Manawyd

**Manawydan Daiki** is a kleptomaniac half-elf rogue.

## Description

### Appearance

Manawydan Daiki is a tall, somewhat gangly fellow. He has long legs and slender fingers. His skin is a golden brown color. His hair is thick and ebony black, and usually its cut short and unevenly, which causes it to fall over his face.

He dresses in all black and grey, often wearing a torn cloak and a hood pulled over his head. He wears a lot of leather, such as bracers, gloves, and his Boots of Elvenkind. He wears little ornamentation, but he does have a few pieces which are quite important to him, such as a Ring of Protection.

### Personality

Manawydan Daiki is a well known prankster and silvertongue. He is an incredible liar (or certainly thinks he is), as well as a kleptomaniac.

## Biography

### Background

Manawyd hails from Spire City. His exact origins remain unclear to all but himself.

### SweetWater

Manawyd began his journey with the party when they were summoned to the farming village of Sweetwater. The Mayor Abigail Bolton called the party to help investigate the cause of a strange water-borne illness. After some investigation, the illness was tracked back to something called a Greyrot Shard, which had been planted by a local group of goblins.

With wit, clever tactics, and raw power, the party managed to outwit the goblins. Calix and Dordlo pried loose the Greyrot Shard, and the party collected treasures from the goblin lair. Manawyd and Gahildorir got the seemingly brilliant idea to return to Sweetwater in the hopes that they could have the shard forged into a weapon, while the others stayed behind in the caves to ensure the waters remained clear. However, this plan quickly backfired when the smithy they tried to commission fell into a sort of torpor upon making contact with the stone. The pair reunited with their party and went to the Mayor's office, but found that she was already hosting visitors in the form of Norlond of the United Mercenaries and Adventurer's Association (UMAA). The shard was passed off, and Norlond invited the party to accompany him to Spire City.

### Continued Adventures

In Spire City, the adventurerst familiarized themselves with UMAA, learned more about the shards, and thanks to Manawyd's extensive knowledge of the city, they were able to do some exploring at the Midnight Bazaar. During the Bazaar, Manawyd managed to pickpocket an old "friend" of Rineth. However, things go wrong when a box of displacer beasts bursts open, killing Gahildorir. While others are neutralizing the threat, Manawyd managed to escape with a large amount of loot, which he successfully pawned off in the city.

Their first job was in the city of Clemency, where a water genasi shopkeep called Cordelia had hired them to investigate strange goings-on in a nearby bog. In the bog, the party fought Will'o'Wisps and Slithering Stalkers, as well as tracking down yet another shard. This shard seemed to cause a deep stasis over the area, making everything move at a fraction of its normal pace. Unwisely, the group tried to take a rest, and all but **Manawyd** found themselves unable to move. The rogue managed to scoop the shard into a jar and seal it, allowing his party members, and all the bugs who were frozen in the air, to resume movement. Shard in tow, the party intended to return to Clemency, but discovered that the Inquisition was in the area. As the party was wary of dealing with the Inquisition, they chose to abandon Clemency.

### Trials of Yurtus

Manawyd and his remaining friends took a ferry to the Duskshell Village, the birthplace of Dordlo Duskshell and home of his family. There, they were informed by his Aunt Vhyrra of all the recent goings on, meet a strange tiefling girl, and learn of an orcish war-band near the temple of Gabrinimas. The group agrees to handle the war-band, and began making their way up the mountain. About half way up, they came face to face with a group of Orcish Monks. After a brief scuffle, the party managed to capture one of the orcs, and is given an escort to the Enclave of Shagrakh, where they met with the titular leader and learned about his plans for the future of Orc-kind. At the mention of one of their relics, the "Shard of Yurtus", Manawyd makes the connection that this could be yet another Greyrot Shard, and demanded that he be allowed to undergo the trials required to become an initiate.

The orcs were intrigued by the half-elf's gumption, and agreed to allow him, along with the rest of the party, to take the required tests come morning. The first trial required mastery of strength. For this, the party's two strongest members, Dordlo and Calix, faced off in a fighting ring against a pair of orcish monks. The pair managed to push the orcs out of the ring, therefore passing the first test. The second test, requiring mastery of surroundings, required the entire party to make their way across a series of sky-poles. After a bit of difficulty, the entire party managed to clear this task as well. The third and final trial required the party to go up against Tanarukk the Irradiated, a large and intimidating Orc and the guardian of the Shard of Yurtus.

Manawynd attempted to vault up to the shrine that held the shard, but in his haste mistook one of the brute's fingers for a stone and woke the beast. The party faced off against the beastly orc. It seemed that no matter how hard they fought, nothing they did could do any real harm. What was worse, the orc seemed to have an aura radiating off of him which sapped the strength of the party, as well as Tanarukk himself. Eventually, the orc's stamina failed him, and he crumpled over, seemingly dead. Thankfully, Dordlo succeeded in scooping the shard into a jar and concealing it within his shell.

A feast was thrown in the group's honor, and they were invited to stay for as long as they needed to rest and recuperate. During this time, Manawyd briefly tried to invade Tanarukk's cave once more, but found nothing new. His attempts to loot the Monks' compound for valuables also proved quite ineffective.

Eventually, he made his way down the mountains to regroup with Dordlo, Berry, and Rineth, who had gone back to Duskshell village to spend time with Mama Duskshell and the rest of the family. Soon they were also joined by Calix, who informed them that he had spoken to the Orcs, and that they were now making their way to the Vigil Watchtower with the intent of joining the battles against raiders and sandworms. The party, now with the addition of Berry, sped off towards Vigil on the backs of Berry's transformed rats.

After a few hours of intense riding, the party reached Vigil, where an intense battle against raiders and monsters was already underway. The orcs arrived only moments later, and threw themselves into the battle as well. Dordlo launched himself from the Vigil trebuchet, intending to throw the jar containing Tanarukk's shard down the throat of the sandworm in the hopes that the monstrous orc might follow. However, this is not quite successful. The two monstrous beings fought against one another like Kaiju until eventually the sandworm retreated into the desert.

Only moments after the battle was ended, the party was faced with another challenge, as the reinforcements from the Citadel finally arrived, led by Inquisitor Obadiah and his dragon, Kiltharutekk. Although the Inquisition was initially distrustful of the group, Dordlo and Calix's quick pronouncements of faith, as well as Berry's "charms" managed to win them over. Manawyd, for once, chose not to engage.

The party made the wise decision not to interfere any further with the Inquisition and the Orcs, instead choosing to follow another lead into the Amber Steppe. They have a brief run-in with some hellhounds, Berry starts talking to squirrels, Manawyden took the opportunity to dart northwestward along the barrier hills, searching for a pathway up the bluffs. When he was at last successful, he realized he had lost track of where the party was. After an unnecessary search party, the group found their way to a goat path over the barrier hills, and began the journey into the Amber Steppe.

### The AshStone

The party wanders into the desert, where they came across a village. While **Manawyd** tried to make a stealthy approach, Berry did not get the memo, and simply crawled up beside him, causing them to be noticed by a half-elven guard. Once it was made clear that the group was not going to raid the village, they were brought in, and introduced to the village Argdu, a centaur named Khabici. Through talking to him, the group learns that the village is currently in crisis. Two months prior, a strange ash-colored stone had appeared behind his hut, causing it to catch fire. Olzira, a half-elf elder of the village, threw the stone into the watering hole, saving the village, and briefly creating a beautiful hot spring. But things once again turned sour as the watering hole boiled away after a few weeks. Khabici exiled his druid advisor, Alaqa, and said it was her responsibility to fix the issue.

Recognizing that this "Ashstone" is likely yet another shard, the group agrees to help, and goes to the dried up watering hole where they found Alaqa and her wildfire spirit Flit trying to keep the flames at bay. Manawyd briefly made an attempt to charge in and take the shard, but as soon as he got anywhere near it, the heat in the air became so intense that it caused his clothing to catch fire. Manawyd retreated, only for Berry to take his place. She, however, tried to learn from his attempts, and chose to go in naked. Even with Berry's natural tiefling resistance, the heat takes its toll on her, and she barely manages to scoop the shard into a jar before she passes out from heat stroke.

Once the shard was sealed, the rest of the party rushed in. They placed the jar, already white-hot, within another, and Manawyd began sprinting up the barrier hills. Alaqa chased after him, quickly catching up and scooping him onto her back. "Normally an Outsider like you wouldn't be permitted, but you move too slow, two-foot." Once the pair reached the bluffs, Manawyd climbed further up the path, and buried the jars beneath a table-rock. Manawyd and Alaqa returned to the village to reunite with the rest of the party, but Alaqa is once again turned away, as the Argdu claims that she did nothing to redeem herself.

The party is invited into the Argdu's tent, where he thanks them profusely for what they have done. Manawyd's sticky fingers begin to get the better of him, and he tries to swipe a small teaspoon from the Argdu's chinaware cabinet. Unfortunately, he misjudged the size of the drawer, and instead of sneakily pocketing a spoon, he yanked the whole drawer out of its socket, and was caught red-handed. The Argdu used this as an excuse to have his Alabatu throw nets over the party, capturing them. He had them stripped of their weapons and loaded into carts, where the next morning they would be taken to the clansmeet not as guests, but as gifts to the clan elders.

During the long and unbearably hot journey, Manawydan is met with the scorn of his party members. He, along with everyone else, tries to think of a plan of escape. However, they were reassured by Berry that everything would be fine, as she had received a message from Alaqa.
> "I saw your heroism, outlanders. Don't make a play, let me do the talking at the clansmeet. Trust me."
>
>

Although the others were not quite as trusting as Berry, they realized that they did not exactly have a better plan, and agreed to follow the druid's suggestion. By the time they reached the location of the Haalaka Clansmeet, it was nearly dusk. There were many other carriages holding similar prisoners, and a large gathering of centaurs around a funeral pyre, singing a G*ahuudlyn Duu* (Song of Grief/Mourning) for a lost clansmate. The party watched from their cages as Khabici preened and boasted, much to the annoyance of the elders. The elder then revealed that he knew Khabici was lying, as Alaqa had already arrived and explained everything. And while Khabici had, in a way, solved the issue of the shard, thus earning his place at the fires, he also needed a lesson in humility. Four large, burly centaurs approached him and swung at his legs with great clubs, shattering them.
Finally, the party was set free, and were invited to tell their tale. They explained what they knew about the shards, and in return they learned from the centaurs that a great many of the stones had appeared throughout the Khanate and the Amber Steppe. In an attempt to be rid of them, the Clans would send someone with the shard far into the desert, where usually they would perish. The funeral they had interrupted was being held for the Elder's cousin, Murrum, who had died in that very way. The party also receives compensation for their labor in the form of gold, as well as necklaces of leather and crow skulls which mark them as friends of Clan Hekkta. Manawyd took the opportunity to mock Khabici.

### Trouble in Clemency

The party took the river towards Spire City, where they intended to pass the Ashstone off to UMAA. In an attempt to ease their travels, the party tries to construct a raft to float down the river. Sadly, boat making is not something that they are very skilled in, and within a kilometer from where they set off, the raft hits currents and eddies, spinning uncontrollably and being swept up on rocks. It isn't long before the ropes break, and the party is thrown in the water. Thankfully between Calix and **Manawyd,** the shard is kept above water. As usual, shenanigans arise, and they manage to continue downstream until they reach what used to be the village of Clemency.

The once thriving city was left as a charred out husk. Bodies littered the ground, and buildings were burnt to their foundations. After a moment of investigation, Calix found a banner bearing the seal of the Citadel of Garbinimas, as well as a piece of parchment bearing the seal of the inquisition.
> "Under suspicion of consorting with devils the town of Clemency has been struck from the world."
>
>

After looking through the rest of the village, and finding an ominous blood-written message in the catacombs of the town's chapel, Manawyd and Calix made their way to the same swamp where they had picked up the Stillness Greyrot shard. There, they found monstrous, bipedal tracks which looked fresher than the destruction of the village. The tracts reached the location of the shard, meandered for a moment, then ended abruptly.
Before long, the pair heard the sound of screams, and ran to find Berry and Rineth trying to tend to a panicked and possessed Cordelia. With teamwork, the group managed to cut off Cordelia's possessed arm and dispatch it. Whilst fighting the animated and possessed arm, the party noticed that whenever it was near the person holding onto the shard, it seemed to recoil. The party then decided to try exposing Cordelia herself to the shard, and after a moment of searing hot pain, she tells them that she can no longer feel Crozier within her.

The party engaged in a brief argument over what should be done with their newly rescued charge. While Calix, and to a lesser extent Dordlo, were not thrilled about the idea of adding another mouth to feed, Berry and Rineth wanted to bring her along to Spire City. Manawyd chose to side with the girls, though his motives were less of the friendly sort, and more in the interest of potential profits.

### Spire City

In the City, Manawyd and the others check in with UMAA, then go on a bit of a shopping spree, meeting the Lady Vironia and revisiting Johnald Humanman. At Johnald's shop, Manawyd tried to dig for answers regarding the shopkeeper's strange nature, which led to him being briefly thrown into another dimension. Upon his return, he was cursed with the inability to speak intelligibly for the next eight hours. He snuck away, attempted to pickpocket someone, and failed miserably, causing him to slink off and sulk.

In an attempt to redeem himself, Manawyd agrees to take a job breaking into the dressing room of Perasona Jiwa, a visiting Eladrin Singer, in order to steal a pair of her supposedly striped panties. However, before he can find any undergarments, the concert was interrupted by an attack from a group of Mind Flayers.

#### Into the Lair

Seeing as the party had been doing fairly well in their previous missions, Norland offers them first go at clearing out the mind flayer hive and rescuing those who were taken. Before they depart, Miss Perasona Jiwa comes to their lodgings and announces that she intends to accompany them, as she feels responsible for what happened.

The group makes their way down into the Mind Flayer's den where they manage to find, and quickly release, the prisoners before continuing to explore. The group finds some truly grisly discoveries, such as a meat processing plant where cadavers are deboned and fed to Mind Flayer Thralls. After a bit of trial and error, the party manages to shepherd the mind-addled prisoners and slaves back up the lift, where they should (hopefully) be received by the UMAA.

In the next room, the group found a pair of cages. In one, there were half a dozen rats, and in the other, the same number of seemingly feral gnomes. Berry converses with both groups, and discovers that the rats and gnomes have had their minds swapped. The gnomes have rat brains and the rats have gnome minds. While Berry was trying to think of a solution, Manawyden tried to "help" by activating a nearby console. He presses a big red button, which shoots electricity through the cage holding the rat-gnomes, killing them. The gnome-rats laugh cruelly. Perasona is traumatized, and the party swears to never speak of this again.

Finally, they find the "Implantation Room", where the Mind Flayers implant their tadpoles into the brains of prisoners. Chained to a pair of metal slabs, they find Gleebo the Goblin, as well as....Norland? The party talk to their imprisoned friend, and discover that he has been in the Mind Flayer lair for weeks, which meant the person they had spoken to before coming down was some sort of imposter. Gleebo, who was already infected, was swiftly put to rest at the end of Calix and Dordlo's weaponry, and Rineth took it upon herself to escort Norland back to the surface. They will have to deal with this imposter situation later. For now, they needed to finish this job.

Continuing onwards, the group find another shard which gives off an aura of pleasure, as well as a hive of servitors seemingly bound to a strange pillar. The party destroys the column, which seemingly frees the servitors. They also discover strange pods with pupating mind flayers inside, which Calix and Dordlo destroy. They continue on and find a strange crystalline chamber containing a huge, humanoid sized shard. When the party moves some of the stones around the shard, the room is filled with a deafening silence, and Perasona seemingly blinks out of existence. After the stones are returned, all of the sounds come crashing back into their ears, causing thunder damage.

The party, plus the Servitors who now see Perasona Jiwa as their queen, go into yet another chamber, this one with a large pool which shows the image of Tanarukk's cave. After a moment, the image changes, showing another location of a shard. Then another. Quickly, the party realizes that the pool is a portal to all of the places where the shards were initially found. That would mean that the Illithid were the ones who placed the shards to begin with!

The party does a bit more exploring, finding a large library in which a pair of Drow were conducting research. After a scuffle, the party kills one of the pair, but the other begins levitating and convulsing, and emitting a strange, eldritch light from her eyes. A voice which was not hers came from her mouth, threatening the party with the wrath of Sheb-Nakteth before the Drow's head explodes in a shower of blood and brain. The party hurriedly continues onwards, and finally finds the Elder brain. Undefended and helpless, the brain can do nothing to stop Calix and Dordlo from building a fire beneath it and boiling it alive.

#### Loose Ends

The party travelled back to UMAA headquarters, where they and the real Norlond hatch a plan to confront his usurper. Armed with spite and determination, they charge into Norland's office. Immediately, the false Norlond panicked, and tried to leap from a window. Calix catches him using his man catcher, and Norland beat him into submission. The party utilized an odd, and somewhat disturbing, combination of threats and gentility Aka everyone else used threats, Berry used gentility to get information out of the changeling. They learned that his true name was Daisy, and he was an agent from Vyrland. The party filled Norland in on all the things he had missed, and everyone is faced with the crushing reality that whatever is happening is much bigger than they ever could have thought. In addition to the shards, they are now combatting political rivalries that could lead to national warfare.

## Relationships

#### Party Members

##### Rineth

Manawydan and Rineth are often stuck together, being the party's rogues. But they do not always see eye to eye. Most recently, they butt heads over Manawyd's teasing and taking advantage of Berry.

##### Berry

Manawyd enjoys playing around with the pink tiefling. He is amused by her trusting nature, and often takes advantage of her kindness. One time he tried to eat one of her rats.

##### Calix

Manawyd and Calix are good friends, but they often butt heads over Manawyd's irresponsible behavior.

##### Dordlo

Dordlo and Manawyd frequently fight because of how irresponsible Manawyd can be.

1. ↑ Overseer
2. ↑ Vassals, peasantry
3. ↑ This is actually not the real Norland, but a changeling named Daisy.
4. ↑ Rats with gnome brains
5. ↑ gnomes with rat brains
6. ↑ This is the real one