The Nightowl of Norvos

The Nightowl of Norvos was a Master Thief most famous for his membership to the organisation remembered infamously as the Band of Nine.

## History

Known in his later life as the Nightowl of Norvos, Jaqar Norn was born to an unassuming couple that worked as bakers in the Low City of Great Norvos. A devious but ultimately diligent child, Jaqar spent the first few years of his childhood peddling breads and pastries in the streets around his home, often accompanied in his task by a street urchin named Lesora. Daughter of a discharged soldier in the Norvoshi army, Lesora had been taught the basics of thievery by her father, and had been using it to survive since his execution for petty crime two years prior. In exchange for the unsold and stale baked goods, Lesora shared her skills with Jaqar, and as their friendship grew, so did their talent for picking pockets. The two started with a simply routine, primarily revolving around maintaining the attentions of passersby with pastries whilst the other emptied their coin-purse. In time, Jaqar and Lesora’s scams grew more and more complex, drawing more and more attention from the various criminal factions operating in the city. The newfound focus afforded to the pair brought with it tidings both desirable and otherwise. For each band of vagabonds that sought partnerships and agreements with Jaqar and Lesora, another three would instead seek to eliminate those they saw as competition. The pair continued their spree of illicit actions all the same, seemingly one step ahead of those that followed with concealed blades. Their luck ran out when they attempted a daring raid on the manse of the noble Vortyris family, a plot exposed by a rival gang, in hope that the City Watch would manage to achieve what so many hired assassins had failed to do. Escaping the Free City of Norvos with naught but their lives, the pair stowed away aboard a river cog bound for Volantis.

Their broken spell continued to worsen, when the vessel they were aboard was raided by river pirates. The pair however managed to to slay a couple of the raiders, and upon donning their clothes, attempted to blend in among the crew of vagabonds. The ruse was quickly noted, however simply garnered naught but a guffaw for the pirate captain, who praised them for their efforts. Paying for their freedom with the skills they had acquired upon the streets of Norvos, Jaqar and Lesora showed the corsairs a number of things, from finding hidden pockets in clothing, to sleight of hand with blade and lockpick alike. By the end of the moon, they found themselves on the shore of the Golden Fields, watching the Rhoynish pirates set north once more, hunting for more unsuspecting vessels aboard the river.

For a time, the pair travelled between the vassal cities of Volantis, before re-establishing themselves in the First Daughter of Valyria itself. As their skills and unspoken reputation continued to grow over the coming years, so did the relationship between the baker’s boy and the soldier’s daughter. With a number of exploits to their name, Jaqar started to seek something more steadfast upon which to support the child expected in the next few moons, and found himself approached by a representative of the group that would eventually become the Band of Nine. Seeing the potential wealth to be gained from employment with the likes of Princes and KIngs alike, Jaqar agreed.

The Nightowl of Norvos proved both an invaluable asset and the eventual undoing of the would-be Kings through his talent for thievery and sabotage. It was Jaqar that stole into the city of Lys at nightfall, barricaded the entranceways to the barracks of the City Watch, before settling a blaze at its foundations. It was Jaqar that opened the harbour gates of the city, allowing for the warriors of the Bronze Circle and Mhysa’s Men to be delivered onto the streets of Lys by the ships of Salazor Saan and Mors Bone. It was Jaqar who would spark the ire of the Tiger Triarch Haelor Staegone, and lead to the invasion of the Band of Nine’s city by the might of the Volantis.

In late 260AA, news reached Jaqar that Lesora had given birth to a pair of twins, boy and girl, prompting the Nightowl to return to Volantis to see his children. Naming them Areo and Sarina, he pledged to return to them soon, pending the ongoing campaigns in the west with the rest of the Band of Nine. Unbeknown to Lesora however, before Jaqar departed the city, he instead opted to take advantage of his familiarity of the city to carry out a heist within the Black Walls themselves. Targeting the ancestral Valyrian steel axe of House Aerteris, the Nightowl stole into the manse of the Old Blood family.

Unfortunately for Jaqar, the vault was not empty as he had suspected. Distraught over her recent marriage to a man she perceived as vile and uncaring, the fair Rhaenys Staegone had taken to weeping within the quiet of the vault beneath the manse of her husband, Belesso Aerteris. Exposed, the screams of Rhaenys attracted the family’s guardsman, and Jaqar was forced to respond in the only way he could think of. With a blade pressed to the pale skin of Rhaenys Staegone’s throat, he demanded to be given leave of the manse, buying the safety of his life through sparing of another’s.

Quite in contrast of Rhaenys’ thoughts of her new husband, Lord Belesso was quick to oblige, ordering his men to stand down. In the courtyard of the manse however, the standoff erupted once again, when Jaqar found himself surrounded by watchmen armed with Myrish crossbows.

The Nightowl once again reiterated his demands. His freedom, including safe passage to Lys, in return for the sparing of Rhaenys Staegone’s. With the gates to the manse opened for him, Jaqar saw his opportunity and made his break for freedom.

With space between the would-be thief and his wife, Lord Belesso Aerteris went against his word, commanding his men to fire. After the second crossbow bolt shattered his left hand, Jaqar turned in retaliation, launching a pair of slender throwing blades towards the Volantene Lord. They found the flesh of one of the Old Blood, but not the one that the Nightowl had intended. Taking three bolts for each dagger that pierced the delicate frame of Rhaenys Staegone, Jaqar did not quite reach the gates before slumping to the dirt.

Rhaenys’ brother, Haelor Staegone, did not respond to the news of his younger sister’s demise well. With the armies of Volantis at his command, the Tiger Triarch made his plans, and within a moon, Lys would burn, and with it many more of the Band of Nine.

Of Lesora, Areo and Sarina, little is known. There are rumours that the nobles of the Free Cities have noticed a recent increase in thieveries from supposedly secure vaults, but whether or not they are the work of the Nightowl’s offspring remains to be seen.