The Golden Vault
A heist crew might have a patron organization that hires the characters to undertake these adventures. If you wish to use such an organization, consider the Golden Vault.
Rumored to be associated with metallic dragons, the Golden Vault is a secretive organization that has its base on one of the good-aligned Outer Planes. Its membership and activities are almost impossible for outsiders to track, but those in the know are aware that the organization rights moral wrongs, supports virtuous underdogs, and handles delicate situations local authorities won’t touch. The Golden Vault’s motto reflects its primary motivation: “Do good, no matter the cost.” Missions from the Golden Vault are often illegal, but they always support a just, moral cause.
The Golden Vault’s undercover operatives monitor adventuring groups from major cities on the Material Plane. An operative might be a priest, a scholar, a charity worker, a government liaison, a philanthropist, or any other upstanding local.
Once an adventuring group proves itself effective and virtuous, an operative approaches the characters to offer Golden Vault membership. Should the group accept, its members join the ranks of the Golden Vault, and the person who invited them becomes their handler for future missions. For an example of a handler, see the “Meera Raheer” section.
If the characters get stuck, the Golden Vault can provide unexpected help. For instance, if the characters lack vital information needed for a heist, their handler might share a recent discovery. If the characters need special equipment, their handler might be able to obtain it for them, provided the equipment is readily available and not too expensive.
If you decide to use the Golden Vault as the characters’ patron organization, work with the players to determine what heroic or impressive deeds their characters performed in their backstories to gain the attention of the Golden Vault. Then improvise a roleplaying scene in which the characters meet their Golden Vault handler.
Keys from the Golden Vault
If the characters become Golden Vault operatives, they receive an ornate, key-operated music box from their handler. Each adventure in this book includes a “Using the Golden Vault” section, in which the Golden Vault dispatches a golden key to the group, usually via a hired courier. When the golden key is inserted into the characters’ music box and turned, the box pops open and plays a message that assigns them a heist, provides basic details, and sets them on the right path. After the message plays, the box closes and the key vanishes.
Heroes in the Shadows
Secrecy is paramount for the Golden Vault. To protect the organization, the characters’ handler never provides more information than is absolutely necessary. Similarly, Golden Vault operatives are aware of only a handful of their fellow members. This compartmentalization ensures no one individual knows enough to jeopardize the organization at large.
Should operatives be caught breaking the law while serving the Golden Vault, the organization does its best to protect them. It may pull strings to ensure members aren’t incarcerated—or worse—depending on the organization’s resources in the area.
Meera Raheer
Meera Raheer (lawful good, human commoner) is a Golden Vault handler you can assign to oversee your players’ heist crew.
When Meera was young, her kindhearted and upstanding mothers served as city clerks. But when they began investigating financial irregularities, the unscrupulous mayor framed them for embezzlement to cover his own corruption. The only evidence of the Raheers’ innocence was a packet of letters between the mayor and his conspirators. The letters were locked in the mayor’s office.
Luckily for the Raheers, a crew of Golden Vault operatives infiltrated city hall, retrieved the letters, and revealed the mayor’s crimes. The Raheers kept fighting against government corruption, and Meera has followed in her parents’ footsteps, continuing their anti-corruption work by becoming a city’s clerk and a member of the Golden Vault.
Meera lives and breathes city protocols, procedures, and statutes. She also understands that sometimes doing the right thing means operating outside the law.
