Grandmaster Torch
Ven Lorovox, or Grandmaster Torch as he is better known, was once one of Absalom's most notorious information brokers and a radical—and often violent—advocate for reform within the Pathfinder Society.23
After Tar-Baphon's invasion of the Inner Sea region in 4719 AR, Torch's fate and whereabouts are unknown.3
Appearance
Grandmaster Torch is a charming, soft-spoken man in his late-middle years whose entire body is covered in horrible burn scars, borne from a terrible curse. Due to this fact, he was almost always seen soaking in a cool bath, being tended to by servants. His retinue of heavily armored half-orc bodyguards protected him from any harm, though they seem unable to do anything about his permanent burn wounds.4
History
Little is known of the early life of Grandmaster Torch before he became an information broker. He was a field agent for the Pathfinder Society, but his career came to an end during an expedition to an Osirian tomb that left Torch cursed and killed his colleagues. The Decemvirate, secretive leaders of the Society, declined to send a rescue party, but Torch nevertheless survived and escaped back to Absalom. He left his true name, like his career as a Pathfinder, behind in that ancient tomb.2 He spent much of his time in his lair, located within the Siphons beneath the Puddles district, though he also traveled Golarion for research and "business."4
For decades after his return to Absalom, Torch accrued favors from the Pathfinder Society before he created the infamous Shadow Lodge faction within the Society in 4708 AR. He recruited and united dozens of disillusioned Pathfinders against the masked Decemvirate, whom Torch claimed served only their own interest and not the well-being of the common Pathfinder. This culminated in the breaking off of several splinter groups with the Shadow Lodge in 4710 AR and a series of attacks on the Grand Lodge and those loyal to it.2
The Decemvirate eventually agreed to some of Grandmaster Torch's demands, hoping to end the violence and bring disenfranchised Pathfinders back into the fold,56 though critics maintained that the Decemvirate still failed to do enough.2
After this, Grandmaster Torch enjoyed a position of importance within the Pathfinder Society and assisted the Decemvirate in hunting down rogue Shadow Lodge agents who refused to be accepted back into the Society. However, Torch himself betrayed the Society in 4713 AR and the Society disbanded the Shadow Lodge entirely.2 Torch continued to manipulate the Society from the shadows, however, recruiting the former Venture-Captain Thurl and helping plan the Fiendflesh Siege of Absalom in 4717 AR in a plot to unmask the Decemvirate.78
The Decemvirate's Vahlo Huovar responded by dispatching a team of Pathfinders to kill Torch and a long-lost founding Pathfinder named Eylysia, who had in secret deduced that Huovar was a graveknight of the Whispering Way who had infiltrated the Society's leadership. Torch and Eylysia then aided the Pathfinders in exposing Huovar after Tar-Baphon's reawakening, as Huovar launched a plot to take over the Grand Lodge and deliver Absalom to the Whispering Tyrant.93
References
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ . Salvation of the Sages, 27. Paizo Inc., 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 . “Chapter 2: Pathfinder Society Factions” in Pathfinder Society Guide, 24. Paizo Inc., 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 . Who Speaks for the Ten, 37–38. Paizo Inc., 2019
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 . Silent Tide, 7. Paizo Inc., 2008
- ↑ . “Factions” in Pathfinder Society Field Guide, 21. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Chapter 1: Introduction” in Pathfinder Society Guide, 12. Paizo Inc., 2020
- ↑ . Assault on Absalom, 3–4. Paizo Inc., 2017
- ↑ This refers to the events of Assault on Absalom.
- ↑ . Who Wears the Mask, 3–4. Paizo Inc., 2019
Additional works published by Paizo Inc. in which Grandmaster Torch appears:
- Assault on Absalom
- Betrayal in the Bones
- A Bitter Bargain
- Delirium's Tangle (scenario)
- The Eternal Obelisk
- Exiles of Winter
- The Frostfur Captives
- The God's Market Gamble
- The Golemworks Incident
- Grand Convocation 4712
- Halls of Dwarven Lore
- In the Grandmaster's Name
- The Mantis's Prey
- The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch
- Race to Seeker's Folly
- The Refuge of Time
- Rivalry's End
- Salvation of the Sages
- Sanctum of the Sages (scenario)
- Silent Tide (scenario)
- Snakes in the Fold
- The Sundered Path
- The Unseen Inclusion
- Valley of Veiled Flame
- A Vision of Betrayal
- Way of the Kirin
- Who Speaks for the Ten
- Who Wears the Mask
- Words of the Ancients
