President of Council of Guildmasters, head of Weaver’s Guild
Male half-elf exp 17: CR 16; Medium size humanoid (human, elf); Hit Dice 17d6+34; 95 hp; Init +1; Spd 30ft.; AC 14 (14 touch, 13 flat-footed); BAB/Grapple +12/+12; Atk +12 melee (1d4/19-20, dagger), or +13 ranged (1d4/19-20, dagger) or +13 ranged (1d8/19-20, light crossbow); Full atk +12/+7/+2 melee (1d4/19-20, dagger) or +13/+8/+3 ranged (1d8/19-20, light crossbow); SQ +2 racial bonus to saves vs. enchantment spells, +1 racial bonus to Listen, Spot, and Search checks, +2 racial bonus to Gather Information and Diplomacy checks, elven blood, immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, low-light vision; AL LN; SV Fort +13, Ref +10, Will +17; Str 11, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 19, Wis 17, Cha 19; Height 5 ft. 4 in.; Weight 125 lbs.; Age 76 years.
Skills, and Feats: Appraise +24, Bluff +21, Craft (dyeing) +14, Craft (weaving) +27, Diplomacy +29, Gather Information +17, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (geography) +16, Knowledge (history) +19, Knowledge (local) +24, Knowledge (religion) +10, Listen +4, Profession (weaver) +23, Search +7, Sense Motive +20, Speak Language (Common, Elven, Dwarven, Gnome, Halfling, Sylvan), Spot +4; Great Fortitude, Investigator, Negotiator, Persuasive, Rapid Reload, Skill Focus (Craft (weaving)).
Possessions: amulet of health +2, bracelet of friends (4 charms remaining, one keyed to Sir Thornton Fitzwalder), cloak of resistance +4, gloves of arrow snaring, gem of brightness, ring of sustenance, ring of protection +3, robe of useful items (includes 2 silver coffers (500 gp each), 1 bag of 100 gold pieces, 1 potion of cure serious wounds, 1 pair of war dogs, 1 iron door, 20 gems (100 gp each), 1 rowboat, 2 mules with saddle bags, and 1 scroll of darkvision), stone of alarm, slippers of spider climbing, dagger, light crossbow, 10 bolts.
Mastercrafter Soren Vast is anything but a simple weaver. His physical appearance, that of a half-elf of late middle age, leads many who are unfamiliar with the extended lifespan of his race to suppose him to have lived a mere forty or fifty years. In fact, he is closer to seventy-five years old.
Mastercrafter Vast’s origins are among the humblest of the humble; he’s an orphan, left on the doorstep of the Weavers’ guildhouse as an infant. The guild took him in, and he eventually became an apprentice to one of its members, who taught him not only to produce cloth, but to read, write, and figure. More than this, however, young Soren’s master instilled in him a love of learning, even if via an unorthodox method. As he stood working at the loom, the old man often required that Soren read aloud to him to relieve the tedium of the work. Soren quickly grew to share in his master’s fondness for books containing history, philosophy, and tales of strange and far-off lands, and he continued his master’s habits when he became a master in his own right, garnering a substantial personal library in the process of becoming one of the most educated men of his city. Coupled with a charismatic gift for political disputation and diplomacy, and a deep insight into the motives of those around him, Master Weaver Vast soon rose within his guild, and more than thirty years ago he found himself a member of the Council of Guildmasters. For the past ten years, he has served as the presiding officer of that organization, and has often journeyed away from the city of Port Hope as a trade legate, diplomat, and spokesman.
In the course of his political career, the former orphan has garnered a reputation as an unbendingly honest, fair-minded man, concerned above all else with the advancement of Port Hope’s mercantile well-being. He’s generally considered incorruptible, if sometimes pragmatic to a fault in his approach and execution of policy, but because of his inflexibility on matters of professional ethics, he has garnered more than his share of enemies among the rich and unscrupulous of the city. In particular, the faction headed by the sinister halfling Karen Stellsen of the Teamsters’ Guild has often chafed under his unrelenting insistence upon responsible, ethical business practice, and several times over the course of the years Mastercrafter Vast has faced attempts to remove him from office, ranging from attempts to frame him for crimes, to rigged votes in the Council of Guildmasters, to outright bids at assassination.