Rookroost, The Heart of the Bandit Kingdoms, Part 16

Art by Denis Gordeev

In this 16th installment for the City of Rookroost we take a look at the fourth and final installment of People of Interest. Once again thanks to everyone that have given me inspiration from Nigel Findley, Erik Mona, Gary Holian, Sean K. Reynolds, Frederick Weining, Casey Brown, and all the fabulous BK authors and lastly Gygax himself.

​Riziln: (Guild Master of the Guild of Wizardry) Riziln has been a member of the Guild of Wizardry since the days of Elshore and was his apprentice before rising in skill and becoming a member of the guild herself. Her appearance has changed very little in nearly two hundred years, and the only sign of getting older are streaks of gray hair at her temples. Many have often mistaken her as a servant when visiting the Guild of Wizardry. She rarely smiles or shows any emotion, which has gained her the nickname the “Cold Hearted One.” She favors plane robes and wears only magical jewelry.
 
Riziln has held her Guild Master position for over fifty years, and during that time, the guild has become the strongest it has ever been. Organizing the guild into a safe place where wizards can experiment without government interference or overly interested parties snooping into their business has drawn many wizards to the guild. Membership has plummeted since the war, but with a semblance of stability coming back to Rookroost, many of those who fled are returning. 
 
Before the Arrival of Mortoth, the Guild of Wizardry had a stranglehold on magic in the city and performed many minor magics and some advanced magics for the ruling elite and high ranking guild masters. By making themselves indispensable to business in Rookroost, Riziln ensured their position of power within the city. When the wizards perform these tasks, they often weave backdoors into all the spells. These secret passwords disarm wards or turn them against their owners. The guild has also secretly cast many scrying magics throughout the city, allowing them to gather much information.
 
The Guild of Wizardry, particularly Riziln, has a cordial relationship with the Congress and Elara. Despite her best efforts to persuade and even intimidate the guild, the wizards remain neutral towards the thieves. Riziln knows that becoming allied with any faction would undermine their overall standing in the city. Despite this, Riziln is afraid of the possible chaotic mess that could be unleashed on the city if Iuz wishes it. Sensing Mortoth's wish for independence from Iuz, Riziln has been secretly building a stable alliance with Mortoth. 
 
Tips for running Riziln: Meeting Riziln will not be easy for characters as she doesn’t meet with the general public, and when she does, it’s only with wizards. A wizard would also have to show promise and have already met with the wizards in charge of recruitment first. Looking to hire the guild's wizards would not even gain characters access to a meeting unless the amount of coin involved was substantial. She might however, hire characters to do an odd job for her. Still, even then, their reputation would have to be such that they would be considered better than what she could hire from the local guilds. Riziln is calculating and cautious in her moves. Her primary objective is to ensure that the guild and her guild members can survive the current crises. She is even considering a possible movement of the guild to a secret location outside of the Bandit Kingdoms.
 
Seltin (Owner of Seltin’s Stables): Seltin the half-elf is the best-known scout in Rookroost. Having led countless bands of brigands on raids for years, Seltin was in high demand up until his retirement. Even after his retirement, this knowledge has brought him much wealth as he hires and trains other scouts that he hires out to raiding parties. None of the scouts he trains know all of his secrets, and those he does teach jealously keep what they've been shown a secret. 
 
Seltin is a middle-aged half-elf, and his once blonde hair is now streaked with gray. His features are still handsome, and his easy nature and quick smile hide a very dangerous man. He is skilled with a bow and is still a deadly knife fighter. Never one to take a problem head-on when he could ambush it, Seltin is still well respected, especially among the bandits of Rookroost. 
 
Seltin called it quits just before the war and sunk all his money into his Stables and scouting business. Seltin's Stables sells and rents horses and scouts for marauding parties and merchant caravans year-round. His inn and stables are a couple of miles outside of town. Far enough from Outwall, he doesn’t have to worry about the riffraff that lives there. Seltin has become the first stop for most caravans either coming into or traveling out of Rookroost. 
 
Seltin knows a lot of people, and not just in Rookroost. He still keeps in touch with all of his contacts outside of the lands of the Free Lords and exchanges information with them regularly. He doesn’t sell the information but uses it to help his scouts do their job to the best of their abilities. Seltin’s scouts are so renowned that generals in neighboring kingdoms have attempted to bribe him to help plan possible invasions into the Bandit Kingdoms.
 
Seltin realizes that the days of living like a king in Rookroost are coming to an end. He has been hoarding coin and grooming a number of his scouts as possible replacements if they can afford it. Still, Seltin will most likely sell his business to Serinar when he leaves.
 
Tips on running Seltin: It’s easy for adventurers to meet Seltin. All they have to do is stop by Seltin’s Stables. He will be wandering the compound greeting customers and pumping them for information while being a gracious host. Besides the teamsters, scouts, and other work hands Seltin, employs mercenaries to guard his compound.

Art by Magnus Noren

Serinar (Guild Master of the Merchant’s League):  Serinar, the head of the Merchant’s League, is a relatively recent transplant to Rookroost. A pompus high elf, Serinar is a rare sight in the city. Rumors are that Serinar is on the run from his folk, and picked Rookroost because of its location in lands inhospitable to his kin. 
 
Serinar could have sought admission into the Guild of Wizardry upon arriving in Rookroost as he is a very accomplished wizard but elected not to. Instead, he set himself up as a merchant and joined the Merchant's League. Serinar’s hates inefficiency and is a master at organizing and streamlining procedures to suit the situation. Because of these skills, he rose through the ranks quickly. Then with some well-placed bribes, and assassinations he became Guild Master. The fact that Serinar did so during the turbulent years at the onset of the war and after the city's occupation helped him tremendously. 
 
Tall for an elf, and always dressed in the finest clothes, Serinar is a handsome elf and has no end of suitors looking to draw his attention. But his cold manner usually turns those interested in his company away. Serinar’s main goal is amassing as much wealth as possible and working on his constructs. He is extremely bitter about his banishment from his lands in the West, and revenge against his family is a driving force for him. 
 
Serinar’s has substantial influence as the Guild Master of the Merchant’s League. Only Mortoth and Elara Mornstar have more influence in Rookroost than Serinar. He will work with anyone, and while he drives a hard bargain, he is not unfair. Serinar realizes that he will be spending many years in the city, and making enemies while he is here will only hamper his agenda. If he is said to be friendly with anyone in the city it would be Mortoth. He is his biggest supporter, openly and privately. Serinar’s realizes that his plans would be struck a severe blow if another of Iuz's subordinates were assigned to rule Rookroost.
 
Tips on running Serinar: Adventures will have a hard time meeting Serinar, unless of course they are also merchants or posing as merchants. Serinar meets potential members in his office, which is heavily laden with scrying and other magics to determine when someone is lying to him. He also has magical items on his person that allows him to see through illusions and other magical disguises but not physical ones. Two of his personally constructed Iron Constructs guard him at all times.
 
Arus Mortoth (Governor of Ravensrook, General of Izmul): After Rookroost signed their treaty with Iuz none thought any good would come of it. It might not have seemed like it to the conquered, but Mortoth is not your typical minion of Iuz and is far less chaotic in his style and demeanor than expected. And after scheming his way into the political scene has enacted many changes to strengthen Rookroost.
 
Mortoth, like Iuz, is a half-fiend, and because of his infernal blood is a large and very imposing figure with scarlet skin, jet black hair, horns, and cloven-hooved feet. Dressing in dark crimson clothes and armor, he wields a spear and a wicked morning star in battle. His natural fiendish abilities and freakish strength make him more than a match for any foe he has met on the battlefield. Unlike most of Iuz’s commanders, he also sees the value in strategy and loyalty. His personal troops, the Red Guard, well are fanatical in their devotion to him and obey him over even Iuz. He has been known to fly off into rages but only in battle. Mortoth despises Iuz and his realm. He was born and inherited his father's holdings after killing him, not a simple task as his father was a demon bound to Iuz’s service.
 
Mortoth knows he was assigned occupying Rookroost because he has the temperament manage it and not turn it into a pile of smoldering cinders. He also knows he gained the position to test his loyalty and tempt him into betraying Iuz. Mortoth looks forward to doing just that when the time is right despite the Demi-lord’s anticipation of it.
 
Treason has been on Mototh’s mind since before the war when he went about building his personal army. Even when in the capital of, Dorakaa, Mortoth, was respectful, but only to Iuz. This attitude has made Mortoth many enemies amongst the Boneheart, many of whom scheme to topple him out of Iuz’s favor, where he remains even to this day. Cranzer, the overall commander of Iuz's forces in the Bandit Kingdoms, hates Mortoth with a passion. He would be scheming himself to bring down Mortoth if he wasn't so busy with trying to stomp out rebels in the Fellreev Forest and the Rift Cayon.
 
Tips on running Mortoth: Adventurers in Rookroost will find it hard to meet with Mortoth, but not as hard as meeting Riziln, Serinar, or Elara. Mortoth is continually looking to recruit as many competent swords as possible into his Red Guards for the inevitable war he will need to fight. If adventurers with sufficient reputation seek an audience with him, he will most likely grant it if he thinks there is a chance that he might recruit them. Mortoth runs a tight ship, and Rookroost has seen many positive changes since he has become the General. Those changes have won him some respect amongst the common folk, especially those not of the guilded elite. These changes have also won him many enemies among those very same guilded elites. Mortoth is working hard to forge alliances with those elites that he can while quietly trying to replace those that remain defiant.