Leander Brightwise is a human Battle Smith Artificer and Faerûnian adventurer played by Anthony J Fuchs in Battle of Blood and Bone, The Vineyard of Hartsfield, and The Valley of Lightning.
He is accompanied along his travels by his Steel Defender, a clockwork hummingbird named Buzz.
Backstory[]
Born Leander Cassius Livingston, he is the youngest of the nine children of Syndor Livingston, and the sibling of Cassandra, Ygraine, Florian, Tacitus, Roxandra, Galerius, Megara, and Astrophel Livingston. Growing up, he was kept largely oblivious to the criminal and occasionally demonic dealings of his family, but when his father died under questionable circumstances, several of his siblings scrambled to seize power, and Leander used the chaos to flee the country. Making his way in the world on his own, Leander assumed the name of Brightwise to distance himself from his lineage.
While traveling along the Sword Coast, Leander encountered a seer who claimed that his death would involve a Crystal Dragonborn woman.
Battle of Blood and Bone[]
Stopping off in a tavern while visiting the town of Everlund and in need of some quick funds, Leander agrees to a pitfight with a Tiefling brawler; the two trade blows until Leander incapacitates his opponent with a burst of energy from his Shocking Grasp. The two are healed by a house cleric, and Leander collects his winnings at the bar, where he is approached by Sgt. Simeon Haskill of the Town Guard, who offers him a job investigating a nearby town that hasn't been heard from in nearly a month.
Leander enlists a party including Luxodon Fighter Aboukir, Half-Orc Druid White Claw, Elven Rogue Aiofe, and Dragonborn Barbarian Shamash, and they negotiate a price of 250 gold each for their services. They pick up provisions from the townguard and set out for the neighboring city of Torris, but are intercepted along the road by a group of bandits who demand payment for passage; in the ensuing skirmish, the party kills four of the bandits and scare off the remaining three, after which they discover another victim that the bandits had attacked. Before dying, the man admits that he had previously visited Torris, where he had sold an item to a child without knowing what the item was truly was.
The party makes camp for the night, then presses on to Torris, which they find entirely deserted except for one boy alone in a building near the edge of town, holding a black mask in the center of a summoning circle. Aboukir incapacitates the boy, and the mask reveals itself to be a Blood Elemental, while the boy reveals itself to be a Bone Devil; the party becomes trapped inside the building, stranding Aiofe outside alone to face a Gauth. Aboukir destroys the Bone Devil, White Claw destroys the Blood Elemental, and Shamash destroys the black mask to banish the Gauth back to the Shadowfell.
Leander and the party returns to deliver news of the events in Torris to Haskill and collect their compensation from him.
The Vineyard of Hartsfield[]
A year after surviving the daemonic confrontation in Torris, Leander finds himself in the company of the Aaracokras Sykaar and Ryn, the Aasimar Samurai Masa Mune, and the Cleric Melanalin, who travel to the town of Hartsfield to investigate reports of necromantic activity. They quickly find themselves battling a horde of undead that they defeat with little trouble before proceeding into the town itself, confronting a dozen more necromancers and zombies. They take significant damage in the battle, but Sykaar and Ryn deliver aerial attacks, Masa unleashes his Necrotic Shroud, and Melanalin summons a spiritual weapon, while Leander picks off necromancers with his infused crossbow.
After clearing the town center, the party continues on to a clearing that leads to the entrance to a subterranean temple, where they encounter a desiccated lich; he explains that the town was devastated by a plague, and that he raised the dead as zombies to provide for the living. Exhausted by the effort of maintaining his necromantic spells, he willingly offers to give the group his phylactery: the heart of his own granddaughter preserved in a glass cube, which the party takes after some deliberation. They return to the winery, where Melanalin performs Dispel Magic to allow the souls of the undead townspeople to move on to the afterlife.
The heart dissolves into dust, and the party buries the container in the vineyard, marking the location with a portrait of Ardilan and Anila.
The Valley of Lightning[]
A tenday after confronting the necromancers and zombies of Hartfield
Acquisitions[]
- 10 gold pieces from a tavern barkeep for winning a pitfight (Battle of Blood and Bone prologue)
- Shards of the Black Mask (four pieces) from Torris after defeating the Blood Elemental and Bone Devil (Battle of Blood and Bone)
- The Scarlet Spellbook from Torris after defeating the Blood Elemental and Bone Devil (Battle of Blood and Bone)
- 2 claws harvested from the Bone Devil following the confrontation in Torris (Battle of Blood and Bone)
- 3 teeth harvested from the Bone Devil following the confrontation in Torris (Battle of Blood and Bone)
- 250 gold pieces from Sgt. Simeon Haskill for investigating Torris (Battle of Blood and Bone)
- Type 0 Murse of Holding (between Battle of Blood and Bone and The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- 2 vials of acid from a chest in the Hartsfield Winery; given to Sykaar and Ryn, used against the necromancers of Hartsfield (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- 2 potions of haste from a chest in the Hartsfield Winery; given to Masa and Melanalin, used against the necromancers of Hartsfield (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- 4 potions of healing from a chest in the Hartsfield Winery; one spilled, three given to Masa, not yet used (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- 3 vials of unidentified black liquid from a chest in the Hartsfield Winery (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- Crystal Ball from the subterranean temple beneath Hartsfield, surrendered by Adonai before his death (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- 18 daggers recovered from the necromancers of Hartsfield; four given to Masa, four given to Mal, three given to Sykaar, three given to Ryn (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- 72 gold pieces recovered from the necromancers of Hartsfield; 15 given to Masa, 15 given to Mal, 15 given to Sykaar, 15 given to Ryn (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- Ring of unknown properties recovered from a necromancer in Hartsfield (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- Ardilan's note of warning, recovered from the corpse of a zombie in the vineyard after the battle with the necromancers of Hartsfield (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- Boots of Walken recovered a zombie in the vineyard of Hartsfield (The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- Red ribbon recovered from the corpse of Anila and tied to the stock of his infused crossbow, "to remind me to use my words more often" (after The Vineyard of Hartsfield)
- Discretion, a magical longsword recovered from a Dragonborn guardsman (The Valley of Lightning)
- Cloak of Elvenkind, a used cloak picked up at a market and enhanced with an Artificer's Replicate Magic Item Infusion (after The Valley of Lightning)