Alathea Gryphonshar

Alathea Gryphonshar is but a memory to her five sisters: Alathea disappeared from her native Waterdeep thirteen years ago (1466 DR) and no sign of her has been found since. Her adventurer sister Trarleene was away from the city when Alathea vanished but spent three seasons searching for her after learning of her disappearance. Alathea’s father Andremon was well-liked amongst the merchant class in Waterdeep and doted on all of his daughters, seeing to their education while encouraging them to pursue their own interests: for Alathea it was the history and architecture of Waterdeep and its many structures. To this end Andremon apprenticed his daughter to the knowledgeable, self-styled Sage of Waterdeep (one Meurold Navaraekur) who was regarded by many as an expert on Waterdeep’s history and its buildings from the early to mid 1400s. Alathea grew to love her teacher like a second father. Meurold was exacting and precise in all things, allowing no room for doubt when it came to the subjects whose mastery he lived by. Meurold’s death in 1451 DR, followed a few short years later by that of Alathea’s father, left her doubly wounded. This pain was only enhanced by the loss of Meurold’s legacy: the deathbed theft of his entire collection of books, scrolls, notes and records of Waterdeep. These were to be Alathea’s and their loss while Meurold lay dying hurt Alathea almost as much as Meurold’s passing. She kept word of the loss from Meurold that he might die peacefully, but vowed to find and recover both his work and her work, as much of Meurold’s collection had been organized and re-copied by Alathea as part of her training. For years she searched Waterdeep, coupling her father’s reputation and her knowledge of the city’s many hiding places, back allies and forgotten buildings-within-buildings to explore likely places where the collection might have been taken. As she grew up, she grew to learn many secrets of Waterdeep, but never did she find the collection. In time her searching waned in favor of writing down what had changed in Waterdeep, as well those things she discovered about the buildings of Waterdeep and their history that not even Meurold had known. In 1466 DR, while helping a book dealer assess the value of a deceased noble’s collection, she happened upon a weathered parchment page in her own handwriting. She confronted the dealer who claimed no knowledge of the page. Alathea’s suspicion would not waver and she broke into the dealer’s building that same night. She spied the dealer and his hirelings hauling up from a subbasement the last of Meurold’s weathered collection, as well as several other famously stolen collections, but she was discovered and apprehended before she could summon the Watch. Alathea was bundled out of the city and sold into slavery in Skullport where she spent thirteen of the darkest years of her life. She bought her freedom with a blade to the heart of her long-time owner and tormentor, but not before she’d carved out of him as much knowledge as he possessed of the book dealer who had sold her to him. Alathea arrived by boat in Neverwinter in 1479 DR with one name on her mind: Narvos Heg. Джерело: <http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16717&SearchTerms=Neverember>