The Ancient Tragedy of Vallombrosa

⚠ DM-ONLY — CAMPAIGN SPOILERS. This page records the true history beneath the legends. Players should not read it.

Type: True history  |  When: ~1,000 years ago  |  "The truth is so much worse than any legend."

The real account of how Lorenzo di Errante bargained with an Archfey to coerce Isabella's love, orchestrated a cosmic theft of the Keeper of Faces' power on his wedding day, murdered both Isabella and his brother Marcello, and created the cursed zone of Vallombrosa. No player knows this — they grew up on contradictory legends.

The Island Before

Maeve is a large island in the material-plane world of Eldoria, comparable to Madagascar in size. The di Errante family held an enormous private estate spanning thousands of acres along the western coast on elevated ground — effectively a self-contained kingdom of grand manor, village, farms, vineyards, workshops, private harbor, and family chapel.

The Brothers and Isabella

Marcello di Errante (Marcello Prime) was the elder brother — powerful, fey-touched, genuinely beloved. Isabella Fortuna was a woman of considerable beauty and genuine prophetic ability, who loved Marcello freely. Lorenzo di Errante was the younger brother: perpetually overshadowed, consumed by jealousy and entitlement, unable to accept that Isabella had chosen Marcello.

Lorenzo's Bargain (Seven Years Before the Wedding)

Lorenzo bargained with the Keeper of Faces for power to coerce Isabella's love. The price was "the face you show the world," collectible in seven years. Lorenzo assumed this meant his reputation. The true price was his literal identity — he would come to appear as Marcello, and be unable to speak his own name. Soon after, Lorenzo consulted Tartuzi the sphinx, who told him the collection date and gave him the basic principles for binding an Archfey.

The Six Years of Manipulation

Using the bargain's power, Lorenzo coerced Isabella's love by supernatural means; her real feelings for Marcello were redirected without her knowledge, and she believed her love for Lorenzo was her own. Across these years he exploited her prophetic gift, planned a cosmic-level theft through contract loopholes, and arranged for an adventuring party to arrive as unwitting accomplices.

The Wedding Day

Six weeks prior, Isabella's visions showed adventurers arriving aboard The Emerald Tide. Lorenzo sent them a letter and 100 platinum to guarantee it. Isabella — believing she acted independently — hired them to prevent the Keeper from collecting Lorenzo's debt. They crossed the jungle, consulted Tartuzi, and were given a binding ritual requiring a mirror, compass, and hourglass and a set of precise binding words.

The Cosmic Theft

When the Keeper manifested to collect the legitimate debt, the party activated the binding ritual. The Archfey was trapped — frozen, helpless — exactly as Lorenzo intended, and he drained massive power from it. Marcello Prime interposed himself protectively, buying time. The stolen power collapsed Isabella's coercion, and her true feelings returned in a rush of horrified clarity.

The Murders and Aftermath

Isabella confronted Lorenzo in dawning horror. When she could no longer love him, he murdered her with the stolen power. Marcello attacked in grief and rage; the evenly matched fight destroyed the gardens, and Lorenzo killed him. Tartuzi appeared — pulled by the binding mechanism to become its eternal lock — and she and the weakened Archfey merged into the imprisonment itself. The adventuring party was knocked unconscious and later woke in the estate dungeon, offered poisoned wine.

The Curse Activates

The Keeper's curse took full effect: Lorenzo now appeared as Marcello to every observer, and when he tried to speak his own name, only "Marcello" came out. His entire identity was stolen — the perfectly ironic punishment from an Archfey whose domain is identity. The surname di Errante ("of the wandering one") proved grimly prophetic.

The Transformation of Maeve

Supernatural fog consumed the di Errante estates, stopping with geometric precision at the old property boundaries. The land within was cursed with absence — no growth, no animals, ashen soil, stagnant water. The fog ignored the wind, kept its sharp edges, and never lifted. Those who passed the point of no return never returned. The region became Vallombrosa, the valley of shadows.

Lorenzo's Departure

Even with stolen power, Lorenzo lingered in Vallombrosa for years. The cursed valley offered no validation, no recognition. The isolation drove him out to wander the world for millennia, hunting something he could never name — and he did not return for thousands of years, until the prison began to weaken and he discovered Celina's presence.

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