Artus Cimber is a 15 level Bard/Fighter from the Dungeons & Dragons World of Forgotten Realms, and the main hero of the novel The Ring of Winter, part of The Harpers series, and a supporting hero in The Tomb of Annihilation.
A former Harper agent and explorer, Artus became the powerful hero of Chult, the land of the dinosaurs, after obtaining the legendary magic item called the Ring of Winter.
Appearance[]
Six feet tall and sturdily built, Artus has auburn red hair and green eyes. He is fairly handsome, but until recently he rarely smiled.
He wears regular clothing and leather boots. He has numerous scars on his stomach and back, left by torture at the hands of the Zhentarim.
Personality[]
During his quest to find the Ring of Winter, Artus acted like a man possessed. The only thing on his mind was obtaining the legendary item. Every action he took was directed at that goal, and he stubbornly persevered over each obstacle on his path. Being the son of a highwayman, he felt as though he had to leave a positive mark on the world and redeem his family's name. Hence, missions for the Harpers seemed trivial compared to gaining one of the powerful objects in the Realms. An object that, in the wrong hands, could plunge all of Toril into an endless ice age. The fact that there was a dangerous criminal, Kaverin Ebonhand, striving to get the ring, made the quest all the more important. Even when presented with setbacks, such as the death of his friend Hydel Pontifax, Artus continued on.
Nowadays, Artus conducts himself as a well-travelled scholar and adventurer. He is not condescending or snobbish about his knowledge, in fact he is eager to share it. He is also always eager to learn about new places. Unless he has a very good reason, Artus will not reveal he has the Ring of Winter and he wears gloves to conceal it.
Before finding the ring, Artus' life was a succession of failures and tragedies: Being the son of a bandit, his mishaps as a Harper, the death of Hydel's wife, and then the demise of Hydel himself. Finding the ring and meeting Alisanda, his love interest, prompted Artus to re-prioritize his goals. He and Alisanda have devoted themselves into enjoying life, adventuring only when the threat is so great, the Ring of Winter was needed.
Biography[]
Artus was the son of a cormyrean highwayman who used money stolen from a caravan of a temple of Oghma to pay for Artus' schooling. It was his mother's hope that he would go straight and become a teacher, but his impatience and rebellious nature dashed that hope.
He tried his hand as a scribe in the royal court of Cormyr, but the dullness of government service led him to become a member of the Harpers. Even the short-term adventures their missions provided lost their intrigue after several months. On the last assignment for them, he was charged with spying on a wizard allied with the Zhentarim. Artus asked his superiors the permission to arrest the wizard after he saw him kill an innocent man. The Harper leaders declined, as they wanted to avoid an open confrontation with the Zhents. Artus went after the wizard anyway, but he was captured, tortured in Zhentil Keep and marked for death. His good friend Hydel Pontifax rescued him.
Artus and Hydel then undertook their quest for the legendary Ring of Winter, which was also sought by the pirate Kaverin Ebonhand, the Butcher of Tantras. On two occasions, the two heroes thought they got rid of Kaverin. Once, they captured him and put on trial, and he was sentenced to have his hands amputated. Once the sentence was carried, however, black magical hands flew down and attached themselves to the pirate's bloody stumps, and he swore to kill Artus and Hydel as he walked free. On the second occasion, Artus and Hydel fought him in Tantras, and Hydel fatally damaged Kaverin with a lightning spell for murdering Hydel's wife. Artus and Hydel thought that killing Kaverin was justified, but the Tantras authorities disagreed, and as a result, Artus cannot stay in Tantras because he is a wanted man there.
Meanwhile, Kaverin saved himself by making a pact with the evil god Cyric: Cyric would heal Kaverin after he swore to spend his life spreading chaos in the Prince of Lies' name. If he dies, however, Cyric would torture his soul for eternity. And so Kaverin became obsessed with getting the Ring of Winter in order to become immortal and avoid eternal punishment in Cyric's domain.
Artus adventuring in Chult.
Artus and Hydel spent years searching for the ring, and finally got a tip from a fellow adventurer, Theron Silvermace, that it was hidden in the southern land of Chult. They went down there, only to find out that Kaverin has gotten there first, terrorizing the locals to force them to tell him where the ring is. Kaverin sent his Frost Minions to kill Hydel, and Artus was captured by a tribe of jungle goblins, but he escaped with the aid of Bert and Lugg. Assisted by Hydel's ghost, Artus found his way into an underground tunnel that led to the lost city of Mezro. There, he met Lord Dhalmas Rayburton, founder of the Society of Stalwart Adventurers, who was over 1000 years old thanks to being the chosen of the chultan god Ubtao, the father of dinosaursdinosaurs.
Eventually, with the help of the guardians of Mezro, Artus gained the Ring of Winter, and used it to destroy Kaverin's silver golem and kill the pirate, whose spirit was dragged screaming into the realm of Cyric. During his adventure, Artus fell in love with Alisanda Rayburton, the daughter of Lord Rayburton. Together with Bert and Lugg, they returned to Suzail in Cormyr to live happily together.
The Tomb of Annihilation[]
Sometime after the Spellplague of 1385 DR and the disappearance of Mezro, Artus was made a Chosen by Auril, goddess of winter and blizzards. Much of Artus's later life was spent in just trying to prevent the Ring of Winter falling into the clutches of evil. However, he returned to Chult with the aim of reuniting with Alisanda, following her disappearance and that of the city of Mezro. Unwilling to wait, he looked for a way of restoring them. To that end, he searched for Saja N'baza, the ancient oracle of Orolunga. After meeting Dragonbait, a saurial paladin dedicated to good, in Port Nyanzaru, the pair made it their quest to travel to the ruins of Orolunga in hopes of finding a way to reunite Artus with Alisanda. Along the way, Artus and Dragonbait helped a group of adventurers going through Acererak's Tomb of Annihilation.
Equipment[]
Artus carries a Harper pin, a Longbow +1, and the legendary Ring of Winter. In addition, he carries a Dagger +2. The dagger has some special abilities, which have been augmented by the ring. On command, the gem on the dagger's hilt that can emit light that can be soft or bright as the sun. If the dagger is laid flat on one hand, and the name Porinko is spoken, the blade points to the north. Spiders within 90 feet of it can be controlled, all the wielder has to do is to grasp the unsheated dagger and concentrate. And finally, it can teleport the wielder and up to five other people to a known location within the same plane of existence.