# [[Belcorra]] **Belcorra** is an evil sorceress who controlled [[The Gauntlight]] and commanded a network of powerful servants to carry out her dark plans. She was installing [[The Fulcrum Lenses]] — four magical lenses designed to focus some unknown power — when [[The Roseguard]] attacked and disrupted her work. ## Background & Role Belcorra's overarching goal was something "grander" than simple soul harvesting. While her servants worked on individual components, she orchestrated a larger plan involving: - **The Fulcrum Lenses**: Four magical lenses meant to focus an unknown power - **Soul harvesting operations** on a massive scale - **Army creation** through both undead soldiers and flesh warp golems - **Complete control over The Gauntlight** as a supernatural fortress ### Associates and Their Objectives **[[Volluk Azrinae]]** — Chief Apprentice & Soul Harvester - Drow lensmaker and artificer; Belcorra's apprentice and most important lieutenant - Made The Gauntlight "suck souls" through soul gem mechanisms; harvested souls for undead soldiers (preferred dwarves as "easy to turn into soldiers"); maintained all constructs and magical mechanisms - **Status**: Deceased (killed by the party in session 043); was "enamoured with Belcorra" and described as mean, though "she was even worse" **[[Jafaki]]** — Flesh Warp Creator & Army Builder - A [[Sugathi]] (worm-like creature); Belcorra's top servant alongside Volluk - Created flesh warps to build a golem army, repurposed bodies after Volluk harvested their souls, controlled Level 5 operations - **Status**: Unknown (still active); imprisoned [[Chafkem]] and forced his transformation, usurping control of Level 5 **[[Aulr]]** — Demonic liaison (Session 112) - [[Gug]] lieutenant sent to demand progress reports from [[General Urevian]] in The Gauntlight - **Status**: Trapped upstairs by Urevian's orange barrier, cannot return to Belcorra's deeper levels for now; holds one of the pentagram-door metal shards despite being chaotic **[[Siora Fallowglade]]** — Chief Assassin & Enforcer - Elf (now incorporeal shadow); top Red Mantis Assassin, Belcorra's personal enforcer and eliminator of threats - **Status**: Controlled by Belcorra's ghost; now pleads "Kill me fast or flee... If only there was a way to stop her control, I could be free" **[[Lurem]]** — Mage & Arena Overseer - Gnome mage (became ghost) who served Belcorra for centuries, overseeing the Level 5 gladiatorial arena - **Status**: Deceased (killed by the party at his own request after going insane; trapped for 1,000 years) **[[Korlock]]** — Contracted Guardian - [[Barbazu]] fiend bound by contract to serve as jailer, preventing passage through his area "until she returned" - **Status**: Bound by contract (made a deal with the party to find his contract for freedom) **[[Chafkem]]** — Former Level Administrator - Administrator of Level 5 before Jafaki's takeover; now seeks revenge against Jafaki for his imprisonment and transformation - **Status**: Recently freed by the party, potential ally ### Organizational Structure - **Leadership**: Belcorra as supreme commander - **Top Lieutenants**: Volluk (soul operations) and Jafaki (flesh warp army) - **Enforcement**: Siora (assassination and security) - **Support**: Lurem (magical expertise), Chafkem (administration), Korlock (security) - **Infrastructure**: Various constructs, soulbound mechanisms, and magical defenses ## Nature & Powers - **Ghost with possession abilities**: [[Vayle]]'s research revealed Belcorra rose as a ghost; she can possess and control [[Siora Fallowglade]] from a distance, forcing her to fight the party ("I'm going to kill you now. Not because I want to, but because SHE does") — retaining her sorcerer abilities even in ghost form - **Baleful presence**: In her personal appearance at [[The Gauntlight]] (Session 114), her baleful stare struck everyone nearby and inflicted Stupefied, and she cast *Phantasmal Killer* on [[Vayle]], targeting their fear of being outed as undead; [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]]'s Recall Knowledge confirmed she is also a ghost, like Siora - **Lingering influence**: Her name is still invoked by her creatures — a [[Mulventok]] bodyguard shouted "Belcorra" as its final words before exploding (Session 097) — suggesting ongoing loyalty or magical binding even after her apparent death - **The Fulcrum Lenses**: A clone of [[Zarmavdian]] revealed she was installing these as the last part of The Gauntlight when [[The Roseguard]] attacked and interrupted her (Session 077); [[Morlibinth]] later confirmed via [[Vol Rajani|Vol]]'s accounts that three of the four lenses had already been installed before the fourth placement was interrupted (Session 113) - **Nhimbaloth connection**: She was going to "unleash something" that drew [[Nhimbaloth]]'s attention — the deity's gaze upon The Gauntlight during her ritual (stopped by The Roseguard) left lasting corruption, causing permanent death for all living things that die in the affected area; this may be what the Fulcrum Lenses were meant to focus (Session 108) ## History with the Party - **Siora liberated (Session 115)**: [[Vayle]] used the newly-awakened [[Cailean Key]] to counteract Belcorra's hold on the real Siora completely; the shadow duplicates Siora spawns collapsed, and Belcorra lost her most powerful enforcer - **Personal confrontation (Session 114)**: Belcorra appeared in person — gaunt, white-haired, hate-filled — to confront the newly-freed Siora as she tried to leave the party, declaring "If I cannot keep you, I will make your freedom meaningless." During the fight she revealed her family was exiled from [[Absalom]] and showed how much she has bled and killed for The Gauntlight, retook control of Siora briefly, then faded away against her will, warning "She will finish you off anyway. Otherwise, I'll be waiting." - **Sythra reaffirms the plan (Session 125)**: [[Graveknight Armor|Sythra]] refused the party's attempt to argue that [[Jafaki]] doesn't belong on his level, insisting he's still necessary for Belcorra's plan; Sythra also holds that the [[Vordine]] shouldn't be marching on this level, and that Chafkem is not in her purview - **Volluk's silence (Session 126)**: [[Volluk Azrinae|Volluk]] tells the party Belcorra hasn't sent an emissary in weeks and he's hurt she's stopped checking on his work; he's been stuck on the [[The Fulcrum Lenses|Fulcrum Lattice]] project she tasked him with for about a month, unable to make it work without more information from her ## Current Status Following Belcorra's apparent death, her organization has largely collapsed, but her influence persists: - She could once possess and control Siora from beyond death, though Siora has since been freed - Her constructs and magical mechanisms remain active throughout The Gauntlight - Several of her servants are still bound by contracts or curses - The Fulcrum Lenses project remains incomplete but potentially dangerous - Her lieutenants continue acting in her name — Sythra still enforces her plan for Jafaki even now ## Unresolved Threads - What was the Fulcrum Lenses' ultimate purpose, and does it connect to Nhimbaloth's gaze? - Now that Siora is freed and debt-bound to the party, how much of Belcorra's remaining influence can actually reach them? - Will Belcorra herself return, as she warned she would? - Why has she gone silent on Volluk for weeks — is she unable to reach him, or choosing not to? - How loyal are her surviving lieutenants (Sythra, Jafaki) to a plan she may no longer be alive to see through?