Alda Arkin

Doctor Alda Arkin was a retired Crossborn professor in Cliffsunder, where she was born and raised. Her mother, an Elf from Ardhon Miniel, disappeared during her childhood, and a rather absent relationship with her noble Human father led Alda herself to disappear into books. Cold and astute, she entered the Whiteharbour Academy and became an academic teaching natural history. She taught at the Academy for over a half-century, before leaving her post a history professor to become the curator for the Cliffsunder Museum of Natural History.

Doctor Arkin was responsible for the museum's close ties with the local anthropological and academic circles. As the museum was desperately underfunded, she kept staff low, even occasionally working the tills herself; when searching for guards, she paid cheap rates, often finding random dockworkers at the Grandport and offering them jobs. To keep the museum funded, she held many auctions of famous artifacts, inviting the elite of Upper Cliffsunder to purchase any rare finds.

In truth, this position was a cover for Alda's real operation. Through her academic circles, she had come into contact with Unknown, another crossborn elf and a member of the Fold. Vex inducted Alda into the cult's ranks as a fence for strange anthropological artifacts, holding legitimate auctions through the museum buts secretly only selling to Fold members. She kept all incriminating documents in her office, guarded by a Living Doll named Helly provided to her by the cult.

One of these items was the Murkmire Stone, which Doctor Cassee Dannel had unearthed with a team in the Murkmire Marshlands. After Alda had already taken the Stone into her care, Cassee was desperate to get back after learning the truth: the stone was an egg, set to hatch into a monstrous Abberation. Realizing its potential for the cult, Alda denied Cassee and contacted Vex, who hatched a plan to steal the stone on the night of the auction.

However, they had not planned for Cassee Dannell to sneak into the Museum after-hours, intending to steal the stone herself. Alda caught her while working late, and approached the local universities about the transgression. She had Cassee fired, and with her reputation tarnished, any claims the Doctor had about the Murkmire Stone fell on deaf ears.