Savione
“While I cannot send the king's ghost to the Mists, I can still take some comfort in petty vengeance.
— Savione
Savione was the chief courtier of King Adelbern in Ascalon before the Foefire. He tried to stop the king from casting the Foefire with fatal consequences. After his death, he lingered on as an unaffected ghost among the Foefire ghosts in Adelbern's service while plotting to have his revenge on the Sorcerer-King. However, he ultimately ended up helping Dougal Keane's guild in retrieving the Claw of the Khan-Ur from Adelbern at the cost of his ghostly existence on Tyria.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Savione served Adelbern loyally as the king's chief courtier in Ascalon. Upon discovering that Adelbern was planning on using the destructive Foefire in the last stages of the charr offensive on Ascalon, he tried to stop the maddened king, but was fatally stabbed with a dagger just before the charr assaulted Ascalon City in 1090 AE.
Moments before his death, Savione met with Frye Fireburn, leader of an elite warband of charr called the Fireshadows who had infiltrated the capital to assassinate Adelbern. The warband found him bleeding under a table in one of the king's rooms, and he recounted what had happened to him. The information Savione provided alerted the Fireshadows to Adelbern's plan, and they chose to abandon their mission to warn the Imperator of the Flame Legion of the trap although their warnings were ultimately not heeded.
Because Savione had been killed before the Foefire, he did not return as a single-minded Ascalonian ghost; instead, he was stuck in Tyria as a ghost due to unfinished business with Adelbern, and thus remained the only helpful ghost in the region. After the Foefire, the spectral Savione made maps of Ascalon City, with a detailed account of the treasures in the royal treasury. These scraps of papers were released in the wind with the hope that someone would find them and be lured in with the promise of treasure to take revenge for him.[1]
Ghosts of Ascalon[edit]
In 1324 AE, Savione managed to save Dougal Keane and his guild members Ember Doomforge, Kranxx, and Riona Grady by briefly hiding them from patrolling Foefire ghosts who had been alerted to their presence in the ruins of Ascalon City.
The party learned that Savione had been responsible for the detailed maps of Ascalon City and the royal vault as he had hoped that adventurers would help him have his revenge on Adelbern who had stabbed him when he had tried to stop the king from casting the Foefire curse. The courtier also revealed that the charr account of the events of the Foefire was closer to the truth and that Adelbern had cast the Foefire out of desperation and madness rather than facing the Flame Imperator in a duel.
With Savione's help, the party were able to decipher the clues of the current whereabouts of their objective, the Claw of the Khan-Ur, in Adelbern's trap-filled vault and proceeded to secure it. When they believed Gullik to have perished to the ghosts, Riona convinced Ember to accompany Kranxx as a decoy to lure the ghosts away so Riona and Dougal could sneak into the king's treasure vault unnoticed.
Although the distraction worked for a time, Adelbern eventually spotted the intruders. Dougal attempted to continue distracting the Sorcerer-King by truthfully stating that he was a descendant from an Ascalonian family, and then lying that he had come to the ruins on the behalf of Adelbern's late son, Prince Rurik. The treasure hunter's statements caught Adelbern off guard, but the king quickly regained his composure when he remembered how Rurik had betrayed his trust in the past.
Before Adelbern could attack the party, however, he was distracted again when Savione appeared near him and renounced his position in the king's court. Angered, Adelbern pulled out a dagger from Savione's chest—a ghostly version of the weapon he had originally killed the courtier with—and sliced him in two. Releasing Savione from the weapon's hold, the Sorcerer-King unwittingly freed the ghostly courtier from his remaining burden, which allowed Savione to fade away into the Mists. The courtier had bought enough time for Dougal and Riona to slip away much to Adelbern's frustration.[2]
Legacy[edit]
Savione's sacrifice ensured that Dougal would successfully retrieve the Claw of the Khan-Ur from the ruins, which in turn would allow negotiations to begin for the human-charr armistice and the eventual Ebonhawke Treaty between the two races.
References[edit]
- ^ "Chapter 24", Ghosts of Ascalon by Jeff Grubb and Matt Forbeck:
- "During the first few years of my...undeath, I thought I could gain my revenge on Adelbern. I created maps and notes describing the city and the treasures in the vault. I cast them loose on the winds and watched them carry beyond the battlements. My hopes were that someone would arrive and dispatch Adelbern's ghost. There were those who came, driven by avarice and promised gold, but the army of ghosts and the mad king repelled them. Eventually I ran out of ink and patience, and I abandoned the effort." [...]
- "I doubt we can slay a dead king," he said," but we do seek one of his treasures. The weapon borne by the charr leader—an ungue set with gems. It is called the Claw of the Khan-Ur."
- Savione nodded. "I know of such a weapon. His Majesty stripped it from the corpse of the imperator who brought it here. For many years His Majesty prowled through the city, salvaging armor, weapons, and anything of value. He sealed it in the vault of the royal treasury."
- ^ "Chapter 25", Ghosts of Ascalon by Jeff Grubb and Matt Forbeck:
- Dougal knew that if they fled, Adelbern would just send more ghosts after him, and their whole plan would be destroyed. He needed to play for time. He dropped to one knee and hoped that Savione's story was true.
- "No, Your Majesty!" Dougal said. "I am Ascalonian by heritage, and I have come to seek your blessing!"
- This strange request took Adelbern back an instant, but his fury resurged. "The only thing of which I shall approve is your death!"
- "But, Your Majesty," he said, "I come here on behalf of your son, Prince Rurik!"
- This blatant lie brought the ghost up short. He stammered for a moment, suddenly distracted. "Rurik? My Son?" For a moment his face softened, but then it grew dark again. "Rurik is dead! To me, he died the moment he left Ascalon!"
- "Your son is dead, as you are." This voice came from atop the battlements. The king turned to see its source, and his face grew livid.
- "Savione!" he said. "You worthless wretch! How dare you enter my presence without my bidding?"
- "No, sire! These people are here to repair the damage that you've done! I won't let you hurt them!"
- "Stand aside and let me slay this foul beast now, Savione! In honor of your years of service, I will give you one last chance!"
- "Years!" Savione threw up his hands. "Try centuries! You killed me, and you still consider me to be in your service! Well, no more!"
- The courtier stared at his king and spoke in short, cold phrases. "I renounce my position in your court. There's nothing more you can take from me, Adelbern. You cannot hurt me."
- "So you think!" Adelbern reached forward and pulled the ghostly dagger from the courtier's chest. Then the mad king stepped forward and swung his blade at Savione. The ghostly servant did not move to avoid the blow, and the blade sliced through him, cutting him cleanly in two.
- Dougal waited for Savione to re-form like the ghosts that Ember had battled in the cave near the Dragonbrand. Instead, the two halves of Savione separated from each other and slid apart. His legs fell one way while his chest fell another.
- Before he faded away entirely, Savione said one last word, his voice brimming with grim relief: "Finally." Then he disappeared, flowing away into the breeze atop the battlements like a half-remembered dream.
- Adelbern turned away from the vanished shards of his former servant but found the staircase empty. Riona and Dougal were already lost among the shadowed buildings below.
- Behind them, the human pair heard Adelbern's cry of frustration over the rooftops.
