Mariabronne

"That was who he was and how he played: always on edge and always just skilled enough or lucky enough to sneak out of whatever trouble his adventurous character has found."

- R.A. Salvatore, Promise of the Witch-King

Mariabronne the Rover was a human ranger, famous throughout the lands of Damara, often called The Tamer of Vaasa.

Description
At about 40 years of age, Mariabronne's face showed the hardship that came with more than 20 years of battles. His fairly long and thick brown locks were usually unkempt and covered his ears and neck, complementing his scruffy beard. Still, he was considered rugged and quite handsome with his brown eyes shining with a luster of youth more fitting of a man half his age. His grin could be both commanding and mischievous. His lean but finely muscled body was often covered by dirty garbs.

Personality
Despite wearing a constant scowl, Mariabronne was easy-going. As a nomadic warrior, he often talked to himself for he was often alone. He wanted no partners in hunting or life unless in the form of a temporary arrangement or a warm, soft body beside him in a warm soft bed. Mariabronne viewed his responsibilities as beyond the call of his personal desires. His visions and aspirations were rooted in the hope of an entire nation—to tame wild Vaasa.

Being acquainted with King Gareth Dragonsbane, Mariabronne knew how to behave at court. Still, he had never been fond of the pretension and the elevation of class.

The ranger judged a person by their actions alone despite any rumors about them.

History
Mariabronne was the long-time student of the ranger Olwen Forest-Friend and even grew to be as close to a son as Olwen ever had.

Mariabronne had risen through the ranks of the Bloodstone Army in the years during the war with Zhengyi, the Witch-King. Since the years of King Gareth Dragonsbane's rise and the fall of the Witch-King, Mariabronne was patrolling the Vaasan wilds and served Palischuk as a courier to the Gates of Vaasa and Damara and as a guide for Palischukian hunting parties. He also offered his services as a scout, guide, and guardian to travelers and adventurers setting out from the Vaasan Gate, and was known to only charge what he thought his clients could afford.

Together with the Bloodstone Army commander Ellery Dragonsbane, the dwarves Athrogate and Pratcus, the mage Canthan Doolittle, the half-orcs Arrayan Faylin and Olgerkhan, and the assassin Artemis Entreri and his drow friend Jarlaxle, Mariabronne went to defeat one of the Witch-King's constructs, a castle much like Castle Perilous. After breaking through the castle's primary defenses, the Rover scouted through tunnels, going further than commanded, as befitting his reckless nature. The Rover engaged a group of gnoll mummies, and there, distracted by the appearance of guardian daemons, took a severe neck wound that punctured a major artery from one of the mummies. He proceeded to slay multiple daemons and mummies, seemingly not noticing the wound until he attempted to taunt a daemon and found that he was coughing blood. He succumbed to blood loss soon after.

Later, during a battle with a black dragon dracolich, his corpse was reanimated, along with the corpse of Ellery Dragonsbane, whom Artemis Entreri had slain with a prick to the heart after she attacked Jarlaxle at the behest of the Citadel of Assassins, and Canthan Doolittle, who had similarly been in the employ of the Citadel of Assassins, and had similarly died at the hands of Entreri. All three corpses were destroyed in that battle.

Possessions
Mariabronne's favorite weapon was Bayurel, his renowned bastard sword, a solid, thick blade enchanted with a special hatred for giant-kin. Upon examining his deceased body, Jarlaxle noticed that the ranger wore a ring and a suit of armor with minor enchantment. Nevertheless, Jarlaxle took from Mariabronne a magical figurine that transformed into a nightmare mount, which he gifted to Artemis Entreri.

Appearances

 * Promise of the Witch-King