1486 DR, the Year of the Nether Mountain Scrolls

It was a day like any other when Reverin grimaced at the sunlight intruding in his private sleeping quarters. With but a slight motion of his hand, the old, dusty curtains in front of the window moved and blocked the nasty sunlight from reaching the young mage's face. He relaxed for a moment, trying to fall asleep. Having not achieved that goal within the next five minutes, Reverin gently floated off the bed and towards the tiny sink in the room. The dials on the tap turned on their own, splashing ice cold water all over the wizard's head, conveniently floating underneath the tap. Grumbling about the failure of the latest incantation and wiping his robes with a towel now held firmly in his pale hands, the wizard recalled the memorized spells for the day with the flick of a hand, showing a dull silvery ring on a long and bony finger. The ring emitted a short pulse of light, and went back to appearing like any common wedding ring.

Today was the day! Reverin was quite convinced his offer and the money it came with would attract as much an audience as an insurance should that scoundrel of a rival, Erepar, decided to cheat again like he did last time. This time, Reverin was sure that he would win, and gain his rightful prize: the sword Erepar kept in a magically locked and warded cubby. Rumoured to be a weapon of great power and even greater enchantment, it was surely worth disposing of a small time mage for. Reverin was giddy just thinking about the possibilities of posessing such an item, and the things he could learn from it...and the price it would eventually fetch on the market! Compared to all that, the amount of money he would lose to any potential guards [color=a2d39c]([i]should they of course, survive. And I won't try too hard to prevent any untimely deaths. It's a risk they take, no?[/i])[/color] was worth as much as the dust the youngster was standing on right now.

A short while and a long windy staircase later, the front door of a small tower opened, and Reverin appeared, floating ever so gently to a recliner in front of the tower, right across the gate through which any guests would enter, in the middle of a waist high fence circling the tower. The mage placed an alarm ward on the gate and reclined in his comfortable chair, determined to catch another nap before anyone arrived.

The tower and the recliner were located on a small newly formed hill outside of a large town called Two Stars, a local merchant town. It's convenient location along the Golden Way, a major trade route for the Eastern nations of Faerun, meant many benefits for the young wizard. Prices for magic items were some of the lowest in the East, the town was protected by a powerful militia ran by the Gallidy family, and the money from caravan tolls made the place a very decent affair outside of living in Thay itself. For the wizard in need of items or spells, there is always the Seer's Eye, functioning as a market for magical items and services alike.
The only issue with living here were the ever increasing attacks by demons, the consequences of some major event in Thay a few decades ago. The militia held them back admirably well, and it was an excellent way to test new spells and items, as the many live demonstrations showed. This constant threat naturally meant that mercenary companies thrived in Two Swords, as the many caravans always needed guards to protect them the closer the carts ventured to the land of the Red Wizards.

Life here had been good to Reverin, up and until the arrival of that pesky Erepar and his meddling in true wizard affairs a few years ago. The sight of the wondrous item he brought from Thay, with the glowing runes and inscriptions, had intrigued the more experienced mage, but Erepar guarded the item with his life, strangely so. That was, of course, a big reason why Reverin needed to have it. Anything worth guarding that badly would be worth getting, at almost any cost. Especially not his own life.