Vess DeRogna

 is a half-elven mage and a member of the Cerberus Assembly, filling the role of Archmage of Antiquity. As an NPC, was played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
Lady Vess DeRogna is an half-elven woman with short, medium-brown hair that curled slightly towards the end. She appears middle-aged, but not as old as Ludinus Da'leth. When the Mighty Nein saw her in Felderwin, she wore clothing that was deep green with black patterns on her billowing sleeves, and many rings and necklaces, from each of which dangled circular gemstones in many different colors. She appears to favor green clothing, as she wore a robe in that color when the Mighty Nein visited her in Rexxentrum.

Like Mollymauk Tealeaf, she had nine tattoos of eyes on specific points on her body, which she may have kept hidden with a glamour.

Personality
Caleb described her as "half a recluse", and a history buff who taught at the Soltryce Academy.

Yeza Brenatto described her as forceful, persuasive, and a terrible boss, often putting serious pressure on him to finish his project to extract the essence of dunamancy from the dodecahedron, in response to Ludinus Da'leth pressuing her.

Background
As of 835 PD, Vess had taught at the Soltryce Academy for over two decades. As Archmage of Antiquity, her area of focus is magical history, and she has a particular interest in pre-Calamity relics and mysteries. She became Archmage of Antiquity after Lady Delilah Briarwood was expelled from the Assembly for the practice of necromancy.

A few years prior to 835 PD, she had hired the Tombtakers as protection and assistance in Eiselcross. At some point, she performed a ritual that "shattered" Lucien's soul, leaving him apparently dead.

Campaign 2
While reading about the Cerberus Assembly at the Cobalt Soul archive in Zadash, Caleb read that Lady Vess DeRogna was Archmage of Antiquity. The Mighty Nein first saw her in Felderwin and noticed her meeting Ludinus Da'leth when he Teleported in. They were talking together as they walked towards the ruins of the Brenatto Apothecary. Luc Brenatto mentioned a "mean lady with pointy ears" who had been coming by to the house when Nott spoke to him.

After the Mighty Nein negotiated Yeza's release from the Kryn Dynasty, Yeza described how "Lady DeRogna" would bring the Luxon beacon from a secured place to his basement for experiments. She also threatened Luc's safety if Yeza ever shared his knowledge of their experiments with anyone.

DeRogna was one of the many options that the Mighty Nein considered Scrying upon in order to learn more about the second missing Luxon beacon. Caleb cast Seeming on the party, making them look like various members of the Cerberus Assembly with Nott looking like DeRogna, in order for Jester to potentially be able to scry upon one of them. DeRogna was the eventually chosen target, but the scrying attempt failed.

In Nicodranas, shortly before the peace talks between the Empire and the Dynasty, Essek Thelyss confessed to the Mighty Nein to having conspired with Ludinus and Trent Ikithon in the theft of the beacons that sparked the war, and noted that while he never met DeRogna, he knew she helmed a period of experimentation with the beacon. These were the only people he believed to have knowledge of the arrangement. Shortly after, while the Empire armada was sailing to the peace talks, the Balleater was attacked by forces of Uk'otoa. In the immediate aftermath, Lady DeRogna used Dimension Door to reach the ship to intervene. The party lied to her and said it seemed like a random attack. Lady DeRogna accepted this, and invited the party to talk to her about work possibilities in the north once all of this was over. A few days later, Caleb and Beau flew to the Cerberus Assembly ship, the Wind of Aeons, to inspect the Luxon beacon being carried to the parley. Ludinus Da'leth seemed genuinely surprised to learn the party had met Lady DeRogna, and that she had offered them work. Her purpose for being at the talks was to keep an eye on the perimeter and to hopefully discuss arcane projects between the Empire and the Dynasty if the peace talks were to go well.

As the party considered what they would do next after Rumblecusp, Caleb mentioned to the rest of the group that he wanted to start gathering intel on the Cerberus Assembly. Fjord suggested that they could take up Vess DeRogna's job offer in Eiselcross. The Mighty Nein decided to do so, and after messaging Vess, traveled to Rexxentrum to meet with her in her tower to discuss their mission in Eiselcross. Caleb asked her about her thoughts regarding the peace treaty. She told the party not to trust Ludinus, and that she was hoping to hire them as mercenaries to protect her on an excursion into the ruins of Aeor. She mentioned the powerful weaponry of Aeor to the party, but said her interest was primarily the city's history and culture. The Mighty Nein accepted her offer, and she told them she hoped to leave within the week, as well as provided details of the trip.

Once the Mighty Nein learned that Mollymauk Tealeaf's body had been resurrected and that he seemed to traveling in the north, they met with Vess at her tower and asked her several questions about the Tombtakers, whom she had previously employed for an excursion to Molaesmyr. Vess told the Mighty Nein that the Tombtakers had been somewhat untrustworthy, and she now preferred to work with groups with some loyalty to the empire. When the Nein told her the mission had become more urgent, Vess agreed to leave sooner, and ran Pumat Sol ragged to complete an enchantment for Caduceus Clay so that they could depart. Vess and the Nein teleported to Palebank Village and started sailing to Balenpost.

After defeating Avantika, Caduceus went below decks and briefly talked with Vess DeRogna about the attack on the ship. She seemed thoroughly impressed by their skills to handle the situation without her help, saying it's why she hired them to help her in the first place.

After eating dinner in the fort inside of Balenpost, Jester scryed on Lucien and saw that he had gained access to DeRogna's book. The next morning, the Mighty Nein found her bloodied corpse lying on her bed. Using Speak with Dead allowed the group to learn more about the ritual done on Lucien two years ago, and her underlying connections to the Tombtakers. Caleb then cast Widogast's Vault of Amber, preserving the corpse so that it could be moved more easily.

Otis stole the Bag of Holding from Fjord, which was holding Vess DeRogna's body.

In the ruins of Aeor, the Tombtakers arrived with two Threshold crests, suggesting that at some point, Lucien had dispelled Caleb's Vault of Amber, releasing the threshold crest stored inside and abandoning Vess' body somewhere in Eiselcross.

Ludinus Da'leth
Vess DeRogna recommended to the Mighty Nein that they should not trust the Martinet's intentions, for he would do anything to keep himself in a position of power in the Dwendalian Empire.

Trent Ikithon
While Vess DeRogna did not say how she felt about Ikithon, most of the members of the Assembly agreed that he is somewhat creepy, but has a purpose for being in their ranks.

Tombtakers
Vess DeRogna employed the Tombtakers in the past as part of her excavation operation in Eiselcross. She minimized her involvement with the group in conversation with the Mighty Nein, but confirmed that Lucien was part of the group at that time. She told the Nein that their collaboration ended as she didn't appreciate their attitude, as they would ask for more payment mid-contract. In reality, deRogna had intentionally failed while conducting a ritual to connect Lucien and the Somnovem, scattering his soul, and using the opportunity to take the cursed tome. When Lucien returned from the dead, he murdered her and stole the tome back.

Yeza Brenatto
Vess DeRogna employed Yeza to conduct alchemical research and development to extract some form of liquid essence out of one of the Luxons. Yeza found her to be very intimidating, and was visibly distressed when Veth disguised herself as Vess.

Pumat Sol
While the Mighty Nein prepared for their trip to Eiselcross, Vess pushed very hard on Pumat Sol to speed up his work for the party.

From the Eyes of Nine
Having read the journal of Cognouza, DeRogna had viewed the pattern that imparted the nine eyes. Each eye grants an ability. However, she was not known to have used them during her time with the Mighty Nein.


 * First eye: Mild telepathy with others bearing eyes (120 feet)
 * Second eye: Darkvision
 * Third eye: Ability to see through illusions
 * Fourth eye: Ability to see into the ethereal plane
 * Fifth eye: Ability to scry into the "eye" of another
 * Sixth eye: Ability to sense all beings with minds (300 feet)
 * Seventh eye: Rend Mind: Recharging melee attack that deals 10d10 psychic damage
 * Eighth eye: Ability to control the minds of others with "eyes"
 * Ninth eye: 30-foot antimagic cone that dispels rather than suppresses magic

Wizard spells
Based on Lady DeRogna casting Teleport twice in one day, she had at least one 7th and one 8th level spell slot, so she was at least a 15th-level spellcaster.

Appearances and mentions

 * Campaign 2

Quotations

 * Caduceus Clay: "What is it to be a Nonagon?" Vess DeRogna: "The Nonagon is a vessel. It is the key to Cognouza. It is the one to free the Somnovem."

Trivia
Based on her ability to change the appearance of the artwork in her tower, as well as the strong possibility she disguised her tattoos, it is likely but not confirmed that her specialty was illusion magic.