The Zullo Files (archived)

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(((I´ve decided to write a continuation of Zullo´s biography. Zullo has been on the server for well over a year, despite some away time. I am including this as archived data, as well as moving some posts from Guild forums (edited if necessary). I thought that these were good stories and wanted to share them. I hope some of you enjoys the reading. Feel free to send me a PM if you liked it.))).



DR 1347: Year of the Bright Blade.

Zullo was initiated into Candlekeep by the former Guide, the Ancient Elf Vauk (?). Shortly after Vauk stepped down and the current Guide Wendel Ashby took his place.

Zullo became a successful seeker, traveled the sword coast, and studied the biology of the realms denizens. He was eventually appointed the head physician of the Candlekeep infirmary. His duties include attending to the health of The Avowed, the Guards, Visitors, and prisoners.

Zullo was was sent on a long journey East to fullfil his duties as a Seeker. During this time, he visited Arabel in Cormyr, the city of his youth, as well as the moonsea, dalelands, and even Thay. His return journey took a detour through the spine of the world. Some of the following are tales from his journey.

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*letter delivered by courier, arriving with a merchant caravan out of the East*

LETTER TO CANDLEKEEP *EDITED OUT*




*Zullo seals the scroll and sends his correspondence with a caravan departing for the sword coast; leaving a few extra coin with the courier.

He turns to look over his own caravan:

Two seasoned mercenary warriors, barbarian brothers, wildmen of Rasheman, large men with large curved blades strapped across their backs. Their strange garb attracting considerable attention from the citizens of Arabel, who give them a wide berth.

A fat Cormyrian merchant sits upon the wagon, holding the reigns to two horses who are far from the thoroughbreds he promised. The fat man rubs his hands together, grinning over the great deal he made offering to finance the expedition in exchange for first pick of any valuable treasures they may find, after everyone is paid of course. Zullo may have embellished slightly as to what the caravan was after...

Zullo narrows his eyes at the beautiful red haired bardess who's sticky fingers just gleefully picked the coin purse of an unsuspecting noble. A few whispers from her into the ear of any man whether or nay his wits be dulled by ale is sure to yield anything known. She turns with a grin... quickly changing to a momentary look of shock, then a smirk as she meets Zullo's stare. She taps the noble's shoulder "you dropped this sir."

Zullo's gaze turns to the city gate, and the forest beyond. He strokes his beard thinking of the elven Ranger who awaits them at the edge of the wood. "He will find us upon the road I'm am certain of it," Zullo whispers, puffing on his pipe.

Zullo takes a long puff of his pipe and leans on his staff heavily as he approaches the rear of the wagon. One of the Rasheman warriors helps him up the back of the wagon, and loads the last of the supplies behind him. The fat rogue grabs the reigns and lashes the horses, " yah!" starting the cart forward. The Bardess runs through the crowd, tucking away her newly snatched coin purse, two guardsman push through the crowd in desperate search behind her. She jumps with great distance and agility upon the rear of the wagon next to Zullo. Zullo's hands drift to the symbol of Oghma which hangs from his neck, he whispers a quite prayer as he watches the Rasheman brothers start off alongside the wagon on foot. Sharp eyes watch from the forest in the distance as the party passes through the city gates. *

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*Zullo dabs a damp cloth to the forehead of the Rasheman warrior, who shivers and sweats beneath the covers. Zullo lifts the dressing on his wound and inspects it. The flesh is black around where the assassins dagger struck, skin hot to the touch. He applies a purple mossy substance and fresh bandaging.

"Much of the poison has been drawn out" he tells the warrior assuredly with a smile. He knows that if the warrior makes it through the night he will survive, though it may be as much as a week or more before he is able to walk, let alone be fit to travel. He knows they cannot afford to wait.

He turns his gaze to the other large Rasheman warrior in the room, the brother, who sits nervously in the corner, chanting in wildman tongue to strange eastern gods for aid and vengence, his eyes desperate when they look to Zullo. As he moves to leave the room, he rests his hand upon the brothers shoulder. "We must depart on the morrow, I paid the barmaid extra to care for your brother until our return. What we see now will be the worst of it."



Zullo returns to his quarters, knowing there is no small chance he may yet have to deal with a raging and vengeful barbarian before morning should the injured man pass. The potentially fatal wound was received in place of its real target, the wizard knew this well. He locks the door upon entering. Standing over a small table next to a small but roaring fireplace in his inn room in the Moonsheas. He slides a 3 candled candelabria along the tabletop to better shed light as he flattens out a piece of parchment and lifts his quill. The man pauses for a moment, taking out a long curved wooden pipe and lighting it, taking a few draws to calm himself.

Laughter from the bardess traveling with the party erupts from downstairs. "Lascivious woman" Zullo mutters... probably getting drinks bought for herself and the fat rogue, from some sorry miner or farmer who should be purchasing food for his family or seed for his fields.

The old wizard settles into his chair near the fire, wrapping himself tightly within his robes. A cold night in the Moonsheas. He dabs his quill into ink and begins writing.*




***LETTER EDITED OUT***
----
*wizard rubs his temples as the feverish warrior cries out from the room down the hall. he dabs his quill again and continues.*
----

LETTER EDITED OUT


*He seals the scroll hastily, shrinks it and wards it. Zullo lifts a tablecloth from a wooden birdcage, several pigeons within. He picks one out and attaches the small scroll to its talon, shuffles to the window and releases it. Something crashes down the hall and there is yelling.
A knock on the door "Zullo?" the sharp voice of the elven ranger "we need you out here."
Zullo takes a deep breath as he puffs on his pipe. Holding out his hand the staff leaning against the corner lifts from the wall and shoots into his grasp.

He grabs a potion, bursts out the door, and starts down the hall more spryly than most would think capable. The elven ranger retreats swiftly to let him pass.

The fat rogue comes up the stairs behind the elf and whispers to him pointing to the small vial in the wizards hand.

"A cure?" The fat man inquires

"A sedative!" Zullo snaps back.

"Is that wise?" the elf inquires, raising an eyebrow from beneath his hood "I would think the lad need his strength."

"Its for the other one." Zullo retorts, disappearing down the hall.

The elf sighs and starts down the hall after Zullo, pulling aside the folds of his cloak revealing a pair of well crafted elven short swords at his side. The fat rogue quietly descends down the stairs, grinning as he nears the bottom rejoining in the merriment.

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*His party reduced to five, Zullo continues along the Moonshea, tracing what leads he can.



Utilizing the bardesses' charms in inquiry throughout the Moonshea taverns, the warriors' prowess in the scouring of caves, tombs, and encampments, and his own every night by candlelight delving through libraries, ancient tomes, trade manifests, government records and correspondences.

Meanwhile, the ranger scouts the land in search of EDIT activities, or other signs of useful information.

The fat rogue merchant scours his contacts among the caravans and trade organizations. He searches for evidence of how the tear was moved to the sword coast, or any other movement of evil artifacts or relics which may have a relation to the EDIT or the parties interested in it.

Finally, the party approaches the home of the Ilmatari cleric who died mysteriously while seeking to destroy the EDIT.*

*Zullo mutters to himself,* "there must be something... how to destroy it... how to ward oneself from its debilitating effects... how to locate it..." *He puffs his pipe and meanders alongside the caravan muttering to himself absentmindedly as it continues down the road ...* "there must be something!"

////DM INPUT GIVEN////

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Zullo and his party approach the village where the Ilmatari cleric had lived. The villagers claim that the house has been abandoned. The cleric who lived there was described as a powerful and kind-hearted man until he started investigating the EDIT. Once his obsession with the EDIT started, he became a recluse, largely confined to his home, only leaving to venture to the temple for his research. The Cleric was thought to have died from natural causes, likely by some disease. The villagers never approached the house after the priest's natural death.

As the party approached the house, they found it locked. The fat rogue and bardess spent quite a bit of time working on the lock, and quite fortunately found and disarmed a rather well concealed trap. Well, partially disarmed, as the rogue suffered some rather debilitating acid burns, which he is none too happy about, though the rest of the party continued unscathed.

As they enter the seemingly abandoned house, they are hit with a thick wall of mustiness. The dust on the floor indicates that no one's been there in a long time. As the party walks towards what seems to be the old cleric's office, they notice symbols of Ilmater decorating the place.

A lot of potions seems to be left in the abandoned house. Healing mostly. Some old documents lay over the desk.

Zullo sparks up his pipe and begins going through the documents.

The summation of what valuable information was gathered is as follows:

EDIT

*Zullo puffs his pipe muttering and pacing about* "gift... gift.... hmmmmm..." *he whispers to himself*

As he opens the next set of files, suddenly a palpable tension arises in the air. Members of the group starting grimacing and glancing around. "Something isn't right" the ranger curses as he draws his blades

Suddenly, a flash. In the center of the room, a black armored half dragon appears, wielding a dark glowing sword, along with three Lizardmen spellcasters.

He takes a deep breath as his intimidating gaze meets with Zullo's. He cracks his neck before speaking with a distorted voice.

"Humaaaans... here? I do not care about you.. Stay out of our way.. or we'll destroy you. Minions, search the place. We need everything we can find here to make it happen... For her."

Before Zullo can gather his bearings combat ensues. Spells are being cast by the lizardsmen, bigbies and the likes. The elven ranger lunges at one of the spellcasters, tearing its throat out with his blade. Zullo attempts to shield what papers he can from the damaging spells being flung by the lizards, Countering spells as he tries to retreat. A fatal mistake, for in shielding the lore he exposes himself. During an attempt at one of the counterspells, the half dragon flanks the mage and swings his swings his dark sword, cutting Zullo's slightly near the eye. He follows with a shield bash and the fragile mage is hurled against the wall.

The last thing Zullo remembers before losing conciousnes is the sight of the warrior held by bigbies. The half-dragon impales the elven ranger, running him strait threw with his cursed blade. The bardess lay unconscious in another corner of the room, and the fat little rogue is nowhere to be found.

"Quickly!!!" Hisses the half-dragon. One of the remaining lizards sweeps pages off the desk into a bag, another opens a portal and begins dragging the fallen lizardmage through. Zullo reaches out, but falls into darkness.

************

When Zullo finally awakes, the house is cleaned of all relative information about the tear. The warrior is knelt over the elven rangers corpse, he looks to Zullo, noticing him raise his head. The warrior lowers his head and shakes it. Rising he moves to the Bardess. "I think breath is still within her. You should see to her wounds wizard." Zullo struggles to rise, bones broken, a pain shooting through the left side of his face.

"Merchant?" he asks.

"Coward flee." the Rashmani warrior responds, spitting on the floor.

As he rises, Zullo notices the sharp pain in his left eye worsen. His gaze drifts to a mirror, the cut seems to be growing, as if it were infected with some poison, The eye is solid white and Zullo notices he cannot see through it. He stumble around manages to find a potion of heal in his satchel. He applies a salve to draw out what is left of the poison and bandages the eye. Though the pain subsides and the poison is purged, sight does not return.

He moves to the Bardess and stabilizes her. He nods to the warrior, who lifts her in his arms. He looks down at the elf.

"nothing we can do for him I fear." Zullo lowers his gaze.

"We fail?" The warrior asks.

"We press on" Zullo extends his hand and the staff snaps to it from the corner of the room. He rises with some difficulty, joints snapping into place, broken ribs and bruises abound, he winces through the pain and staggers for the exit.

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Since his return to Candlekeep, Zullo has resumed his duties as Physician and Avowed.

He has taken a couple of apprentices, one of whom joined the avowed.

Recently Rummors have abounded that the Candlekeep physician had suffered a debilitating injury that left his seriously scarred and grotesquely deformed.



Zullo has since disappeared from Candlekeep.

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Having recovered from his injury via mysterious means, Zullo has since been reserved. If not traveling - as he has made trips to his homeland of late - he is often in his office, reading, writing, or otherwise working diligently if reclusively. He has maintained oversight of the Infirmary, and has aided Teo and Nurse Abigail, who have taken to most of the day to day downstairs.

The old wizard seems tired of late, and focused on scholarly matters. He has however, recently been venturing out and meeting new adventurers.


/////FYI, the first picture below is probably one of the closest representations to how I see Zullo out there. Even has a solid white eye////