Cor'avel Kenyr'rae

[Sereph]

Character Name: Cor'avel Kenyr'rae

Player Name: Sereph Soruko

Cor’avel was born into a small elven commune in Ardeep Forest, the son of Rhaernis and Kethala Kenyr’rae, both of whom were rangers. During a hunting excursion deeper into the forest when Cor’avel was young, his mother, Kethala, was slain by a pack of owlbears, which his father was unable to defeat. Rather than returning to the commune and living out his days there without his beloved wife, Rhaernis instead took his son northward, to the sprawling metropolis of Waterdeep. It was here, in times past, that Rhaernis had been a reputed assassin, and so he became once again.

Intent on teaching his son the ways of survival, Rhaernis began training the young Cor’avel almost immediately in the ways of the assassin, ways that Cor’avel took to with outstanding ease. Not only did he take almost naturally to picking locks and disabling traps, but he quickly proved able to slip past even the most secure defenses, completely undetected. These skills, along with many others he mastered under his father’s tutelage, would serve him well throughout his life.

Though Rhaernis was a rather devoted wielder of the rapier, and he began training his son with the weapon, it soon became apparent that Cor’avel much preferred the shortsword. And so Cor’avel was taken to the home of an old ally of Rhaernis’, Nimryl Maeryannia, a master of the shortsword, and a fellow moon elf. It was here that Cor’avel was taught to use shortswords, both in pairs and with a shield. Combined with his natural dexterity and skill with a bow, this new proficiency would make him a worthy opponent to those who would thwart assassination attempts.

He returned to his father after completing his apprenticeship under Nimryl, and so it was that within a decade, Cor’avel was helping his father with a few of his many contracts, and after only a few more years had become an assassin in his own right, though still far less skilled than his infamous father, a point the elder elf was quick to point out whenever his son grew overly confident in his own abilities.

For forty years, Cor’avel worked both separate from and together with Rhaernis. Considered among the most efficient assassins in Waterdeep, Rhaernis proved helpful to Cor’avel not only by teaching, but by providing a reputation. It didn’t take long at all for the senior Kenyr’rae’s reputation to spread to the junior, and the two quickly became one of the most sought-after pairs of assassins in the city. Cor’avel was fully content to live out the remainder of his days in his father’s shadow, knowing that regardless of his skill compared to Rhaernis’, his reputation and wealth would both be great. He thought little of the future, and planned for it even less. That all changed when his father, the legendary Rhaernis Kenyr’rae, failed to return from a job.

It took three months before Cor’avel learned of his father’s disappearance. Rhaernis had often taken on contracts that required travels to cities some distance away, and those jobs would often take well over a month. When word got out that Rhaernis hadn’t been seen for quite some time, and that his most recent job had been inside Waterdeep itself, Cor’avel realized his father wouldn’t be returning. More angered than upset by this loss, Cor’avel was furious that his father, the single person in the world he had any trust in, would betray him. His fury quickly subsided, though, when he realized that with the disappearance of the unparalleled assassin Rhaernis would give him a chance to gain even more power and riches for himself. Continuing to live as he always had for the next two decades, Cor’avel did indeed begin to earn both a greater reputation, and a greater amount of gold. He had become the exculsive assassin hired by those who used to so often hire his father.

It was in this way that the moon elf came to the attention of the Shadow Thieves. Nimryl Maeryannia, Cor’avel’s mentor himself, had been a member of the organization since it was founded over a century before, but had remained in Waterdeep even after the guild itself was banished. Given the position of Guildmaster of Assassins in the Dock Ward by the Shadow Thieve’s re-established Waterdhavian branch, Nimryl quickly recruited Cor’avel, who eagerly joined, especially upon learning who he would truly be working for.

After joining the infamous thieves’ guild, Cor’avel worked harder than ever, working both for the Shadow Thieves and as a freelance assassin-for-hire. It took only three years before the moon elf was asked by another Shadow Thief to relocate to Athkatla, Amn’s capital and the base of operations for the Shadow Thieves. More than happy to get a change of scenery, Cor’avel willingly accepted the offer, and immediately traveled to the southern trade city.

The next forty five years of his life were rather uneventful, as much as the life of a criminal can be uneventful. He worked steadily for himself and for the Shadow Thieves, most frequently as an assassin, though occasionally taking part in other activities, illegal and otherwise, to make a quick profit.

While investigating a small band of criminals that had been victimizing a group of merchants he had been hired by, he learned of a man named Kurth. Kurth was a gruff, uneducated human who could hardly speak properly, but he was a canny criminal none-the-less, albeit a petty one. It took Cor’avel little work to discover Kurth’s band was part of a small thieve’s guild in the area, which was, in turn, controlled by the Shadow Thieves. A rather unimportant piece of information, but it might prove useful, and it was enough to prevent him from killing Kurth and his group outright. Instead, Cor’avel kept an eye on the guild, and Kurth in particular for the next nine years.

It was in this way that he met, one rainy day before a festival for Waukeen and Lliira, the only person he’d come to call a friend. He had seen Kurth come and go from that shop rather frequently, and so he picked a day he knew Kurth wouldn’t go that way, and went to have a look at whatever was so interesting inside this shop. He found it outside the shop, trying to get a large wooden sign onto a signpost. What he had guessed to be an interesting object or ware turned out to be an interesting, and quite beautiful, elven woman.

Cor’avel quickly came to the conclusion that Ailahra was a cohort of Kurth’s, a fence, probably. He introduced himself, and the two had a conversation. Planning to uncover just exactly who she was, and whether or not she, too, was a Shadow Thief, the assassin began meeting with her on a regular basis. It didn’t take long for him to surmise that she wasn’t a Shadow Thief, or even a criminal. Normally, he would have found better ways to spend his time than with someone so against crime as she, but he couldn’t help being oddly intrigued by this elven lass.

For an entire year, Cor’avel continued to meet rather frequently with Ailahra, though he was always careful never to reveal that he was in any way a criminal. He discovered that the arrows she crafted and sold in her shop were exquisite, and he soon used her arrows exclusively for his assassinations. It didn’t take long before his associates took interest in the quality of the arrows, and he began to send business her way. Business she’d never approve of if she knew who the customers were, but business none-the-less.

Although indirectly, Cor’avel had brought Ailahra to the attention of several of the thieves’ guilds in the district, almost all of them run by the Shadow Thieves. One of these guilds decided to make a contract with her for a large supply of arrows each month. If she refused, they’d simply kill her; the guild, coincidentally, sent Kurth to make the bargain. Cor’avel, knowing that she knew Kurth was a criminal, and that she would refuse, hurried to her shop, hoping to warn her, only to find that she’d already met with Kurth, and managed to kill him.

The local assassin’s branch of the Shadow Thieves would be hired to assassinate her, he knew, and he suddenly realized that it was his fault. For the first time in his life, he felt guilty. He wasn’t entirely sure whether or not he cared if she lived or died, but he knew that he couldn’t let her die because of something that was his fault. He told her to gather what she could carry, and he’d go back for the rest later. Quickly, he hurried her out of the shop, and the two of them made their way out of the city and into a small wood.

After making sure they hadn’t been followed, the assassin quickly returned to the city, first to his own small apartment, gathering all the possessions he had there, which were few. He knew his wealth would be safe in his own, private safehouse. He began to head to Ailahra’s shop, but thought of something on the way.

Hurrying back through the city, he made his way to the home of another female elf he’d only recently been hired to assassinate. Fortunately for him, she looked quite a bit like Ailahra. Also fortunately for him, she was home alone, and without a second’s hesitation, or even a rise in his pulse, he slew her, completely silently, as he always slew his targets. Wrapping her in a carpet, he made his way down the street, offering to sell the carpet to a few people, though always turning down the prices they offered, only to avoid suspicion.

He left the body in Ailahra’s shop, when he reached it, and hid Kurth’s body in a pile of crates several buildings down, careful to make sure his face couldn’t be recognized. He returnd to the shop, hoping the decoy body would buy them a bit of time, and collected as much of her possessions as he could, making his way back to the wood a long time after nightfall. That night, they left all of Amn behind, traveling north through Cormyr, and then heading northeast for as far as they could, until they finally came to a halt in their travels as they passed into the Narfell region, through Rawlinswood, and then, at long last, into Norwick.

[Celandine]

Reviewed, XP pending