jdnd/sections/summaries/10-The Castle with the Steel Door - The Deck-Touched NPCs.md

# The Deck-Touched NPCs — Summary

These NPCs all drew cards from the Deck of Many Things and can be found throughout St. Parnas. Each has a Deck Dream associated with them that provides clues to their location and situation. All are visible to PCs via **Deck Awareness** (three cards hovering over their heads), and PCs have **Deck Immunity** (immune to effects of others' cards).

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## Pig: The Ogre King

**Race/Class:** Ysgard Ogre (10 feet tall) / None
**Cards Drawn:** Key, Jester, Throne

**Situation:** Pig was once the strongest ogre in his tribe and their leader. He contracted *Wasting Rot*, a disease that reduced his STR to 13, making him weak and a laughingstock. Desperate for a cure, he drew from the Deck. The Key card gave him musical talent (plays mandolin beautifully). The Jester card makes everyone laugh at everything he says, even when he's sad. The Throne card prophesies he will become king of a nation—which seems impossible given his current state.

**Personality:** Melancholic, depressed, speaks in third person, yells constantly (INT 6—mental age of a toddler). Not evil, just a simple apex predator. Currently submissive due to weakness. Grateful to PCs because they don't laugh at him (immune to Jester card).

**Location:** Market square in St. Parnas, playing mandolin for food

**Quest Hooks:**
- Curing Pig requires *Greater Restoration* (only available in larger cities, Chapter 3)
- If healed, becomes powerful tank ally—but needs supervision (intelligence of toddler, can kill with one blow)
- Fixing Jester card requires Wish or divine intervention

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## Borghan: The Caged Beast

**Race/Class:** Human (transformed) / None
**Cards Drawn:** Gem, Beast, Bricklayer

**Situation:** Drew cards to pay off debts. Gem card paid his debts with shower of gems. Beast card transformed him into an oversized grizzly bear with humanoid features (not a werebear—permanent form, animal intelligence). Bricklayer card built him a labyrinth under Castle Green and instilled magical compulsion to stay there. He's starving to death but can't leave due to the compulsion.

**Personality:** Animal intelligence (INT 7), operates on instinct, ravenously hungry, territorial about "his" labyrinth. Once fed, becomes reasonably cooperative.

**Combat Stats:** CR 6, 200 HP, multiattack (2 claws + bite), Rage and Hunger ability

**Quest Hooks:**
- Will attack PCs on sight due to starvation unless they're very clever
- If reduced to 0 HP, gets death saves—can be spared with healing
- Must be fed enormous amount (whole pig/sheep) before he can think about anything but food
- Communication requires *Speak with Animals*, magic item, or druid PC
- Solutions: hire someone to feed him regularly until compulsion wears off; capture in Museum of Orethys; *Headband of Intellect* to restore intelligence; Wish/divine intervention to restore human form

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## Sam Link: The Chosen One

**Race/Class:** Elf / Divine Spark (path to godhood)
**Cards Drawn:** Star, Cripple, Sun

**Situation:** Felt compelled to visit Castle Green and draw cards. Star gave him a ring of feather falling. Cripple gave him serious lower-back pain. Sun granted him a divine spark—he's on the path to godhood and has healing powers. Believes there's a reason for everything and he was "chosen" for a purpose, but doesn't know what. Currently healing injured people around town after the chaos storm.

**Personality:** Philosophical, earnest, thoughtful. Won't give brief answers—demands deep engagement with existential questions. Believes gods have a plan.

**Location:** Mobile—looking for injured people. Can be found at basilisk fight aftermath, waiting to heal petrified woman with broken hand.

**Quest Hooks:**
- Will answer questions about cards IF PCs answer his questions (trades question-for-question)
- His four questions: (1) Why was I chosen? (2) How should I use this gift? (3) How do I ascend further? (4) What's the ring for?
- Requires thoughtful, non-glib answers or he refuses to continue
- Best help: Get him to stop obsessing—needs something else in life besides solving the "puzzle" of his purpose

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## Alyssa Varn: The Squatter

**Race/Class:** Tiefling / None (was a gambler)
**Cards Drawn:** Tiger, Knight, Bricklayer

**Situation:** Deeply in debt from gambling. Tiger made her extremely limber (contortionist). Knight gave her a staff of withering (sold it). Bricklayer built her a castle, which she sold to Green under pressure from her husband (who threatened divorce). The card instilled overwhelming compulsion to live in the castle. She's convinced the sale was invalid ("made under duress") and keeps sneaking back in. Lives in hidden room in castle basement. Sets non-lethal traps to harass Green.

**Personality:** Obsessive, irrational about the castle, zero-level NPC. Becomes violently angry if told to leave (magical compulsion). Apologetic after tantrums. Uses words like "territory"—animalistic possession.

**Location:** Hidden behind bookcases in Castle Green basement storage room. Passage through wall leads to Mikhail's wardrobe.

**Quest Hooks:**
- Sets various traps (tripwire in armory, bucket on door, nailing doors shut)
- Eventually found sitting on sofa in lounge, watching ants, losing hope
- Escaping compulsion requires WIS saving throw DC 15 (her WIS is 8)
- PCs can help her prepare: *Bless*, *Beacon of Hope*, *Resistance*; helping her understand it's magical compulsion (+4); offering alternative home (+4); inspiration for second roll
- Green has lawsuit pending to commit her to mental institution (mayor is slow-rolling it)

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## Balanestra: The Wish-Keeper

**Race/Class:** Aasimar / None (wealthy woman, now Green's advisor)
**Cards Drawn:** Gem, Skull, Moon

**Situation:** Drew cards seeking excitement from her mundane life. Gem gave her wealth she didn't need. Skull forced her to fight an avatar of death (bodyguards handled it). Moon granted three wishes. Wish 1: highly skilled at plotting/manipulation/intrigue (fully granted). Wish 2: ability to magically scry on anyone (mostly granted—can look in mirrors and see people she's thinking about, 3x/day for 15 min, target gets WIS save DC 20). She kept her third wish as an "emergency get-out-of-jail-free card" and negotiated to become Green's advisor in exchange.

**Personality:** Clever, manipulative, loving her new exciting life. Proof that "three wishes make you miserable" is moralizing nonsense.

**Location:** With Green behind Omta's steel door (inaccessible in this chapter)

**Quest Hooks:**
- PCs don't need her help—Gem meanings available from Borghan, Skull is easy to guess (death/killing), Moon meanings can be inferred
- Will appear briefly at end of Chapter 2
- Becomes important figure later in campaign

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## Brunna: The Antiquarian

**Race/Class:** Dwarf / None (former musical instrument merchant)
**Cards Drawn:** Vizier, Comet, Idiot

**Situation:** Successful but bored with life, drew cards seeking change. Vizier lets her ask the fates one question per month. Comet lets her hold items and know their past. Idiot reduced her charisma by 2—she now looks down her nose at people and speaks like a know-it-all. Lost sales ability, sold music business, became antiquarian (fits the know-it-all persona, uses Comet power). Enjoying new career but not profitable—suffering from failure of imagination about how to use her power.

**Personality:** Know-it-all manner (can't understand her own lack of charisma due to Idiot card). Enjoys storytelling and expanding her knowledge. Hasn't used Vizier power yet (saving for special occasion). Charges 5 gp consulting fee.

**Location:** Former music shop near market square (faded lute outline on brickwork, new sign: "historical research: antique objects investigated")

**Quest Hooks:**
- Asks PCs for business advice—needs to think beyond heirlooms
- Alternative uses: crime investigation, private investigation, industrial espionage, art authentication, archaeology, general espionage
- If helped with 4+ new ideas, becomes friendly resource
- Can feed PCs exactly the clues DM wants without major spoilers
- Knows something about any item—but not necessarily what PCs want to know
- Reveals scrolls use ancient pre-language communication method (gods showing images to each other)

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## Asatya: The Sleepwalker

**Race/Class:** Human / None (former gardener)
**Cards Drawn:** Owl, Fool, Void

**Situation:** Getting older, hands arthritic, needed new direction. Owl gave her great intelligence. Fool made her forget how to cook (doesn't matter much). Void put her in deep sleep from which she cannot awaken. Her body is in hospice, completely unresponsive. Her spirit sleepwalks through the city gardens in confused, delirious state—can see physical world but thought processes are foggy.

**Personality:** Confused, foggy-minded while sleepwalking. Gives dreamy, drifty answers. Former gardener, still drawn to gardens.

**Location:** Body at hospice. Spirit in orchard (invisible but cards visible via Deck Awareness).

**Quest Hooks:**
- Deck Awareness doesn't work on her body (cards hover over spirit, not body)
- Nurses reveal she was gardener (triggers memory of deck dream)
- Johann (Museum of Orethys ghost) can enter dreams but can't talk to sleepwalkers (they see physical world, not dream world)
- Communication: Johann listens while PC stands in front of spirit and asks questions—spirit answers, Johann relays
- Helping: Tell her to close eyes OR cast *Sleep* on her—makes her see dream world so she can see Johann
- Johann makes her lucid, clears cobwebs—she's no longer alone or confused
- Johann desperately wants to meet another permanently sleeping person—demands PCs help in exchange for his help

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## Rackle: The Punching Bag

**Race/Class:** Human / None
**Cards Drawn:** Euryale, Ruin, Rogue

**Situation:** Had medical condition causing constant pain, drew cards in desperation. Euryale makes him terrified of monsters (sees demons everywhere). Ruin makes items he touches crumble to dust. Rogue makes people think he's a fraudster/con man without evidence. Three terrible cards—life went from bad to exponentially worse. Can't get job (Rogue), can't steal valuables (Ruin), lives in abandoned watchtower. Still in constant pain. Makes salt protection circles against imaginary demons.

**Personality:** Terrified, desperate, suicidal. Has attempted suicide multiple times. Currently starving to death (stopped eating).

**Location:** Middle floor of abandoned watchtower (one of five around St. Parnas)

**Associated NPC: Clarissa** — Priestess of Beshaba (goddess of misfortune), mid-50s human. Former sadist who witnessed so much suffering she gave up torture to study it philosophically. Assigned by Beshaba to keep Rackle alive (he's a "saint of misfortune"). Has been preventing his suicide attempts and buying *goodberries* from druids to keep him fed, but druids are getting suspicious of her lies.

**Quest Hooks:**
- Finding him: round stone room ~10 feet across with staircase (watchtower), need to search all five
- When found: passed out, Clarissa ministering, out of goodberries
- Clarissa admits she's priestess of Beshaba sent to protect him (omits "keeping him alive to suffer")
- Lada senses Beshaba's influence, warns PCs priests of Beshaba are "never here to help"
- If attacked, Clarissa casts *Hypnotic Pattern* (DC 16) then surrenders
- Medical care: 100 gp/day at good temples, regains consciousness in 2 days
- Needs salt protection circle or freaks out about demons
- PCs immune to Rogue card effect—see him as he really is

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## Card Symbolism Reference

Information these NPCs can provide about symbolic meanings:

- **Key:** Teaching, skills, careers
- **Jester:** Making people laugh, not being taken seriously
- **Throne:** Ruling by raw power, biggest/strongest
- **Gem:** Beauty, sparkly things, wealth, money
- **Bricklayer:** Building, possessiveness, territoriality
- **Beast:** Transformation into animal
- **Star:** Wondrous magic items, wonder, wonderful things/places
- **Cripple:** Infirmity, physical flaws, being broken
- **Sun:** Divine ascension, divinity, godlike
- **Tiger:** Limberness, contortionist abilities
- **Knight:** Receiving a weapon
- **Skull:** Killing, death, wanting to kill
- **Moon:** Wishes, granted wishes, desires, fulfilled desires
- **Vizier:** Seer, scholar, researcher, asking questions, investigation, secret knowledge
- **Comet:** Time, past, future, waiting, history, prophecy
- **Idiot:** Lack of intelligence/wisdom/social skill, mistakes, bad decisions, mental handicap
- **Owl:** Intelligence, wisdom
- **Fool:** Forgetting, disappearance
- **Void:** Emptiness, darkness, silence
- **Euryale:** Fear of monsters
- **Ruin:** Items crumbling, decay
- **Rogue:** Being perceived as fraudster/con man