Alfin Biscop

Alfin Biscop was a wealthy cleric of Torm and an adventurer who had retired to Neverwinter as of the late 15 century DR.
==Description==
Alfin came under the effects of the death curse in the late 15 century DR, which caused his body to wither and rot: his hair fell out, his skin sagged, and his nose decayed away. However, it did not impact his sharp mind or his deep voice.
==Personality==
He was famous for his love of chess.
He valued self-discipline. He had no mercy or sympathy for thieves or evildoers unless he had a use for them, and he had no issue with keeping "evil" creatures imprisoned or enslaved if doing so could further the greater good.
When he became stricken with the death curse, he began to question his choices and his worldview, wondering whether he might be being punished for his actions or for his wealthy lifestyle.
==Abilities==
He was a powerful healer, able to slow the course of poisons that were supposed to be instantly fatal.
==Possessions==
He had a mansion in Neverwinter, the floors of which were decorated in a checker pattern to look like a lanceboard. He displayed many trophies from his adventuring days, including a gorgon which had been fashioned into a table and an iron golem which had been fashioned into a magical door; a stuffed owlbear and girallon; an orrery; and a number of weapons, including a barbazu's glaive, an erinyes's rope, and an osyluth's hooked polearm.
The trap which protected his vault was armed with an incurable poison from the tail of Geryon himself, and consisted of many mephits and imps trapped within glass chess pieces.
He owned a special telescope fashioned from living, malfunctioning modrons which he used to study the cosmos.
In battle, he had wielded an adamantine mace.
==Activities==
Alfin was a minor celebrity in Neverwinter such that his presence was looked for and expected during holidays and festivals. He was also believed to occasionally set out to travel Faerûn on his own.
==Relationships==
Alfin was on good terms with the Harpers, and tended to trust them. He also had a number of trusted servants, some of whom he would send out on missions of great importance. He maintained limited contact with his old adventuring companions.
He also had many enemies who would gladly strike him down in the streets if they could.
==History==
In his youth, Alfin had campaigned in the name of Torm. He had faced many powerful foes and notably many devils. He was said to have carried a chessboard on all of his expeditions, and even to have gambled his life in games of chess against a dragon on two separate occasions: once against a silver dragon in which he won, and once against a blue dragon in which he lost and had to be revived by his temple. He was one of several members of his adventuring group who had died and been resurrected.
When he retired to his mansion in Neverwinter, he commissioned the warlock Rokh Manti to create both a devious chess-based trap to protect his vault as well as his telescope for studying the planes.
When the death curse began, Alfin withdrew from the public eye as he tried to find out the cause of it. He sent his servants far and wide to learn of the curse and to determine the fate of his old adventuring companions, and used his modron telescope to study the planes. Eventually, as he lost hope as his body decayed, and dismissed his remaining servants.
After six months, his absence led many to start to worry about where he had gone, and also led the Shadow Thieves of Neverwinter to assume that his mansion was unattended. After having learned of his love of chess from Rokh Manti, they correctly surmised that his vault would be locked in some way involving the game. Thus, they had one of their agents, Pion, sharpen his chess skills in preparation for burgling the mansion. This went poorly, with Pion fatally poisoned. However, Alfin slowed the poison in his system, and blackmailed the thief into delivering a message to the Harpers: he believed that he had finally discovered that the death curse had something to do with the flow of positive energy to Toril from the Positive Energy plane.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Humans
Category:Clerics
Category:Worshipers of Torm
Category:Members of the Church of Torm
Category:Inhabitants of Neverwinter
Category:Inhabitants of the Sword Coast North
Category:Inhabitants of the Sword Coast
Category:Inhabitants of Northwest Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Faerûn
Category:Inhabitants of Toril
Category:Adventurers