Araj Oblodra was an alchemist and trader in blood and the sanguinous arts, the proprietor of the Crimson Draughts shop in Baldur's Gate, and one of the very few surviving members of the House Oblodra of Menzoberranzan in the late 15th century DR.[1]
Description[]
Araj was a drow woman with a flirtatious personality and questionable morals. She was fully dedicated to her fallen house and the art of blood alchemy. Oblodra's blood was disgusting to taste to vampires, possibly evidence of strange blood-mixing of cross-breeding with the mind flayers that was rumored to be one of the crimes of House Oblodra. Araj's obsession with blood also resulted in an overwhelming desire to be drained by a vampire, an act that gave her sublime pleasure.[1]
Posessions[]
Araj's alchemist shop, the Crimson Draughts, was located in the Lower City, across the street from Beehive Goods and Wares. The shop carried a wide variety of potions, bombs, alchemical ingredients, and some select enchanted items, such as a circlet of hunting, boots of arcane bolstering, ring of free action, thunderskin cloak, and many others.[1]
She also developed a selection of potions concocted using the blood of various races, such as elixir of tiefling vice, elixir of elven elegance, elixir of halfling luck, sanguine explosive, and others.[1]
Relationships[]
Araj Oblodra was familiar with the work of Jon Irenicus and how he was able to adapt the shape of Bhaal's Slayer through a Bhaalspawn's blood. She planned to offer an alliance with Lord Enver Gortash as the daughter of the most powerful House of Menzoberanzan in exchange for a supply of Gortash's blood to try and make Bane think of her as one of his Chosen.[1]
History[]
During the Time of Troubles of the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, House Oblodra gained the power to become the most powerful House of Menzoberanzan, but that power didn't last. The House Baenre, aided by demons, was cast down the Clawrift.[2] The House was destroyed while Araj Oblodra was among very few survivors, being away from Menzoberanzan at the time.[1] She falsely[3] believed herself to be the last living member of the fallen House. In the centuries that followed, Araj dedicated herself to studying and developing her sanguinous arts in hopes that she could create something so valuable and powerful that even Lolth herself would sponsor the reestablishment of House Oblodra.[1]
By the Year of Three Ships Sailing, 1492 DR, Araj had been running the Crimson Draughts for some time. By the time the Absolute crisis began to shake Baldur's Gate, Crimson Draughts had had several months' worth of customer complaints, prompting an investigation by the Flaming Fists. An official investigation was opened in accordance with the Public Health Act and the Civilian Protection Order, and a notification was mailed to the shop. Araj Oblodra was ordered not to interfere with the investigation and not to leave the city, or she would be held in contempt of the Council of Four. She also joined the dread Cult of the Absolute in the Moonrise Towers at the heart of the deadly shadow-cursed lands that consumed the town of Reithwin a century earlier. Regardless of what happened at the Moonrise Towers, Araj Oblodra would likely have had survived the battle between the Absolute Adversaries and one of the cult's leaders.[1]
Araj Oblodra might have had an opportunity to use her shop's laboratory to develop special and deadly types of potions using the blood of the Absolute Adversaries, True Souls infected with altered illithid tadpoles, if the heroes were inclined to share their life-giving substance. If her research was successful, Araj could've left the Gate for her House's home in Menzoberranzan to bring House Oblodra back and into good graces with the use of her new sanguineous magics.[1]
Appendix[]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
Video Games
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Larian Studios (October 2020). Designed by Swen Vincke, et al. Baldur's Gate III. Larian Studios.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (November 1999). Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark. Edited by Jeff Quick. (TSR, Inc.), p. 65. ISBN 0-7869-1509-9.
- ↑ R.A. Salvatore (March 2013). The Last Threshold. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 299–300. ISBN 0-7869-6364-6.