Maren Ashwell

Origin: Everlund Affiliation: Night Watch (Watchful Order cover) Role: Field agent and investigator - an inquisitor

Appearance

Medium height, lean, clearly someone who covers ground on foot. Dark short hair. Symmetrical, pleasant features — not striking enough to be memorable at first glance, which suits her work perfectly. The small golden lion on her chest is the only obvious institutional marker she wears. Two rings on each hand. The ink stain on her right index finger is chronic — the mark of someone who writes constantly, probably field reports and correspondence. Her pack always looks full.

Personality

She is not warm, but not cruel. The distinction matters. Cold people enjoy the distance; Maren simply doesn't see emotional warmth as a professional tool worth carrying. She is economical — with words, with movement, with expression. When she listens, she goes still, cataloguing everything. People often find this unsettling without being able to say why.

She has professional pride but is not vain. She takes errors seriously because errors create exposure, and exposure is the one thing she cannot afford.

One useful tension: she is genuinely capable of respect — for skill, discipline, and intelligence, in anyone, mage or mundane. If the party ever demonstrated something she considered genuinely impressive, she would register it. She would not show it warmly, but she would update her assessment of them.

Relationship with Aidan

Aidan is her superior, but Maren is not a subordinate who needs managing. She operates with wide latitude. Their relationship is probably more collegial than hierarchical in practice — she files reports, he reviews them, they discuss strategy. She may not always agree with his methods or priorities, but she is too disciplined to undermine him, and too pragmatic to make it personal.

What the Baron Remembers

Camryn will remember Maren clearly, and the baron is a precise witness. He received her in a formal capacity — she delivered a message purportedly from Grand Duke Tempest. He has:

• Her name, or whatever name she gave him
• Her face — pleasant, symmetrical, memorable in retrospect even if unremarkable in the moment
• The golden lion on her chest — Watchful Order, which anyone in the region would recognize
• The ink stain, the rings, the quality of her travel gear
• Her manner: quiet, careful, professional

Social & Investigation Presence

In conversation:

She speaks quietly and with very few wasted words. She asks one question at a time and then waits. Fully. The silence after her question is a tool — most people fill it, and what they fill it with is usually more useful than whatever they planned to say.

She never raises her voice. The closest she comes to emphasis is a slight pause before a key word.

She doesn't lie extravagantly. She prefers to let people arrive at incorrect conclusions through carefully selected true statements. If caught in an outright lie, she doesn't flinch — she simply reassesses the person and decides whether to deploy a better story or cut contact.

Favorite phrases:

• "That's an interesting way to see it." — when someone has just revealed more than they intended
• "I heard you." — her acknowledgment that she was listening, which she uses instead of "yes" or "I understand." Unsettling because it doesn't confirm agreement, only reception.
• "What did you expect would happen?" — not cruel, genuinely curious, and faintly diagnostic
• "We don't need to make this complicated." — her warning that things are about to become very complicated if the other person doesn't cooperate
• "I'll need a moment." — when she's recalculating. She goes still, and then she moves.

Her tell: When she is genuinely surprised or recalibrating, she touches the ring on her left index finger briefly with her thumb. Just once. The baron might remember this if the party asks the right questions.

Voice

Low, even, unhurried. Not theatrical — she sounds like someone dictating a careful letter. There's a slight Everlund flatness to her vowels, the accent of a city that sits at a northern crossroads and irons out its regional edges. She doesn't drop to a whisper for effect; she simply never exceeds the volume the conversation requires.

When she's at her most dangerous she sounds the most pleasant. If her voice ever warms slightly, that's when to be most careful — she's decided something about you.

Combat Stats

Wizard (School of Enchantment), Lvl 10 STR 9, DEX 14, CON 13, INT 19, WIS 16, CHA 14 Prof: +4

Saving throws: Intelligence +8, Wisdom +7

Skills:

• Arcana +8

• Deception +6

• Insight +7

• Investigation +8

• Perception +7

• Persuasion +6

• AC: 15 (Bracers of Defense, DEX)

• HP: 52

• Speed: 30 ft

• Initiative: +2

Passive Perception: 17

Equipment

• Bracers of Defense
• Ring of Mind Shielding
• Ring of Spell Storing (modify memory pre-loaded, DC 16)
• Ring of Feather Falling
• Dagger +1 (she carries it, uses it only if everything else has failed)
• Spellbook
• Pack, always full

Enchantment School Features

Hypnotic Gaze — once per rest, she can charm a creature within 5 feet as a bonus action. Useful for close-quarters social situations that turn dangerous.

Instinctive Charm — when a creature within 30 ft hits her with an attack, she can use her reaction to redirect that attack to another creature within range. This is her primary defensive combat tool. It costs a use but can completely flip an encounter.

Split Enchantment — when she casts an enchantment spell targeting one creature, she can target a second creature with the same spell at no additional slot cost. This makes her hold person and suggestion dramatically more dangerous.

Spells

Spell save DC: 16 Spell attack bonus: +8

Cantrips

• Mage hand — always active, she uses it to pass documents without leaving fingerprints
• Prestidigitation — keeps herself immaculate in the field
• Minor illusion
• Message

1st Level (4 slots)

• Charm person
• Detect magic
• Disguise self
• Tasha's hideous laughter — underestimated, but she knows when to humiliate

2nd Level (3 slots)

• Detect thoughts — her most-used spell by far
• Suggestion
• Invisibility
• Silence — critical for preventing counterspells in combat

3rd Level (3 slots)

• Counterspell
• Hypnotic pattern — her opening combat spell of choice
• Sending

4th Level (3 slots)

• Arcane eye
• Greater invisibility
• Charm monster

5th Level (2 slots)

• Hold monster
• Modify memory (also stored in ring)

Special

• Scrying (ritual)