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Helja Ungar

Head of the Iron Claws • Ruler of High Forge • Deceased

Overview​

Helja Ungar was the head of the Iron Claws, which the table calls a dwarven mafia. Years before the campaign she hired Silas and Bru's crew, the Sisyphus Circle, to steal the dragon orb that imprisons Astro, then had them massacred at the handoff. Silas escaped with the orb, and she hunted him for eleven years. After the dragon attack on High Forge she ruled the city under the dragons. She fed them tribute while claiming to hold the orb, taxed the city and put a bounty on the party. She died in Session 36 in her throne room in the Forge Heart, after Silas bluffed his way in with a fake orb. Bru's explosives and Silas's blades brought her down, and a blast from Bru's cannon burned her from the inside. Silas believes her mother has since taken back control of the Iron Claws in Greyport (Session 53).

The recaps spell her surname several ways (Ungart, Utgart, Ironart). Ungar is the canonical spelling.

Background​

  • The orb job: Her journal from the year of the heist shows she wanted the orb because of her mother: "I must have the orb. My mother said it would be the only way we were respected… this last thing I will do, not because you deserve it, but because I do."
  • The massacre: When the crew handed over the bag in Greyport, she had them executed. Bartleby Thatch (Silas's alias) had switched in a decoy medicine ball, and he and Bru escaped through the storm drains with the real orb. Her journal records that Sander's body was not among the dead and that her people never found him.
  • Research: Her study held books on the fabric of reality, and her notes on "reality stones" pointed to the goliaths' mountain. She booby-trapped her bedroom door with a poisoned needle.

Relationships​

  • Silas: Her quarry for eleven years, and the man who killed her. He asked her, "What were their names?" about his dead crew, and she did not remember.
  • Bru: The other survivor of the massacre. He wired her throne room with explosives and fired the final shot.
  • Olivia: Olivia calls Helja an old nemesis who would know her on sight.
  • Her mother: Pushed her to get the orb. Silas believes she now runs the Iron Claws again.
  • Lieutenants: Grimjaw, Captain Corwin ("Triple C"), Marta and others. Grimjaw and Triple C escaped when she died.

Session History​

  • Session 7 — The party learns that the Iron Claws, led by Helja, control the High Forge tunnels. Olivia realises Helja is an old nemesis who would recognise her and Silas.
  • Session 24 — Victor reports that Helja has become the shadow ruler of High Forge under the dragons. The entity in the orb offers to "eat" her if Silas cooperates.
  • Session 25 — The party learns she is squeezing High Forge with protection money and heavy taxes. The Iron Claws put a 50,000 bounty on Taco Cat, with an especially large price on Silas.
  • Session 28 — The party learns the dragons obey whoever holds the orb, believed to be Helja, and that she pays them regular gold tribute.
  • Session 31 — Realising Lady Corwin has manipulated them, the party keeps the tribute gold and gives itself a week to plan an assault on Helja.
  • Session 32 — Silas proves to the dragons that Helja never had the orb, and they agree to attack her fortress directly.
  • Session 36 — Silas fakes a betrayal to get an audience in her Forge Heart throne room. He offers her a fake orb while Bru wires the room, then strikes on "Now." Bru's cannon incinerates her and her skeleton falls into her throne.
  • Interlude 13 — In a flashback, she reveals herself as the Sisyphus Circle's client at the Greyport handoff and has the crew executed. Silas and Bru escape with the real orb, and she puts a bounty on "that halfling".
  • Session 38 — Silas and Bru search her High Forge apartment and find her yearly journals: her mother's pressure over the orb, the massacre, and her failed hunt for Sander. Her door trap poisons Silas.
  • Session 40 — Silas hands her journals to the Order of St. George.
  • Session 53 — Silas and Bru scout the Iron Claws in their old bar, the Cog and Steam. Silas believes Helja's mother is back in charge.