The Slanted Circle

active

Cult seeking to wake the Sleeper Beneath Stone — known to outsiders as Aru'xat, named in Session 12 as Vorthalax

cult
  • cult
  • antagonist
  • primordial
  • ley-lines
  • vorthalax
  • main-threat

The Slanted Circle

A dangerous cult conspiracy seeking to awaken Aru’xat the Verdant Maw, a primordial entity of immense destructive power.

Identification

Members can be identified by:

  • Purple robes
  • Purple scarves
  • Slanted Circle markings/tattoos

Known Members

The Circle Mage

  • Role: Primary field operative
  • Abilities: Initially ice magic; revealed in Session 12 as a 15th-level necromancer with a mage ward and Circle of the Dead
  • Status: Slain on the Maw Frame, Session 12 — the first named Circle operative defeated

Harlix Darkleaf

  • Role: Deep cover infiltrator
  • Target: The Emerald Enclave (specifically The Knock)
  • Status: Captured (revealed as traitor in Session 8)

Veyra

  • Race: Changeling
  • Role: Spy
  • Status: Deceased

Goals

Their ultimate objective is to align the ley lines and use the Maw Frame to wake Vorthalax — the Sleeper Beneath Stone (also known to earlier lore as Aru’xat the Verdant Maw).

The Circle does not frame this as destruction. They frame it as mercy — a cosmic reset of a “failed experiment” world. Per the Mage’s Session 12 monologue: “A clean world. No empires. No kings. No slavers. No lies. No suffering.”

The Calibration Doctrine

The Mage revealed in Session 12 that the party’s adventures from Sessions 1–11 were not merely things the Circle observed — they were calibration. Phandalin, Whisperwood, Stonehell, the Dhakaani depths, every dragonshard recovered: the Circle has been using the party’s victories to refine the resonance and identify which seals still hold.

This is unconfirmed but uncontradicted by Rook.

Known Operations

  • Sharn Infiltration — Planted agents within the Emerald Enclave
  • Stonehell Isle — The Circle Mage killed Nythraxil the dragon
  • Xen’Drik Expedition (Sessions 11–12) — Stole regulator plans, hired Skyreaver mercenaries and Crystal Shardcasters, bound a Chainbound Colossus as a guardian, opened the Maw briefly via the resonator
  • Maw Frame Activation (Session 12) — Achieved temporary opening of the Maw to Ulnex Arhun; the Mage descended through and was slain

Threat Assessment

Field operations leadership: vacant. The Circle Mage is dead. The doctrine of Vorthalax persists, and the leybreaker spellbook recovered in Session 12 suggests there is at least one senior teacher above the Mage — handwriting unidentified.

The infrastructure (Crystal Shardcasters, Skyreaver mercenaries, the regulator design) survives. The next confrontation will reveal whether the Circle can replace the Mage.