Man Wounds Self, Vanishes

Zethul -- Shopkeeper Saldremor Rivryn of Rivryn's Blades and Sharpenings on west-front Gaustus Street in Trades Ward was astonished late yesterday after he sold a nondescript old knife to the outlander who looked to be from Amn, or northern Tethyr, mayhap. The purchaser laid down three coppers -- properly minted, recent thumbs from Cormyr, Rivryn notes -- for the old dagger, which Rivryn bought months ago from an adventuring band under Tymora's frown, who took ten gold for a huge sack of old weapons and mongery. Salvaged from a ruined mansion in the woods nigh Secomber, they said.

The outlander kissed the blade, cried out, At last! with some emotion -- and plunged the blade into his own shoulder. Blood spurted, the man drew forth the bloody blade and kissed it again, and then, Rivryn claims, just faded away into the air.

Rivryn insists his tale is no bid for customers. He judges the wound not fatal, if the blade be untainted and all left to heal rather than flow. The origins, identity, and fate of the outlander remain unknown; Watch investigations proceed.

Story borrowed from Waterdeep News by Ed Greenwood. Alterations for names and cities have been noted in comments.

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Dale Frost

Dale Frost
Male Elvish Fighter
HP: 40
AC: 15=10+2+0+3+0+0+0
Initiative: +3

STR: 16 +3
DEX: 17 +3
CON 13 +1
INT: 13 +1
WIS: 10 +0
CHA: 15 +2

Fortitude: 5
Reflex: 4
Will: 1

Weapons:
Longsword -ATTK Bonus: 10 Damage: D8 Critical: x2
Longbow -ATTK Bonus: 9 Damage: D8 Critical: x3

Armor:
Leather -Armr Bonus: +2 Max DEX Bonus: +8

Skills
Climb: 6
Craft:Weaponsmithing: 6
Gather Information: 4
Handle Animal: Horse: 6
Knowledge: Royalty + Nobility: 4
Move Silently: 7
Ride : Horse: 9

History:

Dale is an Elven fighter who learned how to fight from his father. One day the Royal Family of Zethul was having an archery competition and Dale's Father, Steven entered Dale in the competition. Needless to say he won and by an amazing shot from atop his horse. This so impressed the royal family, that they asked him if he would like a job. He agreed and they gave him a trial run by asking him to recover a magical item from a heavily gaurded room in the castle. He managed to do this using a little bit more force than stealth but managed to take out many of the King's most well-trained fighters and was only beaten by a singular knight. The royal family offered a job as a personal bodygaurd. He is to take care of the King's son, Prince D'Gyen. The Knight that defeated Dale was the personal bodygaurd for the King himself. Well, needless to say Sir Simon Gregory and Dale became good friends and spent day after day training. They are now skilled combat equals. Together, they have no equal in a close quarters game. Dale has no equal on the sharpshooting arena while Sir Simon cannot be equaled in the joust. Now Dale spends his days training and doing errands for the Prince, whom he considers to be something of a brat. The relative age of the Prince is no more than his own. Both are teenaged, however Dale did not grow up in a world where everyone was expected to obey him. If the King knew of the ridiculous errands that Dale was being sent on he may have reprimanded the Prince.

Dale stands 5'10" tall and is slim with blonde hair and teal-blue eyes. He lives with his dad Steven who is also a great blacksmith. They live together in his father's home above the smithy in the city of Zethul. Dale has a few friends but mainly spends time either at work or with Sir Gregory training. In his spare time he goes riding and does a little hunting. He has a pet dog named Drake. Dale is a fun-loving adventure-seeking teenager who is not neccessarily as wise as he should be. He doesn't think things through and has often had to do things the hard way because of that endearing feature. He has a strong heart and a will to protect his friends and family. He enjoys going out nights and having some fun at the local taverns or at private parties with his friends. However on the battlefield he is like a whole different person. Cunning and quick, he will never fail to defeat an enemy or accomplish a goal. He has decided conciously not to be so introspective or analytical as some of the other Elves that he has met. "What if this happens?" they always seem to ask. "What are the 'repercussions' of an action?" He guesses this is why he is not a mage unlike his Elven friends but rather a fighter.

The Bad News

Sot-sirc is in Zethul.

I had originally thought to end this letter with that statement. He is here. At least, I think Sot-sirc is a "he," but he might be "she." No one knows who he is or what he looks like. No one meets him. He shows up somewhere, does "a job," and then is gone. The only evidence that he's ever been in a kingdom is that things have changed. It's almost never for the best.

If he (I'm going to refer to Sot-sirc as a male, if for no other reason than because I give most females I've known too much intellectual credit to be this devious) comes to a kingdom, it's not usually for violent reasons. He's not an assassin -- far from it. Not to say that he can't handle himself in a fight. There's probably a reason nobody alive can identify him, when in a land this big, someone has to have seen his face at some point. But he doesn't broker in death. He brokers in information, and he has a knack for obtaining anything anyone wants. If it can be known, he can find it out.

Nobody knows all the channels he uses. He uses them as well as anyone, though. He has contacts in every corner of the underworld. The Ganglords pay him double what they pay any of their local agents without thinking twice. He's gathered data for High Priests and, recently, for the King himself.

Or at least, that's how the rumors go. Depending on whom you believe, at any point in time he might be at any three places in the world. And whether or not he's there, things happen. Local governments fall. Politicians and leaders of business take early retirements and move far, far away. One merchant house rises to the top while its competitors fall by the wayside, one at a time. Rogues and thrill-seekers and sages all turn to Sot-sirc when they're in need of better means with which to do their jobs. He has something to offer everyone.

Having him show up anywhere is a sign that something big is about to happen. Things are going to change in unpredictable ways. And, most likely, he'll have something to do with them.

That's all pretty general, though. Here's a story that may help you understand exactly what it means to have Sot-sirc nearby.

Fifteen years ago -- give or take -- someone started querying sagacious back-channels. If you know where to look, there are all sorts of questions being asked. Questions like, Where is Dark Lord Krev Bankyat's crypt? Or, Does the Life-drinker Sword wielded by Bor-Kal Vuluk the Sorcerer at the battle of Ruusan still exist? Or even questions that don't involve magic-users, but let's face it -- that's what everybody wants to know about.

That was the case here, too. Somebody had stumbled across a reference to some artifact or other, some sort of powerful magic-doo-dad, and wanted to find out where it was. There was a little on it in the Holy Royal Library archives, but let's just say that the person looking for the information was not a Knight Templar. So getting there was going to take some powerful manipulating of people who aren't so easily manipulated.

It wasn't going to be enough, though. Because for all the Priests knew about this artifact, they didn't know where it was, and they knew only a little about where it had been or what it had done. There are thousands of such objects, creations with important, indistinct pasts that have been locked away from the world, all but forgotten. Some of them stay that way -- hidden, forgotten. This one didn't.

The trail for this particular object led to Zethul, where it ended. The client made it this far, but no further, and settled in. Searching. Waiting. Searching some more. After several fruitless, frustrating years, he made the queries that brought him in contact with Sot-sirc. That was the first time Sot-sirc came to Zethul.

Within a year, Sot-sirc had completed his research and was gone again, leaving the client to find that which he sought. And he found it.

If you were in Zethul when that object was found, you know it. That was when we stopped being. The artifact is called the "darkstaff." The High Priests don't want us to know about it, but that thing -- it's what took us out of our lives for years. Picked us up and dropped us back down in the middle of a war we never asked for. Sot-sirc helped Len Markus -- that's right, Len Markus, the late Nirama's former associate -- find an artifact of unholy evil that could have killed us all.

Now he's back. Sot-sirc has returned to Zethul. And I don't know about the rest of you, but after what happened the last time he visited, I'd just as soon he left again as quickly as possible.

What are you lookin' at, Orc-breath?