#vampiric dagger

[defnotjarlaxle]

You asked for Artemis, here you go!

Tried some new stuff once again~

[defnotjarlaxle]

Close-ups of my last post!

I don't like drawing weapons

[defnotjarlaxle]

Inktober Day 15: Dagger

[artemis-entreri]

Origins: Entreri’s Jeweled Dagger

[[ While looking for information about Entreri’s jeweled/vampiric dagger, I came across a post from ten years ago from BEAST on the R. A. Salvatore forums. BEAST is a long-time sage of Realms lore, specializing in Salvatore’s works, although perhaps I should say “was”, as he disappeared from Candlekeep Forum some months ago. :’( This is very uncharacteristic of BEST, as  before this happened, he posted something helpful, informative and/or insightful on a nigh-daily basis and maintained high levels of activity in all things Forgotten Realms related. Hopefully he’s ok and is simply taking a break and/or exploring other hobbies. It would be a sad loss for the keepers and lovers of Realms lore if BEAST were no longer in our world. 

Wow, that got morbid fast didn’t it? >_>

In any case, without further ado, here are the words of BEAST from August 12, 2007 (with annotations explaining abbreviations that may not be immediately obvious):

“According to my <calculations>, AE was born in the year 1327. He became a lieutenant of Basadoni's at age 14 ("TTL" [The Third Level] & TSB [The Silent Blade], P1:C1), in the year 1341 DR. "TTL" tells us that AE began working for the Pasha Basadoni with no weapons in his possession but some sand and a rock.

“POTWK [Promise of the Witch-King], P1:C2 (dated summer 1368), tells us that the dagger had served AE for more than two decades, and that it had played no small part in AE's having bettered the killers of Calimport. That means that he obtained it way back when he first lived in that city, pre-summer 1348 DR (summer 1368 - >2 decades = before summer 1348).

“THG [The Halfling’s Gem], most of which takes place during the year 1356, tells us that Regis had been on the run from Pasha Pook for ten years (P1:C13). This would seem to mean that Regis had left Calimport about 1346 (1356 - 10 = 1346 DR). And TCSh, Epi. [The Crystal Shard, Epilogue], furthermore tells us that in the spring of the same year (1356), Regis instantly recognized the dagger as belonging to AE. So that would seem to indicate that AE had indeed had the blade before Regis ever left Calimport (i.e., before 1346).

“Thus, this would seem to mean that AE obtained his vampiric dagger some time between the year 1341 and 1346.

“My guess is that he either received it from Pasha Basadoni, or he acquired it from a victim. But I don't think we've ever been told.”

To add to BEAST’s findings and analysis, we are indeed never told about where the dagger specifically comes from, not in the novels anyway. However, we have this tidbit of information from the Reader’s Guide (page 53) regarding the dagger’s Thayan origins, which explains everything and yet very little at the same time. 

My efforts to further research the leads provided in this article have come up completely dry. I haven’t gone through every Realms sourcebook and every Realms novel, but I suspect that I wouldn’t find any information anywhere else about the Thayan necromancer Thivris Ull, Ull’s errant apprentice, or what the descendant of that apprentice did to incur Pasha Pook’s wrath. The Year of the Haunted Crew (959 DR) also looks to be a rather generic year in Realms history, probably selected arbitrarily as the time for the dagger’s creation, but we may never know. ]]