Darius Desaad: Dark Wizard of Gwynned

[Dungeon Master]

Origin of Darius Desaad
Black Robe Wizard

Timeline

Dunbar Mastermate takes Caele Half-Elven in for a time and shows him how to work on a sea-going vessel. Dunbar would begin apprenticing Caele until one night, the Half-Elf made off with scrolls and a couple of spellbooks into the night.

356 AC Dunbar Mastermate becomes Master of the White Robe

371 AC Darius is Eleven
Darius was a street urchin on the streets of the imperial City of Gwynned, growing up with bard-told-tales of the war of the Lance and the heroes of the Lance. These events happened years before Darius was born.

It was one fateful day that Darius was caught in an act of larceny by the White Robe Wizard Dunbar Mastermate who took notice of him and treated him as something more than just a thief or scavenger, he was put to work on his ship and he learned the ways of the sea.

Dunbar Mastermate was not the usual example of a typical Wizard of Krynn. For one he did not wear a Robe, wears but a symbol of Solinari, the God of White Magic. He was very built, after years of hoisting lines, scrubbing decks, and backbreaking work, he was a chiseled specimen. That is not to say he never wears the robes of his god when called into session at the Conclave of High Sorcery

Darius was soon given a series of puzzles meant to test the potential for magical the Tower of Palanthas He was given a basic education, and moved on to an elite educator, as his IQ was very high, and he wanted to learn more. Soon Dunbar moved him into a magic boarding school. A fuse had been lit; he would try to learn as much as he could.


In 380 AC Darius takes the Test of High Sorcery, Darius is Twenty


The Test of Darius Desaad

The Test is just that, a test of how you would wild your power, how well you wield that power, and what would happen if somebody stood in the way of that power, set in a series of life-like phantasmagoria, that are shaped by the Dreamshapers and Test Instructors. You find out more about yourself than you ever knew before. The risk is death. The test, or your action in the test, if the wrong decision is made, the Test can bring about your death or some other magical injury. Sometimes it is done intentionally to slow down a hell-bent wizard headed to his self-destruction. Sometimes it is done because the wizard is too dangerous to live. Whatever happened during the test, he came out the overside and took the black robe of Nuitari. Nuitari is the God of Black Magic.


Takes the Black Robe and is known as Darius Dark for a time.


383 AC The Summer of Flame-The Chaos War
The Gods disappear as does the Moons. They are replaced by one pale moon that is different then Solinari.
Dunbar Mastermate perished in the Battle against Chaos. He left much of his estate and holdings to Darius, including his ship.

Nearly all Magic in the world was gone

Scrolls produce an effect. Magical Items and the cannibalization of Magical Items to cast spells. Potions still produced effects.


New Sorcery is discovered


Armed with new power, Darius goes exploring Krynn in his ship. He sets out West.


Islands Finds a treasure trove


Comes to Garagath. – Finds some interesting items


Discovering the Shattered Lands- An oriental setting, some of the lands are the same Ice Wall, but a great distance away. A Brutal and beautiful land. He learns their customs to a degree. Trades with some of the merchants. Picks up some souvenirs, but senses the time for hospitality has ended and he sets out back to Ansalon.


Returns to Ansalon briefly before setting out again.


Coming across the Teeth of Chaos -Avoid at all costs. It is like a pit to the Hells


The Dragon Isles- Orders a Ship to be built. It will take years and an exorbitant sum. He says he has both.

The Spine of Taladas -Grouping of Islands, unremarkable, no ports to speak of. Chased away from an Isle by a Red Dragon. That was exciting.


The Continent of Taladas
The Imperial League of Minotaurs of Taladas. Located in the Southwest region of Taladas, the Northern Reaches of Southern Hosk, the Imperial League’s Capital City Kristophan, in the province of New Styrllia.

Staying a short time, taking in the cultures before heading back. He picks up some souvenirs, this time in the form of maps from a fabulous cartographer shop in this vast Metropolis. Taladas was intimidating. Talk of Civil War was in the air and there was unrest in some of the provinces. Time to leave. Everything is so vastly different from Ansalon. One day he would like to return.


Darius returns to Northern Ergoth and carefully builds a persona, a role to the public and in private. He attends university, and soon after he graduates, he emerges as Darius Desaad. He feels enlightened by his travels and his exploits in higher education satisfy his burning desire for knowledge. He goes about collecting books to build his library.


In a very short time, Darius Desaad became one of the most well-connected and regarded Dark Mages in Western Ansalon.

421 AC The War of Souls begins; Darius Dark is sixty-two years of age.

Nuitari, the God of Black Magic comes to Darius one night and tells him to renounce Primal Sorcery and he will restore his magic and vitality of life to him.

Darius looks in the mirror the next day, and twenty years has been wiped away. He feels great, energized, and renewed. Ready to begin life anew and in earnest.

The following year in 422 AC Darius Desaad heeded the call to Conclave, for the first time in 40 years, the Moons Gods of Magic were calling their followers to join together. He would participate in the Battle of Wayreth.

With Dalamar the Dark being disqualified from leading the Order, there was a question as to who among the Black Robes would take the vacated mantle that had been held for so many years by the Dark Elf.

Some voices started calling for Darius Desaad to come to the fore, but that was only a segment of the Black Robe Order, those mostly in Ergoth. Soon other names were in contention, that of the Dark Headmaster Selene from her School of the Dark Arts. A consensus vote was nearing its time to be taken. A Dark Horse candidate came to the fore with an endorsement from the God of Dark Magic himself. Mistress Karnea will lead my Dark Order. Most people in the know thought she had moved on from Krynn forever until the Batte of Wayreth.

Within mere months, it would come to pass that the Tower that was destroyed in the Cataclysm had been remade by the God of Black Magic, and something had brought this remade Tower to the surface on a new Island formation.

The Tower was now called the Tower of Blood Sea, and Karnea was named Master of this Tower.

Nuitari comes to Darius and bids him to carry the Black Robes of Northern Ergoth to the Island of the Tower for High Sanction In a fortnight from now.

He is intrigued by this young woman. She appears even younger than he does now, but he knows she was a presence in the Conclave when he was coming up into the ranks. She is either hiding her True Age or she has developed a spell or has some amulet. Either way, he knows she was spoken about in hushed tones when was a young man, it is said she left Krynn during the dark years without Magic. So, who knows how much more powerful she is now?

He decides the best tact is to become an ally to her in any way he can. Who knows what she does with competitors? He does not wish to look as an adversary in any way, that would not be beneficial in any future endeavors. No, the best move is to become her ally and see how it all develops.

[Dungeon Master]

Darius Desaad
Story One
Chapter One: The Triumvirate

Western Ansalon
Northern Ergoth
Imperial Capital City of Gwynned


422 AC
Mid Fall-Set sometime after the Explorer’s Return to Port at Gwynned after the Gathering

The Equinox approaches, and the Conclave will convene in the next few days. Darius is a member of a conclave of Wizardry, he is an interested party in the future of the Orders of Magic. Darius occupies a seat of power, prestige, and a measure of control at the Wizards Guildhall in Gwynned. Still, he is interested in the direction the Conclave is taking. He finds the new Highmaster, Mistress Jenna, to be quite interesting, the same with the young new White Robe Master. But most especially Karnea, his Order’s new Master of the Black Robe.

Their meeting greatly intrigued him at his first visit to the Blood Sea Tower of High Sorcery. He of course heard of her from back in the day. The whispers of a dark witch that was refusing to be tested. Soon she was one of the Black Order's most ardent supporters.

The Dark God of Magic Nuitari had instructed him to bring the Black Robes of Northern Ergoth and ports on the way to the calmed Blood Sea, to the Blood Sea Tower of High Sorcery. It got him a private meeting with Master Karnea. She exhibited both wit and charm, all the while maintaining an air of lethality and mysteriousness. It is at this private meeting at Darius invited Karnea to journey to Northern Ergoth for the first time.

He invited her to a state visit to the Chapterhouse and to join him as a guest to Manor House to discuss his travels and allow him to show her a few pieces from his library that he was sure she would be interested in. He would like her opinion on whether either of the two pieces is of any value to further research. The books potentially unlock secrets that have remained hidden except to Wizards that explore the deeper mysteries and find the boundaries, allowable by the laws of Magic.

What has kept him invested in maintaining a relationship is how she already brought stability to the Black Robe. Her opening up the Blood Sea Tower to the other Robes was a sign that Karnea respected the Orders Laws and bylaws and was a willing partner going forward

The Itinerary today lists three things on the agenda for today.

A meeting at the Chapterhouse Guildhall of Wizardry.
Darius Desaad makes one-third of the triumvirate over the Chapterhouse, along with the White Robe Leila DiThon and the Red Robe Fabian Hess

Leila DiThon is the Daughter of the White Robe Lord Bram DiThon of the DiThon Fiefdom and it is said that perhaps her mother was the Black Robe Dagamier. Her niece is a much closer ally to Darius as she is the Black Robe Delilah DiThon

Ergoth once had a Tower of High Sorcery in the old Capital of Daltigoth, until in the Age of Might and the Lost Battles came. Seeds blessed by the Kingpriest would defeat the Guardian Forest defenses of the tower of High Sorcery. Rather than let the magic of High Sorcery be accessed by zealots and non-practitioners the Wizards enacted a spell of great destruction, The mages destroyed the Tower and a quarter of Daltigoth with it.

Daltigoth was on a leyline, (central point of Magical Power, where these lines intersect.) The Wizards of Northern Ergoth believe Gwynned may sit upon such a leyline, but as yet, there has been no further movement on an exploratory commission being formed to consider the proposal. It’s mostly understandable, High Sorcery has only just returned, give it time, and perhaps they will find an ally among the New Order Masters. And so, for now, The Emperor of Ergoth allows the Wizards of High Sorcery to maintain a Guildhall, located on the Avenue of Guild houses. Emperor V put forth a proposition for the crown to pay for Magical instruction and if they Tested and survived, they would be bound to provide Five years of service to the Crown. After that, they can move on and do as they like. The Guild is for the most part committed to the security of the continuance of Imperial Rule but the Wizards of High Sorcery’s first allegiance is to Magic and the Order of High Sorcery.


The Three Guild Leaders mostly keep their order members in line and keep dangerous magic and magical items out of the hands of amateurs. They keep tabs on those who practice magic in Gwynned and the Larger continental island of Northern Ergoth, whether they be Order Wizards or Primal Sorcerers, and they keep their eye out for Renegade Wizards that pose a danger to Magic and the populace.

The chapterhouse provides legal assistance for the Wizards that are attached to the Guild, as well as employs Thieves to appropriate items that are too dangerous to be kept by non-wizards. Darius has made several key allies in his time building up his influence in Gwynned, as well as several enemies. He has tried to minimize his exposure and profile when dealing in areas they control.

The Three usually meet at night, but on occasion, a day journey is called for. Darius boards his Carriage and his driver takes him to the Chapterhouse.

The triumvirate gathers. Present, the White Robe Leila DiThon and the Red Robe Fabian Hess

The Subject: The recent visit of the Minotaur merchants via their sea-going vessel. It has put the emperor and people on edge and has awakened them to the danger that exists, being out here alone from mainland Ansalon, where not very much has affected them thus far, but a possible attack from the Minotaurs is a real threat they would be ill-prepared to meet should it come any time soon. Though the people are open to trade with anyone, the recent movements of Minotaurs have taken on a sinister tone. The fear that even with trade, comes potential acts of espionage of the defenses of the Imperial City.

The emperor wants to increase the navy by a hundred-fold. A contract for the wood must be made with the woodsmen of Kharolis. The emperor has asked us to make contact with the woodsmen and procure a negotiated agreement for the timber for the ships. The Red Robe Fabian Hess says that he knows of a man in his order who may be able to set up the meeting.

Darius’s other meetings are on the agenda, He has to see the Clockmaker, and following that a meeting with an over-eager patron he is surely chomping at the bit to get his revenge.

He stays a little longer at the Guildhall and catches whatever gossip that might be useful that comes in by the comings and goings of various Wizards of the three orders before setting out to his appointment with the Clockmaker.

[Dungeon Master]

Darius Desaad
Story One
Chapter Two: The Clockmaker

Western Ansalon
Northern Ergoth
Imperial Capital City of Gwynned


The Clockmaker is so close, that Darius decides to walk to his next destination from the guildhall.


Darius’s professional bodyguards are keeping their distance, but keeping a close watch.


The Cloakmaker’s shop is right down the road. There is never much traffic around the Guildhalls, and this side street leads Darius to his destination.

A bell dings with his entry. No one in the front showroom. “Hello?” Darius calls out.

A distant sound calls out “one moment. “


Darius smiles and turns to gaze upon the Clockmaker’s works. It took a lot of incentive to get her to move here, things being what they are here in one of the most backward societies in existence. But she has been worth every coin thus far. He looks over her magical clocks and other items of interesting design and purpose.

Her aunt was known to have the touch, and her great-grandfather was a genius artificer of the Ranniker Clan. She insisted on living with this arrangement, we would have liked for her to live at the Guild Hall. But she had it put in her clause… Artists.


Soon an average-height young woman with short dirty blonde hair walks into the front gallery wearing a leather smock over boy clothing. “Darius.” She comes in and greets her guest, and then has him follow her as they go back into the workshop.


“So, how are you doing Chris? Any problems lately? Darius asks.


She turns and smiles at him and says “you already know the answer to that. Your guys roughed up the thieves I hear.” She turns back around and continues into her workshop.


Darius answers “Yes, we got them, this time. I will have your things returned…”


The young woman begins. “I know what you are going to say, but I…”


“-Will get stifled in your creativity in the guild hall. Right, still, it might save your life and your priceless works of art,” Darius tells her. “I will have the abjurers come over later. We will work something out.”


“That’s one of things I like about you Darius, you always have a solution.” Christine turns his attention to her newest work of art.


Darius looks at it.


It is a springed wrist device with leather straps on her crafting table.


“Is that?” Darius begins, with dawning awe.



“Yes, per your request and specifications, you commissioned for this a while back.”



“I had forgotten,” Darius says as he takes a closer look at the device. “It works?”



Christine answers “Yes, do you want to try it on and test it out?”



“Absolutely,” Darius answers and rolls up his voluminous sleeve to accommodate the fitting.


Christine picks up the device and straps it to Daruis’s forearm, taking the time to show him what she doing, every step of the way. Darius helps her and she tightens up the straps and fits them securely into place.


She says “This button activates the primer. Just keep your hand out of the way, it will hurt if not applied correctly. Once the button is primed, move your hand in this motion, and” A thin dagger ejects forward with force and extends, “This motion and its retracts.” The blade returns to the housing, quickly and silently. Christine looks up at Darius’s face, who is grinning.


Darius raves “You have outdone yourself, simple, elegant and efficient. Thank you very much.” He begins to pull his money pouch, and she stops him.


“Stopping those thieves and retrieving what was lost means a lot to me, this one is from me to you, that’s it. You’ll want to bring that in at least once a year to get it checked out, it might freeze up on you over time, I can do maintenance for it if it starts to give you trouble. I have tried to isolate that priming button so that it is not easy to accidentally depress, so you will have to reach for it with this finger.


Darius becomes more confident and decides to wear it for the rest of the day. Darius hugs her and thanks her for making it. He tells her things should arrive shortly, along with the abjurers. With business attended to they say their goodbyes and Darius does a couple of tasks before heading to his last meeting on the agenda—the Patron.

[Dungeon Master]

Darius Desaad
Story One
Chapter Three: The Patron

Western Ansalon
Northern Ergoth
Imperial Capital City of Gwynned


After seeing to the details about the abjurers and Christine’s stolen Items back to the Clockmaker, it takes up several hours out of his day. He picks up Christine in his carriage takes her out for an expensive dinner and drops her off at her living space above her workshop before heading into the affluent district to meet with one of the Patrons he does business with and for.

This client has been in some kind of feud that has built over the months and has been building in scale. His letter sounded urgent but told Darius to come after dark.

Darius has brought along his bodyguards,

The Dark Wizard gets out of his carriage and takes in his surroundings. Quiet, but for the carriage going down the road. Darius becomes invisible approaches his Patron’s flat and moves silently to the door. It is open. Strange. Darius stands for a moment, considering the situation. He decides to proceed inside.

Darius, still invisible, and continues inside, now, unworried he will make any noise. The Fireplace provides the only light in the front room. The patron is sitting on the divan, but there is something amiss.

He thinks the darkness painted over the patron's body is blood.


Coming from a voice behind Darius, “Greetings, you must be Darius Desaad, yes your patron had so much to say about you before he expired.”


Darius takes in the menace in the room and feels the hairs on his arms stand up. He might not make it through this one, Darius might have just walked into his death. Darius thinks this through and concludes. Darius speaks his thoughts aloud, “My mark, my patron’s enemy was yours all along?” The way the dark man is standing there, completely unafraid, he is something more than human.


“Just so, this was nothing but a petty proxy war just under the surface, and then he brought you into it.” The dark man answers.


“I want to clarify there is no way I am going to live though this am I?” Darius asks


The dark man smiles a toothy grin “Oh, you never want to count yourself out too quickly, you might get lucky, but then again, I might just finish the fight before it begins.


In a blink of an instant, Darius is picked up by his throat and is slammed against the wall and now Darius gasps for air as his airway is cut off.


“Just so we are clear, this is finished. You will seek no recourse or a repeat meeting. This will be you only warning. We let you shepherd over the magic and wizards of Ergoth. Otherwise, Ergoth is ours. Step a toe out of line again we will attack your vulnerable points of your underbelly. It would be a shame if something were to happen to your precious clockmaker for instance.”


Darius is about to lose consciences, but he understands the dark man clearly.


Darius wakes up to his guards looking over him, helping Darius get to his feet. Only the expired patron is in the room, The dark man has left no trace of his exit.

They leave the townhouse to be picked up by his carriage and check on the clockmaker just to be sure. Once Darius sees Christine is alive, they head for the manor.

The celerity displayed, being unaccustomed to being manhandled like he was nothing, Darius explains to his bodyguards that the dark man threw Darius around like a rag doll like Darius was nothing. Whoever it was they were superhuman. Darius tries to grapple with the fear he felt, the sheer horror that was gripping him. Supernatural, the dark man was supernatural. Later in his vast library at his Manor house, he finds the book he was looking for. He begins turning he searches through the book until he comes to a set of drawings depicting the sharpened canines of the subject. they matched precisely with his dark man. Nosferatu, Vampire

[Dungeon Master]

Darius Desaad
Story One
Chapter Four: Another Sunrise

Western Ansalon
Northern Ergoth
Imperial Capital City of Gwynned


Though his bedroom drapes were drawn, and the light of another sunrise showed through the windows, Darius was not getting out of bed. The pain has led him to wonder if he has broken something, but over the days, he thinks it was just his pride. Never did he think he could be handled so. The whole experience has made him question his life and his continued life in Gwynned.

Darius’s main thought all day was what is he going to do about it? Can he just sit with this new information and do nothing? Does he risk doing anything for fear for Christine? One thing is clear, he is being watched. That’s a problem. How? Agents obviously. He is going to need more information than what was in that book from last night. He finds himself holding his neck several times over the course of the day. He came face to face with his mortality.

The dark man has caused me to become more paranoid than I was already. I am going to have to rethink my own contacts, my own agents. Are any of them really his? This is going to drive me crazy, and I’m not even fully committed to doing anything about this yet. I will need a specialist for this sort of thing to know if I have a ghost of a chance to combat this deadly foe, though, he makes it sound like there are many of them. He does not leave the residence for a couple of days. He just had a hard time getting out of bed and has had to take pain medications to allow him to sleep.

Darius makes a triumphant return to the Chapter House and sees to his business ventures while he was away. He is walking with a cane, but he does not know if that is making things better or worse. He is slower than usual, but he is happy to be off his back and on his feet again. Though he has put on a brave face to go out, he has never been closer to retiring and leaving Gwynned forever. Where would he go? Blood Sea? Could he live there? Is that his destiny? He decides to make no rash judgments, but to consider his future, free of things that go bump in the night. His message sent at the Chapter House, Darius stands wondering if the mail is safe. This has really changed everything. How can he go on with his daily life knowing those monsters rule? How far does it go up? This group just feasts on stragglers in the night.
On the carriage ride home. The thought he was having set him on a new line of thought about their feeding habits, their methods of control, and their weaknesses. The carriage stops by the Clockmaker’s residence, and he checks in Christine. She suggests they get dinner, In a normal world, with how he feels, he would say no, but because he is alive, he says “Yes!”

They eat at a high-end steakhouse and enjoy a very fine meal. He honestly tries to be good company; Christine is just that kind of person who thrives on good times and vibes and she just feels Darius is off. He is always stoic but can be funny, but this is shaken. She asks, “What happened?”
Darius sees that this was a mistake. But he decides to answer her all the same. He tells her he was jumped by a group of rogues.

She is not sure she completely believes him but decides to just let him off the hook by just answering if she is in more danger than he is letting on.

Darius sees no other way to answer but to lie, but can he, her shining self is too important. He can’t condemn her to darkness.

He looks at her and says "Let's just get through the week by not doing anything different and we might just be fine. Any deviations might tell these people something is off.”

“Who are they?” Chris asks

“Very rich and powerful enemies that had the gall to threaten me, but that is neither here nor there. I might ask you if you might be interested in going on a holiday somewhere, it is true, I don’t want anything to happen to you and your life was threatened.”

“Well, that's a lot to take. Christine says trying to put it in perspective. “Does this happen usually to your associates?”

“It’s happened on occasion, though not in such a straightforward manner.” Darius answers.

“Are you worried? And how worried are you? Should I leave tonight?”

“No, definitely not at night, tomorrow morning would be better.”

They pay for their meal and depart and drop off Christine and allow her to pack. Darius assures Christine about the store, that the wards are in place, and “no one is getting in but her.”

He walks her into her place, and checks everywhere in the house, and tells her to lock the door behind him. She hugs him, and he leaves, and she locks the door. The rest of the night has her scared out of her mind in her own house.

Darius checks on his carriage driver and recognizes his good sense of humor and they are away. Darius judges his paranoia as a value at this point rather than a failing.


They make it home and he crawls into bed after checking the manor with his book about the undead. It's dated a bit but still has some useful information. While he was at the Chapter House, he placed an order for a newer tome on the subject. It is out there in the ether now, this is the safest way, (He hopes). The request to meet with the specialist went out as well, Darius should hear something back in the next couple of days about them. Darius reads over the abilities purported to be attributed to vampires- speed, strength, the supremacy of magical ability, flight, shape changing, wolves, green mist, or the ubiquitous bat form. The art of making human and animal agents, Weaknesses, unproven, sunlight, fire, holy symbols, holy water, crossing bodies of water, must sleep in the dirt of their homeland, stake through the heart and the taking of the head for final death.