Dawntree, Part Three

III: Unfolding Lives, Unfolding Dreams

By Ed Greenwood

The dream of Dawntree couldn't have begun without Tasar Taurntyrith, but it would almost certainly have never been more than one elf's heart-full dream if not for Tasar's friends.

Rauvelore ("Rauve") Bhephel (CN male elf War1) was born in the Year of Burning Steel (1246 DR) to Suedlaurma and Vlorn Bhephel, formerly of Ardeep, and latterly owners and proprietors of Bhephel's Bottles/Exotic Wines and Cordials of Sulmor Street, North Ward, in Waterdeep. This shop sells all manner of drinkables, rebottled from travel kegs and casks into the finest, most splendid-looking bottles Vlorn can find and buy -- or Suedlaurma can craft with the three lady gnomes who taught her glassblowing (of Tammerbund's Glasswares, Mendever Street, Sea Ward, Waterdeep). In status-conscious Waterdeep, the bottles -- particularly if they look very expensive or are suitable for long-term use as decanters (and the Bhephels are quite willing to refill bottles they've sold) -- are consistently strong sellers. They enable a shopkeeper or laborer with few coins to spare to bring a "handsome gift" to a feast or wedding without the gesture costing overmuch.

Although he likes his parents and the shop work well enough, Rauvelore was always determined to make more of himself -- much more. Until Tasar unfolded the implications of Dawntree, he wasn't sure what "much more" he wanted, and he still isn't quite sure how to get it, but Rauve does have one thing: determination and drive. He'll do whatever it takes, tirelessly, to achieve a desired result, shouldering through life (quietly, politely, and without drawing undue attention) with the persistence and strength of an unstoppable plough. Only death will keep him from making Dawntree -- somehow -- a reality.

Nremyn ("Nemmer") Sarsantyr (CN male elf Rog1) was born in the Year of the Purple Basilisk (1247 DR) to Embre and Raustril Sarsantyr (formerly of Ardeep, and latterly of Sarsantyr's Tapestries & Draperies of Vondil Street, North Ward, Waterdeep). A restless, pranksome child, Nemmer was bored by his parents' shopwork and grew to detest it when very young, deliberately ruining task after task until banished to a bedchamber and locked in. He soon learned to unfasten the window and journey across the roofs of Waterdeep -- escapes uncovered by both parents, each of whom kept their discoveries from the other and Nemmer, deciding it was best to let him find his own road and fate.

Find it he did, in a series of pranks that sometimes involved small "borrowings" of items, but never thefts for profit -- until he witnessed a rich visiting human merchant from Amn cheating his father, and "balanced the books" by stealing a coffer of coins from the man's lodgings. When he triumphantly presented his father with the coffer, Raustril was aghast. His terror of retribution soon turned to rage at Nremyn, and the two had their first open fight, which ended when Embre shrouded them both in a hurled drapery, throat-chaining them side-by-side to a window-pole from the shop stock with tapestry gathers, and lectured them both into an uneasy truce. She extracted a promise from Nremyn that he was never do such things as long as he dwelt with his parents . . . a promise he kept by soon departing for a life on the streets and rooftops, stealing more food than anything else. Ever restless for adventure, Nemmer kept (and never stole from) his three best friends, and when he first heard of Dawntree, seized on this "rightful adventure" as what he wanted to devote his life to.

Oenel Mrhulaedir (LN male elf War1, Str 16) was born in the Year of Pain (1245 DR) to Jhanaethe and Ormsiir Mrhulaedir (formerly of Ardeep, and latterly of the Tirelessly Turning Wheel/Caravan Curios from All Far Faerûn of Julthoon Street, North Ward, Waterdeep). His parents were unusually large and big-boned for elves, and their son grew even larger -- to the size of a mature human male of stocky build. Patient, strong, and quiet from birth, Oenel learned to move deftly through a crowded labyrinth of fragile (and irreplaceable) items in the shop, where every breakage cost his parents coin. Oenel's mother told him many bedside tales of the former greatness of Ardeep -- stories Oenel loved -- and it was years before he realized she did this to distract Oenel from his father's covert disappearances.

It was years after that before he learned his father was a Harper who met often with Laeral, the Lady Mage of Waterdeep -- and sometimes with her sister Qilué Veladorn, the dark elf who betimes bided in Ardeep.

Read more about the beginning of adventure of these four founders in the fourth part of this feature!

About the Author

Ed Greenwood is the man who unleashed the Forgotten Realms on an unsuspecting world. He works in libraries, writes fantasy, sf, horror, mystery, and even romance stories (sometimes all in the same novel), but he is still happiest churning out Realmslore, Realmslore, and more Realmslore. There are still a few rooms in his house with space left to pile up papers in . . .