Turkel Bastan

Master Turkel Bastan was a monk of Tabot who settled and became a potter in Westgate on the Dragon Coast in the 14 century DR. He was the teacher of Danica Maupoissant. "You have outgrown me. Your skills surpass my own in so many areas. There remains only one master who can continue to instruct you.""

- Turkel farewelling Danica

History
He was once a monk in Tabot, where he was a follower of the Way of Enlightenment and a student of the martial arts of Grandmaster Penpahg D'Ahn. However, he later emigrated to Westgate in Faerûn.

Turkel agreed to take on the twelve-year-old Danica as his apprentice after her father, Pavel Maupoissant, a master wagonmaker, was threatened by jealous business rivals in Westgate and feared for his daughter's safety. Initially, Turkel trained her only as a potter and for a year she divided her time between his workshop and her parents' home. Then, one night, assassins of the Night Masks murdered the Maupoissants, leaving Danica an orphan.

The old potter took the girl into his care, aided her in her grieving while he wept in private, and trained her not in pottery but in the martial arts and mental disciplines of Penpahg D'Ahn and in his faith. She was an eager student, not least because she worked and trained to bury her pain. In time, Turkel told her the truth of what had happened to her parents, but avoided the names of those behind it. He did not wish her to seek revenge, but to put the past behind her.

Finally, after six years, circa 1360 DR, when he realized had taught young Danica all he could, Turkel sent her to the Edificant Library to learn from the scrolls of Grandmaster Penpahg D'Ahn kept there. He presented her with his two magical daggers, and let her go with his love and pride and she departed with sadness but also anticipation to learn more of what he had taught her.

Turkel still lived in 1361 DR, and Danica planned to return and visit when she completed her studies at the Edificant Library. But fate would have other plans for her.

Personality
He was quiet and humble, full of serenity and at peace with himself and the world. Yet in battle he was capable of great energy and ferocity, but never without discipline.

Description
By the time Danica knew him, Turkel appeared to be over 80 years old, at least, with white beard and wizened appearance, his skin wrinkled and leathery from long hours of mountaintop meditation under the sun in his youth. Despite his age, he was capable of moving with cat-like grace and explosive speed and striking with great force.

Relationships
Having come from Tabot as her mother did, Danica speculated he was a distant relative of hers. Whether they were or not, they became as family to one another.

Possessions
He owned two powerfully enchanted daggers with transparent crystalline blades enchanted with glassteel. One had a gold hilt with a tiger's head pommel, the other had a silver hilt with a dragon's head pommel. These he gave to Danica.