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+---- Thread: Constable Hargun Skullknuckle (/showthread.php?tid=192)
Constable Hargun Skullknuckle - Balanor - 07-15-2009
Source: Dreams of the Red Wizards (AD&D), circa 1357 DR
Note from The Thayan: Since this sourcebooks is 2nd edition (AD&D), stats are not in 3rd edition format
Chief of Police, Bezantur
Gnoll Chieftain
NE, Gruumsh
Gnoll male
Hargun is the chief of the constabulary of Bezantur. As a look at that city’s Tharchionness’s description in the Politics section will show, Hargun has a unique position for masters of the watch of any town, since he is essentially working for the Thieves. Guild.
Hargun is just as happy in this position, as he has almost no problems with finding thieves and solving thefts. His patrols, made up almost entirely of his gnoll brethren, concern themselves with keeping down riots (a duty they enjoy greatly) and looking into other crimes of violence.
Hargun is not an honest policeman - he does not stay bribed. He will gladly take hush money from an adventurer, and betray him the next minute.
Hargun Skullknuckle, Gnoll Chieftain;
HD 4; hp 20; AC 3; MV 9.; #AT 1; Dmg 1-8 (scimitar) or 1-2 (whip); THAC0 15; AL NE
Excerpt from the Politics section of the Dreams of the Red Wizards sourcebook. Note that after the Salamander war of 1357, the Tharch changes to The Tharch of the Priador, rather than the Tharch of Bezantur.
The Tharch of Bezantur. Bezantur is the greatest city of Thay and the gateway to the southern Realms and most of the seaways. It is Thay’s only seaport. Bezantur is a very cosmopolitan city, with elements of all the Realms represented.
The city is so large that the Tharch named for it encompasses only the city and the High Road up to the first toll station.
The Tharchioness of Bezantur, Mari Agneh, rules the city with a light but whimsical hand. Uniquely, she rules and gathers her taxes by theft. There are no tax collectors or customs officers at the docks to collect a percentage of a cargo. There are no bureaucrats waiting to be bribed. But every cargo that is conveyed anywhere on the docks or through the city, or stored in one of the hundred of warehouses, leaves Bezantur lighter than it entered. Dockworkers, warehousemen, porters, drayers, and random beggars are all members of the Thieves Guild, and Mari Agneh is the Upright Man of the Guild.
One might wonder why she bothers, as she could do the same thieving officially, but her heritage as a master thief probably has something to do with it. As a result of this policy of taxation by theft, the city watch is very slow to respond to any calls for assistance because of theft.
Free-lance thieves are, of course, strongly discouraged, but the discouraging is done by the Guild, not the watch. Calls for investigation of the murder of leather-clad men (the local Guild works unarmored) armed with daggers and shortswords are answered about as fast as theft calls.
Merchants who guard their goods excessively well find themselves and their guards arrested for a variety of trumped-up charges. Depending on how seriously they have thwarted the Tharchioness, they may either be released with apologies to find their goods well-pilfered or wind up on a slave coffle. Most merchants with any experience plan to lose a share of their goods as they pass through Bezantur.