Steave

A figure shrouded in mystery, **Steave** is known by a select few as the gatekeeper of death; it is he who shepherds the recently deceased into the afterlife...or strikes a bargain to postpone it, one that comes at a great cost.

He appears before the dying as the picture of a southern gentleman, polite but firm, decked in flannel and a straw hat, with a soothing quality to his voice.

His status as spirit, myth or even deity is not quite clear.

### In Popular Culture

The expression "to meet Steave" is a euphemism for death among those who've heard his name. It is often used in a threatening manner.

### Known Encounters

#### Travize

Steave greeted Travize after a puppeted Grukk dealt him a lethal blow. In exchange for Travize's second chance at life, Steave took his ability to ever reply back to the Collective via their mind link. He is not allowed to mention Steave, their bargain or any details about the purgatorial experience to another living soul.

#### Timmeron Brasshand Nikotos

While inside the enchantment of memories, the protagonists saw Timmeron's fateful moment where his hand became corrupted in the restricted section. However, unknown to Timmeron at the time, there was a figure behind him in the memory that could only be filled in by Travize. Travize, being the only member to have encountered Steave before, remembered Steave and it was revealed he was present at that moment in time.

##### *(See Quest 2.5: "Welcome to the Jungle" for more information)*

Timmeron met Steave in person when he was impaled by a void spawn's spines. Steave allowed him to live on, but in return the curse that was slowly spreading through is body could never be cured.

#### Baygrith Blackrock

During an attempt to rescue Sajaina and Travize from the Maharaja's dungeon, Baygrith was pummeled by a barrage of wizard's spells that brought him to the brink of death. He saw the shadow of a dwarf in a place that wasn't where he was. Thanks to a series of fortunate circumstances, Baygrith cheated death and apparently gained Steave's ire as he came to consciousness.

#### Sajaina Seif Zahiam

While the group was venturing into an ancient and abandoned underground city filled with the undead, they found cause to do battle with a powerful lich. Just as the fight was ending Sajaina was struck by a bolt of magic that tore a hole in her abdomen. She was greeted by Steave's pleasant baritone offering her a way to return to life. The cost, though, was that she must follow the rules of the religion of Bartos, the god of the sun and nature. Additionally, she must never attack or steal from a member of the Order of Bartos.

Sajaina met Steave a second time, though only briefly. When her pregnancy went south, her new baby boy drew the life from her body. Steave did not demand anything from her, however, as the Archbishop of Bartos restored her with a resurrection spell.

#### Caireann Cineálséimh

During the assault on the Tower of Apotheosis, within the mansion of the Archmage, there was a pitched battle between an unholy scion of Smitty and Ronya against the Chosen of Astor and their allies. Alchemical elements flew about the room but near the end of the fight, just as the tide was turning in favor of the Chosen, the Ascendant Scion cast a lightning bolt at Caireann which knocked her back. After getting up she met Steave as a female Half-Elf. She was offered a return on the condition that she help balance the forces of good and evil in this world...by doing an evil act a day. Caireann was reassured that her actions in fulfilling her wicked tasks wouldn't be subject to judgement on her true day of reckoning and she accepted.