Cavarel Avarice

[Lichy Popo]

Age: 42
Deity: Gond
Spell school: Evocation

Rough Description: Cavarel is is tall for a Mulani but unfortunately for him lacks their subtle features and cultured grace, being instead marred with a gawky face that matches his long limbs and slightly awkward manner. He smells of the pipeweed that he constantly assaults the sensibilities of the Sword Coast with and spends long hours in the public sphere parked over an ornate pipe and an elaborate but cruelly utilitarian looking spellbook. His head is kept perpetually clean shaven with his magic and is always covered in public, usually with a small fashionable turban. Unused to robes he wears one of several outfits designed for freedom of movement and augmented with pockets for spell components and foci. He can almost always be found with packed wand sheaths at each hip.

Tutored in magic from an early age, Cavarel was lucky enough to be apprenticed to a semi-retired(for wizards never truly retire) Khazark; an Evoker of great power around who's reclusive citadel the small and exclusive Thavian enclave across the River Sur was built. Over the years it had grown into a bustling merchant outpost, chiefly occupied with the art and business of woodcrafting and enchantment, although the true worth and wealth of the place lay elsewhere- namely in the prizes brought back by raiding parties of magically assisted blood orcs sent into the Yuirwood to fell and transport back the rare timbers.

The Khazark's powerful presence and omnivorous curiosity kept the enclave safe from probing attacks by marauding monsters and rival schools of magic and the occasional tidy little acts of subterfuge by unknown wizards with old vendettas to settle. The flow of rare wood and the goods the enclave created from it kept the Khazark politically safe by ensuring his usefulness to certain Zulkirs interested in acquiring said wood and crafts at a steady rate. Sometimes the skilled logging parties of blood orcs the Khazark employed were harried out of the Yuirwood by furious fey archers, although they quickly learned that to approach the orcs meant that one would inevitably produce a wand or gem and hurl a dire spell of almost inexplicable devastation. When the elves tried to change their tactics to counter this, they found instead ravenous diseased undead brazenly loosed upon them by the fleeing orcs, who's magically augmented logging and transporting tactics usually brought the precious cargo home safe.

Cleverness and aptitude with his tasked work as a scribe(as well as the budding promise he demonstrated with his Art and a decent amount of luck) quickly earned Cavarel that most precious and unattainable of things in the enclave; the ear of the Khazark. For many years of study the Khazark was what Cavarel could best call a parent, for dealing with the nearly god-like surliness of the 'retired' Red Wizard, punctuated with his childlike joy at learning and creating and chatting about new magic, was the closest thing Cavarel had to any relationship at all. Too late he learned that his proximity to the Khazark soured his ability to interact with any of the enclave's other students, artisans, citizens or slaves. The ones that did not openly resent him only shallowly sought some personal favor or were just blatantly falsely obsequious(which alarmed Cavarel most of all).

Not that Cavarel had much chance to interact with the enclave proper, being constantly shut in with the master and his magic or dealings with outsiders(though even in his youth he intuitively understood that he was being kept apart from the enclave and outside because of the precious secrets he was quickly accruing in the Khazark's presence. The Khazark was delighted when Cavarel calmly and knowingly mentioned his acceptance of this unbidden; such was Cavarel's urge to please the person whom he saw as his only friend and confidant).

The sole competition Cavarel endured for the position was a dread-zombie guardian and scribe that the Khazark employed. He used to joke that he preferred Cavarel's work because of his penmanship and because he smelled slightly better than the zombie scribe. In the first truly good form of his life Cavarel responded with furious private research and studiously evoked a strange new scent every day to the Khazark's continued delight. It seemed to Cavarel that the simple expression of his Art and true skills had a more direct effect than any plotting he saw around him, and this grew his confidence and to helped harden him to Thay's constant drudging evil.

After a catastrophic attempt to summon a being from the Outer Planes resulted in a rift that sundered the enclave and granted a terrible outsider of enormous fell power access to Toril, the closeness Cavarel enjoyed with the now dead Khazark turned against him, when first his fellow students(one of whom had secretly sabotaged the casting and caused the cataclysm) and then eventually the enclave itself tried to blame him for the Khazark's disastrous experiment. Seeing no alternative Cavarel took flight.

Fleeing down the river Sur towards Aglarond from the students murderous displeasure, Cavarel managed to find refuge and some solace in a hidden monastery of Gondite Monkanicles. The zealous Gondites were dismissive at first, until the devout priest and inventor who led Cavarel to the monastery explained to them Cavarel's ability to enchant wands and insight into the minute details of evoking and imbuing powerful energies.

Things went well for several years; Cavarel picked up plenty of tricks from the Monks and resident inventors and artificers(and their worship of the Wonderbringer, for he felt he owed Gond some fealty in exchange for the timely refuge from peril) and made good use of the enclave's extensive library of tomes and stores of items of magic cataloged for study. In turn the monks mined him for all the lore he was worth. The relationship was one based on greed for lore and items of power and mutual love of well-crafted implements.

Thus it was no surprise to Cavarel that, when his old peers tracked him to Aglarond, the monks first impulse was to fanatically protect their own temple's secrets and glut of possessions from the attack. They were adequately able to hold back the mysterious(to the Gondites, who knew nothing of their mission to seize Cavarel and return with him as a symbolic scapegoat) band of evokers without much trouble, but Cavarel realized that if some kind of understanding was met that he might end up being neatly bargained off to rid them of the danger, or perhaps even for a particularly powerful item the evokers no doubt possessed. Thus he didn't hesitate to flee when the cavernous temple began to shake from one brutal spell after another.

Begging Gond's favor, he miraculously managed to activate one of the dormant portals that ringed the mysterious ancient shrine on top of which the temple was erected. Holding whatever he could carry Cavarel prepared to sabotage the portal with a purposely broken wand and, after taking one last longing look back towards the temple's heavily warded treasury, he leaped through the luminescent gate and out of the East forever...

[Lichy Popo]

"Wandcraft is a complicated, expensive, and exhausting endeavor. But the results, man! The results!"

-Cavarel Avarice

[Lichy Popo]

...Filled out and submitted by Director Cavarel, since Berusk apparently can't be bothered to fill anything out besides an I.O.U.

Name: Berusk Gnod
Born: I asked him and he threw a hammer at me
Occupation: Smithy
Family: hammer again
Previous Occupations: unintelligible
Desired position with mercenary or trading group: Master-of-the-Vault
Owner of a permanent residence:? Always can be found at Gond's Temple.
Abilities: Unknown, excepting extreme accuracy with hammer throwing

I smartly scooped Berusk up after he mended some rather delicate items for me and aided my in my appraisal of them with no surcharge at all, indeed he seemed delighted to get his hands on magical kick-knacks, especially weapons, even if only for a moment. A great coup for the MVTC, as long as I keep my ducking skills in order. I am keeping him on a personal payroll as co-treasurer, and he will probably be handling my transactions in person whenever possible. I have found it more reliable to let him protect and distribute since he is always nearby Baldur's Gate. Also he seems to discourage last-minute bargaining.

He will not be handling ANY of my administrative workload or decisions, do not seek him out for information in this vein unless you are near a barrier that you can quickly duck behind.

-Director Cavarel

[Lichy Popo]

*notes are distributed to all MVTC merchants and merchant applicants*

Greeting s MVTC members! This is a formal request for meetings regarding MVTC policy moving forwards. Please come have a talk with me at the Merchant League Headquarters where I retain an office. Leave word for me and I will set up a meeting for everyone in turn. If you ever wish to seek me out I can usually be found at the House of Gond in the Palace District. Looking forwards to a profitable future with you all!

-Director Cavarel

[Lichy Popo]

*Director Cavarel meeting with new members Kalek Welter and Joseph Salvatore at the Merchant Headquarters, both very promising additions to the Partisans*



*notes are sent to Partisan Command making note of new additions and the need to address said entrants at everyone's convenience*

[Lichy Popo]

*notes are distributed by courier*

I will be at my customary office in the Merchant League for the next several days, and nights, working on MVTC matters- please send word if you plan to stop by in case I am out taking a meal, which I do at odd hours.

-Director Cavarel

[Lichy Popo]

*Director Cavarel hurries down the Merchant Headquarters halls with folders and bound stacks of parchments stuffed under his arms and a glimmering small-chest balancing precariously on his head(actually magically hovering slightly above it, as one might notice if they looked closer). He pauses to snatch up the letter from the young Merchant HQ page waving it in his face, and flips gold coin at the boy without acknowledging him as he shuffles down the hall, wordlessly mouthing the text of the letter and clucking his tongue in frustration all the way to his office*

[Lichy Popo]

*Startling a page as he pads softly by him without a sound, Cavarel heads back from the meeting to his office with an awkwardly large and precious looking waraxe held casually in his bare hands. Satisfied that matters have been clarified inasmuch as they needed to be, and only slightly disturbed by news of the disparaging presence of a person somehow displeased with the MVTC, he shuts and locks the door behind him. Not bothering with wards, he cradles the waraxe and throws his booted feet up on the desk, quickly falling into a long overdue catnap*

[Lichy Popo]

The MVTC welcomes two new members. And doesn't welcome eavesdroppers.

[Lichy Popo]

*back in Baldur's Gate briefly Cavarel leaves a letter*

Avoiding conflict for the purpose of company decor is vital. Tab and I have spoken to Kalek about not being insubordinate.

The orogs are plentiful and dangerous. I know everyone will be careful and none of you need worrying over about your martial skills by a humble merchant. But do everyone please come to me if you ever need to chat about building a specific attack against a difficult foe.

I pressed Kalek into service guarding me from the beastmen when I met up with him as I was preparing some new spells to try on them. He seemed game, and comported himself well enough against the armored brutes while I took notes about the compound's quirks and hurled spells(some realistic and some esoteric) at them with mixed results. I accidentally caught Kalek in one of the nastier effects that I generated and the poor fellow was weakened badly in the middle of a terrible fray and forced to fight a hasty but elegant little rearguard down the steps back to me as they suddenly poured out of the many stairways and cut at him from all sides.

Quickly abandoning my spells I hurled myself at them and tried my best to hold them back, blasting them with lighting and then pummeling them as Kalek stumbled past me through one or two of their bladewalls and fell, chewed up by foul magic and cut wickedly. Whilst throwing punches wildly at the orogs I managed to catch a knee to the head and all went black just long enough for one of them to get me square with an axe; my last thought as indescribable agony tore through me was that Kalek would die if I fell.

The next thing I knew I was alive in Beregost, with a gentle looking cleric and a very disheveled and exhausted looking Kalek standing over me. He had somehow managed to escape at the last moment, and with some handy magic had rallied back to drag my poor bones to glorious life. He was good enough not to mention that I had very callously loosed some dangerous magic on him, which I took to be a sign that he had taken our little talk to heart.

The beasts seem to be content in their open air lair and are easily enough vanquished- but I am unfortunately forced to conclude that if they were to suddenly become interested in coming a' marauding into an unaware and poorly staffed Nashkel that they could raze it in a matter of hours.

-Director Cavarel

[Lichy Popo]

[A densely scribbled-on and cake-smudged note written in red ink is scooped up by a Merchant League Headquarters page and scanned briefly before being discarded]

Director Cavarel's To-Do List
*Hand-off items to Berusk------X

*Meet with Tab and discuss (unreadable) via tradeway------X

*Renew Lease with Merchant HQ front office------X

*Meet with Gregor Capstan/Discuss Impressario duties------X

*Assign Gregor task to confront (name obscured by cake)------X


The Page tosses the note into a barrel he's dragged into the room in order to clean up after the impressive mess left by the daylong meetings of the MVTC members who've been clogging the HQ's halls of late. The room smells of pipe-smoke and sweat and deals, rather stinks of deals actually. The page mentally goes over the list of characters who had been in and out of the banquet room over the course of the long day, and shudders at what seemed more like a pack of dangerous and barely restrained mercenaries than the sunny merchant conglomerate the MVTC makes itself out to be. An frequently seen and eerily calm foreigner who frightens him senseless though he hasn't said a word to him, not one but TWO burly warriors that looked like they could effortlessly tear the HQ down around them, a quiet and friendly man with a slim frame who is constantly hurrying in and out of the HQ with his pale greedy eyes scanning always scanning, a man who he'd bet his years pay on being a damn Pirate, and a stlarning half-breed Devil girl of all things now! Muttering he stalks around the room with platters of day-old cake in his arms, then spots and scoops up the platinum coin from a dirty plate into his pocket, no doubt left to aid him in keeping his observations to himself. Well, merchants aren't that bad he thinks to himself as he slips out of the room.

[Lichy Popo]

*A letter is sent to all of the MVTC drops where they can be found by interested members*

For obvious reasons I have postponed my lease with the Merchant League HQ Office until the matter of security in the complex can be adequately addressed. I am going somewhat to ground, but members please do leave word for me and I will arrange for us to meet in the openness of Nashkel, where I can find us repose more safely.

-Director Cavarel

[Lichy Popo]

*Director Cavarel, upon arriving at a drop spot and reading new business, angrily hurls his half-eaten apple into into a ravine. Reading of Seril's troubles and injuries he spits into the bushes and punctuates it with an abyssal curse that makes the very air shudder and whine with it's foulness. He frowns even further when reading of the resignation. After a moment spent considering the best course of action to undertake, he strides off purposefully down the road towards Nashkel, loudly and carelessly hurling oaths that would make a ghast blush*

[Lichy Popo]

Tab and Cav visit the Gate Colosseum

[Lichy Popo]

Tab and Cav and Selah Shartess meet to discuss the future of Nashkel