Madame Director [Lucretia] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
voidfished) wrote2017-09-30 07:45 pm
voidfished) wrote2017-09-30 07:45 pm
« [APP - ENTRANCEWAY]
Name: Alex
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E-Mail: alexgalef@gmail.com
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cancerously
Other Characters: Alphys (sciencelizard) and Commander "Jane" Shepard (normandysbest).
Character Name: Lucretia (Madame Director)
Series: The Adventure Zone
Timeline: The very end of episode 66, as Magnus bursts through the doors to her office.
Canon Resource Link: Her wiki page is here but ultimately not super descriptive, so here's also a quick-reference arc guide and episode transcripts, since this is an audio medium and therefore long as hell and complex to find one specific thing from.
Character History: Very little is known about Lucretia's childhood, other than her propensity for writing started at a young age. Before being recruited by the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration as the chronicler for their upcoming mission, she had already ghostwritten many famous autobiographies and caught the attention of the Institute. The IPRE, essentially fantasy NASA, was an organization dedicated to exploring what lay outside their plane of existence; a year before the start of the mission, they acquired an artifact called the Light of Creation, a tangible ball of warm light that kickstarted innovation of science, culture, and art. Through utilizing the artifact, they were able to create a ship- the Starblaster- which would allow them to travel through existence itself. Being one of the youngest recruited for the mission, still in her early 20's, she begins her story shy and motives clear- she's more than happy to record and shine the spotlight on those doing something important. She's just there to make sure the story gets told.
That night, she joins the remainder of their mission- Magnus, the ship's security officer; Merle, botanist and cleric; Taako and Lup, chefs and chief arcanists; Barry Bluejeans, physicist and accomplished wizard, and Davenport, the ship's illustrious captain- out to a dive bar to celebrate. When a fight breaks out, she ducks behind the counter, already beginning her record of their adventures while Merle helps her hide. If this was to be the flavor of their mission, she was certain she could handle it, even if it came down to the twins hustling people for their shoes and Magnus getting a black eye trying to break up a fight.
Unfortunately, the two month promise on their initial mission is quickly scrapped, as the apocalypse comes with less fanfare than is deserved. On the onset of their mission, the true nature of their enemy is revealed- what is assumed to be a passing storm turns into tendrils reaching from the sky, the ship barely evading the dark force as it consumes their entire home plane. As they hit the edge of the universe, space becomes malleable, and in a moment, everyone on the ship is split apart into a thousand different versions of themselves, across time and space- before being returned, just as they were, a world waiting below them. When Davenport decides to go back, try and investigate what might have happened, the group finds themselves somewhere entirely different, and begins to piece together what happened.
The world they enter is clearly not their own- populated entirely by animals, with their own form of language and culture. To top it off, they manage to track down and discern there is another instance of the Light of Creation, that falls from the sky mere days into their journey. While the others investigate and try to claim the Light, looking for answers, Lucretia mostly sticks to the ship, fervently recording things about the world. However, a year later, everything finally begins to take shape into the story this would become. The dark force that consumed their plane arrives again, and in trying to make their escape on the Starblaster, Magnus ends up left behind; when the world is consumed, he dies with it. In the moment of their grief, however, they hit the edge of space, and the phenomena happens again- their bodies split apart, and reform exactly where they were a year ago, including Magnus on the deck with his black eye from the bar fight, another world waiting below.
The framework of their journey becomes thus- the dark force that claimed their world (that Lucretia herself names The Hunger only a few years later) has been tracking the Light of Creation for countless years. When it falls onto a world, the Hunger is able to locate it a year later, and when it is consumed, it gets stronger, until theoretically it would destroy all of existence. However, the IPRE crew introduces the key variable- if the Hunger does not catch the Light, it cannot absorb the plane, and the world can survive. When they enter the plane, the Light will fall from the sky a few days later, and exactly a year after that the Hunger will arrive. They simply need to find the Light in that time, and then escape with it in the Starblaster to save the plane. Additionally, only one of them needs to make it out- because of the strange magic of their travel, every year they return to what Barry and Lup dub their 'recorded state'; even if they die accomplishing this goal, they will return to life when they enter a new plane.
Thus, begins the-- well, hardly two month mission anymore. One hundred years. One hundred different Lights. One hundred worlds, a journey ever-forward, against a seemingly undefeatable enemy.
The vast majority of this mission is spent in the same manner for Lucretia- she still believes strongly that someone will need to know what they have done, and now the seven of them are the only one who carries the stories of their home world. She tends to stick close to the group, following anyone who does something she thinks is worth telling, but never quite deviating from trying to tell this story. Eventually, in cycle 17, Merle decides he wants to record the stories of the inhabitants of the plane (all souls inhabiting robot bodies after a massive catastrophe), and Lucretia speaks to him more seriously than she has thus far.
"I've lived my whole life writing down other people's stories and I've been doing this for almost two decades now. And there's still part of me that thinks one of these years, Merle, we're just-- we're not gonna make it out. And if that happens, all of these stories are just gonna... die with us. And I really appreciate you thinking of this world in that same way. I think we've done—I think we’ve done really important work now. Now we just need to make sure that somebody else other than myself reads these one day.
Merle, of course, follows this up by telling her that for someone who doesn't talk much, she would be a good leader. She brushes it off, saying she's plenty content to sit back, watch, and record.
As the cycles continue, the numbers climbing through the double digits, the mission itself becomes more harrowing; through one cycle, Merle gains direct communication with the Hunger through a magic known as Parlay. However, this causes the Hunger to take notice of them, and as they reach the halfway mark, the mission is becoming more dangerous. In cycle 47, however, the next major change in their story occurs. Cycle 47 is home to the Legato Conservatory, a world where institutions of art compete with each other to please the "Light of Creation"; in this world, the light is supposedly hidden inside of a cave, of which they present their art- music, dance, painting, woodworking, anything. If the light is pleased, the memory of the art is distributed to everyone in the world, immediately and directly into their heads. However, if it's unsatisfactory, the memory of it disappears- along with any information surrounding it. For instance, if someone composes a song that isn't accepted, not only will the memory of the music be forgotten, the sheet music, if written down, could not be read and understood- it would look blurred, and even if the words were visible, they would be unable to comprehend what they were reading or remember what they read. The group is told that if they create something that the light accepts, they may gain access to the cave and can claim the Light.
For Lucretia, the year progresses normally; having picked up painting many, many years previous, she creates a beautiful piece focused on a market square back from their home world. It's accepted by the cave, as well as everyone else's pieces, but when they try to gain entry, all of them are blocked. That night, however, everyone scouring their brains for how to gain access, Magnus manages to get into the cave. As it turns out, what is inside is not the Light of Creation at all, but beings which will eventually be known as Voidfish- jellyfish-like creatures seemingly full of galaxies, that is the actual cause of the information disappearing or broadcasting to the world. One of these beings, a child, took a liking to Magnus' art (a carved wooden duck) and allowed him to enter- as long as he would keep bringing back some choice ducks for it. After the first night, Magnus brings Lucretia to the cave to study these beings, and in a fluke, she gets splashed with some of the water from the pools they reside in, accidentally drinking it. It would be many years forward until she realized the significance of this action, however- if you drink the Voidfish's ichor, you remember everything that they erased. If someone who is inoculated speaks or tries to mention information that has been erased, all others will hear is static.
This, unfortunately, will become increasingly relevant later.
When the Hunger descends on this cycle, it's a few days early. In the group's haste, they almost don't make it out, but they do- Lucretia and Magnus manage to get back to the cave and escape with one of the voidfish, the baby that took a shine to him and let Magnus in the cave in the first place. He names it Fisher, and it stays with their mission for the remainder of their journey. Lucretia keeps it in her room, in a large glass tank, for space reasons.
This, again, will be very important later on.
It's many cycles until something serious happens again, in cycle 65. For most of the crew, cycle 65 is incredibly short- upon entry to the plane, the Starblaster is shot down, the crew captured, and after a brief (and very skewed) trial, turned to stone. Lucretia, however, has a different story. When the ship goes down, she remains uncaptured, left behind with Fisher in the wreckage, alone.
In the end, this year is her toughest by far. With all her companions dead, Lucretia spends this year knowing (as she said back in cycle 17), if she dies, so does everything- the Hunger wins, the universe comes to an end, and the story stops, forever. She ends up relentlessly pursued this entire cycle- first, by the government who kidnapped and killed her friends. Second, by a crew of marauders from outlying villages attempting to steal the ship. Before this, there had been cycles where one or two people had died, and in one particularly memorable instance, half their number. But never before had anyone had to do an entire cycle alone. When the year ends, Lucretia piloting the ship to safety and everyone reappearing on the deck, all she can do is collapse and cry.
I made it. I made it! They tracked me down... and I got away on the ship, but they kept following. For a year I ran and I hid-- and I had to fight, and I had to repair the ship in secret, I had to learn how to repair the ship. I was the only one. If I died too-- I don’t even know how to fly the ship. I fucking made it!
Lucretia is never the same after cycle 65; knowing firsthand the dangers of the world, how close everyone is to being over, and the importance of her own role in this process, she becomes increasingly more active. She never sits back on the ship, waiting for someone to do something interesting again. From here forward, Lucretia becomes the driver of her own story- she knows she has the power to defeat the Hunger, to save her friends, to end all of this. And she knows how she's going to do it.
In cycle 82, Lucretia approaches Merle, asking him to teach her a spell called Shield of Faith. She's rather reclusive with this plan, but he does, and she spends the rest of this year perfecting and morphing it into something much, much more powerful. From it's initial form, she changes and develops the spell into something all her own- a completely opaque bubble. Her specialization becomes Abjuration magic, the magic of shields, of protection. She is going to save all of her friends. It's ten years before she discusses this plan with her friends- in cycle 92, the team finds their way to a world of artificing, the art of putting magic into objects. Barry and Lup have developed a plan to split the Light of Creation into various items, making it so the Light couldn't be tracked down by the Hunger and therefore stopping it's pursuit. However, the Light of Creation has a caveat that it wants to be used, and desired. Therefore, these items would as well, and since they would have to be separated so the Light was kept apart, the crew would have to allow them to be used and not interfere. Ideally, they could then starve the Hunger out. Lucretia strongly disagrees with this, and finally presents her plan- she can use this spell she's created to bubble the entire plane off from the Hunger, closing the plane from the Hunger permanently.
This of course, turns into a fight- everyone argues to Lucretia that her plan would never work, that it would destroy the plane, but the more they argue, the more entrenched Lucretia becomes in her ideas. She knows, from her year alone, that her plans are all she has- that she's good, and capable, and can save everyone. But no one else wants to hear it. She's outvoted unanimously, and Lucretia relents, bitter that no one is even willing to hear her out. She knows she can beat this. She knows she's better than this. But no one will listen.
Finally, in cycle 99, the perfect storm hits and the plan is enacted- the Light is found before the Hunger finds the plane, and everyone creates powerful, magical items based around their magic and experiences. Merle, the Gaia Sash, capable of incredible nature magic. Taako, the Philosopher's Stone, capable of transmuting anything instantaneously. Lup, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, that creates flame so powerful, all that exists after it's use is a massive circle of black glass, big enough to consume an entire town. Barry, the Animus Bell, capable of stealing a person's soul. Davenport, the Oculus, making illusions of the imagination real. Magnus, the Temporal Chalice, a cup that allows the user to travel through time. And finally, Lucretia makes the Bulwark Staff, a spellcasting focus of incredible protection power. They disperse these relics among the population, and the Hunger never arrives. They did it. They've won.
But in the end, what they have created isn't safety.
It's less than a year before the Relic War starts in earnest, the population having claimed these relics and started into immeasurable destruction. While the seven members of the IPRE can hide in the Starblaster, high above the carnage, the things they see in the ensuing months change them forever. There was a difference when the Hunger was ripping apart a world, when they knew that taking the Light was the best they could do. This war, however, was their fault. Was caused by their actions. And still, as time passed, Lucretia didn't let go of her plan. Of knowing that everyone could see this was the wrong choice to have made.
The tipping point comes about a year and a half into this world, 20 months in. One morning, the crew awakens on the Starblaster to find Lup gone- all she's left behind is a simple note, saying 'Back Soon'. Out of everyone watching the relics, Lup had always taken the destruction caused by hers the most personally, the most painfully. Instantly, they know she went to reclaim it, to stop more deaths from her Gauntlet. Except-- she never returns. The crew is torn apart looking for her- Barry and Taako spend countless sleepless nights trying to find her position, follow the battles across the world, and never before have they lost a member of their number permanently.
Lucretia, finally, takes things into her own hands, a decision building nearly fifty years since cycle 65. She spends the ensuing four months in her quarters, with her journals, with every record of the hundred year journey she and her family has taken. It's many months before she can do this, but when she puts it into place, it goes... well, it goes about as she intended.
Lucretia feeds her edited record to the Voidfish, and in an instant, no one in the world remembers anything about the relics, about the mission, about their bonds, except for her. Lucretia, because she drank from the Voidfish's ichor all the way back in cycle 47, remembers every bit of information. But suddenly, her friends don't remember knowing her- don't remember knowing each other. Don't remember the hundred years, the Relics, the Hunger, the people they knew and loved. Certain people are worse off than others- with Lup missing, assumed dead, Lucretia ends up erasing Taako's memory of ever having a sister, trying to spare him from the pain of losing her. Barry, Lup's boyfriend and lover since cycle 47, having gone through a ritual many cycles before to become a Lich, disappears- the Voidfish doesn't work on undead beings, and if he's dead, he doesn't have to forget. In an instant, their family is split. In an instant, Lucretia can begin the work of saving them all. If she can bring the relics back together, she can enact her plan, bubble the plane, and then let everyone remember who they are. They can be a family again, free from consequences. They can be happy. As if none of this ever, ever happened.
First, she takes precautions to make sure that the members of the IPRE that she still knows the location of are safe, and comfortable. She finds Merle a community of beach dwarves, the home he told her he always wanted, a comfortable place by the sea where he can find peace. She brings Magnus to a small town, Raven's Roost, sets him up with an accomplished craftsman where he can hone his craft, the thing that makes him the happiest. Taako, she sets up not in a place, but in a role- with a stagecoach, a supplier, a position, to start his traveling cooking show and be adored by the population at large. Barry went missing, Lucretia unaware that he begged to die when he realized his memories of Lup were being erased, and she knows she'd have to protect against him, to stop him from disrupting her plan. Lup, of course, she looked for when she could- but eventually, she was assumed dead. There was nothing Lucretia could do for her now.
Davenport, however, was different. Everyone else had memories to fall back on, lives before the IPRE, identities that were their own outside of the 100 year mission. But for Davenport, the mission was his life- with the removal of his memories, all he could remember was his own name. She kept him with her, wanting to ensure his safety. She would protect him herself, and in no time, she was sure, she could bring them together again. Finally, she keeps Fisher close, the key to her plan, making sure the others could eventually drink from it's ichor and remember themselves.
Her initial plan was that she could recover the Relics on her own in very little time- in the end, it took more than 10 years. For the first seven years of her journey, the only thing she was able to recover was her own relic, the Bulwark Staff. In her search for the other relics, she finally finds her way to another- the Animas Bell has fallen into the hands of two people who have built a place called Wonderland, deep in the Felicity Wilds. If you win the challenges of Wonderland, you can claim your heart's desire- for her, this is the second Grand Relic. She hires a sorcerer by the name of Cam to go in with her, to get through whatever's inside. Unfortunately for her, Wonderland is a torture dungeon, run by liches Edward and Lydia with the purpose of extracting suffering through sacrifice. No one reaches the end goal of Wonderland- they die, give up so much of themselves they no longer exist, or the lich team steals their souls using the Animas Bell. Lucretia comes incredibly close to dying here- she bets 20 years of her life on a chess game and loses, the first time she's really aged since the cycles, now suddenly nearly 60 years old. Eventually, Cam sacrifices himself so she can escape, but she realizes she can't do this alone, or she'll certainly be killed. And once again, if she dies here, the universe comes to an end. The story ends with her.
Finally, in her quest for help, Lucretia creates the Bureau of Balance, an organization dedicated to reclaiming the relics. She contacts a team of scientists, the Millers, giving them technological knowledge from other planes to help her build a floating base that travels in front of the moon, hidden but ever-present. She hides the Starblaster inside, inoculates her employees, and sends them out to find the Relics. Unfortunately for her, everyone fails- the pull of the Relics is too strong, and every single Reclaimer that she sends to collect them falls prey to their use and is killed. At this point, it had been nearly 10 years of crushing loneliness, of failure after failure, of literally losing 20 years of herself for nothing more than the staff in her hands. Even with Davenport still by her side, and Fisher still alive, this wasn't a comfort. She was continuing to bring pain and hurt to this world- people were dying because of her choices, and she was stuck on what to do.
Finally, she acquires a solution- Fisher has a child, creating a second Voidfish. Suddenly, she knew what she could do. The only people who were immune to the Relics' pull was the people who made them, but she couldn't inoculate the other IPRE members without letting them know everything. So she feeds another record of the mission, of everything, to the baby Voidfish, and keeps it secret in her quarters. Finally, she reaches out to bring together Magnus, Merle, and Taako- the remaining members of the IPRE she can find.
Unfortunately, the lives she has built for them was not the state she found them in. Taako was no longer doing his show; Magnus gone from Raven's Roost after the entire place destroyed; Merle away on the road after a messy divorce. She sets them up to take a mission that puts them in the path of one of the relics, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, and despite the entire town of Phandalin going up in flames, they manage to retrieve it with the help of one of her Regulators, an orc woman named Killian. Now, ironically, comes the hardest part of her journey- keeping herself distant from them, when they're right in front of her. It breaks her heart to lie to them, to pretend not to know them, and hurts worse when they don't remember each other. In the end, they agree to become Reclaimers, and she innoculates them with the first Voidfish- so they remember the relics, and the war, but not who made them, and not each other. She tells them a lie about the Relic's creation, that they were made by powerful wizards known as the Red Robes (after the IPRE's bright red uniforms), and that they were not to be trusted. Finally, she tasks them with getting these relics back, telling them they'll be destroyed upon retrieval but in reality absorbing their power into her staff, reforming the Light of Creation, and getting ready to defeat the Hunger.
The following year, her plan finally sets into motion. Her Seekers pick up knowledge about where the relics are housed, and the boys go in each time, her watching in anticipation and afraid for their safety. Their second relic is handled quickly- the Oculus is returned after a rather incredible (and literal) train wreck, and as midsummer comes, Lucretia finds herself in possession of 3 of the 7 pieces of the Light. Unfortunately, during the Midsummer Festival, the Hunger finally tracks them down, manifesting as bright, burning eyes covering the sky. Suddenly, Lucretia knows she has a time limit, and they're down to their final year.
The next six months pass quickly, the boys regaining the third relic, the Gaia Sash, from a criminal known as the Raven in a race-to-the-finish Battlewagon blitz. However, when they return, the boys report coming into contact with a red robed specter who seemed to know them- immediately, she knows Barry has found them and her mission, and makes them swear never to speak to this Red Robe again. In the ensuing time before the end of the calendar year, Barry possesses another member of the Bureau, the boy's roommate (named Robbie, aka "Pringles"), and breaks into Lucretia's office to find the second Voidfish, realizing why the boys don't remember him but can still know the relics. She institutes a ward around the moonbase against the lich, and continues to worry, knowing she doesn't have long to finish her plan and protect the world.
Unfortunately, when the next relic is found, it's closer to home than she'd like. One of the scientists she instituted to help build and sustain the moonbase, Lucas Miller, has found the Philosopher's Stone and turned his floating lab into pink tourmaline, which, once it hits the surface of the world, will encase it and kill the plane. She sends in the boys, afraid this will be their end, but they reclaim the stone- even if Magnus eats it, and she swears she'll drop over just from that fact. The Red Robe appears again, and Lucretia once more warns the boys not to speak to them, telling them the gravity of these relic's destruction and the death toll of this war in an impassioned speech. She knows they don't remember this being their fault, but every one of these losses feels personal, and they swear not to speak to the Red Robe again.
This relic, however, is more significant- in a heated debate, Lucas uses her name. Up to this point, the boys only knew Lucretia as Madam Director, her knowing that she needed to keep herself separate from him. From this point, however, she can't hold back the affection for them. When Merle comes back from the crystal lab minus half his arm (and plus a sick wooden one), she takes him up on his offer for a spa day, and finally begins letting them get to know her, despite herself. She knows letting them know her, and letting her close to them again will only hurt more, but in her desperate loneliness, she can't help but stay close to her family. She accepts Taako's gifts of macarons, she laughs with Magnus' jokes, she loves them in a way she can't ever fully describe. The most telling instance of this, of the person she's become, comes during this conversation with Merle, now nearly 12 years since entering this plane.
"One day, I made the decision to... stop championing other people’s heroism and to take the direction of my life into my own hands. And... I lost... dear, dear friends because of that decision, but it was the only one to make. So, I— I admire your faith, Merle. I do. But I think I'm done waiting on anyone to fix my problems for me."
With the new year, comes new relics- the boys find and acquire the Temporal Chalice from a town trapped in time called Refuge, though when she asks if anything has gone wrong, they lie to her- in reality, the boys saw the Red Robe again, Barry nearly crying out towards them to get them to remember. Worst of all, Taako managed to find Lup's staff early on with her Relic, and the reminders to her and Barry that Lup is gone tears them apart quietly, away from each other. Finally, however, comes the problem- once the Chalice is acquired, Lucretia knows there's only one Relic left- the Animus Bell, still trapped in Wonderland. But if Wonderland felled her, nearly killed her, took twenty years of her life- what would it do to them? What would she sacrifice, to save the world?
In the end, she trains them harder than they ever have, still not telling them the horrors they'll face. She doesn't send them to Wonderland until two days before the next midsummer- as much time as she can keep them safe, and whole, as possible. She's sick to her stomach when she has to let them go, fearful that they'll fail where she did. And apparently, she was right- the next day, when they return to the base, only Taako and Merle come back, relic in tow with only a living mannequin for their third. Magnus, they say, is dead. Wonderland killed him.
Lucretia is devastated as she takes the relic; another person she couldn't save. Another thing she lost to this. But she has no time to grieve, no time to wait, because she knows the Hunger is coming today, and she must put her plan in motion. She lets Taako and Merle wait in her office as she makes some preparations to absorb the Animus Bell and use the Light's power to bubble the plane once and for all. Unfortunately, Taako and Merle had been lying to her still- unbeknownst to her, Barry had managed to convince them not to trust her, and bring him- in a new body, now subject to the Voidfish's influence- secretly inside. While she waits, they break into her office, find the second Voidfish, and innoculate themselves (along with Davenport), suddenly remembering every detail of what she's taken from them.
Guards surge in to catch them, Barry now having revealed himself, and bring them to her, where she stays channeling the last of the Light into the Bulwark Staff. Finally, she has to explain- what she did, how she needed to save them, how she was going to stop the Hunger once and for all. But the Hunger's assault had already began- the black, deadly force was already assaulting the moonbase. Lucretia, however, pushes stubbornly forward, insisting she can do this, she can stop it, she can save them, despite everyone's pleas that her plan would fail- that cutting off the plane would stop it's bonds to the universe, and kill them all.
Finally, she finds out about one more lie- Magnus, in Wonderland, had his body stolen through use of the Bell, and his soul was actually within the mannequin they brought back. Through use of a cloning tank, he was able to regain his body, and bursts through the doors to her office just as she explains what's happened, the Hunger behind him, bringing the apocalypse one more time.
But unfortunately, she doesn't get the chance to finish her defense; because she's pulled away, this time to a new Wonderland, and not one that's so easy to leave.
Abilities/Special Powers: This is gonna get long bear with me. For reference, since The Adventure Zone is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast (specifically the 5e edition), a more comprehensive detail of how magic works in the universe can be found in the player's handbook, specifically under the "wizard" section (page 106, 108 for her school of magic, Abjuration, and the "spellcasting" chapter for general spell rules (page 183).
While Lucretia's abilities are a little more vague as an NPC, but we know she's classed as a wizard and likely an abjuration specialist. Basically, wizards are prepared spellcasters, so they can learn anything as long as it is within the wizard spell list and their school of magic. They are allowed to have a certain number of spells they can prepare each day, dictated by level, along with a certain number they can cast each day of each level (as dictated by "spell slots"). Certain spells can be cast at higher levels for additional power, but no higher level spells can be cast in a lower level slot. These slots are regained after a long rest (about 6 hours) or more generally once per day. In the show, they often play fast and loose with these rules, but I will do my best not to make her too OP. At her point in the canon, the rest of her team is at level 16, but she's gotten a few legs up on them due to not losing her memories, so I imagine she's closer to level 17 at this point. This means that she has 5 cantrips (freebie, weak spells), 4 first level spells, 3 second level, 3 third level, 3 fourth level, 2 fifth level, and 1 each of 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level slots.
It should be known that, while powerful, most D&D spells are incredibly short lived (1 minute for most) and do not always succeed; for roleplaying purposes, should Lucretia ever cast a spell on another played character, I will reach out to that person regarding how that scene would take place and if the spell would be effective. It's also important to note that most wizards don't have a ton of HP, and while Lucretia isn't weak, she certainly doesn't have over 75 hp (for reference, fighters at this point are edging double that, and high level spells can do 50-60 damage in a single shot easily). She's also older and damn if that won't hurt her dex score.
Other than her magic, Lucretia has been shown to be an incredible artist, painting and sketching her way for over 100 years of their journey. She's also ambidextrous, and can write in two journals at the same time with different hands. It's fuckin' impressive.
Third-Person Sample:
She wakes up, and for a moment, she thinks she's dreaming.
It wouldn't be an unfamiliar dream; a clearing just outside of the tree line, the break in the forest leading to a tall tower, bigger inside then it was out. Billboards advertising the thing you want most, and making you think you would give anything to get it, and it’s so close, just a reach away. For a moment, Lucretia thinks she's back there in the Felicity Wilds, ready to do it all over again, to try and fail and betray and escape, and nausea overtakes her in a dream more real than she’s ever experienced.
But this... isn't the same. As she pulls herself to her feet at the edge of the forest, the ocean and mansion in the distance jar her out of her memories, concentrating on the feeling of her (already aged) hands on her staff, the inconsistencies of the event bringing her to her senses. This isn't Wonderland. She's somewhere else. But where, of course, is the question.
Lucretia squints as she tilts her head towards the sky, searching it for signs of the Hunger as a single sun beats down. When she seems satisfied with the lack of its presence, she tucks her staff into the crook of her arm to reach for a journal in the pocket of her deep blue robes. In a moment, she’s flipped to a new page, retrieving the quill sandwiched in the front cover.
Day ???, Location: Unknown
I appear to have been transported to a new location; it’s almost as if the cycles have restarted, except I once again find myself alone. This new place seems eerily familiar, as if I have returned to the Felicity Wilds of years ago, but this cannot be Wonderland again. Perhaps, a badly imagined copy from my memories. If the Hunger has come, as I feared it would, this could be some illusion designed to trap us until it can finish its work and find the Light. Until then, I keep my staff close, and my wits about me.
Carefully, she places the journal back in her robes, tension in her hands still evident as they find her staff, gripping almost too tight as she begins her movement towards the mansion on the horizon. If she’s lucky, there will be answers- and maybe an end to this, once and for all.
First-Person Sample:
[When the camera turns on, it's focused on an older woman, easily in her late 50's, with short, white curled hair. Her deep blue robes and ornate staff, coupled with her rather serious expression, make her a rather imposing figure. She's holding a blue and silver bound journal, which she seems to be scribbling fervently in until she notices the device is on, and she re-steadies it quickly to give her message.]
I would like to request an audience with whoever seems to have summoned me to their, uhm... lovely home. I understand that there are many who require my attention, but my situation is rather urgent, and I can't spare any time at the moment.
[As the message goes on, she seems increasingly tense, gripping harder to her staff and seemingly obviously distracted.]
Provided this is broadcasting to more than one person, any help would be appreciated.
[Quickly, she reaches out, fumbling with a few buttons before the feed cuts.]
DW username:
spacespecsE-Mail: alexgalef@gmail.com
IM: discord: cancerously#6043
Plurk:
Other Characters: Alphys (
sciencelizard) and Commander "Jane" Shepard (normandysbest).Character Name: Lucretia (Madame Director)
Series: The Adventure Zone
Timeline: The very end of episode 66, as Magnus bursts through the doors to her office.
Canon Resource Link: Her wiki page is here but ultimately not super descriptive, so here's also a quick-reference arc guide and episode transcripts, since this is an audio medium and therefore long as hell and complex to find one specific thing from.
Character History: Very little is known about Lucretia's childhood, other than her propensity for writing started at a young age. Before being recruited by the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration as the chronicler for their upcoming mission, she had already ghostwritten many famous autobiographies and caught the attention of the Institute. The IPRE, essentially fantasy NASA, was an organization dedicated to exploring what lay outside their plane of existence; a year before the start of the mission, they acquired an artifact called the Light of Creation, a tangible ball of warm light that kickstarted innovation of science, culture, and art. Through utilizing the artifact, they were able to create a ship- the Starblaster- which would allow them to travel through existence itself. Being one of the youngest recruited for the mission, still in her early 20's, she begins her story shy and motives clear- she's more than happy to record and shine the spotlight on those doing something important. She's just there to make sure the story gets told.
That night, she joins the remainder of their mission- Magnus, the ship's security officer; Merle, botanist and cleric; Taako and Lup, chefs and chief arcanists; Barry Bluejeans, physicist and accomplished wizard, and Davenport, the ship's illustrious captain- out to a dive bar to celebrate. When a fight breaks out, she ducks behind the counter, already beginning her record of their adventures while Merle helps her hide. If this was to be the flavor of their mission, she was certain she could handle it, even if it came down to the twins hustling people for their shoes and Magnus getting a black eye trying to break up a fight.
Unfortunately, the two month promise on their initial mission is quickly scrapped, as the apocalypse comes with less fanfare than is deserved. On the onset of their mission, the true nature of their enemy is revealed- what is assumed to be a passing storm turns into tendrils reaching from the sky, the ship barely evading the dark force as it consumes their entire home plane. As they hit the edge of the universe, space becomes malleable, and in a moment, everyone on the ship is split apart into a thousand different versions of themselves, across time and space- before being returned, just as they were, a world waiting below them. When Davenport decides to go back, try and investigate what might have happened, the group finds themselves somewhere entirely different, and begins to piece together what happened.
The world they enter is clearly not their own- populated entirely by animals, with their own form of language and culture. To top it off, they manage to track down and discern there is another instance of the Light of Creation, that falls from the sky mere days into their journey. While the others investigate and try to claim the Light, looking for answers, Lucretia mostly sticks to the ship, fervently recording things about the world. However, a year later, everything finally begins to take shape into the story this would become. The dark force that consumed their plane arrives again, and in trying to make their escape on the Starblaster, Magnus ends up left behind; when the world is consumed, he dies with it. In the moment of their grief, however, they hit the edge of space, and the phenomena happens again- their bodies split apart, and reform exactly where they were a year ago, including Magnus on the deck with his black eye from the bar fight, another world waiting below.
The framework of their journey becomes thus- the dark force that claimed their world (that Lucretia herself names The Hunger only a few years later) has been tracking the Light of Creation for countless years. When it falls onto a world, the Hunger is able to locate it a year later, and when it is consumed, it gets stronger, until theoretically it would destroy all of existence. However, the IPRE crew introduces the key variable- if the Hunger does not catch the Light, it cannot absorb the plane, and the world can survive. When they enter the plane, the Light will fall from the sky a few days later, and exactly a year after that the Hunger will arrive. They simply need to find the Light in that time, and then escape with it in the Starblaster to save the plane. Additionally, only one of them needs to make it out- because of the strange magic of their travel, every year they return to what Barry and Lup dub their 'recorded state'; even if they die accomplishing this goal, they will return to life when they enter a new plane.
Thus, begins the-- well, hardly two month mission anymore. One hundred years. One hundred different Lights. One hundred worlds, a journey ever-forward, against a seemingly undefeatable enemy.
The vast majority of this mission is spent in the same manner for Lucretia- she still believes strongly that someone will need to know what they have done, and now the seven of them are the only one who carries the stories of their home world. She tends to stick close to the group, following anyone who does something she thinks is worth telling, but never quite deviating from trying to tell this story. Eventually, in cycle 17, Merle decides he wants to record the stories of the inhabitants of the plane (all souls inhabiting robot bodies after a massive catastrophe), and Lucretia speaks to him more seriously than she has thus far.
Merle, of course, follows this up by telling her that for someone who doesn't talk much, she would be a good leader. She brushes it off, saying she's plenty content to sit back, watch, and record.
As the cycles continue, the numbers climbing through the double digits, the mission itself becomes more harrowing; through one cycle, Merle gains direct communication with the Hunger through a magic known as Parlay. However, this causes the Hunger to take notice of them, and as they reach the halfway mark, the mission is becoming more dangerous. In cycle 47, however, the next major change in their story occurs. Cycle 47 is home to the Legato Conservatory, a world where institutions of art compete with each other to please the "Light of Creation"; in this world, the light is supposedly hidden inside of a cave, of which they present their art- music, dance, painting, woodworking, anything. If the light is pleased, the memory of the art is distributed to everyone in the world, immediately and directly into their heads. However, if it's unsatisfactory, the memory of it disappears- along with any information surrounding it. For instance, if someone composes a song that isn't accepted, not only will the memory of the music be forgotten, the sheet music, if written down, could not be read and understood- it would look blurred, and even if the words were visible, they would be unable to comprehend what they were reading or remember what they read. The group is told that if they create something that the light accepts, they may gain access to the cave and can claim the Light.
For Lucretia, the year progresses normally; having picked up painting many, many years previous, she creates a beautiful piece focused on a market square back from their home world. It's accepted by the cave, as well as everyone else's pieces, but when they try to gain entry, all of them are blocked. That night, however, everyone scouring their brains for how to gain access, Magnus manages to get into the cave. As it turns out, what is inside is not the Light of Creation at all, but beings which will eventually be known as Voidfish- jellyfish-like creatures seemingly full of galaxies, that is the actual cause of the information disappearing or broadcasting to the world. One of these beings, a child, took a liking to Magnus' art (a carved wooden duck) and allowed him to enter- as long as he would keep bringing back some choice ducks for it. After the first night, Magnus brings Lucretia to the cave to study these beings, and in a fluke, she gets splashed with some of the water from the pools they reside in, accidentally drinking it. It would be many years forward until she realized the significance of this action, however- if you drink the Voidfish's ichor, you remember everything that they erased. If someone who is inoculated speaks or tries to mention information that has been erased, all others will hear is static.
This, unfortunately, will become increasingly relevant later.
When the Hunger descends on this cycle, it's a few days early. In the group's haste, they almost don't make it out, but they do- Lucretia and Magnus manage to get back to the cave and escape with one of the voidfish, the baby that took a shine to him and let Magnus in the cave in the first place. He names it Fisher, and it stays with their mission for the remainder of their journey. Lucretia keeps it in her room, in a large glass tank, for space reasons.
This, again, will be very important later on.
It's many cycles until something serious happens again, in cycle 65. For most of the crew, cycle 65 is incredibly short- upon entry to the plane, the Starblaster is shot down, the crew captured, and after a brief (and very skewed) trial, turned to stone. Lucretia, however, has a different story. When the ship goes down, she remains uncaptured, left behind with Fisher in the wreckage, alone.
In the end, this year is her toughest by far. With all her companions dead, Lucretia spends this year knowing (as she said back in cycle 17), if she dies, so does everything- the Hunger wins, the universe comes to an end, and the story stops, forever. She ends up relentlessly pursued this entire cycle- first, by the government who kidnapped and killed her friends. Second, by a crew of marauders from outlying villages attempting to steal the ship. Before this, there had been cycles where one or two people had died, and in one particularly memorable instance, half their number. But never before had anyone had to do an entire cycle alone. When the year ends, Lucretia piloting the ship to safety and everyone reappearing on the deck, all she can do is collapse and cry.
Lucretia is never the same after cycle 65; knowing firsthand the dangers of the world, how close everyone is to being over, and the importance of her own role in this process, she becomes increasingly more active. She never sits back on the ship, waiting for someone to do something interesting again. From here forward, Lucretia becomes the driver of her own story- she knows she has the power to defeat the Hunger, to save her friends, to end all of this. And she knows how she's going to do it.
In cycle 82, Lucretia approaches Merle, asking him to teach her a spell called Shield of Faith. She's rather reclusive with this plan, but he does, and she spends the rest of this year perfecting and morphing it into something much, much more powerful. From it's initial form, she changes and develops the spell into something all her own- a completely opaque bubble. Her specialization becomes Abjuration magic, the magic of shields, of protection. She is going to save all of her friends. It's ten years before she discusses this plan with her friends- in cycle 92, the team finds their way to a world of artificing, the art of putting magic into objects. Barry and Lup have developed a plan to split the Light of Creation into various items, making it so the Light couldn't be tracked down by the Hunger and therefore stopping it's pursuit. However, the Light of Creation has a caveat that it wants to be used, and desired. Therefore, these items would as well, and since they would have to be separated so the Light was kept apart, the crew would have to allow them to be used and not interfere. Ideally, they could then starve the Hunger out. Lucretia strongly disagrees with this, and finally presents her plan- she can use this spell she's created to bubble the entire plane off from the Hunger, closing the plane from the Hunger permanently.
This of course, turns into a fight- everyone argues to Lucretia that her plan would never work, that it would destroy the plane, but the more they argue, the more entrenched Lucretia becomes in her ideas. She knows, from her year alone, that her plans are all she has- that she's good, and capable, and can save everyone. But no one else wants to hear it. She's outvoted unanimously, and Lucretia relents, bitter that no one is even willing to hear her out. She knows she can beat this. She knows she's better than this. But no one will listen.
Finally, in cycle 99, the perfect storm hits and the plan is enacted- the Light is found before the Hunger finds the plane, and everyone creates powerful, magical items based around their magic and experiences. Merle, the Gaia Sash, capable of incredible nature magic. Taako, the Philosopher's Stone, capable of transmuting anything instantaneously. Lup, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, that creates flame so powerful, all that exists after it's use is a massive circle of black glass, big enough to consume an entire town. Barry, the Animus Bell, capable of stealing a person's soul. Davenport, the Oculus, making illusions of the imagination real. Magnus, the Temporal Chalice, a cup that allows the user to travel through time. And finally, Lucretia makes the Bulwark Staff, a spellcasting focus of incredible protection power. They disperse these relics among the population, and the Hunger never arrives. They did it. They've won.
But in the end, what they have created isn't safety.
It's less than a year before the Relic War starts in earnest, the population having claimed these relics and started into immeasurable destruction. While the seven members of the IPRE can hide in the Starblaster, high above the carnage, the things they see in the ensuing months change them forever. There was a difference when the Hunger was ripping apart a world, when they knew that taking the Light was the best they could do. This war, however, was their fault. Was caused by their actions. And still, as time passed, Lucretia didn't let go of her plan. Of knowing that everyone could see this was the wrong choice to have made.
The tipping point comes about a year and a half into this world, 20 months in. One morning, the crew awakens on the Starblaster to find Lup gone- all she's left behind is a simple note, saying 'Back Soon'. Out of everyone watching the relics, Lup had always taken the destruction caused by hers the most personally, the most painfully. Instantly, they know she went to reclaim it, to stop more deaths from her Gauntlet. Except-- she never returns. The crew is torn apart looking for her- Barry and Taako spend countless sleepless nights trying to find her position, follow the battles across the world, and never before have they lost a member of their number permanently.
Lucretia, finally, takes things into her own hands, a decision building nearly fifty years since cycle 65. She spends the ensuing four months in her quarters, with her journals, with every record of the hundred year journey she and her family has taken. It's many months before she can do this, but when she puts it into place, it goes... well, it goes about as she intended.
Lucretia feeds her edited record to the Voidfish, and in an instant, no one in the world remembers anything about the relics, about the mission, about their bonds, except for her. Lucretia, because she drank from the Voidfish's ichor all the way back in cycle 47, remembers every bit of information. But suddenly, her friends don't remember knowing her- don't remember knowing each other. Don't remember the hundred years, the Relics, the Hunger, the people they knew and loved. Certain people are worse off than others- with Lup missing, assumed dead, Lucretia ends up erasing Taako's memory of ever having a sister, trying to spare him from the pain of losing her. Barry, Lup's boyfriend and lover since cycle 47, having gone through a ritual many cycles before to become a Lich, disappears- the Voidfish doesn't work on undead beings, and if he's dead, he doesn't have to forget. In an instant, their family is split. In an instant, Lucretia can begin the work of saving them all. If she can bring the relics back together, she can enact her plan, bubble the plane, and then let everyone remember who they are. They can be a family again, free from consequences. They can be happy. As if none of this ever, ever happened.
First, she takes precautions to make sure that the members of the IPRE that she still knows the location of are safe, and comfortable. She finds Merle a community of beach dwarves, the home he told her he always wanted, a comfortable place by the sea where he can find peace. She brings Magnus to a small town, Raven's Roost, sets him up with an accomplished craftsman where he can hone his craft, the thing that makes him the happiest. Taako, she sets up not in a place, but in a role- with a stagecoach, a supplier, a position, to start his traveling cooking show and be adored by the population at large. Barry went missing, Lucretia unaware that he begged to die when he realized his memories of Lup were being erased, and she knows she'd have to protect against him, to stop him from disrupting her plan. Lup, of course, she looked for when she could- but eventually, she was assumed dead. There was nothing Lucretia could do for her now.
Davenport, however, was different. Everyone else had memories to fall back on, lives before the IPRE, identities that were their own outside of the 100 year mission. But for Davenport, the mission was his life- with the removal of his memories, all he could remember was his own name. She kept him with her, wanting to ensure his safety. She would protect him herself, and in no time, she was sure, she could bring them together again. Finally, she keeps Fisher close, the key to her plan, making sure the others could eventually drink from it's ichor and remember themselves.
Her initial plan was that she could recover the Relics on her own in very little time- in the end, it took more than 10 years. For the first seven years of her journey, the only thing she was able to recover was her own relic, the Bulwark Staff. In her search for the other relics, she finally finds her way to another- the Animas Bell has fallen into the hands of two people who have built a place called Wonderland, deep in the Felicity Wilds. If you win the challenges of Wonderland, you can claim your heart's desire- for her, this is the second Grand Relic. She hires a sorcerer by the name of Cam to go in with her, to get through whatever's inside. Unfortunately for her, Wonderland is a torture dungeon, run by liches Edward and Lydia with the purpose of extracting suffering through sacrifice. No one reaches the end goal of Wonderland- they die, give up so much of themselves they no longer exist, or the lich team steals their souls using the Animas Bell. Lucretia comes incredibly close to dying here- she bets 20 years of her life on a chess game and loses, the first time she's really aged since the cycles, now suddenly nearly 60 years old. Eventually, Cam sacrifices himself so she can escape, but she realizes she can't do this alone, or she'll certainly be killed. And once again, if she dies here, the universe comes to an end. The story ends with her.
Finally, in her quest for help, Lucretia creates the Bureau of Balance, an organization dedicated to reclaiming the relics. She contacts a team of scientists, the Millers, giving them technological knowledge from other planes to help her build a floating base that travels in front of the moon, hidden but ever-present. She hides the Starblaster inside, inoculates her employees, and sends them out to find the Relics. Unfortunately for her, everyone fails- the pull of the Relics is too strong, and every single Reclaimer that she sends to collect them falls prey to their use and is killed. At this point, it had been nearly 10 years of crushing loneliness, of failure after failure, of literally losing 20 years of herself for nothing more than the staff in her hands. Even with Davenport still by her side, and Fisher still alive, this wasn't a comfort. She was continuing to bring pain and hurt to this world- people were dying because of her choices, and she was stuck on what to do.
Finally, she acquires a solution- Fisher has a child, creating a second Voidfish. Suddenly, she knew what she could do. The only people who were immune to the Relics' pull was the people who made them, but she couldn't inoculate the other IPRE members without letting them know everything. So she feeds another record of the mission, of everything, to the baby Voidfish, and keeps it secret in her quarters. Finally, she reaches out to bring together Magnus, Merle, and Taako- the remaining members of the IPRE she can find.
Unfortunately, the lives she has built for them was not the state she found them in. Taako was no longer doing his show; Magnus gone from Raven's Roost after the entire place destroyed; Merle away on the road after a messy divorce. She sets them up to take a mission that puts them in the path of one of the relics, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, and despite the entire town of Phandalin going up in flames, they manage to retrieve it with the help of one of her Regulators, an orc woman named Killian. Now, ironically, comes the hardest part of her journey- keeping herself distant from them, when they're right in front of her. It breaks her heart to lie to them, to pretend not to know them, and hurts worse when they don't remember each other. In the end, they agree to become Reclaimers, and she innoculates them with the first Voidfish- so they remember the relics, and the war, but not who made them, and not each other. She tells them a lie about the Relic's creation, that they were made by powerful wizards known as the Red Robes (after the IPRE's bright red uniforms), and that they were not to be trusted. Finally, she tasks them with getting these relics back, telling them they'll be destroyed upon retrieval but in reality absorbing their power into her staff, reforming the Light of Creation, and getting ready to defeat the Hunger.
The following year, her plan finally sets into motion. Her Seekers pick up knowledge about where the relics are housed, and the boys go in each time, her watching in anticipation and afraid for their safety. Their second relic is handled quickly- the Oculus is returned after a rather incredible (and literal) train wreck, and as midsummer comes, Lucretia finds herself in possession of 3 of the 7 pieces of the Light. Unfortunately, during the Midsummer Festival, the Hunger finally tracks them down, manifesting as bright, burning eyes covering the sky. Suddenly, Lucretia knows she has a time limit, and they're down to their final year.
The next six months pass quickly, the boys regaining the third relic, the Gaia Sash, from a criminal known as the Raven in a race-to-the-finish Battlewagon blitz. However, when they return, the boys report coming into contact with a red robed specter who seemed to know them- immediately, she knows Barry has found them and her mission, and makes them swear never to speak to this Red Robe again. In the ensuing time before the end of the calendar year, Barry possesses another member of the Bureau, the boy's roommate (named Robbie, aka "Pringles"), and breaks into Lucretia's office to find the second Voidfish, realizing why the boys don't remember him but can still know the relics. She institutes a ward around the moonbase against the lich, and continues to worry, knowing she doesn't have long to finish her plan and protect the world.
Unfortunately, when the next relic is found, it's closer to home than she'd like. One of the scientists she instituted to help build and sustain the moonbase, Lucas Miller, has found the Philosopher's Stone and turned his floating lab into pink tourmaline, which, once it hits the surface of the world, will encase it and kill the plane. She sends in the boys, afraid this will be their end, but they reclaim the stone- even if Magnus eats it, and she swears she'll drop over just from that fact. The Red Robe appears again, and Lucretia once more warns the boys not to speak to them, telling them the gravity of these relic's destruction and the death toll of this war in an impassioned speech. She knows they don't remember this being their fault, but every one of these losses feels personal, and they swear not to speak to the Red Robe again.
This relic, however, is more significant- in a heated debate, Lucas uses her name. Up to this point, the boys only knew Lucretia as Madam Director, her knowing that she needed to keep herself separate from him. From this point, however, she can't hold back the affection for them. When Merle comes back from the crystal lab minus half his arm (and plus a sick wooden one), she takes him up on his offer for a spa day, and finally begins letting them get to know her, despite herself. She knows letting them know her, and letting her close to them again will only hurt more, but in her desperate loneliness, she can't help but stay close to her family. She accepts Taako's gifts of macarons, she laughs with Magnus' jokes, she loves them in a way she can't ever fully describe. The most telling instance of this, of the person she's become, comes during this conversation with Merle, now nearly 12 years since entering this plane.
With the new year, comes new relics- the boys find and acquire the Temporal Chalice from a town trapped in time called Refuge, though when she asks if anything has gone wrong, they lie to her- in reality, the boys saw the Red Robe again, Barry nearly crying out towards them to get them to remember. Worst of all, Taako managed to find Lup's staff early on with her Relic, and the reminders to her and Barry that Lup is gone tears them apart quietly, away from each other. Finally, however, comes the problem- once the Chalice is acquired, Lucretia knows there's only one Relic left- the Animus Bell, still trapped in Wonderland. But if Wonderland felled her, nearly killed her, took twenty years of her life- what would it do to them? What would she sacrifice, to save the world?
In the end, she trains them harder than they ever have, still not telling them the horrors they'll face. She doesn't send them to Wonderland until two days before the next midsummer- as much time as she can keep them safe, and whole, as possible. She's sick to her stomach when she has to let them go, fearful that they'll fail where she did. And apparently, she was right- the next day, when they return to the base, only Taako and Merle come back, relic in tow with only a living mannequin for their third. Magnus, they say, is dead. Wonderland killed him.
Lucretia is devastated as she takes the relic; another person she couldn't save. Another thing she lost to this. But she has no time to grieve, no time to wait, because she knows the Hunger is coming today, and she must put her plan in motion. She lets Taako and Merle wait in her office as she makes some preparations to absorb the Animus Bell and use the Light's power to bubble the plane once and for all. Unfortunately, Taako and Merle had been lying to her still- unbeknownst to her, Barry had managed to convince them not to trust her, and bring him- in a new body, now subject to the Voidfish's influence- secretly inside. While she waits, they break into her office, find the second Voidfish, and innoculate themselves (along with Davenport), suddenly remembering every detail of what she's taken from them.
Guards surge in to catch them, Barry now having revealed himself, and bring them to her, where she stays channeling the last of the Light into the Bulwark Staff. Finally, she has to explain- what she did, how she needed to save them, how she was going to stop the Hunger once and for all. But the Hunger's assault had already began- the black, deadly force was already assaulting the moonbase. Lucretia, however, pushes stubbornly forward, insisting she can do this, she can stop it, she can save them, despite everyone's pleas that her plan would fail- that cutting off the plane would stop it's bonds to the universe, and kill them all.
Finally, she finds out about one more lie- Magnus, in Wonderland, had his body stolen through use of the Bell, and his soul was actually within the mannequin they brought back. Through use of a cloning tank, he was able to regain his body, and bursts through the doors to her office just as she explains what's happened, the Hunger behind him, bringing the apocalypse one more time.
But unfortunately, she doesn't get the chance to finish her defense; because she's pulled away, this time to a new Wonderland, and not one that's so easy to leave.
Abilities/Special Powers: This is gonna get long bear with me. For reference, since The Adventure Zone is a Dungeons and Dragons podcast (specifically the 5e edition), a more comprehensive detail of how magic works in the universe can be found in the player's handbook, specifically under the "wizard" section (page 106, 108 for her school of magic, Abjuration, and the "spellcasting" chapter for general spell rules (page 183).
While Lucretia's abilities are a little more vague as an NPC, but we know she's classed as a wizard and likely an abjuration specialist. Basically, wizards are prepared spellcasters, so they can learn anything as long as it is within the wizard spell list and their school of magic. They are allowed to have a certain number of spells they can prepare each day, dictated by level, along with a certain number they can cast each day of each level (as dictated by "spell slots"). Certain spells can be cast at higher levels for additional power, but no higher level spells can be cast in a lower level slot. These slots are regained after a long rest (about 6 hours) or more generally once per day. In the show, they often play fast and loose with these rules, but I will do my best not to make her too OP. At her point in the canon, the rest of her team is at level 16, but she's gotten a few legs up on them due to not losing her memories, so I imagine she's closer to level 17 at this point. This means that she has 5 cantrips (freebie, weak spells), 4 first level spells, 3 second level, 3 third level, 3 fourth level, 2 fifth level, and 1 each of 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th level slots.
It should be known that, while powerful, most D&D spells are incredibly short lived (1 minute for most) and do not always succeed; for roleplaying purposes, should Lucretia ever cast a spell on another played character, I will reach out to that person regarding how that scene would take place and if the spell would be effective. It's also important to note that most wizards don't have a ton of HP, and while Lucretia isn't weak, she certainly doesn't have over 75 hp (for reference, fighters at this point are edging double that, and high level spells can do 50-60 damage in a single shot easily). She's also older and damn if that won't hurt her dex score.
Other than her magic, Lucretia has been shown to be an incredible artist, painting and sketching her way for over 100 years of their journey. She's also ambidextrous, and can write in two journals at the same time with different hands. It's fuckin' impressive.
Third-Person Sample:
She wakes up, and for a moment, she thinks she's dreaming.
It wouldn't be an unfamiliar dream; a clearing just outside of the tree line, the break in the forest leading to a tall tower, bigger inside then it was out. Billboards advertising the thing you want most, and making you think you would give anything to get it, and it’s so close, just a reach away. For a moment, Lucretia thinks she's back there in the Felicity Wilds, ready to do it all over again, to try and fail and betray and escape, and nausea overtakes her in a dream more real than she’s ever experienced.
But this... isn't the same. As she pulls herself to her feet at the edge of the forest, the ocean and mansion in the distance jar her out of her memories, concentrating on the feeling of her (already aged) hands on her staff, the inconsistencies of the event bringing her to her senses. This isn't Wonderland. She's somewhere else. But where, of course, is the question.
Lucretia squints as she tilts her head towards the sky, searching it for signs of the Hunger as a single sun beats down. When she seems satisfied with the lack of its presence, she tucks her staff into the crook of her arm to reach for a journal in the pocket of her deep blue robes. In a moment, she’s flipped to a new page, retrieving the quill sandwiched in the front cover.
Day ???, Location: Unknown
I appear to have been transported to a new location; it’s almost as if the cycles have restarted, except I once again find myself alone. This new place seems eerily familiar, as if I have returned to the Felicity Wilds of years ago, but this cannot be Wonderland again. Perhaps, a badly imagined copy from my memories. If the Hunger has come, as I feared it would, this could be some illusion designed to trap us until it can finish its work and find the Light. Until then, I keep my staff close, and my wits about me.
Carefully, she places the journal back in her robes, tension in her hands still evident as they find her staff, gripping almost too tight as she begins her movement towards the mansion on the horizon. If she’s lucky, there will be answers- and maybe an end to this, once and for all.
First-Person Sample:
[When the camera turns on, it's focused on an older woman, easily in her late 50's, with short, white curled hair. Her deep blue robes and ornate staff, coupled with her rather serious expression, make her a rather imposing figure. She's holding a blue and silver bound journal, which she seems to be scribbling fervently in until she notices the device is on, and she re-steadies it quickly to give her message.]
I would like to request an audience with whoever seems to have summoned me to their, uhm... lovely home. I understand that there are many who require my attention, but my situation is rather urgent, and I can't spare any time at the moment.
[As the message goes on, she seems increasingly tense, gripping harder to her staff and seemingly obviously distracted.]
Provided this is broadcasting to more than one person, any help would be appreciated.
[Quickly, she reaches out, fumbling with a few buttons before the feed cuts.]