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Isn’t it funny how life seems so full of irony? Thaddius
Narwhal died when Fineous was thirteen years old. A
wine purveyor by trade, a wine barrel fell off a wagon, and crushed him.
A month later his mother, Rianna, married Zeddicus Narwhal, Thaddius’ brother/
business partner. Fineous learned the trade,
worked in the warehouse, but he never felt he fit in. After
he had succumbed to the peer pressure of his fellow workers, Fineous started to make “quality
checks” of the various wines. He and his
co-workers started to hang out late in the warehouse to drink and throw bones. Pretty soon debts started to pile up, and the only way to pay for them was
to secretly sell off casks of wine. As soon as
Uncle Zed found out, Fineous was publicly flogged. It
was not so much the point of being a thief, Zed told him, as it was of the stupidity for boning
with people who used loaded dice.
Zed explained to him he had gambled away his fathers share of the wine business, and was
not entitled to any of the profits. But he could
redeem himself by lots of hard work. Since Zed had
no children of his own, Fineous might one-day come into good graces and take over the business. As luck would have it, Rianna gave birth to twin boys a
year later. Fineous went to the “Married
Maiden,” and got smashed out of his gourd. While
there, he saw some priests of Tymora. He
berated them, for their goddess was a bitch. A fat
priest stood up and smacked Fineous in the side of the head.
The next day when Fineous became coherent, he went down stairs to the gathering room. The same fat priest sat there with Rianna and Uncle Zed. Fineous was introduced to Prior Chance. Prior Chance explained to Fineous of his transgressions
against the Lady of Luck. He was also informed he
would make amends to the church in the form of work. They
argued for a while, and when Fineous realized he had two stepbrothers and was no longer needed,
he gave up.
The first year at the Abbey was tough. Not
only did he have chores to perform, he also had classes. The
Prior would only say, “we do not have illiterate members of the clergy.” Fineous felt as all teenagers felt. What good is an education of useless facts? He would resist, and they would punish him with more
chores. Book knowledge was tough, but he was soon
able to apply his lessons to life. He learned
combat (his favorite), ritual prayers and how to turn undead (his least favorite).
After two years, Fineous was officially welcomed into the church. He was awarded a suit of ceremonial armor, and a mace. Now free to come and go as he pleased, Fineous sought out his old friends
for some friendly revenge. The lady of luck was
with him, and he would win enough money to pay back Zed.
Well so much for best-laid plans. Not only
did Fineous lose all his money, he also lost his armor and owed a great amount of debt which he
could not repay. Prior Chance, now Abbot Chance
was furious. There had to be a punishment, and
this time, it needed to be able to teach a lesson Fineous would never forget. After hours of diving and communing with the Lady
Tymora, Abbot Chance realized there was only one solution.
This punishment was only used in extreme times of need.
It was one that would make brother Fineous either a very strong warrior for the Lady
Tymora, or make him very dead. The brevity of a life quest passed Fineous, like a leaf on a rushing
stream. One moment he sat in the Abbots’
office, and the next he was escorted out of the building.
The sound of the doors locking reminded him of a groan.
It was a sound he did not want to hear again. He
only had his ceremonial robes, his heavy mace, and two letters of which one he was to open upon
leaving Suzail. Brother Fineous, Over the last few years, I have tried to teach you about our
lady Tymora. You have learned nothing. The Lady of Luck is not about revenge against others,
and you are not the butt of some joke. The Lady
Tymora does smile upon you. And she has decided to
take your education in her own hands. Know this, as a member of her flock you are not yet lost. Every day when your awaken give thanks for another day luck has allowed you
to live. If you feel you have had some bad luck, give thanks.
Do not ask her for undue favors. Do not
bargain with her, just offer her up your praise. Place yourself in the hands of fate and trust your own luck. Bear and conduct yourself as your own master, showing
your good or bad fortune with confidence in the lady. Set
direction and goals. When you chase your unique
goals, the Lady aids the chase. Without direction
or goals you soon know the embrace of Beshaba, for those on no set course are at the mercy of
misfortune, which has no mercy at all. Your quest, should you decide to stay in the church is to go to
Amruthar, in the country of Thay. There is a
secret group of missionaries setting up an underground church to Tymora, for it is a land of
great evil, who worship great evil. You are
allowed only to take your personal possessions and money.
Since you have gambled away most of your possessions and money, your load should be
lighter. So take this second letter to the church there. Give it only to Brother Castagir, and he will give you
more instructions from there. And know this, the
Church has paid your gambling debts…this time. MAKE SURE YOU COMPLETELY DESTROY THIS LETTER BEFORE LEAVING
SUZAIL. -C- Letter to Brother Castagir Castagir, May the light of our Lady shine upon you, and you walk in
good fortune for all times. I take pen in hand to
introduce you to Brother Fineous Narwhal. The Lady
Tymora made it known unto me, that I was to send Brother Fineous to you. He is to help you locate the thing. Fineous does not know what the thing is. I felt it better that he not knows, until he reaches
you. This way if he is discovered enroute he is
safe, as are we, in this particular aspect. He is on a Life Quest.
Should he make it to you, we will all know the Lady smiles upon him. Use him however you see fit in establishing the church.
-C-
Fineous set off north out Suzail after he destroyed the letter. He had no real idea of how he would reach Thay, no real
idea of how to find a secret church with no directions, and no real idea how he was going to
afford the trip
At dawn after the first night, sore, wet from the dew, tired and afraid, Brother Fineous
prayed. He poured his heart into the morning
ritual, and for the first time felt the power that was Tymora.
At first it was like a rubber band being twisted tighter and tighter, then suddenly let
loose. The power flowed into him, made him feel warm and safe. He still felt hungry, but that was easily ignored with
the new found since of direction.
An hour up the road Brother Fineous came upon an elderly gentleman who sat on a rock
sobbing. Fineous approached the old man to see
what assistance he could be. The old man scrambled
back on his haunches up the rock. When Fineous
explained his good intentions the old man stood up, brushed off his robes and gracefully walked
off the rock. The old man explained he had
mistaken Fineous for a brigand and not a member of the clergy since clergy usually wear armor
ordained by the church. Embarrassed, Fineous
explained his stupidity in loosing his armor.
They walked together for a while, talking all the way.
Fineous told him his life story, the old man who had introduced himself as Qwi listened
intently. The time went by in a blur of stories,
some from Fineous some from Qwi. At midday they
stopped for lunch. They sat on a hill, which
overlooked a city. Fineous felt a great deal of confusion. They had not traveled long enough to reach even Arabel, and yet here they
were overlooking a port city. As Fineous stood
dumbfounded staring at the city. He heard Qwi
explain it was the city of Selgaunt, and from there he could book passage aboard a ship which
would take him to Bezantur. Fineous turned to ask
how and why, but Qwi was gone. In his place was a
note atop of a chain shirt and coif. Beside it was a small bag containing 200 gp and 20 shuriken with Tymoras’
holy symbol in the center, some food, and a heavy mace with the holy symbol of Tymora embedded
in the shaft at the top of the head. The note
read:
Dear Brother Fineous, Thank you for
taking the time to talk to an old man. To answer
your first question, no you did not just meet the Lady Tymora in another form. Secondly, no you did not meet any divine personages
today. Thirdly, if Tymora did send me, she did not
say anything directly to me. Fourth and final,
because I have this knack of showing up when someone is in need of help. A long time ago, I too was misdirected, and I too was
given a quest. My quest was to help people when
the opportunity arose. These items were things I
just happened to have. They are on loan to you,
except for the mace and shuriken. You can return
them the next time you see me. The road ahead of
you is a hard one, with faith you will prevail.
QWI P.S. Realize you cannot help everyone. Remember the feeling you felt today after your morning
ritual, it will keep you strong of will. And so Fineous headed down the hill to the port city of Selgaunt. By the time he reached the bottom of the hill, the
memory of Qwi had left his mind. The items he had
gained and the lessons he learned were things there and tangible, but if asked he would be hard
pressed to explain how he acquired them. Passage to Bezantur was not cheap.
The only ship captain heading that direction wanted 300gp to take on a passenger. After negotiations an agreement was reached for 50 gp,
but Fineous had to work off the rest as a deck hand. After
three days at sea, Fineous got his sea legs and worked long hard hours for meager amounts of
food. On the fifth day, pirates attacked them. Fineous helped repel the boarders. He watched in horror as the ships healer was
decapitated on his way to help the heavily injured first mate.
Fineous knew there was no way to help the healer, but he could help
the first mate. He ran over, laid his hands on the
mans’ chest and began to pray. The first mate,
whose breath was shallow, sighed and stabilized. Fineous
heard a cheer go up. He smiled, looked up, and
turned beet red when he realized the cheers were not for him, but for the retreat of the
pirates. He berated himself for his pridefulness,
and sat watch over his patient. In the evening he
buried his face in his blanket and cried. He had
never seen a person killed before, never held a dying mans life in his hands, and never
realized there was this kind of evil in the world. The next morning, he thanked Tymora for his life and for sparing the
life of the first mate. Later that day, they
reached the port of Bezantur. As a more wizened
and less innocent Fineous left the ship, the captain thanked him for what he did. He also returned the fare in the currency of Thay, and
offered to exchange the rest of Fineous’ currency. The
captain also advised him to hide the fact he was a member of the clergy not sanctioned by Thay,
and the only church he should trust was Kelemvore. The next problem to overcome was that of the language barrier. In a secluded corner he prayed to Tymora for the ability to speak the native tongue of the people here in the market. He quickly picked out the quality merchants, shopped, haggled, bought and quickly got his but out of town. Four days later he reached Amruthar. |
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