“Rusty” Jax

The goblin auctioneer of the Rust Rangers, who ran the Siren’s Gift auction at the Tar Pit in Session 09 — and had the scroll lifted off his own table.

“I’m Rusty Jax, the auctioneer of the session tonight. Please, no trouble.” — Jax at the door, S09

Canon Facts

• Met in S09. He is the one who waved the party through the reinforced iron door into the Tar Pit’s hidden sub-level, after Morrigan’s TSL signet ring and a note of backing from Moray got them past a tense credentials check. He wrote her name onto the list himself, reluctantly, and introduced himself by name.
• A goblin who barely clears the table. Established at the table: he stands on the table to auctioneer.
• He ran the auction for the “Siren’s Gift” — the coordinates to the Clarion crate at The Bleached Lady, sold as a scroll rather than as the crate itself. He held the scroll personally.
• Paranoid by policy. Before revealing the scroll he triggered a “cleaning cycle” in the ceiling pipes to flush eavesdroppers — exactly as Longstride had warned Briony after his Natural 20 Perception read of the room. Briony rode it out on a windowsill.
• He was robbed. With Korth, Vesper and Sedge shouting over “fake money” at the front of the room, Jax turned back to the table and found the scroll gone — at the same instant Vance’s disguised Consortium agents dumped black fog into the chamber. He never saw who took it.
• He fought the party. The S09 escape collapsed into combat in the fog with Jax and Rust Ranger guards.
• Consortium infiltration happened on his watch. Agents wore correct, properly weathered, correctly-worn-in Rust Ranger kit with fog masks sized for human faces — planned well in advance. His security reputation did not survive the night.

Description

• Visuals: A goblin so short he works standing on the auction table. Nothing further was described at the table.
• Voice/Mannerisms: Brisk, performatively courteous at the door, then a full-throated auctioneer’s patter. Treats every guest as a potential thief — and in his defense, he was right.

Roleplay Traits

• Ideal: The hammer falls, the coin changes hands, nobody makes trouble. Process over people.
• Bond: His own reputation as the Rangers’ safe pair of hands.
• Flaw: Paranoid enough to gas his own ceiling, not paranoid enough to watch his own table.

Background

The Rust Rangers’ auctioneer — the public face of a crew that otherwise operates behind ciphers and dead drops. When the Rangers found the Clarion crate on a salvage dive and decided to sell its location rather than touch it, Jax was the one put on stage to do it.

Mechanics / Stats

• Do not invent a stat block. Jax appears in the S09 encounter as a named threat in “The Ranger Retaliation” trigger — “Rusty” Jax + 4 or more Rust Ranger Guards — in 00-Sessions/Session_09/09_Tar_Pit_Stat_Blocks.md §36.
• His guards use the Rust Ranger Guard block (CR 1/2, AC 14, 22 HP, Heavy Wrench) in the same file.
• No block was ever written for Jax himself. If needed, run him as a non-combatant who yells for guards and pulls levers (the pipe “cleaning cycle” trap, the Bilge Terrier).

Relationships

• The Rust Rangers — his crew, and the people now demanding answers from him.
• Silas Vance — infiltrated Jax’s own security as a Ranger mechanic. Jax was played, and does not necessarily know by whom.
• Tessa Rook — the Crow’s Roost fence who told the party about the auction in the first place. She found the Consortium’s embedding inside the Rangers alarming.
• The party — he has no idea it was them, only that it was someone in his room.