Because of my brother, many horrible things have happened to me:

*My true love, Tella Belladeau, was touched by a vampiric curse. *My true love, Tella Belladeau, was killed by my own hands. *My true love, Tella Belladeau, was forever lost to me... And her soul, torn and twisted by my brother's evil, burns somewhere in the Hells--unredeemable, unreachable by me.

Vengeance. Revenge. I have sworn these against my brother for what he has done to Tella Belladeau--to me.

But I have not finished writing down the long list of what my brother has done to me. No. Not yet.

Many horrible things he has done to me as I chased him down. With his vampiric skills, he has eluded me. With his vampiric strength, he has stopped my sword from cutting out his heart and cutting off his head. With his vampiric cunning...

*My horrible brother led me to Skullport.

And there... I fell. Like a fool. Tricked and beaten into slavery. I was nearly sold to some Duergar Dwarves but I escaped. And I will continue.

I roamed the Underdark for so many days I could not even keep count. But, finally: Sanctuary. And not just some idealistic concept--but a real, material place. But a city.

A city. One where I would not be enslaved or treated as cattle. A city in the Underdark!

Nobody in this city knows how to escape the caves. Nobody knows the way to the surface. But I might not need it. My brother, Antel Pulzyn, would not want to escape to the surface. No. His skin burns at the touch of sunlight--this place is perfect!

Whether he hides in a city of Drow, Duerger, Beholders or Illithids. I will find my brother--I will repay the horrors and pain and suffering he has caused on to me. I will repay them tenfold--hundred fold! I will drag him back to the surface and hold him by the throat with my bare hands as the sun rises to destroy him--to disintegrate his body, to burn his soul and send it to the deepest pit of the Hells.

Sanctuary is a strange place--or, perhaps, it is a place surrounded by danger? Undead, flying furniture, problems with hobgoblins and kobolds! It is surprising that this city remains standing at all!

But, regardless of these dangers, I still feel safe in the streets. In general. There is order and safety and--at most times--calm.

But... I cannot shake the feeling that I am being watched... Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadow move. My ears occasionally pick up the sound of footsteps which apparently belong to an invisible being. The hair on the back of my neck raises for no reason when I find myself alone!

I wonder... Do I dare wonder? Is my brother stalking me? Does he know where I am?Here? In Sanctuary?

It makes sense... I had tracked him to Skullport. He would have known of my arrival there. He could have easily followed me to Sanctuary in my escape.

And Sanctuary... A seemingly isolated city would be the perfect place for a creature like a vampire--like my cruel, conniving brother--to entrap me!

Here! Here he can toy with me! He can play with me. I can run around the streets and he can watch! He could strike... at any moment!

I am at a great disadvantage. In such an urban--sunless--setting, a vampiric creature such as my brother would have no trouble blending into the populace or staying hidden amongst the shadows. How do I counter this? How do I level the playing field?

I need allies. Strong, powerful--organized. I have learned of the Spellguard, and of the Watch. One specializes in magic--the other in law enforcement. If I could somehow involve myself with either one of them... surround myself with their power... Both are highly influental. Both I could use to protect myself. Both I could use to finally defeat my brother!

Even now... I hear some laughter--evil and distance. I hear him--my brother--sadistically laughing at what he could do to me in this city...

I will not find my brother. He has already found me, apparently

I was right!

My brother is here! And, according to the Shieldarm, he works with the one known as the Scholar, a wanted and powerful necromancer! The Shieldarm warned me this is nothing more than a rumour, but it makes perfect sense!

This complicates things greatly. Antel's vampiric curse would no doubt interest a necromancer, but at the same time, just what kind of powers could my brother obtain from this Scholar?

So complicated! Joining the Watch or the Spellguard at this point might not be enough... I might have to see if perhaps I can persuade this necromancer to side with me instead of Antel in some way...

But at least I am getting closer. Bit by bit. Every little speck of knowledge helps me and soon my blade will be close enough to snuff out his life, sending his soul to eternal damnation..!

After my brother had turned Tella, I killed her, and I sworn vengeance on Antel, I left Waterdeep to seek the knowledge--knowledge on how to hunt down and kill vampires.

I met with many different warriors--many different mages. But one of the most memorial lessons I learned was from a wandering man from the far lands of Kara-Tur. He introduced to me the katana.

It is the most perfect blade. Slender but strong; delicate but precise. It's curved blade means that a smaller portion of the edge of the blade cuts on contact, resulting in less friction to slow it down.

Finding one in Sanctuary, however, appears all but impossible. I have been told that the duergar fortress Mur and the Lost Shop on the southern shore of the Dark Lake held them in stock. I made a sending stating that I would hire guards to take me to the Lost Shop. A woman who refers to herself in the third person as Zoe offered her help. Quite a peculiar woman--formidable, but peculiar none the less.

Spellguard Associate Gallensen, someone who I've worked with in the past, also offered to come accompany me though she refused the payment I offered her as I did Zoe.

Upon arrival at the Lost Shop, we discovered that it was apparently obliterated. Where it stood, according to Zoe, now remains a wide, gaping hole.

Such horrible timing. I inquired Zoe and Associate Gallensen if they would be interested in extending the trip to Fort Mur but Zoe informed me that she was there earlier and saw no katanas in the dark dwarves store.

It appears I will have to face my brother without my preferred blade.

While exploring the Underdark with Associate Gallensen and a friend of hers, Myria, we came across set of caves which Gallensen said leads to a necromancer's shop. Not the Scholar, but some man named Thomas Alquin Alqvin. I think, perhaps, this shop owner will be my first lead in somehow reaching the Scholar.

How strangely ironic... Thomas Alqvin sells katanas. For a good price, too.

If Kelemvor saw me--and I hope he was preoccupied with other things--I am sure he would have been very tempted to strike me down. There, in that "tavern" surrounded by the undead...

I suppose they are abominations. All of them, including that Alqvin. But I have more pressing matters to deal with: my brother. Maybe I will come back once my priorities have shifted, but for now, I cannot leave too many hints for my brother to find indicating what it is exactly I am doing.

I have left a note there for the Scholar as well. Hopefully, something will come to fruitation.

Apparently prior to my arrival in Sanctuary there was a cult in Lower that performed a mass-suicide. In turn, these cultists turned out to have been manipulated by followers of Cyric.

I went into this cult's fortress with a group of others looking to ward off the undead spirits which have come to haunt it.

In far the reaches of this fortress' basement, we came upon a statue to (of?) Cyric. It was bloody. It was grotesque.

It reminded me of my brother.

I could not help but think: had my brother played a part in this Cyricist plot? Had he sent these gullible, but poor people to their doom?

All of this has my brother's trademark upon it. I wonder... Just what has my brother done to this city? A place of both hope but disillusion. Has he been crafting this city for me?

What a fool I was!

I had finally met this Scholar. He lead me through a series of portals to some place--a combination of library and tomb. Full of undead. And watched over by a vampire

A vampire!

I was quick to ask: how many others were there? I suppose I should not have been surprised that he refused to answer that question.

But what truly disappointed--frustrated, angered, infuriated--me was that he says there were none of his kind that looked like me, none that could have been my brother...

Lies! Lies, lies, lies! LIES!

They must be! I could not have been lead so far and so low to this place to find nothing!

My brother must be here! But... how?! How am I to reach him now?! The Scholar plainly said that he does not trust me. No doubt he allowed me to see this vampire--this Lord Marthem--because he is so powerful that I would be of no threat to him if I attempted anything. But now... Now the Scholar would not have anything to do with me.

There is no way I could return to that place--no way I could reach Marthem, and through him, my brother...

What a fool I was! I should have pulled out my katana then and there, and demanded that he tell me where my brother is!

My options, so it seems, have run dry...

The last thing I can do now... Is but to idle here in Sanctuary... Or, perhaps, call out my brother...