Aren

Aren is one of the adventurer companions of Lord Embrace and the Dragon Pilgrim. All three were responsible for the defeat of Dagon and downfall of Ergereth, the Dark Saint. Very little is known about what Aren did following these events, and even less is known to the Lords of Kylia regarding Aren in general.

## Description

### Appearance

Aren is a halfling, and like all of their kind he is of an extremely short stature, standing under 3 and a half feet tall. He has dark, curly hair as well as very tanned and weathered skin, a result of spending a good deal of his life as a sailor.

#### Equipment

Aren usually goes about dressed in the garb of a ship's captain, though with some practical differences. His clothes consist primarily of a suit of finely crafted studded leather armor, accentuated with gold and purple trim. He wears a black and purple cloak over this, but what makes him truly distinctive is the large sweeping captain's hat he wears, equipped with an enormous purple feather. When not wearing his captain's best, he likes to go about in comfortable sailor's tunics and breeches. Aren owns a pair of sturdy sailor's boots, but he usually doesn't wear them since his halfling feet are naturally tougher than those of other people.

In addition to his sailing background, a good portion of Aren's life was spent on the streets of Tollbar, and he has the skills and equipment to match the lifestyle. Aren's armor is dyed black to better help him blend in with the shadows, and he is never without at least three weapons concealed somewhere on his person. Many of these that he currently uses are trophies taken from foes on his adventures. His signature weapon is a sun blade claimed from a mind flayer that once had taken control of Rikkar with the help of a psychic dragon. Some of those same dragon's teeth were later taken and crafted into daggers that Aren also uses.

### Personality

To his close friends, Aren is lively and likes to make people laugh. He enjoys pulling practical jokes on people, both on his friends and on others. To outsiders, Aren may appear mysterious and guarded. He likes to encourage this, often by telling people that he has forgotten how old he is (though of course he knows). His guardedness, however, is mostly out of necessity, since he spent many years in the underground of Tollbar, where he learned that trust given too easily often results in betrayal.

## Biography

### Early Life

As mysterious as Aren's life is, his story started out simply enough. He was born into a halfling family in Edengrat, the industrial capital of the Empire. Aren's father, Ander, was a captain of a transport ship in Edengrat, the *Stormchaser*, and many others in his family were members of his father's crew. The *Stormchaser's* usual trade route was between Edengrat and Port Amlin in Braleir, but they traded between other cities such as Tollbar as well. Aren practically grew up on the *Stormchaser*, sailing the trade route with the members of his family. He readily applied for work at the docks of Edengrat when he came of age, and was assigned to the *Stormchaser*.

When Aren was 36 years old, his father and crew were wrongfully accused of smuggling illegal items, and all of them were thrown in prison as a result. Aren suspected that they were set up by another member of the shipping industry to try to take them out of competition, but regardless of the reason, the plot was laid thickly enough that his father was taken away, apparently to be executed. After hearing a rumor that him and rest of his family would share in a similar fate, Aren took his chance to escape. Sadly, he never learned what really happened to his father or the rest of his family. He would have succeeded in his escape attempt if he hadn't been captured in the Edengrat harbor by pirates, who were, at the time, disguised as a ship of the Empire and on their way to Tollbar. Aren later managed to escape again, and found himself on the streets of Tollbar with nobody there to help him.

Thus, he was forced to turn to a life of sneaking and thievery. While he only stole at first to keep himself alive, he later became connected with the underground network of Tollbar and started to pull off bigger jobs. On one of these jobs, Aren managed to swipe a selection of magic scrolls, and after spending lots of time studying them, he was able to decipher their contents enough to be able to cast the spells they contained.

### The Asylum Project

Several years passed, and Aren became more and more proficient and comfortable both with his life in the alleyways of Tollbar and with his learning of arcane magic. One day, the underground network got wind of something big: a dangerous magic item that, if placed in the wrong hands, could lead to serious disaster for the Empire. Intelligence revealed that it was currently in the hands of a prestigious wizard by the name of Tarquin (an ancestor of the current ruler of the Factum), who was exactly the kind of person that Aren's thieving crew didn't want to have such a dangerous relic.

Aren was tasked with retrieving this mysterious item from Tarquin's residence. The mission did not go well, and Aren was quickly captured (in hindsight, Aren should have known that stealing from a powerful wizard would not be such an easy task). Aren expected Tarquin to have him killed, but that was not to be. Perhaps Tarquin assumed that Aren was only there to steal gold or other such items, or maybe he was unnerved that a dirty-looking halfling was casting spells. Either way, Aren was not executed, but was instead turned over to Tarquin's friends, who were spearheading the Asylum Project. He was placed in a cell on the *S.S. Asylum*, and the ship set sail for the Locker, the gateway to the Astral Sea.

On board the *Asylum*, Aren languished in his cell for an unknown number of years.

### Adventures with Buldrin and Elloc...

The *Asylum* was eventually re-discovered by another ship, the *Star Sailer,* that had traveled to the Astral Sea via the Locker. On board were Buldrin and Elloc, the two adventurers who would, along with Aren, defeat Dagon and take up leadership of the Praelian League.

Closely following the events of his rescue, Aren and his two friends came across the ship of a mind flayer in the Astral Sea, the *Somnium Aeternum*. After scaring off the ulitharid captain, the trio took control of the ship. Aren then decided to spend some time studing psionics under the guidance of Glishek (a Githzerai companion from the *Star Sailer*), the purpose of which was to bond the ship and take command as its new captain.

Further details of Buldrin's, Elloc's, and Aren's exploits can be found here.

### ...And the Events that Followed

Little is known of Aren's course of action following the defeat of Dagon in 1011 IE. He was present for the separating of the Wards of Prael from Buldrin's body into the four current Wardens, and he assisted in the formation of the Praelian League in 1013 IE. Nothing else is known, however, as he spent much of the intervening 50 years (between the League's formation and the establishment of Kylia as a nation) sailing the Astral Sea in the *Somnium Aeternum*. During this time, he established some kind of secret headquarters of his own, presumably somewhere in the Astral Sea.

Aren resurfaced again during the Battle of Kanth in 1065 IE, when the Mad City was making its attack on the Vale of Kylia. He had received a communication from Elloc, who had been trying to reach him to get him to help with the war effort against Kanth's advance. Aren arrived in the lake surrounding the Tower of the Eye near the end of the battle. With the aid of his trusty ship, he was able to deliver the Lords of Kylia through the psychic shield surrounding Kanth so they could finish the battle. Once the Mad City and dreadnaught were destroyed, Aren took the three drow--whose brains had been used to power the flying city--to his headquarters, and was eventually able to repair the damage to their minds.

## Abilities

### Skillset

Aren is first and foremost an expert thief. He is very capable when it comes to sneaking around places undetected, picking locks, and covertly eliminating targets. Aren is also skilled in the use of knives and other such weapons and tools that would help him accomplish such tasks. Aren picked up these skills during his time spent in the underground network of Tollbar. He therefore also has a very good understanding of the workings of that city, or at least he did when he lived there. The knowledge he possesses is far out of date, and the current members of Aren's old crew very likely have no idea who he is and would not readily welcome him back.

Additionally, Aren is an accomplished sailor. Having spent much of his formative years on board the *Stormchaser* (his father's ship), Aren is very comfortable on the high seas and knows how to navigate ships.

### Arcane Magic

Aren augments his thieving skills with the use of arcane magic. Aren is very smart (with a little help from a Headband of Intellect), and during his years in Tollbar he "acquired" a series of magic scrolls and was eventually able to learn to cast magic by studying their contents thoroughly. Aren is especially good at casting enchantments and creating illusions.

### Psionic Power and the *Somnium Aeternum*

One thing unique to Aren is his knowledge and application of psionic power. Aren only gained his psionic abilities relatively recently, after he was freed from the *S.S. Asylum*. Similarly to his arcane abilities, Aren can use his psionic power to augment his thieving skills and fighting capabilities. The primary application of his abilities, however, is in the bond he forged with the *Somnium Aeternum*, a mindflayer ship that was captured in the Astral Sea and that Aren claimed for his own. This ship is how Aren is able to travel far distances with relative ease, as it has the ability to plane shift.

## Trivia

* Aren was born in 863 IE, which puts his current age at 202 years old! However, since time flows differently in the Astral Sea and Aren has spent so much of his life there, he appears as no more than 55 years old.
* Although they are spelled the same, there is no relation between Aren and the Arenblade.