Title: The First Scroll of Baan Dar
Author: Arkan
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Price: 580
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Content:


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[/center]The First Scroll of Baan Dar



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 What follows is a translation of the first fragment from a
series of vellum scrolls found in 3 Alabaster jars sealed
in a cave. The discoverer was a nomad wanderer somewhere on
the shores of Lake Vread in the Province of Elswyer. I can
neither vouch for nor deny its authenticity or veracity -
only that the scrolls, as such, DO exist. Read and judge for
yourself:

         Baan Dar, The Legend... Thief, Warlock,
ShadowMaster, Ruthless Assassin, Undying Avenger, Dark
God, Robber Baron, MasterMind of Nefarious Plots. All
these things and more are the Legendary Baan Dar, he who is
called The Bandit God. But what is the Truth?         Baan Dar,
The Man is a much more simple and complex being. I pen this
tale as I slowly die of old age and a mortifying arrow
wound. I cannot decide if the truth will add to or subtract
from the legend that is Baan Dar, nor if the original Baan
Dar would want the truth to be known. Therefore, I will
leave this tale hidden when I am done and gone, and let Fate
(which was ever Baan Dar's true master and motivator)
decide.         I was a child of 12 Seasons when I first met
Baan Dar. Orphan of a Slaver raid during one of the many
inter-provincial border wars. Living by my quick wits,
nimble fingers, and the grace of Lady Luck in the back alleys
and byways of my birth city. I had just "liberated" a loaf
of bread and a few small apples from a local street vendor
in the Bazaar on the edge of the city near the tumbled outer
wall, and had withdrawn down an ill-lit alley to feast on
my bounty when I was beset by an older band of my ilk. The
older and lazier variety which were want to engage in the
easier and less dangerous art of stealing from the
stealers.         There were 5 of the bully boys who had decided
they were more deserving of my booty than I, and they were
beating me half to death with staves in between bites and
laughter at the time. Lying on the ground curled up into as
tight a ball as I could manage, trying to protect my head
and groin, I heard a quiet voice ask if they were not "more
suited to go down to the wharf and take food from your
brother rats, or would you care to try your tricks on game a
bit more your size and number?"         Since my "companions"
had become otherwise engaged with the newcomer and had for the
nonce ceased thumping, kicking and cuffing at me, I looked up
to see a dark shadow of boots, cloak, and chainmail hood
leaning against the wall at the end of the alleyway.        
The others, being what they were, took this as a challenge to
their manhood - and easy prey to their superior number with a
promise of coin of the realm as added reward (else the first
part would have been overlooked). The leader of my band of
playmates suggested that the stranger take a leap off the
mentioned wharf unless he wished to join me there when they
were done with their evening meal.         Having drawn
chuckles and courage from his underlings, he then proceeded forward with staff at high
port. I'm not quite sure exactly what followed, but within a
short space of time, Lead Bully was lying in the dirt with a
thrown dagger in his chest, number two bully had lost three
teeth to a boot (I still carry them in a leather pouch as a
keepsake), and number three bully was brought short by his
own staff applied forcefully up between his toes (the two
big ones!). Bullies four and five thought better of the
entertainment and departed rapidly for parts unknown.        
Baan Dar picked me up, dusted me off, and dragged me round
to a near tavern where we shared a meal and a mug. I
attempted to thank him for saving my life. How can I ever
repay this favor, I asked? His reply was short, to the point,
and has driven my actions in life ever since...



[/center]"THE PROPER WAY TO REPAY A FAVOR, IS NOT TO - PASS IT
ON INSTEAD."

         Things having not progressed well along the lines of
health, wealth and welfare for me until that point in my
life came upon a sudden change that night. I later learned
(along with MANY other things) that Baan Dar had decided to
take a direct and immediate interest in me because my
situation reminded him very much of the bad start his own life
had taken, and the odds he had faced to survive it. On that
night he took me under his wing as a kind of apprentice. He saw
to it that I learned weaponcraft and stealth, that I
learned to read and write! He took me along when he traveled
for the next year. I served as messenger, valet, packmule,
lookout, cook - many things. I saw other towns, cities, races,
provinces, and broadened my view and knowledge of the world
far beyond belief. He taught me both morals and coldhearted
ruthlessness - and when and how to apply each as the ethics of
the situation required.         At the end of the year, he gave me
good dagger, and decent horse, the 3 teeth, and leave (nay,
Command) to make my own way in the world from that day
forward - but to remember all I had been given, and to
attempt to pass such a gift to another when and where I
should find need and opportunity. That I have done, several
times... as I assume he has also, and as I hope my various
charges have after me (and they theirs).         Thus has the
Legendary Baan Dar been seen time and again in various
lands of our world at numerous and the same times in days of
need. Thus also is the description so very hard to obtain
and track - for in truth, there have been, and continue to
be, many Baan Dars in the world. The most valuable lesson he
ever taught me was that "for Evil to triumph required not so
much that many bad men to do wrong, as for One good man to
fail to do what was right." We only hope that our combined
and concatenated efforts have produced enough single men
and women that will not fail to do the right thing,
regardless of current local, morals, laws, religion,
creed, or lure of coin of the realm.         The Legend grows
still. Of the Dark Avenging Blade on the Wings of Night that
make no sound. The Patron Saint of the Lone Wolf. The
Thousand Eyes and Ears, the Hundred Arms direspectful of
Time or Distance. Undying, Master of Disguise, Man of a
Thousand Faces, Shapes and Sizes, Gentle, Rough-Edged,
Gay, Stern. All the Mystery of the "Man Unknown and
Undying"... not a single man nor God at all, but a string
of seeds sown upon the land and left to grow into a forest.
How to reconcile this truth with the tales of cruelty and the
gangs of "Baan Dars" or "Bandits"? Some are jealous
Thieves who take the name only for the cloak of mystery and
hope of hiding in it's Shadow. Others are tales twisted to
reverse by those justly served by Baan Dar's unfettered by
technicalities of law and custom. Some are backsliders drawn of the true path by temptation and returning to
their old ways. Many are the things that any one Baan Dar
cannot answer for, as others did the deeds in the same name.
Some are tales of fishwives, made up to scare the child into
doing what is wanted. Some are left as part of the
"Mystery" that is both cloak and shield to the hidden
purposes - a case where the fear of the tale serves to save the
need of arms or action.         But, by and large, the true
Baan Dar is a string of beings taught to act upon what they
believe in, and stand to take the yoke of needed action upon
their own shoulders.          Don't fight if you can avoid
blood or war, But if you must make War, do so with all your
Heart and Might.


Leave it at Threats if Threats be enough - but never make
threats you are unwilling to carry to conclusion if
required.


Use all the arts at hand.


But ever keep the true purpose in mind.


Stand Tall, but never forget how to bend your knee to
help another.

         Note:


The rest of the scrolls are tales and tellings of various
parts of the Legend, some as passed from Bard to Bard, some
as the true tales underlying the Ballads. These fragments
are still to be translated and debated. This fragment,
however, contains the kernel of the Revelation and the true
source of the questions surrounding the Baan Dar Legend.
What Say You, Reader? For myself, I do not know... but God
or unrelated string of linked souls as laid out here... I do
know that Baan Dar IS a force in our Land and Lives, and one
that gives Hope to many that need it, and pause to many I
despise.



[/center]-- Arkan, Scribe of Daggerfall in the year 2E24









 
