Alistair

Alistair is an elderly wizard with a young wizard son, Qorn. Alistair hired Shipton to watch and guard his son on a mission to Sporehaven in the Thimblewoods in Bol. He has a small ship with a shimmery purple sail called The Magic Wand that can vanish and reappear with the snap of his fingers.

Upon first meeting the Shipton crew, he challenged Dave to an armwrestling match to see if the group was strong. Dave beat him easily, and was jazzed that someone noticed how much work he'd done in building up his muscle groups.

Seemingly absent from a lot of his son's life, Alistair still comes off as a caring father to Qorn, albeit one who probably puts too much emphasis on independence and learning on the job. However Qorn did reveal that his dad does not spend a lot of time with him at all, putting him more in the care of the hired help and a house tutor.

Alistair and Qorn seem to specialize in magic that works with forces of nature, given Qorn's ability to transfer the power of the Tree of the Thimblewoods into a normal axe. Qorn implied this magic was a family secret, and that his father had warned him against speaking on it to strangers.

More recently, the party witnessed Alistair having a heated discussion through some kind of magic crystal, pacing the deck of his ship shortly after dropping Qorn off, yelling things like "I don't care what he wants, pay him, you know what this is for!" He seemed so worked up that he didn't seem to notice his son frantically waving him goodbye as he sailed off. Qorn did sadly confirm that his dad had been extra busy with work lately.

Nothing was mentioned about this conversation when Qorn was dropped off safely at Shipton after the mission was completed, likely as the party was wiped out from the long battle they'd survived, but could it have something to do with the enchanted dagger that Qorn fixed up in Everhearth?

Later, Alistair would ask the party while on a mission to Jaynestown to bring back an item from one Regan Tam for an extra reward. The group brought it back after exchanging a bag of holding filled to the brim with gold (provided by Alistair), and when he took it he asked Janxo to go with him, assuring her that after using the item "Bol will be completely different." They then vanished, leaving behind a Deck of Many Things as the group's reward, both of which James and Bo partook.

However Qorn burst into tears, begging the group to help him stop his dad from destroying Bol. Supposedly Qorn knew that his dad had been looking for something for a while, but hadn't thought he'd find it yet; and this item is something he wanted to use before. Whatever his plans are, the destruction of Bol is definitely on the table, and it seems like despite how nice his son is, Alistair might be...evil.

## Spoiler: Alistair is Evil

Qorn revealed to the group that Alistair's plan was to mine deep within the earth under Bol for magic power, wiping out the population of Bol as a side effect. He also mentioned that his dad can do what he aims to do without killing everyone, but plans to do it that way anyway because it's easier. He would also later admit he didn't even seem to notice his son had been missing for a few days, and that his son meant less to him than his plans.

When the party arrived to stop Alistair by either stealing what he needs for the spell (an orb, Janxo, or Janxo's scepter) or by fighting him, he stopped them all easily with a high level paralyzing spell, save Juice, who he knocked out with his magical armor. He then started going on and on about his motives without really saying anything distinct -- man is corrupt, institutions bad, etc. -- when Qorn (or Alistair?) did something with a magic knife, and Qorn wound up dead with it sticking out through his chest.

Alistair seemed a bit pained, but ultimately didn't shake up his monologing, throwing in some stuff about his heart or something. He really seemed to enjoy having a captive audience.

On his way out, he revealed that he must have been speaking secretly with Jeff, whom he invited along to come with him. To the party's shock he did, along with Spot, and before leaving he warned the party not to be in Bol in about a month's time when his plans would commence. He then left, taking the objects he needed (including a lot of Janxo's blood) and leaving his son's corpse behind him on the floor.

While the party was able to meet Qorn again in mirror creature form, they left, feeling confused and sad about the whole thing, with Janxo and Qorn's body back to Shipton.