Oryn Tallow-Trunk, a Loxodon Blood Hunter — D&D 5e NPC portrait
#0075

Oryn Tallow-Trunk

"The Reliquary of Rusting Thoughts"

Female (She/Her) · Elderly, 380 years

Ability Scores

STR
14
+2
DEX
12
+1
CON
18
+4
INT
16
+3
WIS
10
+0
CHA
8
-1

Combat

Armor Class
16
Natural Armor
Hit Points
114
Hit Dice: 11d10
Initiative
+1
Speed
25 ft.
Proficiency
+4
Passive Perception
10

Attacks

Surgical Needle (Rapier)+51d8 + 1 piercing
Unarmed Trunk Strike+61d4 + 2 bludgeoning

Personality

Personality

Oryn speaks with a rhythmic, grinding cadence, like stones turning in a mill. She frequently pauses to adjust the copper filaments in her temples or to peer through her Amber Optic at things no one else can see. She shows no anger, only a chilling, clinical detachment.

Ideal

Preservation. If a truth is lost, the universe becomes smaller; I will prevent the shrinking of existence at any cost.

Bond

The Great Archive—a mental construct she is building to replace her lost natural memory.

Flaw

She cannot perceive the value of the present moment or the feelings of the living; they are 'static' interfering with the signal of the past.

Backstory

For three centuries, Oryn was the living heartbeat of her clan’s history, possessing the 'Great Recall' that allows Loxodons to remember the scent of flowers their ancestors smelled ten generations ago. But eighty years ago, the Silence began. A patch of gray void appeared in her mind where her father’s face used to be. For a Loxodon, to forget is not a failing; it is a spiritual death, a severing of the soul from the ancestral trunk. Desperate to stop the rot, Oryn abandoned the sun-drenched plains for the sunless vaults of the world, turning to the forbidden alchemy of the Order of the Mutant to chemically bypass her own decaying brain.

She discovered that while her own memories were fading, the world was thick with the 'residue' of others—ghostly echoes trapped in objects and marrow. She began to 'fix' herself by grafting copper filaments directly into her nerves, creating a neural scaffold to hold the memories she steals. She has become a scavenger of history, viewing the living as merely temporary vessels for information. To Oryn, a single scroll from a lost civilization is worth more than a thousand living peasants, for the peasants will die and take their stories with them, while the scroll, in her hands, is eternal.

Abilities & Actions

Amber Optic Gaze (Passive)

While Oryn holds her Amber Optic lens with her trunk, she has Truesight out to 30 feet and can see into the Ethereal Plane. She can perceive the 'memory-echoes' of events that occurred in her current location within the last 500 years.

Cerebrospinal Extraction (Action)

Oryn targets a creature within 5 feet that is incapacitated, restrained, or dead for no longer than 1 hour. She inserts a surgical needle into their spine. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. Oryn gains one 'Memory Charge'. She can expend a charge to gain advantage on any Intelligence check or to cast 'Speak with Dead' without components.

Mutagen: Neural Stimulant (Bonus Action)

Oryn injects a toxic brew. For 1 hour, her Intelligence score increases by 4 (to 20), and she gains a +5 bonus to Initiative. However, she takes 1d6 psychic damage at the start of each of her turns as her nervous system overclocks, and she has disadvantage on all Charisma saving throws.

Brand of the Tethered Past (Feature)

When Oryn hits a creature with a weapon attack, she can brand them. The branded creature cannot move more than 30 feet away from the spot where they were branded; as they move, ghostly chains of their own past memories manifest to pull them back. The brand lasts until she finishes a long rest.

DM Notes

Oryn doesn't initiate combat; she initiates 'surgeries'. She will offer the party a 'fair trade': one player's childhood memory of their mother in exchange for the location of the dungeon's boss. If they refuse, she sighs and prepares her needles. Sample dialogue: 'Your grief is loud, but your data is quiet. Let me sharpen the signal.' She reacts to interruptions with the annoyance of a librarian in a burning building.