Benwith of Latespring Vale

{NPCpage | title 		= Benwith of Latesping Vale | image		= Benwith.png | alt			= Benwith of Latesping Vale | full_name		= Benwith Amatiel Erellond | aliases		= Benny | age 			= 141 | gender 		= Male | race 		= Elf | class 		= Rogue 6/Combat Trapsmith 4 | from 		= Valenar | factions		= The Burnt Hand | 1st_appears 	= | status		= Alive | appearance		= A tall and lanky middle-aged elf, with long unkempt white hair that’s beginning to thin and a pockmarked face weathered from the sun. He carries a large brown satchel slung around his shoulder. Bits of wood and coils of metal springs poke out from the bag. | quote		= “The best traps are the ones you don’t see - whether you’re the one walking into the trap, or the one making it.” | roleplaying		= Benwith has seen a lot in his century and a half of life, leading him to treat most people at an arms-length at first. The Burnt Hand has earned his trust, but Benwith believes most others aren’t worth investing in - they’ll just betray you when you begin to rely on them. He genuinely likes children, however, and feels a duty to protect them given his inability to do so for his own family. | background		= Benwith Amatiel Erellond was born in Latespring Vale, a sleepy hamlet in what was then the easternmost province of the Kingdom of Galifar. His mother and father had a small farmhold, and Benwith spent his early years in this bucolic setting, eventually growing into a intelligent young elf with no talent for farmwork - or at least, for interacting with animals. When it came to repairing broken cartwheels or fixing old sheds, however, Benwith was an expert, having always been interested in taking things apart and putting them back together.

Inhabited by elves for generations, but also home to long-standing human and half-elf families, Latespring Vale became a site of military importance when the Kingdom of Galifar dissolved at the beginning of the war. One of the five newly formed successor kingdoms - the Kingdom of Cyre - claimed dominion over all lands south of the Blade Desert, and Latespring Vale suddenly found itself a border town lying along key strategic chokepoint. When the army of Cyre came through, looking for recruits, Benwith jumped at the chance to leave the smells of manure behind and enlisted in the combat engineering brigade.

For the next fifty years of war, Benwith participated in some of the largest battles of the conflict, working with his squad to build fortifcations, set traps, and, occasionally, engage the enemy directly as part of the 3rd Cyran Army. Bemwith was a good soldier, and rose through the ranks over the decades to become a Lieutenant Commander. He married an eleven woman from Breland and built a small home for their family on a plot of land he was awarded by the army. Then, on the eve of the birth of his first child, word came that an elf named Shaeras Vadallia had proclaimed a new elven kingdom - Valenar - in the eastern provinces of Cyre that Benwith originally hailed from. Benwith, disgusted by this act of rebellion, could do little but watch in horror as a weekend Cyre was overmatched by a series of guerrilla attacks and eventually withdrew its armies from the region. The day the retreat sounded, Benwith resigned his commission in the army and returned to his home, which lay deep within the newly reduced borders of the Kingdom of Cyre.

Benwith threw himself into a new life as a craftsman, creating small mechanical wooden toys and selling them in local markets. It was a humble life with little in the way of coin, yet it allowed Benwith to watch the war continue over the next couple decades from a far, his family safe from its consequences. Or so he thought.

Benwith was on a trip to Sharn when he first heard the news that some kind of magical explosion had destroyed the Kingdom of Cyre. Initially thinking that this meant some attack had destroyed an army, or even perhaps the capital, Benwith assumed his family was fine and continued his journey. When he finally learned that the entire Kingdom of Cyre was now a magically-blighted desert and that there were no reported survivors, Benwith just stopped, literally. He sold the rest of his merchandise, and rented a tiny room in a flophouse by the House Orien lightning railyards. Again, he threw himself into his craft. This time, however, he focused on making traps and selling them to local troublemakers. The coin piled up, but Benwith remained in the flophouse, stashing his earnings away and trying to numb his growing guilt with various substances.

That is, until a group called the Burnt Hand came through the district one day, investigating the death of a young dwarf who had been killed by one of Benwith’s traps. When confronted, Benwith confessed and told the group who he’d sold the trap to. He was about to turn himself into the city guard, when the leader of the Burnt Hand extended a claw of friendship and suggested there was another way for Benwith to make up for what he’d done. Grudgingly agreeing, Benwith couldn’t have guessed that day that he would end up joining their merry band for five years, nevermind making his first friends since his family passed half a century ago.

Benwith has been with the Burnt Hand for five years. | keyinfo1 		= Benwith is gruff with outsiders and prefers to let others do the talking while he sizes the person up, looking for any signs of deception or hidden objects. | keyinfo2 		= Despite himself, Benwith really enjoys the youthful energy of the White Spider and enjoys talking with her. Since she joined, he’s talked more than he has in years. | keyinfo3 		= As an elf, Benwith is fairly resistant to most drugs and has not developed an additction from his previous use - yet. He refrains from anything but alcohol around the Burnt Hand, but the desire is still there. | keyinfo4 		= | keyinfo5 		= }}