Alaeros Margaster

Alaeros Margaster was a fighter, a member of the noble Waterdhavian Margaster family, and an agent of the Lords' Alliance. He played a critical role in stopping the Cult of the Dragon take control over the Sword Coast during the late 15 century DR.

"You don't want to pick a fight with me, friend."

- Alaeros.

Description
He had red hair.

Personality
Alaeros was a very kind and considerate man with many talents. He had a moral belief that meant he would never cut down a live tree.

Abilities
He was quite skilled at imitating regional accents along with the voices of others he heard.

Early Life
Alaeros Margaster was born a noble of Waterdeep. At the age of nine, he was kidnapped by pirates from Luskan. After they sold him to slavers, he was rescued by agents of the Lords' Alliance. He was brought to the Margaster estate in Neverwinter. Even though he was free, his life did not exactly improve. Alaeros had to live with his cruel uncle, Orn Margaster, who convinced him that his parents never wanted to have him.

The Margaster family, as a whole, was in fact in great trouble. The noble house had financially indebted itself to the Zhentarim, making it more problem then honor to be a family member. The head of the Waterdhavian branch of the family was greatly ill during Alaeros' youth, and his family fell to infighting to claim what little could be salvaged of their birthright.

In the midst of this turmoil, Alaeros was left to fend for himself. At the age of 15, he began service in the local militia. This is where he first learned to fight with a sword. His great physical stature and quick thinking led him to become a formidable warrior. But his commanders disliked him for his noble heritage, and made life difficult for him. The warrior did not let this faze him, which only infuriated his tormentors. The commanders planted false evidence of stealing to discredit him, ultimately getting him kicked out of military service.

His dishonorable discharge embarrassed his family in Neverwinter, who told him to go live with the Waterdhavian branch of the family. In defiance of his family's wishes, he instead took up mercenary work along the Sword Coast. He chose to style himself as a rural Northman without any hint of his aristocratic heritage.

During one of his exploits, he and a companion had to escape a band of goblins. The companion fell in battle, and Alaeros's sword broke after he fell from a great height. While hiding from the goblins, he discovered an axe hacked into an old tree. Removing the weapon caused the "tree" to wake up, revealing itself to be a treant. The treant helped Alaeros defeat the goblins and escape the forest. Not long afterward, he saved three travelers from a monster using his new found axe, which he named "Chopper". One of these travelers knew Alaeros from the warrior's childhood. In fact, the traveler was the Lords' Alliance agent who had rescued him from slavery. Alaeros's prowess was noted by the agent, who invited the fighter to become an agent of the Alliance, namely for the city of Neverwinter.

Tyranny of Dragons
Some time during the 1480s DR, Alaeros was charged by Lord Dagult Neverember with leading an expedition to halt the Cult of the Dragon in their search for the lost dragon masks. He was accompanied by the dwarf cleric, Barrowin Undurr of the Order of the Gauntlet, and the elf wizard, Nymmestra the Harper. They defeated a group of Cultists led by the Thayan wizard Rath Modar, which were trying to guard an excavation site in Icewind Dale. In this battle, Alaeros company received the assistance of Ratshadow the halfling rogue, an agent of the Zhentarim, and his native guide Talon Everhale, a human ranger of the Emerald Enclave. They all entered a mysterious stone portal at the center of the excavation site.

The portal led them to the island of Tuern, which led to many battles between the heroes, cultists, and native barbarians. After one of these battles, Alaeros's group interrogated a captured cultist and discovered that the Cult was searching for the Red Dragon Mask. Alaeros's company tried to beat the Cult to the mask, but were unsuccessful. They did however manage to slay the isle's red dragon tyrant Lostmauth. Afterwards the dragon's two siblings turned on each other, destroying Tuern.

Somehow, he and his friends escaped Tuern and headed to Neverwinter to break a siege by a horde of red dragons. However, Ratshadow found the White Dragon Mask, and split from the group. Ratshadow took it back to the Zhent headquarters in Waterdeep. The Zhents lost the mask to Lord Arthagast Ulbrinter, a Masked Lord of Waterdeep. However, his villa was raided by the Cult, and his fate was unknown. Alaeros, Talon, Nymesstra, and Barrowin arrived at the villa to find the massacre of the household. Fortunately they did track down the Cult's wyrmspeaker Varramzord, and managed to learn about their ultiamte plot to summon Tiamat from the Nine Hells.

When Lord Ulbrinter's widow Remallia Haventree summoned the combined forces of the Sword Coast to march on the Cult's main lair at the Well of Dragons, a great battle took place. Alaeros and his fellow heroes were among those that managed to subdue the cult's leader, Severin Silrajin and brought renown each to their respective factions.

Appearances

 * Comics
 * Tyranny of Dragons
 * Board Games
 * Temple of Elemental Evil