to Lorraine, they can hear her tale of suffering and sorrow. Elrand wishes for the party to destroy Lorraine so that 'she isn't remembered in that way'. Lorraine wishes for Elrand to be brought to her so that she can enact her revenge.

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