Tinve
Aleeza'baen.
Drow
female.
b.2448
– d.2501
Tinve
Aleeza'baen was born the youngest daughter of a minor house in a
minor drow city. At the very bottom the pecking order, House
Aleeza'baen was reduced to constant infighting with other small
houses and putting together raids on the people of the Pagan Plains
above. Most of her siblings were placed into the clergy or trained as
warriors, but Tinve showed an early aptitude for assassination.
Bloodthirsty and stealthy, Tinve's skill at murder allowed house
Aleeza'baen to climb the complex hierarchy of drow society. However,
it wasn't long before the upstart house stepped on the wrong toes.
After the successful assassination of venerable drow matriarch, House
Aleeza'baen was challenged and charged with murder beyond its bounds,
a serious crime among the black elves. To appease the aggrieved
house, the Matron Mother Valeni Aleeza'baen offered up Tinve as a
sacrifice to Lloth. Furious at being hung out to dry like this, Tinve
escaped her fate by plunging her dagger into her mother's back, and
fighting her way out of the drow city.
Alone
in the underdark and exiled from her home, Tinve was surely doomed to
die, as so many drow renegades before her. However, her aptitude for
survival beat the odds, and she slowly crept her way to the surface.
But it turned out at the surface was just as hostile to a drow as the
wilds of the Underdark. Following numerous attempts on her life by
suspicious and nervous surface-folk, Tinve decided to travel to
Khare, the home of all of Allansia's renegades and outlaws.
Khare
suited Tinve just fine. Her skills were highly prized, and she soon
found plenty of wet work to do in the city. The bloody path she cut
across the streets of Khare was soon noticed by one of the city's
crime-lords: the Evaressemmeem mage known as Forkiz Geung. It wasn't
long before Tinve became his personal assassin, and with Tinve as his
weapon Forkiz and his House of Pale Lanterns soon became one of the
premier gangs, outstripping the violent Hanged Men, and even cowing
the mysterious and powerful House of Jakob.
It
was in service to Forkiz Geung where Tinve met Germane del Sesuro, a
minor sneak-thief from Tethyr. They worked together on jobs, drank
and fought together in taverns, and in time became lovers. Their
union however was not liked within the House. Nelson, the half-orc
doyen feared their collaboration, and began to distance them from
Forkiz. Angered at this, Tinve and Germane planned to leave Khare,
and take a sizable amount of Forkiz's gold with them. Their pockets
full, they fled by night to Arventine, but were dogged by Pale
Lantern men at every turn. It soon became apparent that there was
only one way to get out of this: return the gold to Forkiz and
bargain for their exile. Surprisingly, the usually cruel crime-lord
agreed, but on the condition Tinve do one last job.
Tinve
agreed, and Germane decided to go into hiding until the deal was
secure. He took a boat to Port Gong, a remote pirate isle off the
coast of Evaressemme, and Tinve remained to complete her last task.
She was to find an elf named Orrind who had stolen from Forkiz, and
bring him back to Khare. Easy, she thought. Suspiciously easy. The
job went without a hitch until Tinve ran into Orrind's friends, the
group who would be later known to most as the Heroes of Arventine.
Fearing a double cross by Forkiz, she offered them a chance to kill
Forkiz should they wish to pursue her to Arventine (Tinve had no fear
they would disrupt her task here). Good to have that in the back
pocket. Her fears were right. Upon returning Orrind to Forkiz, it
became known to her soon after that Germane has been killed by hired
mercenaries backed by Pale Lantern coin. Fearing assassination
herself, she withdrew into the shadows of Khare, vowing not to leave
the city until Forkiz lay dead. It was mere weeks before the chance
arose.
News
came that the Heroes of Arventine had arrived in Khare, so Tinve made
her move. With a small band of hired blades, she crept into the city
sewers, and waited. Soon the Heroes arrived, their own task of
rescuing Orrind on their minds. She followed the path of destruction
they left, and found the heroes facing off against Nelson and Forkiz.
It was Christoph, a paladin of Melora who was quite a pleasant
distraction to Tinve, who left her alone with the crime-lord.
Vengeance
sated, Tinve left the House of Pale Lanterns only to see the streets
of Khare awash with horror. It was known as the Eclipse of Khare,
demons pouring into the city underneath a blood-red conjunction of
moon and sun. The only thing on her mind was survival, so she made
for the edge of town. Her path crossed with the Heroes of Arventine
one last time, aiding them against a war troll. A debt paid. However,
the mass of demons made escaping hard. Cornered by barlgura, she
thought her time was up. At the last minute, she opened her eyes and
saw not the maw of an abyssal horror, but a troupe of warriors
dressed in black. Come with us,
they ordered, and led Tinve out of the city. Little did Tinve know
these were the Red Men of Mampang, the soldiers of the Black Mage.
There
were others rescued from Khare by the Red Men. One of which was
Dogbone, an ranger in the employ of the Harpers. It was only he and
Tinve who agreed to become Red Men as the price of rescue. The rest
were butchered. Tinve and Dogbone were stripped of their belongings,
tied up and slung over horses. It seemed like an age travelling like
this over mountain and plain, but in time they found themselves
amidst the old trees that make up the Direwoods. Why here?
They both asked. They had no answer except being forced onto slabs of
stone. The leader of the Red Men, a tall thin man with black hair,
steadily carved the tripod sigil of Mampang upon their flesh. What
happened next is known to only a few, but soon Dogbone and Tinve were
looking at ragged scars in their chests, and their hearts beating in
the man's hands.
Not
knowing what had happened or why, the two of them managed to steal
away one night, a feat not easy even for Tinve. Shocked, confused and
horrified by what had happened to them, they sought out clerics and
mages to aid them. In the months that followed they learned many foul
secrets of the Red Men that cannot be repeated here. One diviner took
Tinve's custom repeating crossbow in payment for locating her heart.
A few more seers, a handful more mages, and Tinve had access to the
Unspeakable Merchantry, the planar auction house that had come into
possession of her heart. With Dogbone in tow (he had fallen in love
with Tinve at this point, a love that was definitely unrequited),
Tinve trod the planes in search of her missing heart.
Nothing
is ever easy. The Unspeakable Merchantry was closing for the astral
season, and there was only one ticket left in the strange city of
Linger that surrounded the auction house. Falling back on old habits,
Tinve stabbed and hacked her way into the possession of the last
ticket. Only one obstacle remained – Captain Dwendae, the cunning
and dangerous astral pirate. Knowing Dwendae would ambush her as soon
as she tried to enter the auction house, Tinve remained hidden and
waited for an opportunity. This came in the strangest of
coincidences.
The
Heroes of Arventine, who Tinve thought had died in the Eclipse,
turned up looking to buy a skiff for their own ends. Despite being
fond of Balthazar, Fu, Eored and Sarah, Tinve's survival instincts
took over. She manipulated them into killing Dwendae, and attempted
to make for the auction house. However, she underestimated the Heroes
efficiency, and they caught her skulking through the streets of
Linger. Both sides knew what would happen next: One of them would
have to die to use the last ticket. Throwing herself at the Heroes,
thinking victory easy, she was easily beaten down. Desperately
looking for a method to stay alive, she began to draw out an
agreement with Balthazar. Her life possibly safe, she started to
relax. However, Eored the elf had little time for her slippery ways.
Tinve fell to the ground for the last time, Eored's arrow embedded in
her forehead.
So
passed Tinve Aleeza'baen, bounty hunter of Khare.
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