Nogzop

![[Nogzop.png]]

"The master would not be pleased!"

Concept: A genuine imp of the Nine Hells — once an archmage's familiar, experimented upon, now loose in Cadwallon — crackling and humming with wild magic and passing himself off as a harmless familiar to dodge servitude and deportation back to Dis.

Background¶

Summoned centuries ago as familiar to the archmage [[Vorr Kraxxus Drakaër]] — "Vorr Blackcloak," of the wealthy and powerful House Drakaër. Vorr hungered for forbidden magics and experimented on Nog; to this day he crackles and hums with wild magic, and it's not unusual for nearby objects to fly across the room, vanish, or explode. Blackcloak used Nog to steal arcane secrets, spy on and sabotage rival wizards — and to keep his study immaculate.

Nog cannot abide untidiness. He mutters "the master would not be pleased!" and frantically sets things in order. He produces a small metal cube he puzzle-fidgets and holds whispered conversations with, glancing over his shoulder to be sure no one sees his moves. He sleeps in fireplaces, hung upside-down by his tail, wings wrapped around him like a soot-stained pod — or in the pre-soup boiling pot, to relax. The little devil savors his freedom, and genuinely treasures his new friends — it helps enormously that Longshadow actively wants to do naughtiness.

The cover story

Nog's pose as Longshadow's familiar isn't whimsy — it's survival. An unchained denizen of the Nine Hells loose in the city would be deported back to Dis (or worse, returned to servitude). "Familiar of a Drakaër" is the paperwork that keeps him free.

Infernal Strictures¶

A devil on the mortal plane lives by rules. Among the known ones: he needs permission to cross running water; salt across a doorway bars him until someone breaks the line; magic circles are to be avoided. How many rules are there, exactly? Too many. And does anyone know his true full name?

Drives¶

Wants: to stay free — uncaught, undeported, unbound — and to wring a little sin out of the world along the way.
Bond: the crew, Longshadow especially; he'll defend his friends ferociously.
Flaw: compulsive tidiness, compulsive mischief, and a devil's relationship with the literal terms of any bargain.

Connections¶

Longshadow — poses as his familiar; gleefully eggs on every bad idea, darting at his side like an evil thought.
[[Vorr Kraxxus Drakaër]] — his late master; the source of his wild magic and, perhaps, of secrets Nog isn't telling.
Callow — did Nog help the Halfling steal his soul back from the devil that held it? Allegedly. The devil in question should have known better than to deal with an imp.
Half Moon — a buddy and a buzzkill; all that goody-two-shoes dedication. Nog is sure he'll squeeze a little sin out of him eventually.

Hooks¶

The true name

Whoever learns Nog's full infernal name holds a leash on him — and so does whatever he stole his freedom from. There is a ledger in Dis with his name still on it.

What Blackcloak made

The experiments that broke Nog's magic open weren't idle. [[Vorr Kraxxus Drakaër]] was building toward something before he "died defending the city." Nog kept his study clean. Nog knows where things were kept. (ties to Longshadow's grandfather and Drakaër canon.)

Build notes (GM/player)

Josh confirms Sorcerer (Arcana · Midnight) — wild magic seeded by his old master's experiments; he crackles and hums with it. Subclass left open (Primal Origin would suit the wild-magic flavor, but isn't locked). Ancestry Infernis is the closest fit, with the caveat that Nog is a literal lower-planar imp, not a devil-blooded mortal.