Kalen Dren

Kalen Dren, also known as Shadowbane, was a human paladin of the late 15 century DR who believed in the Threefold God and was the primary crusader of the Eye of Justice. He led a dual life as a member of an elite Waterdhavian guard unit and as a vigilante crime fighter. Kalen suffered from a spellscar that numbed his body. The lack of feeling aided him when fighting, but he did not experience pleasurable sensations as others did. Kalen believed that his spellscar would eventually kill him. "I will make of myself a darkness. A darkness where there is only me."

- Kalen Dren

Early Life
Kalen was an orphan and was raised in Luskan by a rogue who took in children and used them in his criminal operation. While at the "orphanage", he met a young halfling named Cellica and the two became close friends. As he was begging on the streets one day, he met the paladin Gedrin Shadowbane, who gave him the sword Vindicator, made him promise never to beg for anything again, and cuffed him on the ear so he would remember the promise. Kalen joined Gedrin's church, the Eye of Justice, and traveled to Waterdeep with Cellica where he was trained by Levia Shadewalker.

Waterdeep
He joined the Waterdhavian City Guard and was gravely wounded in a battle in the late 1470s DR. During the battle, he took an arrow intended for an officer named Araezra Hondyl, saving her life. Although he recovered from his wounds, he continued to behave as though he was disabled so that no one would suspect that he was the vigilante Shadowbane. Araezra took Kalen on as her aide, though he wasn't expected to engage in combat because of his supposed disability.

In his Shadowbane persona, he roamed Downshadow in the upper levels of Undermountain, rescuing damsels in distress and performing other noble deeds. In the, he intervened during a fight in Downshadow between a high-ranking priestess of Sune, Lorien Dawnbringer, and an evil dwarf monk known as Rath. This incident brought him into contact with members of his guard patrol who didn't recognize him because of his helm. Over the next few days, Kalen had several other encounters with the City Guard and even eluded them on a wild rooftop chase through Waterdeep. During one of the encounters, Vindicator was taken by Araezra, although she returned the sword several days later after she discovered that Kalen was Shadowbane.

Shortly afterwards, Kalen came upon a strange blue fog that contained a crying young woman with blue hair. The woman was Myrin, whom he rescued and took back to the rowhouse he shared with Cellica. Myrin was a wizard from Westgate who had been trapped in an intradimensional space by the Spellplague for nearly 100 years. She had an extremely powerful spellscar that allowed her to use another person's magical abilities if they were near her. Myrin attracted the attention of Lilten, the high priest of Beshaba, who made several attempts to kidnap her.

Rath, one of Lilten's minions, was finally successful and abducted Myrin and took her to a belltower. Kalen tracked Rath to Downshadow, where the two dueled. Rath jumped through a magical gate that led from Downshadow to the tower and Kalen followed and bested Rath by knocking him off the belltower. Rather than kill Rath, Kalen turned him over to the City Watch.

At some point in 1479 or 1480 DR, Kalen took on a young apprentice named Vaelis, whom Kalen apparently killed accidentally. After his failure with Vaelis, he felt guilty and no longer worthy of wielding Vindicator. In fact, the blade burned his hand, although, because of his spellscar, he hardly noticed.

Luskan
In 1480 DR, Kalen received a cryptic message that Myrin might be in trouble in Luskan and he traveled back to the city. At the city gate, Kalen gave Vindicator, which he no longer felt worthy of, to a young guardsman named Rhett. While in Luskan, he was confronted by an enforcer for the Dead Rats gang, captured and brought to the Rat's tavern. Myrin had been captured by the Dead Rats earlier and, in order to keep her docile, had been told she was the new leader of the gang. Myrin convinced the Rats to release Kalen.

Kalen spent time poking around the city with Myrin in search of the cause of the Fury plague that was sweeping Luskan. Kalen decided that Luskan needed more order so he spent ten days beating the rival gangs into submission. He then called a public meeting to select a king of Luskan. The meeting, which was attended by all the Luskan gangs, deteriorated into a huge melee. During the fighting, the demon Scour attacked, killing many people although Kalen and Myrin survived.

Lilten told Kalen and Myrin that Scour was in the Luskan underground. The duo, along with Rhett and Sithe found Scour and apparently destroyed him.

Westgate
Later, in 1480 DR, Kalen and Myrin traveled to Westgate in an attempt to determine what became of Rhett. While in Westgate, Kalen found that there were two others who claimed the Shadowbane title: Rhett and his first apprentice Vaelis, not dead after. Kalen fought and defeated Vaelis, cutting off his arm during the fight.

Description
Kalen had dark hair and colorless pupils. Although he had the ability to heal himself, he refused to use divine magic whenever he accidentally shed the blood of an innocent. Because of this, his body was covered with old scars.

Possessions
Kalen wore leather armor and carried the magic bastard sword Vindicator, a blade once used by the god Helm. He wore a helmet to hide his identity as Shadowbane and had magic boots that allowed him to run faster and jump farther than normal humans could.

Abilities
Like the other wielders of Vindicator, Kalen could recall the sword to his hand, no matter where the sword was. Kalen was able to summon grey spiritual armor to surround his body.

Relationships
Kalen was life-long friends with Cellica, whom he regarded as a sister. His vows as a paladin did not prevent him from taking lovers. He had a past relationship with his commanding officer, Araezra Hondyl, which seems to have ended amicably. Kalen slept with Fayne, a fey'ri, causing Myrin (who had a crush on Kalen) to be heartbroken when she saw them together. He had a close platonic relationship with Ilira, one of Sune's priestesses. Rhett idolized Kalen and wanted to be his apprentice but Kalen refused, owing to guilt over Vaelis.

Background
Erik Scott de Bie, author of the Shadowbane series, wrote that "The Grey Guard PrC is definitely something that goes into my inspiration--Shadowbane himself is kind of a mix of Shadowbane Inquisitor (the powers) and Grey Guard (the moral "grayness"). Shadowbane isn't meant to be the classic D&D paladin, but rather someone trying to do the right thing in a world where it isn't always clear what the right thing is. He's also meant to provoke a reaction as to whether he's really a good guy or not, and whether his actions and means do indeed justify his ends." The gray guard is a prestige class in Complete Scoundrel and the Shadowbane inquisitor is a similar prestige class in Complete Adventurer.

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * Shadowbane series: Downshadow • Shadowbane • Eye of Justice


 * Adventures
 * Storm over Neverwinter