Kalag The Black

This article describes Kalag Kreethanni, more commonly known as Kalag The Black. It should be noted that the founder of the Crossing Thieves Guild was named Kalag Ka'Hurst, and all the Thieves Guild leaders that followed him took his name, "Kalag", as their own, until the most recent guild leader, Varsyth, who has stated he will not follow this tradition.

Former Thief Guild Leader Kalag Khreethanni

Description

Guild: Thief
Sex: Male
Race: Gor'Tog
Known Relatives: none
Location: Dead

It is hard to make out Kalag the Black, and you'd swear the lighting in the room was arranged specifically for that reason. What you do see is apparently a very tall, very large Gor'Tog with nearly black skin. Two gray eyes gaze down at you, weighing you silently. A black satchel is slung over his shoulder, its flap splattered with dried blood. He wears a simple black leather vest and loose gray linen pants and looks for all the world like a trader who ran into a bit of bad luck. A pair of long, lean knives hang from his hips, and another, smaller one is strapped -- oddly upside down -- to his left leg. His boots are polished black. You notice a glint of metal on the soles, and shudder to think what damage a kick from those boots would do.

He plays idly with a diamond-hilted black stiletto, twirling it from time to time, and his eyes never stop as they flicker around the room.

Kalag's Demise

In the year 388 (October, 2007) the Crossing Thieves Guild was raided by General Zukir with the assistance of the Zoluren Militia. Kalag was captured and thrown into the dungeon of Ulf'Hara Keep. A few days later while patroling, Zukir came across intruder(s) in the dungeon and was killed by a single death wound to his back. Kalag was struck down shortly after. The Keep guard finally sprung into action, first gathering their fallen General, taking him to safety, and then removing non-residents from the Keep. Shortly after the Keep was cleared, Kalag walked the starry road. Some believe Kalag was executed for his criminal role, but others believe the Thief Council had Kalag assassinated.

The events occured in this way (as summarized by Lorzelophia):

The Zoluren Thief Guild had been in a lot of hot water lately. There was previously an agreement between Kalag and Vorclaf, the prince of Zoluren, that Kalag would try to keep his Thieves more or less under control, and in return Vorclaf would look the other way with respect to the Thief guild and its activities. But crime had become rampant and Vorclaf was pressured by his citizens and shopkeepers to control the crime. Kalag wasn't properly restraining the Thieves, so Vorclaf was forced to action.

Then a member of Vorclaf's court, Natashya, was killed in a very grotesque way, and her body burned so that she couldn't be ressurected. Many people blamed Kalag for various reasons. Natashya was also a Thief, and was important to the guild because she was able to feed information about the court's doings to the Thief Council. Natashya was also rumored to be Vorclaf's lover.

Then Enef, a Thief, killed Vorclaf's wife, Princess Arilana. Vorclaf's wife was pregnant at the time, and so she lost her baby. Enef turned himself in after a few days, but before that happened, Varsyth, Kalag's man, made it clear that Vorclaf had said that if the guild didn't turn over Enef, the guild would be crushed out of existence. Enef was held in a dungeon for weeks, finally executed, dragged through a moongate into Forfedhdar, and banned from ever returning to Zoluren. It should be noted that Enef almost certainly acted for his own reasons, and not with the sanction of the Thief guild. He has since returned to the Crossing.

The Thief Council started holding meetings, interviewing Thieves with interests in Zoluren in order to determine what to do about Kalag. Kalag was viewed by the council to be increasingly incompetent, because he wasn't properly controlling the crime in Zoluren, and had let the assassinations of Natashya and the Princess happen on his turf. The council largely seemed to feel that Kalag needed to be replaced, the main question being, by whom.

Things calmed, but then Zukir, the leader of the town guards, started wandering the seedy parts of town, inspecting the architecture a bit too closely. Many felt he was looking for the Thief guild, to attempt to crush the guild permanently. When it became apparent that he planned on attacking the Thief guild, a couple dozen Thieves stood with Kalag in the front room to defend the guild from the guards and the militia. The Thieves were outnumbered about eighty-five to one, but it took the militia about fifteen minutes to clear the guild entirely. Most people ended up in jail, ten or so were killed, then raised by the militia and put in jail, and a few managed to escape. No one managed to get a hit on Zukir or his sidekick, Burarm.

Kalag was eventually captured and was presumably taken to the Ulf'Hara Keep to await... something. A few days later Kalag was struck down, and then moments later, so was Zukir. Kalag then walked the Starry Road. Some believe Kalag was executed by the government, but others believe the Thief Council had Kalag assassinated, perhaps to make way for a new Crossing guildleader.