Krollir Venasten

Krollir Venasten, often known simply as the Righteous Man, was a priest of Mask and leader of the Night Knives, a thieves' guild in the city of Selgaunt in Sembia.

Description
Nearly always seen sporting a black eye mask that somewhat hid his features, Krollir was a tall human man with a thin build. The stress of dealing with extraplanar beings had aged him prematurely, so his hair was thin, short-cropped, and gray, his face was wrinkled near the eyes and mouth, and he walked with a slight stoop. His nose was broad and he was always clean-shaven. His looks were not remarkable in any way save his piercing green eyes that hinted at great intelligence. His deep and powerful voice commanded authority.

Personality
Krollir took the success of the Night Knives as a sign that he was destined for greatness. In fact, he was convinced that he was Mask's most prized servant and the Shadowlord's personal champion, prophesied to restore the Maskarran faith to prominence. Consequently, he grew arrogant and egocentric with age. Although he was a meticulous planner, renowned for his shrewdness, his obsession with crushing the Zhentarim made him blind to other important factors, which in turn made him vulnerable.

Abilities
As a favored priest of Mask, Krollir was granted no small measure of power from his deity. As a specialist in summoning magic, he could cast powerful spells like banishment, dismissal, planar ally, and summon monster V. He subscribed to the divine magic domains of evil and protection.

He spoke Common as well as the Abyssal and Infernal languages.

Possessions
The Righteous Man always wore a set of gray vestments of faith. He rarely carried a weapon, but on those occasions that he did, he wielded a powerfully enchanted mace. For protection, he always wore a ring of protection and, usually, potions of invisibility and cure critical wounds.

History
Born the third son of the noble Venasten family of Selgaunt, Krollir received a good education but had little direction in life. Craving excitement, he soon turned to a life of crime. His first years in Selgaunt's underbelly were spent associating with a variety of different gangs, but once he reached his twenties he allied himself with the Shadowblades, a crew of Mask-worshiping thieves. In the Shadowblades, Krollir saw a chance to make a name for himself through merit rather than the circumstances of his birth. To the Shadowblades, Krollir represented wealth and access to the nobility of Selgaunt. Within two years, Krollir had undertaken the rites to become a junior priest of Mask.

While his birth family's fortunes soured, causing them to slowly fade into obscurity, Krollir's aptitude for planning helped drive the Shadowblades to increasingly greater success. This soon attracted the attention of the Zhentarim, the most powerful criminal faction in Selgaunt. In one decisive attack, the Black Network slaughtered nearly every member of the crew in their shrine to Mask in the city's sewers. Krollir survived as he was away tending to family business. Forever after, Krollir Venasten harbored a deep hatred for the Zhentarim.

Following the Time of Troubles in 1358 DR, the Zhentarim's grip on Selgaunt began to wane. Sensing an opportunity to fill the growing power vacuum, Krollir founded his own Mask-worshiping thieves' guild: the Night Knives. He adopted the moniker "the Righteous Man" as a sort of priestly play on words on "upright man"&mdash;the thieves' cant term for a guild master. The Night Knives found immediate success under Krollir's leadership, benefiting greatly from both his guidance and his skill at summoning magic.

Out of all the members of Krollir's newly founded guild, two stood out in particular: Erevis Cale, formerly an assassin in the employ of the Night Masks of Westgate, and Drasek Riven, a dangerous killer who, unbeknownst to Krollir, was a spy for the Zhentarim. Both impressed Krollir enough to make them his guild lieutenants. Prompted by Erevis Cale, Krollir and the Night Masks embarked on a new criminal scheme: they placed spies within the houses of several noble families of Selgaunt and extorted them under threat of violence. This enterprise caused the Night Knives to grow even more powerful, and the guild soon rivaled the Black Network itself within the city.

In Hammer of the, Krollir attempted his most daring summoning yet. Having stolen the Shadowtome from a merchant from Arabel, the Righteous Man intended to summon one of the greatest entities described within: a greater dread from the Abyssal plane of Belistor. The Shadowtome described how mortals killed by dreads could not be brought back by any means, and Krollir wanted to use this power to rid himself of the Zhentarim leadership in Selgaunt. Although the summoning was successful, two things went wrong: firstly, Krollir had managed to summon Yrsillar, demon lord of Belistor and greatest of all dreads. Secondly, he had brought Drasek Riven with him to observe the ritual. Riven sensed his opportunity for betrayal and sabotaged the summoning circle keeping Yrsillar contained before quickly fleeing. Yrsillar took possession of Krollir's body, finding it a suitable vessel to keep him contained on the Material Plane.

Over the next few days, the demon lord&mdash;still in Krollir's body&mdash;seized control of the Night Knives through a combination of murdering the guild's members and turning them into ghasts. The dreads terrorized Selgaunt for a short while, but were ultimately defeated by Erevis Cale, who banished Yrsillar back to Belistor. Although Krollir's body was freed from possession, Yrsillar had drained too much of his life force. In his last moments alive, Krollir realized Cale was Mask's intended champion all along, and told the assassin this. He also told Cale of Drasek Riven's betrayal, which had loosed Yrsillar on Selgaunt. With the death of Krollir Venasten, the Night Knives guild was no more.

Relationships
Although he appreciated both his lieutenants in the Night Knives on a professional level, he certainly did not trust them. He was concerned that Riven's vicious nature might lead him to challenge for leadership of the Night Knives. At the same time, he worried that Cale's penchant for planning and subterfuge might eclipse Krollir in the eyes of Mask. To keep both lieutenants at bay, he encouraged their continued rivalry. He considered both Riven and Cale "whetstones" intended to sharpen his skills to prepare for his ascendancy as Mask's champion.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Shadow's Witness
 * The Halls of Stormweather: "Resurrection" • Lord of Stormweather • Twilight Falling • Dawn of Night
 * The Halls of Stormweather: "Resurrection" • Lord of Stormweather • Twilight Falling • Dawn of Night