Lord Erphius Fogg

Lord Erphius Fogg

Medium Humanoid (Human), Chaotic Neutral

“Something beneath the stone poisons everything, and I cannot make it read.” — Lord Erphius Fogg

The Nominal Lord. Lord Erphius Fogg is the nominal ruler of Shadowhearth. A human man in his fifties, he speaks Common and poor Elvish. To his city, he is a sniveling recluse who abandons his duties to read forbidden books in his tower. The castle staff call him The Haunt, for he is seldom seen outside his study.

While he hides, Shadowhearth is truly governed by Gribble and the Black Hand.

The Ledger. In the castle vault, Fogg found the original Magister ledger, its margin marked with a crude dragon sketch and a single phrase: THE MOTHER REMAINS. He knows, without being able to prove it, that something beneath the castle poisons the city above.

Since that day he has sequestered himself, desperately attempting to translate the ledger's Old Draconic and Deep Infernal passages using borrowed dictionaries. He is failing. Seven parts in ten are wrong. His tower is filled with half-finished notes, cold wicks, and frantic annotations.

Present Day. Fogg is not truly an adversary, but an obstacle and a potential ally. If aided in translation, he can point the party to the crypt beneath the castle. If ignored, his mistranslations will lead Shadowhearth to open the wrong door.