Diana

Human Female Thief 4 NG Age 17

Real name Shnorhig Tsamndaw

Max HP 16 AC 8 XP 6600

Str 8 Int 13 Wis 6 Dex 14 Con 13 Chr 13

PP 15 OL 80 F/RT 75 MS 10 HS 15 DN 15 CW 60 RL 0

Languages: Armenian, Arabic, Greek, Persian

Diana is the third daughter of the Armenian Baron Tsamndaw and his wife Zarmantoukht. She was mostly ignored as a youth, and she grew up in the care of an old governess by the name of Khoyan. Khoyan took a shine to this shy and quiet girl in her charge, and she often regaled Shnorhig with tales of her days as a secret agent of the former Armenian King of Kings, Ashot. Khoyan had traveled undercover in both Byzantine and Abbasid lands, stealing documents and seducing generals. Shnorhig always listened wide-eyed, amazed that this wrinkled old nursemaid had once been a dashing spy, today an Arab belly-dancer and tomorrow a Greek nun. Though Khoyan died when Shnorhig was only twelve, Shnorhig had already set her heart on a future as an agent in the King's intelligence service. She used her father's name to gain a audience with the head spy, a mousy man named Dzovag. When he heard that she wished to enter his service he gave her a beautiful box with a complex lock. "When you can answer three questions I ask about the contents of this box you can be trained as a spy," he told her. She left, flushed with excitement. She studied the box for a week, moving it this way and that, looking for a secret catch or hidden panel. There were none, so she saw she must open the lock. Such things were simple in the stories she had heard from her nursemaid, so she found a bit of wire and a knife and began fiddling. Much to her surprise a small needle shot out of the lock as she rooted about, and pricked her finger. Her last thought before unconsciousness was "What a nasty trick!". Luckily she had made her save, and avoided the agonizing death that would have followed. She bought her own lock, and practiced on that. After several months of training she was able to open the box, without setting off the trap this time. Inside was a book, bound in black leather and filled with unrecognizable script. "Damn it!", she swore, and begged her father her father to buy a Mohammedian slave. He was so unused to being spoken to by his timid daughter that he agreed out of surprise. Thus began her linguistic studies.

It took her three years to read and understand the whole book. It was the Q'uran, with commentary in Greek. She had grown in those years, and was now a quite, timid-looking young woman. She returned to the Chief of Spies, and he failed to recognize her. She gave him the box, and reminded him of his promise from years before. He did recall it, but he was quite surprised that Shnorhig had persevered so to enter the spy corps. He admitted her on the spot, and her real training began. After two more years of training in disguise, combat, and subterfuge she was ready for her first mission. She was one of many agents sent to seek information about Sparrowhawk, the daughter of King Sembat, who had disappeared a month before. She traveled among the Arabs, posing as a crazy holy woman here, a dancing girl there. After some time she heard rumors that a dashing pirate named Mamun had freed some princesses from an evil genie. She tried to follow up the lead, but without much luck. Mamun was always a step ahead, and he seemed to travel inordinately fast at times. She eventually caught up with him by accident in Sicily, where she was checking out a different lead on a slaver while disguised as a Greek pirate lass. Mamun's right hand man, TrapoII, was recruiting a crew, so she took the chance and joined him. She hopes to see if the rumors are true, but so far she hasn't been able to get much information. She will persevere.