3. Earl

Earl

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    Character: Earl Byrd
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    _Earl Byrd, the son of a seemingly average couple from Waterdeep. His father was a fisherman, his mother a cobbler. He lived the life of an average Waterdeepian boy until one day, when he was but 5 years old, his parents dissapeared without a trace.

    Things weren't exactly going well for poor Earl, but luckily his uncle from his mother's side took the boy to live with him. His uncle, a cobbler, was extremely well-off for someone of his occupation and Earl never had to face hunger or live in poverty.

    Young Earl was an extraordinarily quick learner, a trait which his uncle appreciated very much and they got along very well. The uncle was an educated man, he spoke several languages, all of which he taught Earl to read, write and speak.

    Earl's uncle was a cobbler .. and also a prominent member of the local thieves guild. He had specialized in forgery of documents, burglaries and all kinds of larceny. Being the smart boy he was Earl quickly realized that his uncle wasn't your average cobbler. The shady folk who hung out at the house from time to time, the sacks of loot in the basement, the wax-seals and parchments used to forge documents and the occasional corpse hidden in the basement were what tipped the soon 6 years old Earl off. His uncle realized this and had a chat with Earl, telling him about the thieves guild and other things that he needed to know to continue the family tradition of larceny. The uncle took Earl as his apprentice and taught him how to forge documents, pick locks, disable traps and slice the throats of people who needed to have their throats sliced.

    Earl, a quick learner, begun taking part in his uncles various confidence tricks, forgeries and other less-than-honest pursuits. At the age of fourteen Earl decided it was time for him to join the thieves guild his uncle was already a part of. He passed the initiation tests with ease, despite being only 14 years old. A few years passed and Earl's talent became apparent. He was especially good at forgery and gained some renown among his peers.

    At that time the leader of the thieves guild was a priest of Mask, a very dangerous enemy to have. The priest had a lover, a young beautiful female thief by the name of Marilla. As it happened Earl and Marilla fell in love and soon they begun a secret affair behind the priest's back. One might think that a couple of stealthy thieves would not get caught when they're having an affair .. but they did. The priest was furious and wanted Earl's head. Laying low is what Earl decided to do, but it wouldn't be easy because the thieves guild is a powerful organization. The uncle had little choice but kick Earl out of the house after having given him a couple of coins for the road.

    Earl was beside himself; how could this happen to him? He went from being a promising member in a thieves guild to a man whose life wasn't worth anything. He was wandering at the outskirts of the town, disguised as a farmer, and suddently he noticed a very drunk looking calishite man in a turban walk up to him. The calishite begun talking about a magic lamp that could grant a wish to anyone who rubbed it the right way. Earl chuckled at the idea and made some smalltalk with the calishite before sending him on his way and pickpocketing a couple of coins from him.

    Later he found the Calishite bleeding on the side of the road with a bump on his head, someone had probably mugged him. A worn brass lamp was stickin out of the calishites robes, apparently it wasn't good enough for the muggers. Earl took pity on the Calishite and tended to his wounds and the Calishite man slowly came to his senses and was very grateful. He promised to show Earl how to rub the magic lamp the right way as a reward for helping him and he even promised that Earl could use the lamp, but he warned him to be careful for what he wished. Earl chuckled and thought that the Calishite was drunk again and not to forget he had been hit on the head just a moment earlier. To humour the Calishite Earl rubbed the lamp, as instructed, and suddently a genie came out of the lamp. In a booming voice it demanded to know what Earl's wish was. A bit startled Earl blurted out: "I.. Wish things would cool down a bit" .. Well .. A reasonable wish because since the incident with Marilla things had gotten a bit too "heated" for his liking, don´t you think? Suddently things did cool down, literally, as he found himself in the Icelace. To his luck he was very near the Peltarch docks and a few sailors pulled him out of the water. He was confused at first, but atleast the guild didn't have anyone in these parts to Earl's knowledge. A good place to lay low and wait for things to 'cool down' he thought_


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