A recurring character from the Ring of Steel, a Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign set in and around Harrowdale. “The raid was all too easy. Half a dozen wood elves with little more then bows and spears against a score of plate armored warriors. Pavel stood over the three survivors his men had gathered in what was the center of their camp. Young maids all. None more then twelve decades old. Fodder for Hillsfar’s arena. They huddled together, quivering in fear, as he looked at them with no more compassion then he would the beast or bird he’d choose for dinner. Stepping forward he stooped down and cupped one’s chin, raising her face to his cold, appraising stare, and then continuing to pull her up to her feet. “I claim this one,” he informed his second, as his eyes roamed over the slender form. There was not sign of passion in his voice, and the glimmer of lust in his eyes was masked by his scowl of disgust. He released her chin and turned away from her, as if she had lost all meaning. “You can’t do this!” she challenged, her eyes welled with tears and her knees trebling so she could barely stand. Pavel turned back to her, mildly amused. “You have no right! You can’t just kill our kin and take us as your property!” “But I just have,” he replied coldly. He stepped closer to her, staring into her fearful eyes from barely inches away. He liked the ones with spirit. They made for better “entertainment”, both in the arena… and before. “You should not have trespassed on Hillsfar’s lands,” he taunted her. “These lands are ours!” she countered with bravado that surprised even her. “These woods have been elven lands since before your kind even set foot on Faerun!” “Then why did the elves leave them?” Pavel continued to taunt the freighted girl. “I’ll tell you why,” he went on with out giving her a chance to answer. “Because they recognized that a superior race had come to claim them, and that our tolerance for “sub-humans” was running thin. So they fled, and left the land to us. It’s only the foolish like you and your kin who choose to stay… and be claimed as our property!” The girl shivered at the bitterness and cruelty in his voice, barely containing her tears. “Do you know what will happen to you now?” he asked. “You will be taken to Hillsfar where you will watch while these others die a horrible death in the arena to entertain the masses. Then, when you cease to amuse me, you will die there too!” Unable to hold her brave façade any longer the girl wailed and collapsed to her knees, her tears bursting loose as she huddled back with her sisters; all crying and pleading for mercy…” An officer in the infamous Red Plumes; once a simple mercenary company, but now the personal army of the First Lord of Hillsfar, Pavel is a true believer in Maalthiir’s campaign to cleanse the region of non-human influences. However, this does not prevent him from appreciating the beauty of elven and fey woman. But, to him, they are no more then animals to be owned, used or sold as any human sees fit. Often leading patrols along the Moonsea Ride, and Halfaxe Trail, Pavel delights in enforcing Maalthiir’s policy of ridding “Hillsfar's lands” of “sub-humans”. Which, in his mind, is a license to commit any form of mayhem directed to elves, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes and any type of fey he might encounters. He has clashed with the Ring of Steel on several occasions, often escaping at the cost of the men who serve him. The second recurring (non-player) character from my second pass through the Ring of Steel. Thanks for looking... Hope you enjoy! Comments and suggestions always welcome and appreciated!