Prolix Yusaf is a tiefling agent of the Allegiance of Allsight.
Description[]
Prolix is described as bookish, and he wears a badge of the symbol of the Allegiance of Allsight: a scroll inscribed with a single eye. When he is first encountered in Bazzoxan, he carries notebooks and archaeological tools in a satchel.[1]
Prolix is initially nervous, but he is benign and unused to dealing with corpses, danger, or espionage. Though he can tell the Jewel of Three Prayers is ancient and powerful, he doesn't immediately know much about it; still, he enjoys discussions of important figures from the Calamity.[4]
Prolix seems to be a morning person.[5]
Biography[]
Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep[]
As a scholarly agent, Prolix is a low-ranking member of the Allegiance, having been taught a few magical tricks for studying relics while avoiding danger.[2]
By the time the player characters (PCs) arrive in Bazzoxan, Prolix has just recently arrived, ostensibly helping Aurora Watch arcanists who are trying to figure out how to seal the rift to the Abyss in the Betrayers' Rise.[6] In fact, he is spying on Aloysia Telfan, an agent of a rival group, the Consortium of the Vermilion Dream, and doesn't know why that group is interested in Bazzoxan, but he knows Aloysia is looking for something in the Betrayers' Rise. Prolix may be encountered near the settlement's crematorium, as he insists on inspecting the remains of a dead vrock for valuables.[7]
Prolix has also struck up a friendly relationship with a tiefling agent of the Cobalt Soul named Question, and they make plans to return to Ank'Harel together via teleportation if other members of Question's expedition are lost, which the PCs may be able to confirm. When the PCs have finished their mission in the Betrayers' Rise, Prolix is willing to teleport them too, and he offers to introduce the PCs to his peers in the Allegiance.[8]
If the PCs take Prolix up on his offer to meet one of his superiors, he takes them to meet Gryz Alakritos, headmaster of the Teres Schoolhouse and one of the co-leaders of the Allegiance. Alakritos is happy to see Prolix return safely, and Prolix urges the PCs to recount what they learned about Aloysia. After the discussion concludes, Prolix offers to let the PCs stay in his apartment for the night before they learn their way around, and provides them with a map of the city.[9]
A few days later, he invites the PCs to take on a mission for the Allegiance.[10] If they accept, they'll separately receive a letter dropped on their doorstep.[11] If that mission is successful, Prolix later meets with the PCs and asks them to investigate rumors of a second entrance to Cael Morrow via the city's Life Dome, though it turns out these rumors were planted by Lymmle Wist, who poses as an Allegiance professor but is actually an agent of a rival group called the Sentinels of Memory. The purpose is to draw the PCs into a deadly ambush by invisible stalkers summoned by Wist, though the PCs don't know it. Should the PCs survive, Prolix apologizes for what happened and says he's grateful for their skill; he also recommends to Alakritos that the PCs be formally invited to membership in the Allegiance.[12]
However, one day, Wist sends a thief to help set up Prolix to be framed for the ambush. The thief steals his satchel and slips Wist's (ruidium-infused) Ring of Red Fury into Prolix's pocket. Prolix then received a message via Sending that his satchel had found its way to the Allegiance's Crystal Chateau. Wist also planted incriminating papers in the satchel, including schematics to the Life Dome. Wist was planning to falsely accuse Prolix of being a traitor after he arrived, but Prolix discovered the ring in his pocket and figured out someone was trying to frame him. A desperate Prolix (poorly) tails the PCs and, when he is noticed, he asks if they can speak in private; he shows them the ring, explains what little he knows, correctly fears that whoever planted the ring also would plant something in his satchel, and asks for their assistance, fearing that he can't talk to his superiors or even go to the Crystal Chateau until he figures out who's behind the frame attempt. If the PCs agree to help, he points them to his friend Bookkeeper Khime at the Omnival Library, who keeps records of items salvaged from Cael Morrow. These records can lead to Wist; if she is exposed as the traitor, Prolix gets his satchel back, and he lets the PCs keep the ring, so long as they promise to share anything they learn about its properties.[13]
Relationships[]
- Prolix enjoyed an animated conversation with Question about key figures from the Calamity.[14]
- Prolix and Bookkeeper Khime are friends.[15]
Character information[]
Notable items[]
- Teleportation tablet (to the Allegiance of Allsight's teleportation circle at the Crystal Chateau)[8]
Abilities[]
Prolix has the abilities of a scholarly agent:[2]
- Saving throw proficiency: Intelligence
- Skill proficiencies: Arcana, History, Investigation
- Arcane Shock: As an action, makes a melee or 30-foot ranged spell attack that, on a hit, deals lightning damage and prevents the targeted creature from taking reactions until the start of its next turn.
- Spellcasting (using Intelligence)
- At will: Dancing Lights, Mage Hand
- 1/day each: Comprehend Languages, Identify (as an action), Mage Armor
- Glyph of Shielding: As a reaction when an attack would hit him, if he can see the attacker and has a free hand, adds 2 to his AC against that attack.
Prolix would also presumably have additional traits typical of a tiefling:[16]
- Darkvision (60 ft.)
- Resistance to fire damage
- Additional spellcasting using Charisma: Knows one cantrip, and may learn more spells at higher levels.
Appearances and mentions[]
Quotations[]
- "Wait! Stop! You can't burn that yet. I need to study it!"[1]
- "I'm an archaeologist, but I'm not here to perform archaeology, per se."[3]
- "You believe me, right?"[17]
Trivia[]
- Like many tieflings, Prolix's first name is a "virtue name" that describes his personality;[16] prolix means "using too many words".
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 54.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 54. See also p. 206
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 55.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 54–56. See also p. 99, showing that Prolix is clumsy at tailing people.
- ↑ He is "bright-eyed" at an early-morning meeting. See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 98.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 57.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 54–55.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 75.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 79.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 81.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 96.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 98.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, pp. 99–101.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 56.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 100.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 See D&D: Player's Handbook (2014), 5th ed., p. 42. For possible variants, see also Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, pp. 21–23.
- ↑ See Call of the Netherdeep, p. 99.
Art:
- ↑ Official art of Prolix Yusaf, by Isabel Gibney from Call of the Netherdeep, p. 55. This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.