Iron Menial

The Iron Menial is a converted Marionette Soldier that serves as an attendant and manservant to the Nightfarers of the Shrouded Roundtable Hold. Clad in maroon cloth bound with rope, he functions as a guide, housekeeper, and repository of knowledge about the Lands Between. Although once designed for war, he was reprogrammed and repurposed to assist the Hold’s visitors and to aid the Roundtable’s fragmentary rituals to restore memory.

He appears repeatedly in the Roundtable Hold and relocates between Expeditions; common positions include the east hallway, by the waiting room fireplace, near the Roundtable itself, or other spots determined by the active Remembrance quest. The Iron Menial carries items and small quest-related objects: among his associated assets are the Bone-Like Stone and a key item listed as Iron Menial’s Scrawl.

The Iron Menial is a benign, non-hostile NPC who cannot be made hostile or killed. He is inquisitive, polite, and often expresses concern for the Champion and other Hold residents. His dialogue supplies lore on the Hold, the Nightlord’s influence, and the crypts beneath the area; he remarks on the effects of Night, the nature of grace, rites performed to draw descendants to the crypt, and fragments of older histories such as the tale of the accursed Ictarus blade and missing tomes that may shed light on historical curses.

The Iron Menial is central to parts of the Roundtable’s Remembrance questlines. He initially distrusts the Recluse and later displays strange behavior in that questline: the reclusive menial figure is revealed to be an impostor (the Witch of the Wheel) who imprisoned the genuine puppet in the crypt. While unconscious in the crypt, the true Iron Menial dreams of an encounter with an aspect of the Nightlord and receives the essence of an outer god; on awakening he finds the Bone-Like Stone and entrusts it to the Recluse, leaving its use to her discretion.

Practical notes for players:

• The Iron Menial cannot be attacked, killed, or provoked into hostility; he remains a persistent, safe NPC contact in the Roundtable Hold.
• Speak with him to obtain lore, small quest items, and to progress Remembrance-related interactions; his location may shift depending on the active expedition or quest stage.
• He requests small favors such as offering flowers at the church and will reward the Champion with modest tokens and additional dialogue when those favors are completed.
• His dialogue can indicate quest directions (references to missing tomes, the crypt, or the Priestess) and offers context about the Nightlord’s influence and the ritual preparations stored in the Hold.
• The Iron Menial’s peculiar behavior during Recluse-related quests is a scripted plot element tied to the Witch of the Wheel subplot and the discovery of the Bone-Like Stone; follow the quest stages to witness the full sequence.