Orren’s House by the River

A small hut stands alone by the slow, dark river. Its roof sags under years of rain, and smoke drifts from a cracked stone chimney. The air smells of burnt herbs, ink, and damp wood. This is the home of Orren, a former monk of the Abbey — one of the few who survived the fire fifty years ago.

Inside, the walls are covered with torn parchment, notes, and fragments of old scripture. Some are written in black ink, some in red, and some look like dried blood. The floor is cluttered with bottles, books, and broken quills. A faint humming comes from somewhere beneath the hut, like water flowing through stone.

When you enter, Orren looks up from a desk lit by a single candle. His eyes are red from sleepless nights. He doesn’t seem surprised to see you.

> “You made it past Edrin,” he mutters. “So the letter found you. Good… I was afraid it wouldn’t.”

He gestures toward the parchment-strewn table.

“That letter you carry — I wrote it. Or maybe I will write it. Time’s been strange since the fire.”

Orren tells you that the seal on your letter belonged to the Abbey of Saint Kernath. He claims the letter is a message sent to “the one who survived,” and that your arrival means the valley’s curse is moving again.

If you press him for answers, he grows nervous and distant.

> “The Golden Blood wasn’t a myth,” he says quietly. “It lived. It still lives.”

He refuses to say more until you bring him a bottle of Edrin’s old soldier’s liquor, saying it “helps him remember clearly.”

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NPC – Orren, the Fallen Monk

A once-learned man now half-mad with guilt and drink. His mind drifts between present and past, but when focused, he speaks with eerie precision. He knows the truth about the Golden Blood and hints that it wasn’t destroyed — only hidden.

Personality: Jaded, intelligent, fearful, self-loathing.

Motivation: To atone for what he unleashed and to make someone else finish what he started.

Hidden Truth: He was part of the final experiment that created the Golden Blood, and his own veins may still carry traces of it.

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QUEST HOOK – “Echoes of Ash”

Orren offers to decipher your letter using his old notes. To do so, he needs his mind “clear” — which means he needs a bottle of liquor from Edrin Hale at the bridge.

Returning with the bottle unlocks the second half of the letter and reveals coordinates to the Abbey Ruins.

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GM NOTES

This POI serves as the player’s first safe location in Kernath.

It connects directly to:

Quest: The Forgotten Watch (from Edrin Hale) – leads here.

Quest: Echoes of Ash (starts here).

If the player attacks Orren, he bleeds golden for a moment — proof of the old experiments.