Rivendare (Fergana-55)

Rivendare
Biography
Origin	Montera, Myrtana
Age	30
Religion	Ignisnia, unspecified allegiance
Status	Alive
Appearance
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Eye color	Dark green
Hair color	Chestnut
Relations
Factions	Bandits

Rivendare is a slender man of medium height. He has chestnut hair, dark green eyes and a light beard. A sarcastic lightweight. Cheeky with people from the "upper classes". He has a peculiar sense of humor, so he is often considered tactless. He can't stand bitter things, so he shuns beer. He believes in gods, but does not worship or profess any.

Personality

...

Abilities

• Very good at stealth, quite adept at opening Myrtanian locks, a skilled thief.
• He is an excellent swordsman, as he spent most of his young years training with his father in the use of the rapier.
• He is currently trying to master fighting with two swords.
• He can shoot a bow, but it has never worked out too well for him.
• He lies quite well and can be convincing.
• He is excellent at pretending to be someone he is not.
• He takes a sober view of the future and plans every thing in advance and with all scenarios in mind.
• He can read and write, but only in Myrtanian language.

History

Inheritance

The Rivendare family was once a proud aristocratic family living in Montere, but the rebellious and frothy nature of the members of this clan defamed the family and brought it to the bottom of society. A large part of the Rivendars died in various battles, whether with guards or members of other families, some allied themselves with bandits, and the rest fled to other cities, thus avoiding prison. Our hero's family, despite being in the merchant business, was not very rich. The only truly valuable thing they owned was a signet ring, which was passed down from generation to generation, from father to son. They lived in Montera, but no one remembered anymore that they belonged to an old family hated by the city. When our hero was about twenty years old, his father, due to the family's difficult situation, decided to sail to Khorinis to look for treasure, as the old clan books said that in the old days one of the family members hid all his possessions there in one of the caves. The father never returned, so after the death of his mother, our hero decided to rob one of the houses of the aristocracy in Montera and sail to Khorinis with the money to find his father. Upon reaching the port city, he started looking for his parent, but unfortunately only found him in a cemetery near one of the farms. Unbelieving that a member of his family was lying there, he dug up the corpse and found a piece of paper in the corpse's pocket that read "Quentin". The family signet ring on the dead man's finger unfortunately confirmed his father's identity. Now one of the last known Rivendars is traveling around the island in search of his father's killer, as well as the treasure. His only clue is a piece of paper he found near his parent's corpse.

Assault

On a farm near where his father's grave was located, the thief found a group of bandits, with whom he enlisted to find the target of his new quest by their side. Immediately after joining the band, the hero had to take part in an assault on the city, which ended in success and the death of the then governor. After the raid, the bandit was in charge of guarding the captives and let one young girl named Diana go free, as she reminded him of his cousin, who left Montere with other members of the family as a child. The heir to an old Montere family while stationed in the city sought information on his father's killer, but to no avail. One quiet night, while the bandits were lying drunk in an inn after celebrating their success, an uprising broke out and the city was retaken. The bandits' leader fled as fast as he could, but he too was caught by the combined forces of Khorinis and Monastery residents. Rivendare, while defending the city, was stunned by an axe rib and luckily fell into the moat, where he only woke up the next day. Then our hero set off to take refuge in the forest near the city. There he found the half-dead Nyxril, a comrade-in-arms who had commanded the crossbowmen during the defense of the city against the insurgents. The heir of an aristocratic family treated the crossbowman's wounds, and together they decided to form a new band, through which the two could fulfill their goals and survive on the hostile island. The two bandits very quickly gathered the rest of the people who were in the old band and survived the uprising. Among them, the right hand of the previous chieftain. It was decided that the young Rivendare would become the new commander, as he was the one who reunited the cursed group and, to the rest of the bandits, seemed worthy of the name of the chieftain.

Revival

The highwaymen began recruiting at the Inn Under the Dead Harpy anyone who shunned the city or wanted to hide from the guards. As the band grew, the new chieftain decided that they would set up camp in the mountains by the ruined tower, and from now on they would conduct all their actions from there. While recruiting in the tavern, Rivendare met two mages, a water circle mage living in the city and a fire mage residing in the monastery, who became his loyal companions and sometimes supported the bandits. After a couple of attacks on merchants, the new grouping became notorious and attracted the attention of the governor of Khorinis. That's when the mayor bribed the scout commander, one of the heros' closest men, Nyxril. The traitor gave the bandits foul information about transporting taxes from the farm to the city so that they would fall for the city magnate's ruse. After the successful robbery, the loot was hidden in the inn, where it was to remain safe for a few days until the matter quieted down. The next evening, a squad of guards headed by the governor rushed into the inn and recovered the looted gold. Now the city had information from Nyxril and evidence in the form of stolen chests of valuables. They were therefore able to fully sentence the bandits to the gallows. That same day, at midnight, the bandleader was to meet with the traitor, whom he still trusted, to discuss reclaiming their loot. Upon arriving at the site, along with two of his men, Rivendare, instead of the scout commander, found the town's mayor in his own person at the inn. A loud argument ensued between them. The governor boasted of his victory, of corrupting one of the most trusted men in the bandit group and of being untouchable. The highwayman commander knew that killing the city magnate would mean the end of his faction, since by the death of such an important figure a state of emergency would be declared and the entire Khorinis army would be mobilized. Rivendare merely slashed the governor's cheek as a sign of the beginning of the war between them and wanted to leave the tavern before the guards arrived there. The governor, however, began exclaiming that he knew a person who introduced himself identically to the band chief. He went on to say that when he was still an insignificant trader in the city he slit a Rivendare compatriot's throat in his sleep for stealing a ring. As it turned out later, he was talking about the hero's father, who had arrived on the island ten years ago. This information, along with taunting insults from the mayor, poured a spell of bitterness, and the herald ordered the woman who held the governor under the blade to end the nobleman's life. After the events of the inn, Rivendare and the rest of his men fled to the pass, where they set up a temporary camp. There they were able to temporarily hide from the mobilized Khorinis army and the patrols that covered all the surrounding areas.

Alliance

After killing a couple of scouts patrolling the pass, the bandits had to change their encampment. The city would certainly send more units, after discovering that the previous ones were not returning for a long time. It was then that Rivendare decided to seek refuge for his team in the Monastery, which was occupied by paladins from the mainland. The Herald proposed a pact to the then Lord. The Myrtans were to provide the highwaymen with an asylum, and for this the band would protect the paladins' headquarters and hand over the looted gold to them. Lord Wallace, the Myrtanese commander, agreed to these terms, as he was short of men and feared an offensive by the city. The robbers defended the land of Innos until one of the Myrtanians, reported to the bandleader that the leader of the paladins was secretly colluding with the city magnates. He wanted to hand over the highwaymen in exchange for a cessation of any military action on the part of the city. Rivendare, learning of this, plotted and attacked, along with a couple of monastic knights, a convoy carrying magic ore from the pass to the city, without the knowledge of the paladin leader. Two Myrtanians were killed in this attack, and their bodies were left on the battlefield to trick the townspeople into believing the Messengers' foul intentions. It didn't take long for Khorinis to respond. A large detachment of guards moved on the Monastery. Lord Wallace, seeing the soldiers, took a few of his own and went out to the bridge leading to the temple of fire to conduct negotiations there, as he was unaware of the ruse. When an argument began between the commanders of the opposing factions, the bandits, together with the knights opposing the Lord, attacked Wallace and his men from behind. The Paladin commander did not want to die at the hands of the enemy so he jumped off a stone bridge committing suicide. His body smashed against the rocks was later torn apart by drowning soldiers. After this incident, the soldiers of the town retreated, due to the outnumbered highwaymen and paladins gathered there. Later that day, in the monastery chapel, Rivendare swore in a new Lord of the Knights of the Continent. He became General Bartired, who had previously betrayed the previous commander's plans to the herstor, as his code of honor did not allow him to treacherously stand against allies. After a few weeks of staying at the Monastery, the bandits and their commander returned to their old camp in the mountains. At the time, the city was recruiting new soldiers and strengthening fortifications for fear of an attack by the combined forces of the bandits and the monastery's knights. The paladins presented the bandleader with an armor with the image of the Shadowstorm created from previously looted magical ore before marching out. The leader of the brigands was compared by them precisely to this beast, since, acting from the shadows, he often overcame obstacles using the brute force of his loyal squad.

Treasury

A few days after returning to camp in the mountains, Rivendare sent his men to Khorinis to report to him on the movements of the city's troops and the progress of the construction of additional fortifications. While on reconnaissance, one of the bandits spotted two uncomfortably behaving people at the gallows. Curious about their behavior, he began to follow them and followed them all the way to the old lighthouse. There he overheard a conversation between the two fur-clad men. They were talking about the treasure "hidden in the west," about the camp in the Miner's Valley and about the reunion at the lighthouse, which was to take place the same day in the evening. The scout returned to the bandits' camp with the information and passed it on to Rivendar. The Herald and a small detachment went to the lighthouse in the afternoon and waited in hiding for the blue-clad travelers to reappear, but they did not appear. Bored with waiting, the shaykh's commander went to the top of the lighthouse and noticed that the sun was setting behind the rocks, not the sea horizon. For there was a small island to the west, located not that far from the city. The leader then understood why those people had just met at the lighthouse and what the words saying that valuables were hidden in the west meant. The troop returned to its base at once and the next day began building a small boat that would help cross to the islet. When the boat was ready, Rivendare took his four best men and set sail at noon from the beach near the old wreck toward the land to the west. After arriving and sweeping the island, the bandits came across a cave hidden in dense thickets. The bandits searched the cave and at the end of the tunnel found a bizarre barrier that blocked the passage and blurred the image behind it. The bandleader ordered two of his men to bring the water circle mage Arlin, who was a good friend of Rivendare's. When the mage arrived on the island he was surprised to see that a magical object had been created in such a place. He drew mystical shapes on the sand that led to the barrier, slit his hand with a dagger and soaked the previously created tunnels in the sand with his own blood. The barrier began to turn red, absorbing the mage's blood, as it were. After a moment, the magical veil burst, revealing the secret it protected. It was a bizarre treasury, full of chests, trunks and various equipment. The bandits immediately rushed to open the caskets, but as they did so a very cold and strong wind rushed into the cave, and echoing footsteps could be heard from the cavern entrance. The looters froze. After a moment of waiting, a figure emerged from the tunnel wearing the now old and rusty armor of a Myrtan paladin. With the arrival of the phantom, a cold wind flowed into the vault again, and the air turned slightly green.

Curse

The ghost asked in a calm and dispassionate tone the robbers who they were and what they were doing in such an isolated place. The water mage decided to answer the phantom's questions, as this was apparently not the first time he had come to talk to a creature from beyond the worlds. Arlin fruitlessly tried to find out from the phantom who it was, or what it was doing in such a place. The ghost kept asking the same questions, until finally one of the bandits dared to interject and shouted that the group was called the Band of Rivendare. The spirit, hearing these words, shouted that it was forbidden to utter this name, and such a strong gale came into the cave that the bandits, along with the water mage, were pushed by it all the way to the rock wall. The priest of the water circle realized that it was the spirit that was controlling these frosty breezes in a bizarre way, and began to ask the phantom softer questions, talking to it about the past. The phantom revealed that his name was August Thassarian, he also kept mentioning the blade stuck in his chest and the rich man with whom he came to this island. The band's leader, hearing the phantom's name, recalled that he had seen in his youth a short note about this man in a family book talking about treasure. The leader of the looters asked if the rich man mentioned by the phantom was someone from the Rivendare family. The phantom shouted again, conveying to the callers that the name was cursed. A gust of wind hit the treasure hunters again and caused them to once again hit the rock wall with great force. The heir of the Rivendare family told the ghost that he was related to that man, and showed the shadow of the murdered man the family signet ring as proof. The ghostly figure suddenly became calmer, announced to the robbers that they could take the treasure since the rich man's relative had come for it, then added after a short pause that he would take the relative with him in return. After these words, the bane moved at high speed toward the heretic and struck his body. Rivendare fell to the ground and lost consciousness. The bandits managed to awaken the commander after a while, but he could not utter a word. When moments later a sound finally came from his mouth everyone present in the vault was horrified, as it was an unfamiliar voice. The wraith began to speak through Rivendare's body, saying that he would exact his revenge on him. The priest of the circle of water placed his hands on the head of the heretic and began to say a prayer to prevent the phantom from taking control of the lying man's body. The demon shouted that Rivendare's body now belonged to him, and his heart exploded. Hearing this, one of the bandits holding the body of their commander became terrified and subconsciously removed the family signet ring from the possessed man's finger. The nightmare suddenly subsided, and the chieftain returned to himself. During the incident he was conscious, but could not overcome the cursed soul of the wraith. The ring removed from his finger saved Rivendare, but now Thassarian's soul was trapped in it. After the events in the cave, the bandits picked up the treasure and carried the weakened heretic back to camp. The leader of the shaykh hid the signet ring in a trunk next to his bed and, exhausted, fell asleep very quickly. After a few hours of sleep, the chieftain awoke and began to hear frightening whispers coming from outside.

Trivia

• His true name is not known to anyone, only that it begins with the letter "F" is known.
• The rapier that Rivendare wields owes its name to Julia Thassarian.