Antonio di Tarento

Viscount of Castelbianco (AC 1004)

Count of Glenargyll (AC 1014)

Marquis of Dunvegan (AC 1017)

Alchemist of the Third Circle

Secret Leader of the Unseen Hand

AC 1014

"When did my ancestors come to Glantri? That is a long story! I will tell you... another time."

(Antonio di Tarento, to a young Caurenzan noblewoman, who was found murdered the next morning.)

Background

The history of Antonio di Tarento starts from the Beggar's Court 46 years ago. At that time, the area was not yet known by that name, but it was already home to many of the poor and the beggars of Glantri. Two of such unfortunates were the adoptive parent of Antonio. When he was found, he was named Trovato (meaning "found" in Caurenzan), and was raised by the poor but charitable couple as their own son. As young Trovato grew, he developed impressive physical abilities, and despite his young age, he started a career as burglar in the neighborhood.

Once fateful night, he entered an apparently abandoned wizard's tower. He did not find any treasure, but instead a trap, where a poisoned crossbow bolt was shot at him from a hidden crossbow. The bolt hit Trovato in his left shoulder, passed through his flesh, and struck the wooden wall. Trovato tried to free himself, but when he finally managed to break the thick shaft, the debilitating poison that coated its tip was already in effect.

Trovato fell into a dreamless sleep and awoke, tied up, face covered, and a prisoner of the Unseen Hand, a guild of assassins in Glantri City. They knew of him, and decided to take him in and train him as a killer. The young boy had to undergo a gruesome training, which all but brainwashed him. His adoptive parents never saw him again, except when Trovato was sent to kill them as his final test.

For ten years, Trovato killed for the Unseen Hand, but he always tried to devise ways to improve his status. He never had the right opportunity, until he was sent to murder a wizard. Trovato killed the mage, but before fleeing the scene of the murder, he stole a book of magic. Without a teacher, he had hard time trying to understand magic, but he accomplished it through sheer force of will, hatred, and intelligence.

At the age of 37, he already was quite capable with his magic, but he realized he had no hope of becoming a great wizard without help. And help he did find. He found a customer with such a difficult task that no one else would have accepted it: murdering the Chancellor of the Princes, Principe Mario di Malapietra of Caurenze. Trovato took the assignment, succeeded in killing Prince Mario, and got his reward—a new life, care of the new Prince of Caurenze, Signor Innocenti di Malapietra.

Trovato was adopted by an old, impoverished Caurenzan nobleman, belonging to an older still but barely remembered Tarento family. Trovato adopted the noble surname, and also changed his name to Antonio. Prince Innocenti also provided him two potions of longevity, in payment for other murders of members of the Malapietra family.

With his new name, his younger appearance, the money he had raised as an assassin, and the Prince's sponsorship, it was easy for "Antonio di Tarento" to join the Great School of Magic. Being already a rather capable mage, it only took him a few years to graduate. Later, with the help of Innocenti, Antonio earned the Viscounty of Castelbianco.

Meanwhile, with his newfound magic powers, Antonio charmed, killed or bullied enough high ranking members of the Unseen Hand to become its the Guildmaster. Now, he uses his fief as the base of operations for the guild, though he is careful enough to never expose his secrets.

Appearance

Antonio di Tarento is a short, wiry man, showing little of the great strength he possesses. He appears to in his mid-twenties, due to the use of potions of longevity. He has short, black, straight hair, with a very short beard and mustaches. He has black eyes, and dark, olive complexion.

When he was still a simple assassin, his body was covered with scars and tattoos, but later he removed all those compromising markings with his magic.

He always wears the latest fashion in clothes, in order to keep his facade as a man from a noble family. However, his uneducated manners and speech could easily betray him, so he avoids the parties and the nightlife of Glantri City.

Personality & Quirks

As consequence of his assassin's training, Antonio is not completely sane. Not that he his a rambling madman, of course, but he is paranoid, probably even more than Innocenti. He is driven by ambition, but he has no true goal in life. If ever he attained princedom, the highest political power in Glantri, he would find himself without focus, and this could unleash his (currently controlled) madness. At that point, he would be either a good candidate for Immortality in the Sphere of Entropy, or a perfect patient for an asylum for the criminally insane.

Antonio already suffers from paranoia. If he were to have a complete breakdown, his mind would probably react by splintering into at least three major personae: Antonio di Tarento, the nobleman; Trovato the Assassin; and Trovato the orphaned child.

Antonio values things and people only for their usefulness to him. Even magic is just a tool for him, and not a goal in itself. He is one of the few Glantrian nobles who does not consider arcaners superior to mundaners, though this does not mean that the mundaner's life is better in Castelbianco than in other fiefs. It is just that the arcaner's life is just as bad as the mundaner's there.

Web of Intrigue

Antonio has no friends. He only has charmed minions, or people who pay him to well to be treated as enemies, like Innocenti di Malapietra. Among his minions are the other leaders of the Unseen Hand, all of who are wearing the only magic items Antonio ever crafted by himself, the rings of slavery.

On the other hand, Antonio has plenty of enemies, either as the Viscount of Castelbianco or as the Guildmaster of the Unseen Hand. Signor Griseo Fulvina, Visconte di Verazzano, is the first of these enemies. Antonio despises him not only because of his true noble birth, but also because he is his most dangerous competitor for the Prince's favor. Antonio cannot understand how Griseo has survived every assassination attempt by the guild so far.

All the members of the Malapietra family, except Innocenti, have noticed the suspicious timing of events that led to Innocenti as Prince, and have come to regard Antonio as an enemy. Even then, Prince of Caurenze can be considered an enemy by Antonio, as Innocenti knows his true identity.

However, when the Great Meteor struck Glantri, Antonio found his position drastically changed. Now Innocenti is no longer a customer, but only a man who knows too much, and who must be eliminated as soon as possible. The assassins sent by Antonio so far have been all killed by the wraiths of the Malapietras, and their return to the guildhall as undead monsters scared Antonio so much that he immediately discontinued his attempts.

Now the Viscount has joined the House of Haaskinz, just because he thinks that Harald is a weakling, someone who he hopes to manipulate in order to raise through the ranks of nobility, and then to murder and replace as Prince.

Of the other Houses, most dislike Antonio. Only Prince Brannart McGregor of Klantyre and Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany of Boldavia might be interested in getting his support, though both do not value him for what he truly is.

Style of Magic & Combat

Statistics: 6th-level thief/12th-level wizard, Alchemist of the 3rd Circle; Str 17, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 9; AL C (D&D), CE (AD&D).

Languages: Thyatian (Caurenzan & Glantrian dialects).

Weapon Proficiencies: dagger, wrestling (specialization), short sword, stiletto, blowgun, staff.

Skills: alchemy, blind fighting, herbalism, jumping, reading/writing (Thyatian), rope use, rope walking, set traps, tumbling.

Thieving Skills: PP 20% OL 50% MS 70% HS 70% HN 50% CW 95% RL 0% F/RT 10%

The Viscount of Castelbianco is as practical in spell choice as possible. He has no preferred schools, though for "professional" reasons he learned first polymorph spells, enchantments and illusions. He has a complete array of standard polymorph, charm and invisibility spells, plus a good choice of single target invocation spells, and a few spells useful for protection and fast withdrawal, such as sleep, hold person, teleport, and shield.

He himself does not spend much time researching spells, as he prefers to acquire spellbooks through the Unseen Hand. However, he developed a few spells of his own, like the remove distinguishing marks, which he used to change his appearance.

As an Alchemist, Antonio is a specialist in poisons and antidotes. He prefers ingested poisons with long insurgence time but which cause painful and sudden death.

However, he always has a small blowgun concealed under his clothes, with darts covered with a deadly contact poison which take effect in less than a minute. He knows many other formulae, both for protection (purify food and drinks, antidotes) and aggression (philters of sleep, madness or debilitation).

Thanks to his criminals activities, Antonio collected a considerable number of magic items. His most useful possessions are a crystal ball with ESP, which he uses to monitor the activity of the Unseen Hand and a ring of mind shielding, which he always keeps on his left hand. From his earlier career, he still keeps a poisoned dagger +2, and a rope made of an unknown metal, lighter and stronger than silk, and almost impossible to cut.

However, the most important piece of Antonio's collection might be the medallion he took from Mario di Malapietra. Mario's medallion bestows immunity to all poisons upon the user, and the ability to detect poisons within 30' radius (no conscious effort is needed). Unluckily for the Prince, he grew too confident, and when Antonio stole the amulet and replaced it with a fake, he had no other protection against the assassin. If Innocenti ever knew that Antonio took such an important item from his hands, he would have had Antonio immediately killed (and Griseo would have done the job with great pleasure, of course).

"This scoundrel is becoming uncontrollable! Still, we need him. Be sure to keep an eye open on him, Griseo!"

(Prince Innocenti di Malapietra to Signor Griseo Fulvina )

Author: Giampaolo Agosta