Margaret Weis - Amber and Ashes

Still a young man, Caele fell in love with a young woman of his tribe, one of the rare silver-haired beauties of the Kagonesti. A secret romance between the two blossomed and Caele felt that his black moods were forever behind him. He planned to run away with his lover and start a new life. The half-elf told the maiden his plans for them at one of their secret meeting spots near the top of a waterfall. The maiden refused to go. She didn’t want to leave her people, especially to run away with a half-breed.

Darkness overwhelmed Caele. He grabbed his lover and dragged her to the edge of the cliff He ignored her screams and paid no attention to her flailing fists and scratching nails. He shoved her over the waterfall, watching dispassionately as her body smashed into the jagged rocks at the base of the falls. Caele gazed down at her for some time, until the water washed away all traces of his crime.

Although no one could prove that he had murdered the young woman, the two had been seen together and her disappearance aroused the suspicions of the tribe. Caele was termed a dark elf and forced to flee for his life. He traveled to the port towns of Northern Ergoth, earning his keep by thievery. The dark elf might have ended his days as a thief, except that he tried to rob an Ergothian sea-mage named Dunbar Mastermate, wizard of the White Robes.

The powerful and high-ranking wizard easily caught the inept young thief. Dunbar saw potential in young Caele, and hoped that compassion and understanding might bring the half-elf to the paths of light. Caele was not interested at first in learning magic, which he thought was for weaklings. A demonstration of magical power impressed him and caused him to change his mind. Scholarly pursuits did not come naturally to him, but he had talent and determination. Caele sailed the seas with Dunbar, and for a time, the sea brought peace to his troubled soul. Eventually, however, the black moods returned. He was constantly getting embroiled in fights and in arguments, until the crew took against him and threatened to maroon him.

Dunbar tried to intervene with Caele, hoping to turn the young man aside from a path leading to true darkness, but their “talks” always ended in arguments. One morning, while sailing just off the coast of Solamnia, the crew woke to find both Caele and a lifeboat missing—along with some of Dunbar’s scrolls and magical accoutrements. Deciding not to pursue him, Dunbar heard nothing of Caele for many years.

The sea-mage was eventually elected head of the Order of White Robes, and took up semi-permanent residence in the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth. He was surprised one day to see Caele traveling through the forest, searching for the Tower, wishing to take the Test.

The Test forced Caele to relive the darkest day of his life—the murder at the falls. He was not interested in rewriting the past, nor in hearing his lover’s hurtful words once more. This time he cut her throat immediately, then shoved her bleeding body over the cliff’s edge. Nuitari claimed Caele for his own.

Caele grew in power rapidly under the dark light of the black moon and he rose quickly in the Order, hoping to challenge even the great Dalamar the Dark for control. Then the Summer of Chaos scorched the world. The black moon left the sky. Caele’s magic was gone.

The powerless wizard went back to the sea, sailing on merchant ships. He learned that magical objects of the Fourth Age could give him temporary power and he took to searching for and stealing any he could find. His thievery did not go unnoticed. He was arrested, convicted, escaped, arrested again, escaped again. A hunted man, he was forced to leave civilization behind and retreat to the wilderness. A capable survivor, he hunted and fished, determined to go on with his life, even without the magical power that had once defined him.

Caele’s powers returned with the three moons. One of the few truly powerful Black Robes left alive, Caele was sought out by Nuitari, who appeared to Caele and offered him the chance to become one of the dark god’s personal wizards. Caele agreed and became the second of the two caretakers of the Tower of the Blood Sea.

Appearance: Caele is tall, lean, and muscular. He has light brown skin and dark eyes. His long, wavy hair is jet-black. He dresses in the black robes of his Order for formal occasions, but, in the wilderness, he is completely at-ease wearing a loincloth or nothing at all. He has several faded tribal tattoos on his chest and arms. His face is closed and expressionless, even when he is in one of his rages, which makes him all the more frightening.

Caele: Male half-elf (Ergothian/Kagonesti) Bar2/Wiz5/Black Robe 10; CR 17; Medium humanoid (half-elf); HD 2d12+15d4+34; hp 92; Init +6; Spd 40 ft.; AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 17; Atk +11 melee (1d3+2/x2, unarmed strike); SA rage 1/day, spells; SQ half-elf traits, darkvision 30 ft., low-light vision, uncanny dodge; AL NE; SV Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +10; Str 14, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 17, Wis 8, Cha IO.

Skills and Feats: Climb +7, Concentration +21, Handle Animal +4, Intimidate +6, Jump +6, Knowledge (arcana) +22, Listen +8, Search +6, Spellcraft +24, Spot +2, Survival +7, Swim +10; Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Enlarge Spell, Improved Initiative, Scribe Scroll (B), Spell Penetration, Quicken Spell, Track.

Spells Prepared(4/5/5/5/4/4/3/2/1; save DC 13 + spell level): 0—acid splash, detect magic, mage hand, open; 1st—burning hands, enlarge person, identify, summon monster I, true strike; 2nd—bull’s strength, invisibility, protection from arrows, scorching ray, web; 3rd—clairvoyance, empowered magic missile, haste, lightning bolt, summon monster III; 4th—dimension door, globe of invulnerability (lesser), shout, stoneskin; 5th—baleful polymorph, prying eyes, quickened magic missile, wall of force; 6th—permanent image, programmed image, [Tenser’s] transformation; 7th—spell turning, summon monster VII; 8th—prismatic wall.

Order Secrets: Magic Betrayal, Magic of Darkness, Magic of Fear, Magic of Hunger, Magic of Pain.

Note: Caele has chosen not to take an arcane focus as a Wizard of High Sorcery.

Spellbook: As an experienced Black Robe wizard and one of Nuitari’s chosen caretakers of the Tower of the Blood Sea, Caele has access to an incredible array of spells. He has knowledge of all arcane spells listed in the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook and in the Dragonlance Campaign Setting (except for named spells, such as Fistandantilus’s Portal or Magius’s Light of Truth).

Possessions: Amulet of natural armor +4, ring of protection +3, cloak of the manta ray, boots of elvenkind, ring of elemental command (water), rod of metamagic (empower).