Maldwyn Daggerford

Maldwyn Daggerford was the duke of Daggerford during the events of the Second Sundering.

Personality
Maldwyn was more interested in being admired and respected than truly ruling his duchy. He was an arrogant man.

He was not very brave and would not risk his life for anyone else.

Possessions
Duke Maldwyn dressed in the finest of clothing, imported from across Toril, and often carried with him the traditional heirloom of the dukes of Daggerford, a flame tongue longsword called Lawflame, believed to be sentient, which had been gifted to the very first duke of Daggerford by the ancient gold elven lord, Elorfindar Floshin.

The duke was an eager collector of historical art and particularly priced pieces originating from the Kingdom of Man. One such piece in his collection was the Delimbiyr Bloke, a brick-sized block of shining quartzite carved with an abstract bearded face on it. The Bloke was given its name due to it supposedly having been recovered by an earlier duke of Daggerford while exploring a Delimbiyran ruin. The Bloke was however in truth a magical item and holy relic dedicated to the then dead dwarven deity, Gorm Gulthyn, called the Face of Gorm. The relic was capable of conjuring forth daylight as well as summoning the spirits of ancient dwarven warriors to fight alongside a goodly wielder of the Bloke. These spirits would however attack an evil wielder.

Activities
Maldwyn enjoyed the luxuries of his role, focusing in being an expert in the finest food and wine. He had never had an adventure and considered it a too dangerous situation.

Relationships
He was well-served by his advisor, Nayeli Goldflower, who also served as his protector as one of the Guardians of Daggerford.

History
At some point after 1479 DR, the forces of Daggerford captured a Red Wizard of Thay known as Arvik Zaltos who, upon having attempted to interrogate him, duke Maldwyn swiftly sentenced to death by hanging. Duke Maldwyn personally oversaw the public hanging of the wizard, but only moments after the wizard's death was it interrupted by the announcement that Cromm's Hold was under attack by the black dragon, Thoss Fyurnen.

As panic arose among the citizens of Daggerford, with the news of the dragon, duke Maldwyn attempted to calm his people and dispatched a token force of soldiers and clerics, lead by the paladin Sir Isteval, to reinforce the militia under Baroness Wynne of Cromm's Hold's control, while he himself retreated to the safety of his keep.

Some time later, a band of adventurers began gaining notoriety within the Daggerford region for aiding in facing the threat of the dragon. This gained the notice of the duke's sister Morwen, causing her and the duke to invite the adventurers to the ducal palace to dine with them. During this dinner, the duke, however, quickly expressed a lack of interest in the company of the adventurers as he got more and more drunk on wine.

Later still, Duke Maldwyn broke in the festivities of the post-funeral party of the late King Derval Ironeater by smashing open a keg of dwarven ale with a warhammer and proclaiming the day the regional holiday, Derval's Day.

In 1485 DR, despite numerous issues regarding attacks from the local monster-population within the Daggerford region, and therefrom resulting in an evergrowing crowd of displaced refugees arriving at Daggerford's gates, Duke Maldwyn actively locked down his town due to having been the target of theft, and therefore feeling justified in believing that refugees were the guilty party and should be kept out until the return of his lost item, the Delimbiyr Bloke.

Much to the displeasure of several noteworthy individuals of Daggerford, days after the loss of the Delimbiyr Bloke, Duke Maldwyn commanded a search of the local shanties, forcibly, though momentarily, removing their occupants before storming off back to the ducal palace when no results came from the search.

In spite of acts against the refugees of Daggerford, Duke Maldwyn was in truth more suspicious of the local figure Sir Isteval and his adventuring friend, Jekk Ironfist, who earlier had expressed an interest in buying the item, but instead settled for commissioning a plaster replica instead. The duke eventually acted out his suspicions by searching the home of Sir Isteval while Isteval himself was journeying to the city of Waterdeep.

After some time, the Delimbiyr Bloke was recovered by a newly arrived band of adventurers. However, upon its potential return to Duke Maldwyn, the duke initially reacted with little more than suspicion, but eventually made a show of proclaiming the band as honorary citizens of Daggerford and lifting the ban on refugees. The duke additionally offered a private apology to Sir Isteval and Jekk Ironfist, doing so while proclaiming his actions as justified.

Duke Maldwyn eventually became infatuated by the courtesan Natyssa and took her as his lover. Thanks to Pencheska, the pit fiend Baazka managed to possess the duke in an attempt to kill the newly arrived group of heroes and usurp the duke's throne. The adventurers, however, saw through the plans of the fiends and confronted them within the ducal palace. During this confrontation, the possessed duke fought to reclaim control of himself and eventually managed to throw his magical blade, Lawflame, to the heroes, allowing them to end the battle victoriously.

Following the Duke's death, his protector Nayeli Goldflower took the devil-tainted gold and jewels he had been wearing and ordered them to be fashioned into the hilt of a sword&mdash;dubbed Tyr's Justice&mdash;which she then wielded in a quest to avenge him.