HOW SCARLET A WITCH!

What’s in a name? Well, a lot as it happens, and figuring out the right meaning can keep you alive—or doom you to a horrible death…or undeath!

You see, years in the Forgotten Realms all have names, thanks to the prophecies of seers who—dimly—foresaw what would turn out to be important in that year. Sometimes the reason for the name is obvious, but more often it’s a matter of wild conjecture and many arguments.

Take, for example, the Year of the Scarlet Witch, 1491 in Dalereckoning. It happens to be the year in which my novel DEATH MASKS (subtitle: Who Is Killing The Great Lords of Waterdeep?) is set. (I say “it happens” because you will search that novel in vain for anything meaningful about scarlet witches.) But who is the Scarlet Witch?

Well, some folks think the Scarlet Witch is a “what.” That is, a thing, specifically a pirate ship owned by the Luskan High Trading Coster and operating out of the maze of pirate islands known as the Nelanther to menace shipping along the coasts of Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan. This Scarlet Witch is crewed by the ruthless but whimsical Wibrarra “Witchrider” Habras, a darkly beautiful, agile runner-along-ropes rogue who took to piracy when her earlier career as a poisoner and assassin in Zazesspur, Athkatla, and Calimshan grew so successful that those places became far too hot for her to continue working there.

The Scarlet Witch she commands is a low, sleek black caravel fitted with scarlet sails—and in 1491 DR Wibrarra sailed her boldly into the harbor of Myratma, burned three moored ships there, looted a fourth, abducted the beautiful young daughter of the Council-Vizier, and sailed away with her to a life of piracy and wild romance (between Wibrarra and her tall, quiet captive, Ryevrelle Ferasi) on the low seas.

Other folks think “The Scarlet Witch” is a lich last seen in a ruined mansion east of Yeshpek on the shores of the Lake of Steam, who was best known for her regrettable habit of casting curses on anyone she saw as a foe—which seems to have been everyone in all the Realms who didn’t toady to her. These curses progressively transformed their targets from the humans they began as to the loathsome creatures known as troglodytes, but did so one limb (and thereafter, one other body part) at a time, over the span of about a year.

This lich hasn’t been seen or heard from in some time, but a few sages believe that’s merely due to her descending into the Upperdark to travel to a new area of the surface Realms and resume her life there. Chessenta is the locale most of these sages are betting on, suspecting she’ll try to become a local ruler, or “power behind the throne” advisor to (controller of) such a ruler; we’ll see.

However, most folk of the Realms who are interested in such things, including Elminster, believe the Scarlet Witch is a living sorceress, whose daily existence is as the queen or consort of a ruler somewhere, or less likely a backroom courtier or senior clerk, who uses the “Scarlet Witch” moniker when she sneaks out and across the Realms, by means of teleport spells and magical disguises, to smite foes (anyone she dislikes) and seize things she wants (magic items of fell power). No one knows the “day job” and persona of the Scarlet Witch, though El has his suspicions (and believes he could easily find out if Mystra ever made it his mission to do so), and the Witch wants to keep things that way.

Vajra Safahr, the seventh (and current) Blackstaff of Waterdeep, is worried about who the Scarlet Witch might be, and has for some time been busily reading hints and setting lures to try to find out.

What she knows thus far is that whoever the Witch is, she’s as magically powerful as many archmages, and has a rare magical ability: she can turn back any spell used against her at its source (targeted spell, not area effect spells), and can temporarily “weavewalk” (that is, navigate the Weave around harmful barriers and areas, akin to using the Astral or Ethereal Planes, or extra-dimensional spaces such as those reached by rope trick spells) to protect herself against the powers of many wards and prismatic spells.

Vajra became aware of this Scarlet Witch in the first place after about a dozen covert encounters between the Witch and various wastrel or disaffected Waterdhavian nobles. That is, a noble with known grudges against the Lords or guilds or fellow nobles or the laws and customs of Waterdeep itself would get a surprise visit at their private chambers in the dead of night by a woman who gave her name as the Scarlet Witch and promised them wealth, power, and the suffering of their rivals and foes if they’d do “sly little tasks” for her. Her beauty and her offer earned her their attention in almost all cases, and she demonstrated her magical might in some small way to bolster their regard of her, but most mistrusted her offers or feared her more than they were enticed, and wanted nothing to do with this unlooked-for stranger. However, although not one of the nobles reported these encounters to the Watch or the Palace, not all of them spurned her.

This sort of meddling in the affairs of the city is precisely what the Blackstaff deals with on a daily basis, when not concerned with matters purely magical, and Vajra is thus far proceeding slowly and carefully, not wanting the Scarlet Witch to know that she’s being investigated or has even come to the awareness of Blackstaff Tower. Elminster privately thinks the Witch already knows very well that Vajra is hunting her. As Open Lord Laeral’s unofficial head of security, he has already warned both Laeral and the Watch about her and is keeping an eye out for anything she might do that will have serious major effects, like creating permanent gates (portals) inside the wards of Waterdeep (thus far, she’s shown no signs of doing so).

Yet the Scarlet Witch is obviously up to something, and is working towards doing something in the future in Waterdeep and elsewhere. Someone else to watch!

So, as Elminster is find of saying, conduct thyself accordingly…

See you again, as we explore the ever-deeper lore of my ongoing creation, The Forgotten Realms!