Editing Its A Mad World Epic4E:Inwyt

==Inwyt Son of Shadows, the Thief of Souls==

Inwyt never knew his parents; he grew up in an orphanage, in the shadowed city of Tal Talehendra, from which he escaped at a tender age.  He spent his formative years on the streets, stealing just enough to keep himself alive...and in the process, slowly evolved into a master pick-pocket.

He gained a reputation, rivals, and more than a few enemies as he grew older, and became increasingly daring in his thefts.  But Inwyt's career ended when he made a very foolish bet, and tried to steal the crown of the Grey Eminence who ruled Tal Talahendra.  Things went…badly, and Inwyt had to flee the Shadowfell entirely, for the relative safety of the World of Men.

It came as a revelation to him, this new realm.  Inwyt was amazed by how slow and stupid the humans seemed, and for the first time he discovered the joy of stealing for the challenge of it, rather than mere survival.

As the years passed, Inwyt became an adventurer, joining a band of treasure-seekers who haunted ancient ruins and underground labyrinths.  He found a bit of pleasure in testing his physical skills to their utmost limits, but ultimately decided that grave-robbing was too unsubtle for his tastes.

But it was during this time that Inwyt met the Lady Beldimn; a warlock in the service of an infernal power that she was too wise to name aloud.  Under her tutelage, Inwyt learned some of the secrets of magic, and how they might be used by a man of his profession.

The two became increasingly close, and it was with his beloved Beldimn by his side that Inwyt made some of his most legendary thefts.

With her help, Inwyt recovered the Library of Glass from the ruins of Bael Turath, sold it to the Storm Giant who called himself the King of Winter, and then the two stole it back when they discovered that they’d been cheated.  Along with the Library, Inwyt stole the King’s shadow, which he then had made into a pair of cloaks.  One for each of them.

Only a few months later, Inwyt first met, and made an enemy of, the “master thief” who called himself Quickfingers.  The two clashed again and again over the years, until an affronted Inwyt ended their rivalry by stealing Quickfingers’ own hand.  With Beldimn’s aid Inwyt worked his arts upon it, and made the hand into his familiar.

It took nearly a week for Quickfingers to realize the damned thing was missing, too.

The good times couldn’t last, of course.  Beldimn and Inwyt  managed to steal the Eye Unblinking from the Black Icon of Lolth, in the deepest part of Menzoberranzan.  Getting  away with the Eye, though?  That proved far more difficult.

It was a good death, as such things go.  Beldimn took a number of Drow with her, in the end, and Inwyt was able to escape with the Eye…and, far more importantly, Beldimn’s corpse.  He called in some favors, spent a lot of long-hoarded gold, and prepared to welcome his love back to life.

Alas, her patron had no intention of releasing her.  Too useful, a soul like that.  The ritual failed, and Inwyt?  He went a little mad, for a time.

Inwyt has little memory of those years that followed, of wandering the worlds and throwing himself into increasingly foolhardy schemes.  He gained some new scars, some new enemies, and eventually?  Resolve.

An archdevil had his beloved’s soul.  Clearly, all Inwyt needed to do was steal it back…and to be sure damned sure that this time, she would keep it.  Certainly, a soul wouldn’t be the most unlikely thing that he’d ever stolen.  Immortality, though?

That was something new.  And for the first time in far too long, Inwyt felt the thrill of contemplating a ''challenge''.