Seekers of Ardis Vala

The Seekers of Ardis Vala are the central adventuring group of the Vala cycle: first in the Ardis Vala Mega-Dungeon, then, after the Fifteen-Year Hiatus, in Valakhan of the Mist. Mixed in race, class and temperament, they are bound by being unable to leave the valley.


Type	Faction (adventuring group)
Authority	Pope Alexander VI
Houses of the Cycle	⛓ House of the Band · ☷ House of the Descent · ◑ House of the One Kept in Store
Spanish entry	Los Buscadores de Ardis Vala

Members

Caladan — Noviriano Wonderwalker vampirized by Malakita; involuntary lord of the domain where the group operates.
Bayrum Quar’amon Cristalia — part drow, scribe, official of the Sortian archives; carries Argus’s shield and axe.
Alumine Manwe Finwe — elf sword-singer, “the Miraculous”; beheaded Malakita in the hyperbaric chamber of the tenth sublevel.
Valerius Utrecht — paladin/inquisitor of the Scar of the Sun; carries the companion sword of Ardipithecus, obtained by pact with Labresu. Incipient white fever.
Sixto — intermittent human warrior, namesake of the noble who became the Pope.
Melvino Calvino — technological penguinoid, interface with rudishva intelligences.
Numa Pompilius — first druid turned vampire; died in the Temple of Thoth during the Hiatus.
Decio Balmora — Ranger of Valdemora, former Lord of the Sunless Citadel, widower of Lali; joined on the return as guide.
Argus — Baron of Ritornello; a tutelary presence close to the Pope, not an active member.

First cycle: descent from the surface to the deep sublevels; Malakita beheaded; the Order of the Scar of the Sun taken.
Return: mist closed the valley, villages suffered white fever, Ritornello was razed, Caladan was a darklord, and the Palace of the Prism belonged to the Pope. The group fell into the Palace and has been “on the Pope’s list” since; Arkos was attached to them by his order.
The despoiling: in the octagonal chamber, the Priscians of Nerub Null neutralized their magic with scepters of absorption and confiscated every personal magic item, leaving gold, gems and mundane weapons. This founded the Priscian Monopoly.
March south: the group left for Helix to work the Barrowmaze as an arcane reserve and forge epic weapons against Caladan, converging with the Helix sanctuary group.