The runes resolve themselves into understandable text:
	
	Vethor is not your average voadkyn.  He is neither frivolous nor irrational.  Much of this is due to his unique upbringing.  You see, Vethor was orphaned as a young child. The one who found him, starving and near death, was a flighty young elven rogue named Jenkins. Jenkins worked for a traveling performance that went from town to town. He trained Vethor in the skill of throwing daggers and the art of being an escapist, trained him to be his partner.  Despite his large size, Vethor had uncanny reflexes and picked up on his training very quickly.  
	The years passed, and while their employer, a human known only as "The Boss", paid them well enough, they were nothing but attractions to him.  At first, the ahhing crowds were a reward in themselves, but as time went on, the life of the traveling performer became dull and unexciting for both Jenkins and Vethor. The two partners struck out on their own, adventurers.  Jenkins and his decision making silver coin was the leader and teacher, and Vethor learned much from him (not the coin).
	One day in their adventures they came upon the realm of Antioch.  The town was quite different in those times, ruled by the mad wizard Ignatius.  The two rogues went on a quest to defeat the wizard, and after many long grueling days, the duo climbed his tower, fought their way through the denizens there, and stood in the room adjoining the one in which the insane wizard resided.  Jenkins flipped his coin, and after looking to see which side came up, glanced at Vethor and nodded, they were going in.  
	The two rogues snuck into the wizard's chamber, planning a devastating surprise attack.  Lucky for them, their target's back was to them; he was unaware of their presence.  While Jenkins crept around to the far side of the room, Vethor lined himself up for a crippling blow to Ignatius' back.  Vethor, with one hand already in a bag of powder, drove both of his daggers through the wizard's robes and into the flesh underneath.  Ignatius arched his back in pain, and whirled around to face the would be assassin.  Vethor was ready for this, and before Ignatius could utter a single phrase, the powder flew from Vethor's hand, blinding the wizard.  So distracted, he never noticed Jenkins sprinting from behind him, leaping into the air and driving both of his daggers in to the hilt beside the already bleeding wounds.  
	With their surprise attack completed to perfection, both the elf and the voadkyn thought the battle would soon be over.  They were right, Ignatius managed to clear enough powder out of one eye to get a good look at Jenkins, and although the rogue braced himself, the lightning that crackled from the wizard's fingers tore through him like a child through paper.  Vethor could only watch in horror as the bolt of lightning leapt from his friend's form straight at him, searing his magical hide armor, electrifying his entire body, blinding him momentarily, and causing his muscles to twitch uncontrollably.  A second, weaker bolt bounced back to strike him before the spell fizzled out.  Severely injured, and knowing another spell was sure to follow, he did his best to roll and crawl out of the room.  A leap and a diving roll brought him to within four feet of the staircase to the ground level, and Vethor scrambled his best to get over the stairs and out of Ignatius' line of sight before he finished his next spell.  
	He was almost not quick enough.  The chilling arctic air numbed his feet right through his thick boots, even as he tumbled down the stairs to the ground floor below.  Limping from the numerous magically induced burns and bruises and lamenting the loss of his only true friend, Vethor left the tower of Antioch in defeat, the cackling laughter of Ignatius ringing in his ears.  
	Vethor was not the type of individual to let defeat get him down.  He swore to avenge his mentor's demise, and made good on his resolution by pushing himself and his body to the very limits with intense training.  When he returned to Antioch several weeks later, he was armed with brand new equipment including several small vials of very potent poison.  The second battle against Ignatius would not end like the first.  Once again sneaking up on the wizard, Vethor sank his venom covered blades into Ignatius' neck, twisting them as he pulled them from the blood spurting flesh.  
	Instead of fighting toe-to-toe against the wizard again, Vethor instead ducked behind a tall mirror standing in one corner of the room, and waited for the deadly poison to take effect.  With a wave of his hand, Ignatius magically swept the mirror aside, leaving Vethor open and with no where to run.  Vethor braced himself, but it was not necessary.  Ignatius raised his hands, but as he opened his mouth to chant the arcane words, not a sound could he make.  The poison had acted fast to swell his throat shut.  Ignatius fell to his knees, clutching at his throat as Vethor walked up to him and plucked the wand from Ignatius' robes.  Not liking the look of the wizard's bulging eyes, Vethor drove a dagger through each one simultaneously, deep into Ignatius' head, killing him.  Along with a scroll in the wizard's robes, Vethor recovered Jenkins' coin. He held on to this coin for a very long time to remind himself of his friend and teacher, but he lost it at about the time of the Plague. 
	It was about this time, just after the adventure in Antioch had reached its conclusion, that Vethor was noticed by another thief.  At the time she was arguably the greatest thief in the lands, the elven beauty Anna of the Shades of Death.  Anna saw Vethor's potential and chose to adopt Vethor into the folds of the Pack, and he accepted.  The moment he slipped the Pack's onyx ring symbol, he was changed forever.  The other members accepted him quickly and for the first time in his life, Vethor felt as if he belonged to something that was greater than the sum of its parts.  Vethor gained power and respect within the guild quickly, rising to be promoted to Anna's Lieutenant, a High Commander, in under a year.  
	Vethor had many allies in the Pack, indeed, the guild was so close that they called each other family.  It was during his time here that he met his closest friends, among them Beowulf the Warrior, Seraph the Priest of Xvim, Dakkon the Tai-Pan of the Magi, Soth the Knight of Loviatar, and many others whose names have been lost to time. 
	The Shades of Death had numerous members and was a powerful guild, mostly due in large part, at least in Vethor's thinking, to their fearless and charismatic leader Anna. The Pack was responsible for the disbanding of the Riders, a now forgotten guild of goodly knights and woodland rangers.  During the war, Vethor managed to catch Isaac, a goodly knight of significant influence, off guard in a battle of words.  During their verbal sparring, Vethor convinced all present that paladins were the true evil upon the lands, for they were the ones who sought to impose their own views and beliefs upon others.
	After the Riders, the Pack set its sights on the Fallen Angels, a guild devoted to spreading pure anarchy on the lands.  This war was long, drawn out, and very bloody.  This time, both sides suffered severe casualties in no small part due to Vethor and his Angels counterpart, his arch rival, the elven Jinglefoot.  Each had enlisted the magical aid of Dakkon, who sold himself indirectly to both sides.  Each managed to single handedly defeat every member of the opposing guild, except for each other.  As such, the two enforcers found a grudging respect for one other.  The war between the Angels and the Shades would end up being a war of attrition, with the Pack having the resolve to stick the fight out.  The Fallen Angels had succumbed to their own philosophy; the chaotic nature of its members led to its demise.
	After these two latest wars, The Shades attracted the full attention of the Iron Fist, the elitist guild led by none other than Coyotte.  The Fist was devoted to preserving balance, and felt that the Pack had become too strong.  While they had intervened slightly as both the Riders and Angels fell, they were too little too late to alter the fate of either guild.  The Shades had many members, but the Fist's small numbers were offset by the sheer individual power that each of its members possessed.  
	There were several wars between the Shades and the Fist, each of them fought to a standstill.  There were of course casualties, but none grievous enough to force the other to surrender.  In all this time, through all these wars, Anna led her guild fearlessly and protected her guild members as if they were her own children, even to the point of self sacrifice.  Vethor constantly looked up to Anna as a role-model for the way he wanted to be known one day. 
	Another high commander of the Shades was a wemic by the name of Spungold. The two lieutenants, Vethor and Spun, found that they had a special connection to one another, deeper than even that forged by fighting side by side as High Commanders. Gradually, over years of time, they came to realize their unique feelings for one another and were wed. The two of them found a feeling of comfort and happiness in one another that neither had ever experienced alone. 
	As time wore on, the Shades of Death went through ups and downs and several skirmishes with the Fist. Through it all, Vethor, Spungold, and Beowulf stayed with it as High Commanders. Even when their leader Anna disappeared, they persevered for a time under first Soth, then Beowulf's leadership. 
	Weakened by the loss of its last founder and the last war against the Fist, the Pack would not survive the great Plague which weakened the strong and destroyed the weak. Vethor survived this, but his mind did not escape unscathed. He had lost his memory.  Spungold was banished by the gods, and Beowulf adventured for a time without his friends, eventually disappearing into the Marsh of Fear.  Vethor restarted his adventuring life anew, as a warrior, unaware of the former glory he once knew... 
	At first, Vethor had no idea that he had formerly been an adventurer, and rogue at that.  He was always very agile, but it wasn't until one day, on Deku, that something clicked.  Purely on reflex, in the heat of battle, he managed to get behind his opponent, a cloud giant.  With its large back so exposed, he knew exactly where to strike.  Strike he did, slaying the creature instantly.  The action seemed so familiar to him, and he realized then that he had locked within him the potential in the skills of a rogue.  
	Little by little, through his rigorous training, Vethor regained his memory and rejoined his old friends, Beowulf (who wandered out of the Marsh from time to time), Seraph, and the returned Anna in their new guild, the Legion of Lost Souls.  While the guild was powerful, there was a high turnover of members.  New members were constantly coming in and being lost.  Because of this, the Legion never developed the sense of unity that the Pack had.  Although he remembered his other friends, Veth had not remembered his loving wife Spungold.  He knew something was missing, and his existence seemed empty.  His friends told him of his wife, but he could not remember ever having one, no matter how hard he tried.  Even though offered leadership of the Legion, Vethor had no desire to lead.  He had lost his heart for adventuring and instead went on a long journey, traveling for more months than he could accurately count.  
	Then came the day when he finally returned to Shadow, and lo and behold, came upon a wemic named Spungold. She seemed to remember him, but he had no recollection of her. It was a frustrating time for both of them, as they struggled to recover the love they once knew. Slowly, Vethor's memories of her came trickling, and eventually flooding back.  Another face he recognized was that of his old friend Dakkon.  Attempting to regain the camaraderie that they once had known, Vethor and Dakkon journeyed to  Underdark, to face off against the evil drow.  After gaining entrance to their temple, the Rogue and the Archmage slowly wandered deeper.  
	They had not traveled twenty feet into the temple before they were ambushed, not by driders as they expected, but by a half-elf.  Cromack the ranger ignored the drow and driders deep in the temple to instead focus on the other half-elf, Dakkon.  Vethor leapt to his friend's aid, but after being away from adventuring for so long, his blades were slower and less effective than they should have been.  With surprise against them, Dakkon and Vethor were overcome.  While Vethor was confident he could recover from the defeat with little problem, Dakkon grew disheartened and was seldom heard from again.  Always thinking, the event turned Vethor's thoughts to Spungold.  She had only recently been allowed to return by the gods and was a mere shadow of her former self. Vethor realized that he still had enemies such as Cromack that would strike at her to hurt him. He did not want this, so once again, he wandered alone, giving Spungold the time she needed to rebuild her strength. 
	Over a year later, Vethor returned to his wife to find her missing him very much. Suddenly he felt very bad about leaving her on such short notice. Spungold being the loving wife she was quickly forgave him and the two of them restarted their lives in a familiar land populated by unfamiliar people.  Over the next year and a half, Vethor started the long process of once again building up a network of allies that he could depend on to help him if he got into a pinch.  It was very difficult at first, mostly because Vethor had no idea of the current power structures of the lands.  
	He had a little bit of help from the older, more experienced adventurers who whispered his name with slightly more reverence than it deserved.  They informed the younger ones of the so called legend that once again walked among them.  Even with the unexpected propaganda, it took a good deal of promotion to get his name recognized again.  While Vethor was hard at work re-building what he'd lost in his time away, his wife stood by him like a pillar of marble, offering her irreplaceable support and comfort. 
	One familiar face he recognize instantly was of the giant, even by firbolg standards, warrior of Tempus, Coyotte, his old nemesis.  Times had changed though, and Coyotte and Vethor were no longer bitter enemies.  Coyotte approached Vethor about entrance into the remade Iron Fist, and Vethor agreed to membership, under the stipulation that he would only be subordinate to Coyotte within the guild, and that his membership was to be kept a secret.
	In time, Vethor and Spungold were approached by a drow, named Zilath, about entry into yet another guild, the Raiders in Night's Cloak.  Vethor's credentials spoke for themselves, he was already twice High Commander of a guild and would be a valuable asset to any guild.  Veth and Spungold accepted, Vethor having instructions from Coyotte to infiltrate the guild as best he could in case it would have to be weakened from the inside out.  Unfortunately, Vethor found that the guild he had been initiated into was disjointed, nothing like the Pack which he and Spungold had both been a part of, or even the Legion.  Tension existed within the guild, as the guild leaders, largely absent, were made up of drow and several members within the guild were not overly fond of the dark elves. Because the High Command were not around much at all, Vethor was named High Commander in their absence while Coyotte virtually disappeared from the adventuring scene.
	Unlike in days past, Vethor did not find all his adventuring party members within his guild.  The battlebard of Tempus, Androkk the mad bard, proved to be an effective party member when he focused on the tasks at hand rather than singing songs.  Androkk was a member of the Regents of Silver Lore, a guild of storytellers.  When word spread that the bards along with the Alliance of Light, a bloodthirsty guild which enforced the laws of light, were planning to move against the Raiders, Vethor informed his ally who promptly left the Regents and hung them out to dry.
	A war was declared by the drow High Commanders, but the Raiders were so disjointed that scarce few members joined in the war effort.  Even so, several members of the guild were very capable and although no concerted effort was made against members of opposing guilds, the Regents were forced to go underground to save its members from certain death.  Vethor himself took no part in the war, but was ambushed by the Alliance.  After realizing that they had made a mistake in taking Vethor prisoner (in no small part due to his way with words), they made a full written and public apology, and gave Vethor and his wife amnesty from their entire guild.  Still, the event was very disconcerting to Vethor.  He became paranoid, suspecting nearly everyone of treachery, and withdrew to only trust a very small circle of his closest allies.
	At this time, Daaku the former gladiator, one of Vethor's close friends, allies, and guildmates whom Vethor had seen a lot of potential in, approached Veth and suggested that the two of them do away with the drow HC of the Raiders.  No doubt Daaku's hatred of drow and the fact that he had been initiated with the purpose of overthrowing the drow had more than a minor role in this suggestion.  He enlisted the aid of Vrax, a voadkyn ranger, to help in the coming fight.  
	Vethor, snubbed by his guild leader Kieryn and lied to by her puppeteer Zilath, decided that the war would have to end and it would end by his coup d'etat against the drow high commanders.  Zilath and Arkanazzt were caught unawares, and quickly disposed of.  Kieryn was never caught, but she eventually relinquished leadership to Vethor, somewhat unwillingly.  It was unfortunate that Vethor couldn't trust Arkanazzt, the former Legionnaire, for Vethor had seen a lot of potential in him as well.  And so, for the first time, Vethor had a guild to lead, a position he had twice deferred to others.  
	Vethor renamed the Raiders in Night's Cloak as the Tempered Blades.  The first act he was responsible for was to end the war with the Alliance, his glib tongue and quick wit hammering out a treaty that left Nightfall and Daelmas, his two most capable enforcers, outside of guild protection and restriction.  In other words, they had free reign to attack whomever they pleased, but had to take care of themselves if they were attacked back.  The two of them were quite independent and welcomed this turn of events.  They alone were probably capable of defeating the entire remaining Alliance of Light had they committed all their efforts to this end.  All other members of the Blades were restricted from attacking Alliance members, but were under treaty protection from them as well.
	Vethor used this period of non-fighting to consolidate his guild.  He enlisted the aid of Feyd, a very resourceful rogue, as an informant, and secured Mosutha, an accomplished sorceror who also happened to be a member of the clergy of Talos.  Also added was Gimli, the dwarven warrior-priest of Kossuth and former commander and leader of the Legion of Lost Souls after Beowulf vanished to the Marsh.  Unfortunately, Gimli was not to return to active adventuring enough to have much of an impact during Vethor's time as guild leader.  Another hopeful addition was Ijan; like Mosutha, he had the ability to cast spells from both magical and priestly spheres.  Unfortunately, Ijan was somewhat sheltered, and abhorred violence.  Several weeks passed before he was desensitized and converted from Istishia to the Shadowlord.  It was Feyd and Vethor who eventually got him to look within himself and find that conversion was the best path to take.
	Feyd's addition proved to be a great boon as he gave forewarning of the Alliance's decision to attack the Tempered Blades.  Instead of being the aggressors, the Alliance  found themselves reeling from a preemptive strike.  The Blades took the advantage and never looked back.  The Alliance, being a guild of order, had not a single member that could utilize the potent screaming daggers, meanwhile, the Blades had four.  During the war, Blades magi gained access to the Alliance keep through their mage lab, negating the one advantage the Alliance had.  
	Eventually the war cooled, but not before Alliance members were scarce to be found while Blades members were on the prowl.  Even during the war, Vethor's guild had several projects in progress.  They upgraded the defenses of their guild hall, even though it was seldom used.  Vethor was also working on starting a thieves guild in the Dagger/Torm area.  The guild's greatest accomplishment was the construction of a fortified mage lab from which they could spy on their enemies without fear of being attacked.  Vethor knew he was a very successful guild leader, he had finally achieved his goal of getting out from under the shadow of his one and only idol, the great Anna.  And so, when it seemed that Vethor was surely about to reach yet another plateau of power, when it seemed like nobody could stop him, he decided to retire from adventuring.
	Long before letting the rest of the realms know, Vethor announced his plans to retire to his guildmates.  Knowing that they would soon be without a leader seemed to drain a lot of the fire out of them, and many of them would end up retiring before Vethor.  Daaku and Feyd, his two closest allies, two friends that he had overseen and nurtured to grow from little but potential into fully fledged accomplished adventurers in their own rights are perfect examples.  
	In the absence of the Blades, the Alliance has been allowed a resurgence, as perhaps they sense that it is safe to come out and adventure again.  There are also new guilds springing up.  Vethor knows that even all these guilds combined could not stand against his, but he has transcended the need for a guild in the general sense.  He wants time now.  Time to enjoy his hard earned gold and respect.  Time to enjoy with his wife.  Time to enjoy the peace of mind garnered by achieving his life's ambition, to exceed the accomplishments of his one and only idol, the great Anna.

"The only blind luck I needed was when I was found cold and starving on that autumn day by my first mentor, Jenkins."
-Vethor, Legacy of the Crimson Daggers, 13 Renewal, 647 SG

