Orestes van Lynets

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Sister-in-Law - Sota van Lynets (Wife of Electra, living)

Grandparents - Lady Coronal Ilsevele Miritar and Prince Consort Fflar Starbrow Melruth (living)

## Appearance

* White hair and green eyes.
	+ Orestes mentioned that his hair used to be chestnut brown
	+ His eyes were also blue before the Book
* Strong, high cheek bones but somewhat gaunt appearance
* Body is littered with wards and sigil tattoos, along with one open scar across his left arm that glitters with an array of colors because of the nature of the weapons that caused the injury
* Wears a brown leather coat with many pockets over his armor

## Early Life

Orestes van Lynets was born in the village of Teshweave in the Empire of Cormanthyr. His father, a well-respected miller, and his mother, a local bureaucrat, raised him with a deep love of learning and education, realizing that Orestes was destined for higher things. At the age of 19, Orestes was sent off to Candlekeep to study under the professors there to help round out his education so that he might return to Cormanthyr and help shape not just the village of his birth but the nation as a whole. Orestes stunned the scholarly elite, devouring his way through the libraries and delivering his first thesis at the age of 20 to an enthralled Magistrorum. He was eventually given access to the more restricted books. He worked his way through every book in Candlekeep before the age of 22, but still he wanted more knowledge.

## Roll in Current and Past Events

One night, as he lay in bed, a voice came to Orestes in his dreams, beckoning him to come below the halls of Candlekeep. It was in a small room deep beneath Candlekeep that Orestes first found an incomplete eldritch altar with a Black Book on it. The Black Book of Knowledge spoke to Orestes and instructed him on how to finish the ritual and promised him knowledge of all things in exchange for his cooperation. Orestes was hesitant at first, but the book, calling itself Yog Sothoth, promised there was something he needed to know. Orestes completed the ritual and opened a portal to the Center of Creation―whereupon he saw the horrors of a dark god consuming the souls of the dead of the universe. Yog Sothoth told Orestes that this was the fate of all light-born creatures―the maws of Azathoth. Yog Sothtoth then began pouring the knowledge of creation into Orestes' head, causing Orestes to start to lose his sanity. He seized control for a brief moment and destroyed the altar before turning to the book. As he held it and focused on the cackling soul inside of it, a pure green flame erupted around the book, which began to burn. When the last of the book turned to ash, the voice of Yog Sothoth disappeared from existence. Orestes could not handle the contents of his mind, driven insane by the knowledge not meant for mortal minds, and lit a fire in the room that spread partly through Candlekeep as Orestes made his escape

Orestes escaped to a small village where he began to drink to numb his mind. The village accepted Orestes and helped him as best the night a cult came to the village. Orestes panicked, knowing these cultists were those who worshipped the Outer Gods, but steeled his resolved with booze. He took up an old saber and a breastplate and went to war. He was injured only once as he cut down the scores of cultists. No villagers died that night, but Orestes knew what he was to do. With the blessing of the villagers, he set out into the world to find the Black Books, the receptacles of the Outer Gods, and destroy them, saving creation from their influence.

During his travels he crossed into the Jungles of Chult, where an old Yuan-Ti cult worshipped Ubbo-Sathla, the Unbegotten Source. Orestes made contact with a tribe of Grungs who had been plagued by the Yuan-Ti who harvested the town for unwilling sacrifices. One grung named c'Nehr'r'Tihn took a special liking to Orestes and asked to accompany him. Orestes refused, citing the dangers of the Yuan-Ti, the temple, and, most importantly, the book. As he fought his way through the temple, harried by a mysterious man in a black coat, he found the Black Book of Growth, dueling the High Priest of the Yuan-Ti. Out of the blue, though, c'Nehr'r'Tihn climbed up the steppe pyramid and got to the book first despite Orestes' desperate cry to stop. The corruption infected Tihn, but Orestes was able to knock the book away and destroy it before it spread. Tihn was left with a permanent corruption on his person. Orestes, blaming himself for his failure, ordered Tihn to stay in the village of his birth and never use any power gained from the book or risk losing himself. Orestes left Chult to the next Black Book's location.

Orestes arrived in the Pirate Islands where Captain Telgradd Hawkwave had come into possession of the Black Book of War. Orestes, with the help of a cabin boy named Vordt, infiltrated the massive airborne Dreadnought that Hawkwave built with the instruction of the book. Orestes sabotaged the engine of the ship, causing a catastrophic failure in the form of a 50-megaton explosion above the Pirate Isles that blasted shrapnel across the water. Orestes and Vordt, however, survived and had escaped the ship before its explosion. They later found the Book, but its power called to Vordt, naught by 15 and easily was seduced by promises of power. Orestes held the book away from Vordt as Vordt attacked him. Without questioning it, Orestes drew his sword and slashed across Vordt's throat, holding him as he bled out in his arms. Orestes swore never to involve another person in his machinations―he would work alone for the duration to avoid corrupting or killing other innocent people who, were it not for him, might have survived into later life.

Orestes found his way to Elturgard, seeking the Black Book of Evolution. When the Archivist refused to allow him to borrow it, Orestes planned to break in and steal it, but came to find that someone beat him to the punch. The Book was taken away from there by an unknown person, and Orestes searched shipping manifests to find where it could have gone. Orestes came to make his way to Qheldin's Mask, south of Scornubel, where there was a growing number of disappearances. Orestes warned the remaining townspeople to leave immediately, but they did not listen. Orestes rushed into the Reaching Woods to try and find the Book to stop its influence before it was too late. There, he found the Temple of the Elder Tree. Sneaking in to find it crawling with the Cult of the Outer Gods, Orestes disguised himself and searched the temple, finding a familiar heroic figure in the cell of the dungeon―or so he thought. Upon further inspection, the person in the cell was not the hero he believed. Dismissing the imposter, Orestes continued on, finding the Chamber of the Heart and the former room of the High Priest―now occupied part-time by the Man in the Black Coat who had been matching Orestes step-for-step across Faerun. A passing cultist became Orestes' victim as he used Eldritch Daggers to crucify him to the wall and leave a warning for the Man in the Black Coat once he realized the Book was no longer there. He crept back outside and continued on to the location of the next Book which, surprisingly, had been taken by a local noble from Baldur's Gate while on expedition in Calimshan.

Orestes arrived in Baldur's Gate and quickly made inroads with the Thieve's Guild. He made deals with Jezline, the Guildmaster, and agreed to run a few jobs for her in exchange for her cooperation in a heist on the Museum.  Helping him was a LeShay named Mepha Azat, an associate of the Thieves' Guild, who assisted in the break-in. Orestes realized when they arrived that the book was in the hands of Terolmic Dory, the Seatower District Councilman for Baldur's Gate. Orestes panicked when he saw Dory with the book, revealing himself and Mepha Azat, who tried to kill Dory as Orestes threw a knife at the book to knock it away. Mepha Azat fled the scene and escaped Baldur's Gate while Orestes was captured and imprisoned for attempted assassination. There he waited until the party found him.

## Magic/Quest Items

* Armor that protects against poison damage
* Journal with infinite pages
* Bottomless Flask
* Wish Card from the Deck of Many Things - Wishes Remaining: 1/2
* Sentinel Shield - Increases perception
* Bracelet that protects against charming/possession with a bloodstone bead that has Life Transference stored in it, wooden red bead with Twinkle (Arix made this one), and Spare the Dying stored on a bead of rose quartz.
* Alchemist's Jug
* Dawnbringer
* Candle of the Deep
* Brooch of Protection (I think?)
* Borrowing Enilasor's Amulet of Planes

## Other Notes

* Has a major drinking problem, with a magical bottomless flask, and it takes a lot to get him drunk. His drinking stunts his mental activity and helps keep his mind from overloading
* His father is a miller and his mother is a politician (a bureaucrat, in his words). One sister, Electra, is the Spymaster for Cormanthyr, and it hasn't been revealed what his other sister does.
* He is afraid of deep water
* Wheat fields are his happy place
* Orestes' name is a double reference:
	+ In The Oresteia, Orestes is the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the King and Queen of Mycenae. In the trilogy, Orestes commits a crime against nature (killing his mother and stepfather in vengeance for their killing of Agamemnon) and is driven insane by the Furies as punishment.
	+ Orestes as a name means "He Who Stands on the Mountain" referencing H.P. Lovecraft's short story At the Mountains of Madness in which the main characters are driven insane by learning forbidden knowledge.
* Only one that knows what string art is.