Aldern Foxglove

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Aldern Foxglove

(Person)

Aliases

The Skinsaw Man,
His Lordship,
The Hurter

Alignment

Chaotic neutral

Ancestry/Species

Human, Ghast

Class

Aristocrat 4 / Rogue 3

Gender

Male

Homeland

Magnimar

Organization

Skinsaw Cult, House Foxglove

Born

4687 AR

Died

4707 AR (age 20)

Images of Aldern Foxglove

Source: Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition, pg(s). 105-108

Aldern Foxglove, son of Traver and Cyralie Foxglove, was a minor human Magnimarian noble with a cursed fate. Known primarily for his way with women, Aldern was unlucky in ways financial and fell in with the wrong crowd—a band of cultists who would lead him down the path of betrayal, madness, and murder.

Appearance

Aldern was a handsome man, with medium-length brown hair and fair skin. He could often be seen wearing fine clothes befitting the aristocracy of Magnimar, whether hunting or carousing with women. Those who had the pleasure of conversing with Aldern typically found him charming, well-read and were often entertained by his seemingly endless cache of stories about the high life in Magnimar.

History

Early life

In 4687 AR Traver and Cyralie Foxglove moved their small family into the abandoned Foxglove Manor along Varisia's Lost Coast, approximately halfway between Magnimar and the small town of Sandpoint. It was here, later that year, that Cyralie gave birth to the couple's first (and only) son, Aldern. In 4693, at the age of six, Aldern experienced immense tragedy when his mother burned the servant's quarters to the ground and was thrown from a second story window to her death by Traver upon attempting to set the house itself ablaze. Wracked with guilt, Aldern's father took his own life, leaving the boy and his older sisters Sendeli and Zeeva orphaned and traumatized. The children were sent to an orphanage in Magnimar before being claimed by Traver's second cousin who then raised the children in Korvosa.

Adult life

In 4706, Aldern returned to Magnimar to reclaim his family's fortune and restore their good name. By then a successful merchant in his own right, he purchased a townhouse in the city and began working to build new ties with the aristocracy of the City of Monuments, always with his sights on regaining control of Foxglove Manor. Much of his political rise can be attributed to the assistance Aldern received from the mysterious Brothers of the Seven with whom he began to spend more and more time. It was their connections which made Foxgloves' acquisition of his family's house a relatively simple task. Renovation of the decrepit building was no so simple, however, and he ended up taking on much of the work himself.

In the early months of 4707, Aldern's luck appeared to change when he took in a band of Varisians who were stranded in a terrible storm. Among them was the most beautiful women the young noble had ever seen, and completely smitten by her, Aldern proposed to Iesha that very night. The two were married within a week and their life together showed unparalleled promise until Aldern's jealous temperament took hold of his wits.

One night, upon returning from a business trip to Magnimar, he discovered Iesha with one of the few carpenters he had been able to hire in the manor's library and flew into a rage. He brained the carpenter with a small statue and strangled Iesha with her own Varisian scarf; they had been married only five months.

Aldern disposed of the bodies in a panic and rushed to the Brothers of the Seven to help him deal with the problem. The Brothers instead blackmailed Aldern with the information, forcing him into bankruptcy and addiction to flayleaf. When Aldern's situation seemed most dire, he was approached by the enigmatic leader of the Brothers of Seven, the beautiful Xanesha, who promised that all his troubles would be ended if he retrieved a diseased rat from the manor's basement. Though he was eager to put his mistakes behind him and see his sins erased, Aldern did not have the courage to return to Foxglove Manor directly, and he stopped first in Sandpoint for the Swallowtail Festival.

The celebration was interrupted by a goblin attack, and Aldern was rescued from the onslaught by a band of local heroes. He became obsessed with one of them, seeing a possible means of pulling himself out of his growing depression. He returned then to Foxglove Manor, but was unable to find the rats Xanesha had requested. He eventually uncovered a secret stairway into ancient caves beneath the house where he found not only the rats, but a strange fungus, which infected and quickly killed him.

Undeath

The fungus which killed Aldern brought him back from death as a dread ghast. Xanesha, seeing what was coming, had further twisted his mind and planted in him the seeds of murder. With his newfound powers, Aldern carried out a series of gruesome murders in and around Sandpoint. His victims included the three Galdurian con men Tarch Mortwell, Lener Hask, and Gedwin Tabe; farmer Crade Hambley and his family; and Katrine Vinder and her lover Banny Harker. In each victim, Aldern carved the shape of the Sihedron Rune, believing that doing so would allow him to attain his obsession. The unexpected result of his killing was an outbreak of ghoul fever in the Sandpoint area. Aldern then retreated back to Foxglove Manor to await his obsession and was killed by the very same soon thereafter.