Character

Cassius Varum

CanonOfficial lore from the booksSSGp. 12 ▶ Actual play

Cassius Varum is the mage in the service of Jasper, master of the town of Osterhn, in the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign. He described himself as the last to join Jasper's squad and a hired mage, paid by the day with all his expenses and extra for every fight, and said that he had to pay his dues to the Archon.¹

Character

When he came to the table of Sarah Lia Galanodel and Kemp Corvus at the Golden Ladle, he asked for boiled vegetables, since eating meat upset his stomach and made his spellcasting harder, and said he did not enjoy hunting. Sarah flirted with him about reading books on horseback, and he took up the subject eagerly; when she held his hand to her brow he could not let go for a moment, and left for the castle embarrassed.²³⁴

He told them that the squad had once been called the Ravus Raiders: defending a village named Ravus against an orc attack they lost half their men, and afterwards came to settle in Osterhn. He thought Jasper's taking of hostages unwise and had advised searching the town instead, but Jasper would not listen; he believed the farmers were hiding the killers but admitted it was an assumption.⁵⁶

The goblin war

Watching from a distance, the companions saw Cassius come out of a meeting in a watchtower with goblins, tense and shouting at those around him, and one goblin took a scroll from him. They wondered whether his high pay meant he served Jasper in some special way. The scroll was later found in the goblins' camp at Diştepe: a letter in Jasper's name to the Yellow Eye chief Borgar about the arrangement between them.⁷⁸⁹¹⁰

He stood with Jasper when Kemp and Sarah were bought back from the goblins, and showed the companions a body found in the Market Quarter, kept in a large chest at a lookout post. When the counterattack was planned, he told Sarah that the war would drag on into reprisal after reprisal and that he could earn his living elsewhere with his skills; at her plea he agreed to stay only for the raid on the goblin outposts, where he and Kerbor were to take one post together. By the time Kerbor was captured, Cassius had already gone.¹¹¹²¹³¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

Mages and the Archon

Cassius explained that to stay independent of the Archon a mage pays according to rank and power, and that he himself paid a large sum every year and reduced his debt by doing work for the school. By the imperial rule, mages who wish to remain independent after graduation must pay a magical tax to the Empire.¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹

Spoiler: Later eventsSpoils: Sürgün Günlükleri #15; Sürgün Günlükleri #16 · Say what you have read

After Jasper fled, men of the caravan leader Lars persuaded Cassius, without force, to return, and he met Kemp and Ephorus at the Golden Ladle wearing no sash or mark of the squad. He said he had left to keep out of the war. He revealed that he and Alistar had been lovers and asked for Alistar's body so as to bury it in holy ground before it could be burned; he believed Alistar had been executed in his bed, and they did not correct him. The temple's priestess handed the body over.²⁰²¹²²²³

In return he told them where Jasper was hiding, which he had learned while scouting at a supply delivery; the supplies were brought by different people so that no one would know the place. He drew a sketch of one of the old iron mines eight or nine hours to the north, its entrance hidden by a great willow, mines he said had been worked out in the time of Emperor Konrad. A short corridor to the left led to an open chamber, guarded by a lasting alarm that he had made himself and that would sound for strangers. For a fee he agreed to remove the alarm, but would not be present where his old employer was killed. He also identified for them, for a fee, a ring, a scroll and a cloak, but did not know where the doctor Benedict Von Barrington had gone.²⁴²⁵²⁶²⁷

He went first to bury Alistar in the blessed graveyard of Yeşiltepe, a village of ten or fifteen houses at a fork in the road north. When the companions found him in a small alehouse there, he had buried Alistar but had been taken for a grave robber, and a badly drawn wanted notice was out for him, so he meant to keep away for a while.²⁸²⁹

In his place he sent Katherine, a younger schoolmate from the Archon who did not know the spell herself; he gave her a scroll to undo the alarm, took as his payment the scroll he had identified for the companions, which held Magic Missile, and gave her some gold of his own before leaving. Katherine read his scroll at the mine, and the alarm faded as the scroll burned away. Cassius also sent, without charge, Kemp's written message to his family's mage, and the reply later came back through Katherine.¹⁸³⁰³¹³²³³

Spoiler: The fight for the soulsSpoils: Sürgün Günlükleri #26; Sürgün Günlükleri #27 · Say what you have read

Notes

↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:47:09
↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:39:28
↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:41:43
↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:49:19
↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:45:44
↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:46:34
↑At the tableHassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 4:12:51
↑At the tableOsthern Kırsalı | DnD 5E Oynanış #5 (Sürgün Günlükleri #5), 32:15
↑At the tableOsthern Kırsalı | DnD 5E Oynanış #5 (Sürgün Günlükleri #5), 3:06:44
↑At the tableOsthern Kırsalı | DnD 5E Oynanış #5 (Sürgün Günlükleri #5), 3:23:20
↑At the tableEsaretin Bedeli | DnD 5E Oynanış #7 (Sürgün Günlükleri #7), 2:08:48
↑At the tableEsaretin Bedeli | DnD 5E Oynanış #7 (Sürgün Günlükleri #7), 3:01:33
↑At the tableKarşı Saldırı | DnD 5E Oynanış #8 (Sürgün Günlükleri #8), 42:28
↑At the tableKarşı Saldırı | DnD 5E Oynanış #8 (Sürgün Günlükleri #8), 43:54
↑At the tableKarşı Saldırı | DnD 5E Oynanış #8 (Sürgün Günlükleri #8), 59:31
↑At the tableBedel | DnD 5E Oynanış #10 (Sürgün Günlükleri #10), 1:28:34
↑At the tableOsthern Kırsalı | DnD 5E Oynanış #5 (Sürgün Günlükleri #5), 34:41
↑At the tableElveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 57:28
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 12
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:06:07
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:10:37
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:16:29
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:28:08
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:35:48
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:37:41
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:39:02
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:21:58
↑At the tableBazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:41:35
↑At the tableElveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 53:35
↑At the tableElveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 1:06:19
↑At the tableElveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 1:33:55
↑At the tableElveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 59:55
↑At the tableElveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 2:46:49
↑At the tableSis ve Perde | DnD 5E Oynanış #26 (Sürgün Günlükleri #26), 3:29:41
↑At the tableSis ve Perde | DnD 5E Oynanış #26 (Sürgün Günlükleri #26), 3:37:24
↑At the tableKan | DnD 5E Oynanış #27 (Sürgün Günlükleri #27), 2:09:01
↑At the tableKan | DnD 5E Oynanış #27 (Sürgün Günlükleri #27), 2:19:41

Sources

This article draws on:

Books

SSGLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide(Bad Badger Games, 2024), p. 12

▶ Actual play

Hassas Denge | DnD 5E Oynanış #4 (Sürgün Günlükleri #4), 1:39:28, 1:41:43, 1:45:44, 1:46:34, 1:47:09, 1:49:19, 4:12:51
Osthern Kırsalı | DnD 5E Oynanış #5 (Sürgün Günlükleri #5), 32:15, 34:41, 3:06:44, 3:23:20
Esaretin Bedeli | DnD 5E Oynanış #7 (Sürgün Günlükleri #7), 2:08:48, 3:01:33
Karşı Saldırı | DnD 5E Oynanış #8 (Sürgün Günlükleri #8), 42:28, 43:54, 59:31
Bedel | DnD 5E Oynanış #10 (Sürgün Günlükleri #10), 1:28:34
Bazı Şeylerin Sonu | DnD 5E Oynanış #15 (Sürgün Günlükleri #15), 3:06:07, 3:10:37, 3:16:29, 3:21:58, 3:28:08, 3:35:48, 3:37:41, 3:39:02, 3:41:35
Elveda Osthern | DnD 5E Oynanış #16 (Sürgün Günlükleri #16), 53:35, 57:28, 59:55, 1:06:19, 1:33:55, 2:46:49
Sis ve Perde | DnD 5E Oynanış #26 (Sürgün Günlükleri #26), 3:29:41, 3:37:24
Kan | DnD 5E Oynanış #27 (Sürgün Günlükleri #27), 2:09:01, 2:19:41

PlaceOsterhnThe small river town where the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign begins, a refuge in the south-east for those fleeing their lives, with an old castle above it, three quarters divided by the Foam River and a long-empty tax office.PlaceAbandoned tax office of OsterhnThe tax office of the Harbour Quarter of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, empty for some twenty years, which served in turn as a goblin spy's lair, a cell for a goblin prisoner and a hiding place for the innkeeper Exalon.CharacterBenedict Von BarringtonThe only doctor of the town of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, a well-dressed, white-haired man of the Market Quarter whose remedies were effective but costly and whose locked cellar kept its own secrets.CharacterGnome tailor of OsterhnA young, lively gnome tailor and cloth merchant of the Market Quarter of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, who made the town's finest clothes, paid taxes late or in kind, and spoke out against slavery.CharacterPriestess of OsterhnA priestess of the temple of Amarath in the town of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, who prayed for mercy for hostages, tended the weak and the condemned alike, and in whose hands the light of a god's gift could be seen.PlaceTemple of Amarath in OsterhnThe temple of the god Amarath in the town of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, a marble-columned house of stone and wood below the castle hill whose door stands open day and night and whose priests give quiet help to the poor.

ArtifactHellfire cannonThe great magical cannons of the Empire as they appear in the Sürgün Günlükleri and Mürekkep ve Çelik campaigns, where the palace's chief engineer claims their design and a new cannon, Gloria, is unveiled outside Gromkar.

DeityVolkanThe god of artisans, the Hammerhand, First Blacksmith and Shaper of Stones, who taught mortals smithing, forged the weapons of the gods and is held by the dwarves to have shaped them from stone.CharacterAdeline PorvisThe armoured only daughter of Baron Vermont Porvis in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, raised like a knight, whose absence from home Kemp Corvus's company looks into while a rebellion spreads through the Porvis country.CharacterAlistarA one-eyed officer of Jasper's armed squad in the town of Osterhn in the Sürgün Günlükleri campaign, the keeper and trainer of the squad's war hounds and, by Exalon's account, a veteran of the drow wars.