Ryn

Planerider Ryn is a tiefling member of the Arcana Pansophical who studies planar travel and arcane ley lines. She is also a member of the Grim Verity.

Appearance
Ryn is a tiefling woman appearing in her late 50s in 843 PD, with dark red skin and very pale blue eyes. Her hair is black with grey streaks, cut very short. Her horns are quite long and curve back and up. When Bells Hells met her, she was wearing robes and leather armor.

Personality
Ryn is quite eccentric, and likes it when things get weird. She takes great joy in speaking with like-minded individuals, and in inconveniencing those that oppose her. She considers herself "a doer", and while generally upbeat and energetic, is capable of stoicism when required.

Background
Ryn studied under Yurek Windkeeper, founder of the Arcana Pansophical, and became a specialist in planar travel and arcane ley lines. By 812 PD, she was a Maker of the Pansophical, a higher member responsible for oversight and enacting judgment. She often travels between the realms to complete her research. At some point, she gave a Spell Scroll of Plane Shift and a tuning fork attuned to the Elemental Plane of Fire to Yussa Errenis. Her research also lead to her working alongside the Grim Verity, eventually "more or less" joining their ranks "out of necessity". When the Grim Verity attracted the attention of the leaders of Vasselheim and their Judicators, Ryn granted other members safe passage to her sanctuary in the Plane of Fire and potentially other locations, either by directly transporting them herself, or through scrolls.

Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein
While fleeing from the Cerberus Assembly in, the Mighty Nein used the Spell Scroll gifted to Yussa and found themselves in the Plane of Fire, inside what appeared to be a field lab belonging to Ryn. There they found Ryn's notes pertaining to the Planes of Existence, which theorized about potential shifts in planar structure and perhaps even dramatic changes to the cosmos.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells
Hondir mentioned Ryn to Bells Hells as a member of the Grim Verity who was particularly skilled in interplanar travel. The Hells later met Ryn while looking for Ebenold Kai, following him through a translocation spell to arrive in her field lab. She was initially very wary of them due to their unexpected arrival, but upon confirming their connections and intentions, was pleased to meet learned individuals willing to aide the Grim Verity. She explained to the party that there had been activity across the Feywild, the Shadowfell and the Material Plane based around the same area of overlap between the three planes, a location which on the Material Place is located just north of Yios, at an excavation site. The site was originally built by a pre-Calamity society of magically inclined nomads known as the Tishtan, who used the site to harness solstice energy, which lends credence to Ryn's theories about the leylines shifting in patterns over an extremely extended time frame, as it was once a nexus point before and is one again. Ryn also was able to visit the Feywild and Shadowfell sites, and saw from a distance the devices being constructed there, and while she could confirm that they were some kind of planar projector or tether, she was unable to ascertain what their specific function was. She gave the party a pep talk about the severity of the endeavour they were about to undertake and the risks they were going up against, then transported them back to Kai's basement.

Notable items
Crooked wand

Tiefling abilities

 * Darkvision
 * Hellish Resistance
 * Infernal Legacy

Wizard abilities

 * Spellcasting
 * Arcane Recovery (up to at least 6 slot levels)
 * Arcane Tradition: School of Conjuration
 * Conjuration Savant
 * Minor Conjuration
 * Benign Transposition
 * Focused Conjuration

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 2
 * Campaign 3
 * Campaign 3

Trivia

 * In the Talks Machina Special 3: Critical Role Campaign 1 Wrap-up, Matt said that one of the members of the Arcana Pansophical was developing a portal connected to the Nine Hells. Since they needed demon parts for this ritual, they contracted with the Slayer's Take to find a rakshasa and harvest his parts for them. This task was later assigned to one half of Vox Machina. Planerider Ryn, as the planar specialist in the Arcana Pansophical, was the most likely person interested in a portal between planes or tasked with making one.
 * Matt, out of character, gives her title as "Planewalker" in . It's unclear if this is another nickname for Ryn or an error.
 * In 843 PD, the fiery entity guarding her field lab in the Elemental Plane of Fire is named Niles.