1)
Vrantavvar Ruldegost (NE hm Rog6/Ftr4): House Ruldegost is a popular noble family in Waterdeep, with many and varied interests and successes, and a wide variety of living members. They all bear the shining mantle of the… 2)
…far-traveled gallant adventurers, sponsors of adventurers, and very successful merchants of the last seventy years, including the nigh-legendary seacaptains Urtharl Ruldegost and Tansheira Ruldegost, “She-Wolf of the Seas.”#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021
3)
Ranthar and Tulvin and Lasheira Ruldegost are all popular, socially-busy, energetic younger Ruldegosts, but their younger brother Vrantavvar (like his namesake uncle, who long ago retired to Scornubel and has been a focus of…4)
…disquieting rumors of monster-breeding and worse, in his declining years) is a quieter, more private person, with iron-strong control of his facial expressions and voice. The younger Vrantavvar was introduced to certain drugs…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021
5)
…by his uncle as a young boy, and has both enjoyed their effects and built up a near-immunity to them, so his uncle started dosing him with poisons so he’d become nigh-immune to them, too—with, Elminster informed the Harpers, … 6)
…great success.
The elder Vrantavvar did this because he wanted a young, vigorous sidekick to assist him in his smuggling activities to and from Skullport, and the younger Vrantavvar took to it like a natural, making much more…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021
7)
…extensive contacts in Skullport than his uncle ever did. Including quite a few “monsters,” with whom he works frequently on activities “of mutual benefit” (a favourite phrase of the younger Vrantavvar).
Over the last decade, … 8)
…the young Vrantavvar Ruldegost has built an empire of trading connections between various folk of Skullport and shady merchants of Waterdeep—and calmly fended off repeated attempts by the Xanathar’s agents to eliminate him, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021
9)
…or take over this or that strand of his trading network. Vrantavvar’s own agents of choice as go-betweens and to thwart the Xanathar’s agents are hired bands of adventurers who came from outside the city, and are seeking… 10)
…hirings or their fortune in the Deep. He provides steady employment for many, and in return they have pruned so many branches of the Xanathar’s network that the crime lord sent Vrantavvar a formal, explicit “I’m going to…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021
111)
…leave you alone now, please stop” message. Which Vrantavvar was quite happy to do; he much prefers to spend his time making everyone illicitly richer. He hates paying taxes, has no qualms about trading with beings who eat… 12)
…humans, and thrives on the thrills he gets from the dangers involved. He’s also become incredibly personally rich—so much so that he’s buying city real estate in Baldur’s Gate, Athkatla, and now in Cormyrean and Sembian…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021
13)
…cities, and hiring distant agents in such places to act as his landlords and reinvest the rents in their own sideline businesses (he doesn’t care if they cheat him, he’s already made more than he can ever spend in his life). 14)
He’s toying with the idea of toppling any local rulers who cross him or harass his agents or trading partners with converging bands of anonymously-hired adventurers.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2021