Zetsu: A Spy With No Name
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2025 11:27 pm
Zetsu: A Spy With No Name
The tiefling known today as Zetsu Tsuchi-No-Gomo does not remember the name he was born with. In fact, he's not entirely sure he ever had one. His earliest memories are fragments—faint echoes of whispers describing a dark bargain forged between a cunning Thayan mage and a fiendish entity, though he never learned more. The Red Wizards of Thay had no intention of allowing their prized asset to have a true identity; he was simply labeled "Subject 13," or sometimes given codenames meant only to be discarded.
From childhood, he was molded with ruthless efficiency to serve as an assassin and spy. His fiendish blood granted him keen senses, darkvision, and resistance to magic, traits that the Thayans exploited through harsh training, psychological manipulation, and painful rituals. The Red Wizards viewed him purely as a tool, expecting absolute obedience and flawless execution of orders. There was no room for questions, hesitation, or individuality.
Yet, even amidst this grim life, the young tiefling found an unexpected passion. His masters insisted he study the cultures, histories, and languages of Toril, believing an informed assassin would blend seamlessly into any society. While intended purely as practical training, this rigorous education awoke something deeper within him. He discovered genuine joy in languages, fascinated by their subtle complexities and the way they revealed the inner workings of societies. Gradually, languages became his refuge, and he eagerly absorbed every linguistic nuance he encountered.
Without a true name, he learned to adopt new identities with practiced ease, choosing aliases for convenience or cover. Each new name represented a new place, a new mission, a fresh lie. These false identities served the Red Wizards well, masking their involvement in countless assassinations and infiltrations across Faerûn and the Underdark.
Eventually, the Red Wizards directed his deadly skills primarily toward targets in the Underdark, believing him uniquely suited to infiltrate the shadowy cities of drow and duergar. He became intimately familiar with subterranean politics, using stealth, deception, and violence to shape outcomes beneficial to Thayan interests. Countless targets fell to his blades, yet each killing chipped away at something deeper within him, something he didn't fully recognize or understand at the time.
His final assignment as a servant of Thay brought him face-to-face with a scholar named Zetsu Tsuchi-No-Gomo. Unlike his usual targets, this scholar had delved into forbidden knowledge, exploring secrets that even Thay found alarming. When the tiefling confronted Zetsu, their conversation unsettled him deeply. The scholar spoke of fiendish pacts and lost heritage, hinting at truths that resonated painfully with his own forgotten past. Though his training allowed no mercy, something about this final kill shook him profoundly.
As he stood over the body of the scholar, poring through scattered notes and journals, the assassin felt an awakening. Words describing ancient rites, infernal deals, and paths to reclaiming one's destiny pierced the veil of obedience the Thayans had cast over his mind. In a rare moment of rebellion, he claimed the scholar’s name as his own—not simply as a disguise, but as a symbol of defiance against those who had stolen his identity from the beginning.
In the chaos following this moment of clarity, Zetsu seized an opportunity to break free. Knowing Thay would never willingly let him go, he sabotaged the extraction arranged by his masters and fled not into the dark tunnels beneath Toril, but instead to a distant Thayan port. There he stowed away aboard a merchant ship bound for Baldur’s Gate. His escape was desperate, and the journey perilous. Magic wards placed on him by Thayan mages nearly broke his mind, leaving holes in his memory and shattering parts of his meticulously trained linguistic talents. Still, he managed to survive and eventually reached the bustling shores of Baldur's Gate, haunted but determined.
Now, free from Thayan chains, Zetsu Tsuchi-No-Gomo moves quietly along the Sword Coast, aware that Thayan agents could still be pursuing him. He remains cautious, yet the joy he finds in discovering new languages and cultures is undiminished. Books and scrolls fascinate him as much as ever, whispering possibilities about his past and potential ways to escape the lingering shadow of his masters. His journey is no longer one of obedience, but of exploration, discovery, and perhaps redemption. He intends to give meaning to the name he has taken, determined that Zetsu Tsuchi-No-Gomo will come to represent freedom rather than assassination, and hope rather than suffering.
