Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos takes characters to a prestigious school of magic where they'll befriend, romance, and spurn fellow students, join clubs, and take on jobs to round out their educational experience. But not all is well at Strixhaven University. A nefarious group of mages known as the Oriq seeks to destroy the institution — and they could use a helping hand from the characters.

Who are the Oriq?

The Oriq are a mysterious society of mages who oppose and regularly infiltrate Strixhaven. Donning masks that make their identities impossible to divine, the threat of the Oriq is ceaseless. The professor you admire, the rival you defeated in Mage Tower, and even your beloved could be a member of the Oriq.

Joining the Oriq is tempting, especially for students who struggle with their studies or find themselves outcasts among talented practitioners of the magical arts. Students who are overly ambitious might be drawn in by the promise of learning forbidden magic. Other students might oppose Strixhaven's high tuition costs — which amount to 800 gold annually — believing them to make a higher education in magic inaccessible for most people. Others yet might simply seek to sow chaos, such as by disrupting the raw magical energy of the Biblioplex's snarl.

For members of the Oriq, their mission is simple: access Strixhaven's trove of magical secrets, steal rare spell components, and collect magical energy for their leader, Extus Narr.

Extus Narr, Oriq overlord

Extus is a powerful mage who once sought to become the Oracle of Strixhaven. Chosen by the Founder Dragons, the Oracle of Strixhaven is tasked with ensuring the school's magic is used for benevolent purposes. It's no surprise that Extus was passed over for the current oracle, an elderly human named Jadzi. Since he was snubbed by the Founder Dragons, he has sought to grow his army of Oriq mages and use them to help summon the Blood Avatar, a creature of war that is so powerful it can take down the enduring academy of mages. 

Monster preview: Oriq recruiter

Being evil is rarely a bore, and that holds true for the Oriq. They use subterfuge and stealth to infiltrate Strixhaven and take what they need to help their overlord get closer to summoning the Blood Avatar.

The Oriq commonly use forbidden magic in their service to Extus. This includes the very masks they don, which only function for their intended wearer and offer the following benefits:

• Divination magic cannot target them
• Scrying sensors can't detect them
• They gain a hefty bonus to Charisma (Deception) checks

No doubt, an Oriq's mask makes it difficult to uncover the identities of these evil mages, though a good wallop and unmasking in classic Scooby-Doo fashion can do the trick. But even Oriq recruiters — who are meant to sweet-talk characters in putting an end to Strixhaven — pack a punch. Each wields a psychic blade that exclusively deals psychic damage. That's handy considering murder is a hard crime to solve when you're missing the murder weapon.

Oriq recruiter statistics

Playing with Oriq recruiters at your table

Stressed-out students, embittered faculty, and nefarious outsiders fill the ranks of the Oriq. This makes it easy to include Oriq recruiters in disguise as you play through the adventures included in Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. The book includes personality profiles for over a dozen NPCs and offers rules for building relationships with them and others. Whether that relationship develops into friendship, romance, or a bitter rivalry is largely up to the characters and how they treat their fellow students. But just imagine the horror on your players' faces when they learn their most beloved NPC is revealed to be a member of the Oriq!

That's the joy of the Oriq recruiter: They can be anyone. Consider the following adventure hook, which assumes a character has failed an exam:

A failed exam and a tempting offer

Your fellow students and faculty bustle about Firejolt Cafe, drinking caffeinated beverages and either poring over textbooks or taking a respite from their work. Leaning against one wall of the cafe is Roderic Casterlin, an orange-haired tiefling with a sharp eye. You know him to be a tutor for first-year students. He spots you and saunters over with a concerned look on his face.

"I hear your exam didn't go so well," he says, taking a seat by you. "You know, I can convince the professor to let you retake the exam. I might even throw in some tutoring, if you would do me a favor in return..."

Roderic Casterlin is a third-year student and Oriq recruiter. He works as a teacher's aid and offers free tutoring to help him sniff out those who might be good candidates for the Oriq. Easy-going and with a disarming smile, Roderic prefers to approach students who have recently failed an exam, finding them to be more receptive to his deals.

If a character agrees to do him a favor in exchange for his services, he'll ask them to steal a spellbook or rare spell component from the nearby Biblioplex. He's willing to help in this endeavor. He can create a distraction in the Biblioplex by casting suggestion on a student, forcing them to do a ridiculous dance and sing loudly in the library. This offers the character advantage on any Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) and Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to steal an item from the Biblioplex.

If the character succeeds, Roderic holds up his end of the bargain and extends an offer to join a "secret society of like-minded mages." Alternatively, if the character snitches on Roderic, he'll use spells and his natural charm to weasel out of any accusations. Push comes to shove, Roderic is adept at disappearing into a crowd and will never be seen out of disguise on campus again.

Will you betray Strixhaven?

The Oriq recruiter is just one of over 40 friends and foes you'll encounter in Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos. With new players options like the owlin race and adventures that extend through your multi-year career at the magical academy, there's plenty to discover between the covers of Dungeons & Dragon's latest book!

Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.