The Mage-Killer of Calimport

There is an old saying, "One usually meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." For our half-blood hero, truer words can never be said.

For as long as he can remember, Kaz Garoth has been running and hiding for the simple reason that he was different from everyone else. In a place as eclectic and varied as Calimport, the jewel port city of Calimshan, this is nothing short of a mean feat.

Born to a waitress in a little known tavern, Kaz's life should not have been anything more than normal and boring. So it came as a shock, especially to his then devoted father, that Kaz looked the way he did.

Kaz's hair was a deep dark blue, like the ocean at its most unfathomable point. His complexion was grey like cold steel, yet his body was far warmer than any living human. But of all these, the most striking infernal features of Kaz were the pair of horns jutting slightly like lumps from his forehead, and his eyes, which were two black orbs into which one can seemingly see through to the pits of the nine hells.

To say that his father was shocked and outraged at Kaz's sight would be an understatement, for he immediately hurled anything he could get his hands on: chairs, tables, bookpiles, armoires, the countless chests and barrels that littered the area, and perhaps even poor hapless Kaz had his mother not protected him.

Suspecting the mother of adultery with nothing less than an infernal fiend, Kaz's father left in a indignant huff, running out the door like a crazed dire rat that was left too long inside a locked room filled with nauseous gas. Needless to say, Kaz grew up not knowing any father. And his mother made sure that he would not miss him.

His mother loved Kaz and raised him to be a good and law-abiding Calishite. She taught him the value of tolerance and hard work. She taught him that despite his appearane and lineage, he had a choice to face life's harsh realities with a pure soul and an indomitable principle, even if doing the good thing did not always get rewarded. Kaz seemed to understand, for even at such a young age, he has shown an uncannily astute mind.

All the while, she did her best to shield him from prying and prejudiced eyes. Every so often, she dyes his hair black, covers him in tanning salve, and makes sure he never leaves home without his turban and rose-colored spectacles. Yet, the tedious and unusual ensemble only made Kaz's life a little bit more bearable. Physically, he melded into the crowd, but people always felt uneasy around him without ever truly understanding why.

And so it was that young Kaz Garoth grew up pretty much without friends. Although this did not mean though that he lacked social skills. He was oddly persuasive and even talked his way out of getting arrested, once for stealing back a trinket his mother once wore and another for sneaking around an exclusive and well-guarded prostitute den ran by no less than the Caliph of Calimport himself. Over the years, Kaz proved that he can be as devious and scheming as any Baatezu, but his strong personal conviction to doing what's right and keeping with the law of common good pushed him to exercise his skill only when truly needed.

And mad skills he had. Whatever Kaz Garoth lacked in personal magnetism and physical appearance, he made up for pure intelligence, dexterity and wit. Kaz was never the strongest guy around, but he sure was the quickest. Coupled with an uncanny situational awareness, Kaz has proven himself to be a most difficult target - using everything around him to his advantage.

This skill has not gone unnoticed by the most prestigious thieves' guild of the south, and soon, word was out about a young Calishite kitchen boy who can find his way through a open hall guarded by twenty hunters and their bloodhounds.

Whether or not Kaz was placed under the employ of the guild remains irrelevant for his most famous deed was the assassination of a rather powerful but crazy old mage that made her home near the High Road connecting Calimport to the northern city-states of the Sword Coast.

The old mage was a female tiefling like Kaz, but with a rather different background. She grew up rejected and discriminated and found her solace in reading endless volumes of books. At an early age, she discovered her innate arcane prowess and decided that with this, she can have her revenge on the people that persecuted her. She forced her way back to the small coastal town where she grew up, obliterating the sizeable defense. Without real opposition, she easily took over the town's leadership and enslaved the entire population. She then declared herself the "witch queen," and ruled over the town with what she called a "benevolent dictatorship."

Healthcare for all!

Normally, the Calishites would not mind such a town in their neighborhood, but ever since the witch queen's power grew, it has been exacting a heavy toll on the traders that passed through its road. And when a caravan carrying 6 months' worth of grain bound for Calimport suddenly disappeared, the hungry and desperate people of Calimport demanded that the Caliph do something about the situation.

Over the next few days, messengers were sent requesting for safe passage for the traders in return for whatever the queen wanted. But when messengers returned without their bodies attached to their heads, it became clear that the once benevolent dictator became mad with power and greed.

Kaz was then called to a private meeting with the Caliph and was given only one instruction: "Return with the mage's head or do not return at all." Although it was well known that the Caliph had little patience for failure, Kaz was still taken aback at the sterness of the request. Only later was it made clear to him that the Caliph knew all along that he was a tiefling and that he ignored revealing the disguise knowing that he can make use of this knowledge later on.

And the Caliph was right. Normally, Kaz would never accept such a demand, and it was not as if Calimport had a shortage of fine assassins.

A certain Artemis Entreri comes to mind.

Kaz thought that perhaps it was because of all the skilled assassins of Calimport, a young, unproven tiefling rogue would be the most expendable. The Caliph was taking a gamble at killing the crazed demon mage, and he was smartly starting his bet at the minimum.

Kaz knew one thing was certain: he no longer had a home in Calimport. And until he delivered on his task, not him nor his mother would be ever be safe from the vengeful and intolerant Caliph. So with a broken heart and battered soul, he said goodbye to his beloved mother, and after years of hiding, he finally went to the streets without his glasses and salve to the shocked gasps and awed stares of the Calishites.

He was now on his way north.

What happened between then and the time a boxed parcel arrived at the Caliph's door remained a mystery to this day.

Word on the street was that the boxed parcel contained a certain mage's head and a note written in Infernal, which translated to Common reads, "The head of the matron to trade with a daughter." The message was taken by the Calishite scribes to be coming from Kaz himself but the handwriting was surprising since nobody knew that the tiefling could write, more so in Infernal. They further deduced that Kaz wanted to secure the safety of his mother through the mage's successful assassination.

The Caliph, pleased that his gamble paid off went out to search for his now prized killer. But none of the scouts he sent ever came back, except for one which was terrified beyond the capacity to speak. The Caliph saw that beneath the scout's bloody tattered robe were wounds that resembled words written in Infernal: "Touch us not."

Infernal: also known as "l33t5p3@k"

Enraged but wise not pursue a blood feud with the rogue, the Caliph cut his losses and went back to running his city which now enjoyed an evidently larger trade.

To this day nobody in Calimport knows where Kaz Garoth journeyed. Rumor has it that his last note to his mother, written in Infernal, bore the words: "North" and "Luskan".