Leaf Theven

This post is available in: english, français.

AI generated portrait of Leaf Theven

“Selling two sheep, if interested come to see me at the farm behind Touz Hill,” “Young girl available for marriage, speak to Duncan Norton,” “Blacksmith wanted to repair wagon. 35 crowns” No, no, and definitely not. Clearly, I’m not going to find anything to sustain me for a few days here, no ball or wedding where my bard services would be useful.

And you, what are you looking for on this board? Bounty hunter, hmm? What do you have there? Leaf Theven, wanted for murder in Temeria, there’s quite a sum at stake, but are you up to it?

Can I tell you more? Of course, it turns out I met him very recently. And if you want my opinion, it’s a tragic story.

His parents, Elion and Rina Theven, and his brother, Alred, are highly skilled artisans. They were well regarded in Temeria in the community where they lived. Quite rare for elves! Leaf himself was a tracker, and excellent at that! He ventured deep into the forest of Brokilon, braving the mysteries and dangers posed by the dryads who inhabit it. During one of these explorations, he saved another tracker named Elluin Miranan. Elluin was injured and pursued by dryads, without his bow, lost, and leaving behind him a trail of blood. Without Leaf’s intervention, who managed to outsmart the dryads with some ingenuity and a lot of risks, he would have surely perished.

After this event, Elluin introduced him to his employer, and they worked together for the kingdom of Cidaris. These two elves were instrumental in helping local lords better understand the forest, the safe places, and those that were best avoided. These services earned him a knighthood in Cidaris. And he even had the privilege of being trained by the great Brandan Vate in the use of short blades. If you plan to hunt him down, be on your guard, he is discreet, quick, and a deadly swordsman!

During the Second Northern War, their family home was reduced to ashes, leaving behind only a ruin haunted by the specters of fallen soldiers and carnivorous necrophages. Because of the involvement of the Scoia’tael during the war, his family was hunted and harassed, spending difficult years trying to survive in the region where they had always lived.

It was at this time that his relationships began to be less commendable. He found new friends in Aewin, the second in command of the Scoia’tael group the Thorns of Blood. To provide for his family, he worked for them in secret. Theft, sabotage, ambushes, and even murder. When he spoke to me about it, I felt he seemed to regret this period of his life, but after all, humans despised him, they didn’t leave him many other options. Thanks to his brother, his parents never learned the nature of his activities, and the money and protection of the Thorns of Blood allowed them to survive.

About a year ago, Leaf met Lise de Rego. He refrained from revealing his other activities to her, but despite their differences, an idyllic romance blossomed between them. From what his face expressed when he talked to me about her, she transformed him, she gave him a taste for life again. For her, he said he wanted to resume his tracking work and show her all the secrets of the forests of Temeria. To leave his dark and terrible reality. He just needed to save enough money to be able to leave with his family and Lise if she desired. A contract that he couldn’t refuse was proposed to him at that time. Someone to kill, one last crime to offer him his freedom and to be able to escape. A certain Cecilia wanted to make a woman disappear who would be at a masked ball organized by Adega de Rego, Lise’s mother. His employer informed him that it was someone vile, an aberration of nature who conversed with monsters and magical creatures to obtain abject powers. His target would wear a blue and gold Fox mask that he couldn’t miss, and then he could put this life behind him.

On the day of the ball, he spent some time with Live, who would also be at the party, wearing a splendid pure black mask, he slipped away before the festivities began, and infiltrated the mansion gardens, in search of the blue and gold mask. As he spots his target, she disappears into the gardens and he loses sight of her for a moment, Leaf catches up to her and plunges a blade between her ribs. Finally free, his last crime. As he was about to disappear, his victim’s voice froze his blood. It took him a long time to tell me what happened next. Between sobs, he managed to tell me that he turned around and lifted the Fox mask. Live’s lifeless eyes stared at him as his world collapsed. He didn’t even try to flee. He was ready, and resigned to be caught, to die for what he had just done. Paralyzed, he held his beloved in his arms with all his might one last time. Something happened then that he was unable to explain to me. He was transported, the world changed around him, and suddenly, he found himself in the hall of a castle he didn’t know, his bloodied blade in hand, facing individuals as surprised as he was.

He was immediately seized and thrown into the dungeon. Trapped, he was tortured and tormented to answer questions that eluded him as well. None of his explanations or pleas satisfied his torturers, who left him to rot in the cells for four long months before he managed to escape.

The following months were very blurry for him, plunging him into a whirlwind of fleeting pleasures and forgetfulness. Brothels, drugs, alcohol, all the sins you know became his escape. It was out of necessity that he had to get out from this abyss of decadence when Willhard Mansu made the connection between this depraved elf and the one wanted for high treason at the other end of Temeria. This individual blackmailed Leaf to keep his identity secret.

To be able to pay him, he decided to reconnect with his dark past and contact the Thorns of Blood. But unfortunately for him, he had been replaced. In his absence, an elf named Ilyana had taken his place among the ranks of the Thorns of Blood. However, as a reminder of their past collaboration, Fabian, the leader of the Thorns, sent him to contact someone who should be able to help.

So, still confident in your plan? Are you ready to face an assassin who has nothing left to lose, and his formidable henchmen? If I were you, I’d steer clear.