Captain Maren Ashford

Race: Human female, 40s

Personality: Practical, protective, increasingly exhausted

Twenty years keeping the peace in a mining town didn't prepare her for this. She's losing guards to the mines and losing sleep to the reports. Will hire capable adventurers - she's desperate enough to trust outsiders.

"I don't need heroes. I need people who can go into that darkness and come back with answers."

Foreman Grist Holloway

Race: Dwarf male, 130s

Personality: Nervous, evasive, guilt-ridden

He knows exactly when this started - when his miners broke through into that smooth-walled chamber. He saw what was inside before he sealed it. He hasn't slept properly since, and he knows the seal won't hold forever.

"We should never have dug so deep. Some things are buried for a reason."

Mayor Edric Stonebridge

Race: Human male, 50s

Personality: Pragmatic, worried about economics, in denial

More concerned about the mine closure's impact on the town's economy than the actual threat. Wants this handled quietly before word reaches Castellan and the nobles start asking questions. May obstruct investigation if it threatens stability.

"The mine WILL reopen. We just need to deal with this... pest problem."

Talia Mercer

Race: Human female, 17

Personality: (Before) Curious, brave, too clever for her own good

The Foreman's assistant who was cataloging finds from the deep tunnels. She went back to retrieve her notes when the blight emerged. She's alive somewhere in the Labyrinth - she has to be. But what has she seen? What has she become?

Her journal was found near the mine entrance: "The walls remember. I can almost hear what they're trying to say."

Brother Aldric Venn

Race: Human male, 60s

Personality: Devout, concerned, secretly fascinated

The local priest who tends to the spiritual needs of miners. He's been performing more funerals lately, and the nightmares his flock reports disturb him deeply. He's begun researching old texts about "sleeping gods" and doesn't like what he's finding.

"I pray every night. Lately, I'm not sure anything is listening. Or perhaps too much is."

Della Ironbrew

Race: Dwarf female, 180s

Personality: Motherly, sharp-eared, secretly tough as nails

Runs the Fallen Stone Inn, the best (only decent) establishment in town. Knows everyone's business, serves as an informal information hub. Has a crossbow under the bar and knows how to use it. Survived worse than this in her youth.

"Sit down, eat something, then tell me what you've really seen. I've heard stories that would curl your hair."

Captain Kaelen Vance

Race: Human male, 30s

Personality: Charming, adventurous, owes too many favors

Captain of the Windchaser, a fast courier ship. Well-connected across all strata, always knows the latest rumors. Currently grounded in the Hub due to "a misunderstanding" with the Consortium leadership. Might be convinced to fly again for the right cause (or price).

"The winds have been strange lately. Shifting in patterns I've never seen. Something's changing up here."

The Muted Oracle

Race: Unknown (appears elderly, androgynous)

Personality: Patient, cryptic, burdened by knowledge

Dwelling in enforced silence at the highest reaches. Communicates through gesture and writing. May hold prophecies about the Dreamer's cycles. Some say they've lived through previous awakenings. Reaching them is a quest in itself.

(Written) "I remember the last time it stirred. The world survived. Most of it."

Nessa the Evergreen

Race: Wood elf female, age unknown (centuries)

Personality: Serene, speaks in nature metaphors, fiercely protective

The ancient druid for whom the Grove is named. She's felt the disturbance in the earth's dreams and is deeply troubled. The Green Dream she serves is being disrupted by something deeper, older. She may seek allies among surface-dwellers for the first time in generations.

"The roots whisper of something beneath even them. The earth is dreaming, and its dreams are changing."

Magister Corwin Drake

Race: Human male, 50s

Personality: Brilliant, obsessive, ethically flexible

A professor at Crestfall Academy who's dedicated his career to studying the "First Works" and ancient cycles. He believes the current events are part of a repeating pattern. He's right, but his methods of investigation are increasingly questionable.

"Every thousand years, give or take. The records are fragmentary, but the pattern is clear. We're overdue."

Warden Kira Duskmantle

Race: Half-orc female, 30s

Personality: Grim, duty-bound, haunted by what she's seen

Commands the Stoneheart chapterhouse at Lastlight. She's led more expeditions into the Deeps than anyone alive. She's seen the Blight before - isolated outbreaks that the Order quietly handled. This time feels different. Bigger.

"We've been fighting this war in the shadows for centuries. The shadows are getting deeper."

Governor-Regent Elias Thornwood

Race: Human male, 60s

Personality: Cautious, diplomatic, burdened by responsibility

The twelfth generation of Thornwoods to govern the Lowlands. Elias has spent his life balancing the interests of miners, merchants, and the nobles above. The current crisis threatens everything his family built - and he's receiving conflicting pressure from Aeria to suppress information and from his own people demanding action.

"I govern sixteen thousand souls who trust me to keep them safe. Tell me how to do that when the ground itself turns hostile."

Magistrate Seren Blackwood

Race: Half-elf female, 90s

Personality: Analytical, incorruptible, quietly fascinated

Chief justice of the Grand Tribunal, responsible for law across Terra-Firma. Her court has recently seen cases involving Blight exposure, cultist activity, and disputes over contaminated claims. She's begun collecting testimonies that paint a disturbing pattern - and has quietly reached out to Seeker contacts.

"The law requires evidence. I now have evidence of something the law was never written to address."

Archivist Mira Thornwood

Race: Human female, 30s

Personality: Curious, rebellious, haunted by dreams

The Governor's youngest daughter, who rejected politics for scholarship. She maintains the Thornwood Archives - family records going back twelve generations. Recently, she's been finding references to previous "quiet times" followed by disasters. She's also been having dreams that match reports from Bastion's Fall.

"My ancestors wrote about this. They called it 'the stirring.' They survived it. Their notes on how are... missing."

Marshal-Commander Vera Ironshield

Race: Dwarf female, 180s

Personality: Uncompromising, tactical, secretly terrified

Commands the Ironwatch garrison and controls all access to the Deeps through the Gate. She's seen Blight outbreaks contained before - but the quarantine protocols are failing more often now. She's requested reinforcements from Castellan three times. Each request has been denied or delayed.

"We are the door between the darkness and everyone you love. We do not open. We do not bend. We do not fail."

Sister Evangeline Cross

Race: Human female, 40s

Personality: Compassionate, resolute, privately doubting

Senior chaplain of Deepgate, responsible for the spiritual welfare of soldiers who regularly face horrors. She performs blessings, last rites, and increasingly, cleansing rituals. Her prayers still work - but she's noticed they require more effort now. Something is interfering.

"Faith is not the absence of fear. Faith is standing at the gate anyway. But I fear what's coming tests even that."

Sergeant Kael "Scar" Dunrath

Race: Half-orc male, 35

Personality: Laconic, fearless, deeply loyal

Leads the Ironwatch's most experienced Deep patrol unit. He's survived seventeen expeditions into Stratum I - more than anyone else on active duty. The scars aren't just on his face. He's seen things in the deep tunnels recently that match no known creature in the bestiaries.

"You want to know what's down there? Nothing that wants to be found. And lately, things that want to find us."

Whisper (True name unknown)

Race: Changeling, appears as needed

Sells information, no questions asked. Has contacts in every stratum. Currently very interested in reports from Bastion's Fall - will pay well for firsthand accounts. May have their own agenda regarding the awakening.

Brennan Cole the Younger

Race: Human male, 25

Son of the Forgemaster, but more interested in adventure than anvils. Skilled smith who makes "special orders" for those who need unconventional equipment. Dreams of exploring the Deeps. May join the party if given the chance.

Scribe Penelope Inkwell

Race: Gnome female, 90s

Maintains the Lamplighters Guild records. Has access to maps and journals from centuries of expeditions between strata. Knows paths and passages that aren't on any public map. Will help those who respect the Guild's work.

Thane Durgon Brightaxe

Race: Dwarf male, 250s

Leader of Glimmerhold, the most stable settlement in the Deeps. His people have sealed doors they won't discuss - doors to places that existed before the dwarves arrived. He may share what he knows if the threat grows dire enough.

The Inkkeeper (Vera Quill)

Race: Human female, 50s (appears older, moves younger)

Personality: Patient, methodical, fiercely protective of her agents

The founder and secret leader of the Quiet Ledger. Publicly, Vera Quill is an unremarkable senior scribe in the Thornwood Archives - the kind of person whose face you forget after meeting. Privately, she coordinates the largest intelligence network in Terra-Firma. She started the Ledger fifteen years ago when the Deniers first began silencing witnesses.

"Every lie the Deniers tell creates a crack. We document everything until the weight of truth becomes undeniable."

Cassius "Candle" Brightmore

Race: Half-elf male, 70s (appears 30s)

Personality: Charming, reckless, haunted by what he's witnessed

The Quiet Ledger's most active field agent, known internally as "Candle" because he's often the first light in dark places. Cassius has infiltrated Crystalline Brotherhood gatherings, survived three Blight zones, and interviewed dozens of witnesses marked for silencing. He's gathered more firsthand evidence than anyone alive.

"The cover-up isn't protecting anyone - it's just giving the Dreamer more time to wake up while we argue about whether it exists."

Factor Helene Marsh

Race: Human female, 40s

Personality: Calculating, observant, motivated by loss

A senior factor for the River Traders Compact who uses her position to track suspicious shipments. Her brother was a miner at Bastion's Fall who went missing in the early outbreak; the official story blamed a "tunnel collapse." She knows better. Now she feeds intelligence to the Quiet Ledger.

"They said my brother died in an accident. Then why did they cremate the body before anyone could see it?"

"Moth"

Race: Halfling, gender ambiguous, age unknown

Personality: Skittish, observant, surprisingly brave when it counts

A mysterious figure who serves as the Quiet Ledger's primary courier between cells. No one knows Moth's real name or origin - they simply appeared one day with crucial intelligence and never left. They have an uncanny ability to pass unnoticed and remember complex messages perfectly.

"Don't look at me too long. Don't remember my face. I'm just the message. Focus on the message."