Death of a Sailorman was a history book in three volumes that recorded the fall of Bloodsailer Trener B. Darven, scourge of the Sword Coast, penned some time before the late 14th century DR.[1]
Contents[]
Trener B. Darven was a famous and rather infamous swashbuckler and blackguard Trener B. Darven, whose cruel tale was grossly glorified and romanticized in songs and books. The books recorded the long late of the swashbuckler's fall. Volume I began by talking about two main ends that came to sea dogs of Faerûn: the first and the preferable one was the death of old age, the other – drowning in Umberlee's salty domain or in an endless flow of mead, ale, and rum. Many glorified retellings of Trener's death portrayed it as noble: defending his crew from the Luskan Navy or in the arms of his one true love. However, the number of these true loves in different stories was as wide as the fictionalized wild and unbelievable stories of his death.[1]
Volume II focused on the story of Trener B. Darven's life as it was important to understand it to truly process how he perished. One should disregard grandiose, flowery, bardic tales and focus on the true, harsh facts. It was recorded that in the modern history of Faerûn, no other sea dog caused as much death and as much property damage as Trener. Many tales praised Trener's greatest deed – when the Sable Crow, Trener's ship, sank the Luskan Pride. The Luskan ship carried a year's amount of taxes when it was attacked. Despite his best attempts, the pirate only managed to steal 10,000 gp of Luskanites' money, with most of it sinking into the Trackless Sea. Darven's attack directly led to Luskan's deep recession, costing it half of its army, many of the smaller surrounding settlements starved to death without Luskan's support, and it led to the doubling of taxes for the following decade. This draconian taxation cost the city its many businesses and drove many of its citizens into homelessness. To add insult to injury, bardic tales claimed that Darven gave every coin of pilfered 10,000 gold pieces to the poor and needy, yet the truth could not be further from fiction. Darven used the coin to build a sister ship – the Crimson Hawk and gifted it to his lover, Lariat Quist. With two ships, the infamous swashbuckler targeted Luskan once again, trying to bring its commerce to ruin and, later, planning on raiding merchant ships of Neverwinter. However, the pirate's downfall came from the only person he's ever shown kindness to.[1]
And this is where Volume III continued on into the final part of the pirate's tale. Drunk with successes, Darven sought an even greater target. In bed with him, Lariat, the consort, whispered into the pirate's ear that he should target the Gilded Sovereign Luskan's grand flagship. Both ships sailed boldly into the raid. The Sable Crow sailed first, against the sunset, approaching the Sovereign unnoticed. But instead of Sable Crow, sounds of attack came from the Crimson Hawk. Lariat's fire was a betrayal. She alerted Luskan's flagship and, even more so, ordered a handful of loyal men to board the Sable Crow. As the battle raged, the Sable crew had no chance, and all, including Trener B. Darven, were ready to die by drowning in Umberlee's caress. Lastly, that was not the death that waited for him. Lariat Quist backstabbed her consort, piercing his heart with the very same jeweled dagger he gifted her as a sign of eternal love.[1]
History[]
As of the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR, a copy of all three tomes of Death of a Sailorman was kept in the Neverwinter Archives of Neverwinter on the Sword Coast.[1]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
- Video Games
- Neverwinter Nights 2
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Obsidian Entertainment (October 2006). Designed by Ferret Baudoin, J.E. Sawyer. Neverwinter Nights 2. Atari.