Hançer

Hançer ("Dagger") is a male drow of the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign, a prisoner held near Gromkar whose real name is not known. A short-haired, hard-faced man, he rejected the name the women below had given him and chose Hançer for himself.^{1 2 3}

The mission

A red-bearded dwarf captain of Gromkar named Vermir told Ephorus and Sarah that Hançer had held out against soldiers and against interrogators aided by magic, and that rather than wait on costly Archon potions he wanted to use guile.^{4 5 6}

Hançer was said to be an important member of the Free Brothers, who were rumoured to be working with the great drow houses; the two were to win his trust and learn whether that was true, and whether an attack on Gromkar was planned. Neither the guards nor the interrogators would know of the mission, and the other cells were filled with dangerous and condemned prisoners so that the pair would be put beside him. Kemp Corvus did not take part.^{7 8 9}

Their cover was that of thieves caught stealing from the baron, Ephorus playing the dominant partner and Sarah the dependent one. A magic scroll darkened Sarah's skin to make her look drow for about seven days.^{10 11}

They left their belongings in the keep, put on torn prisoners' clothes and were bound and driven in a locked, iron-bound wooden cart. If all went well they would break out in the confusion of the fifth night and be picked up at an agreed place; a small shiv and crude picks were to be hidden in a bed.^{12 13 14}

The prison

The prison was a small imperial post for holding and transferring prisoners, near a stone quarry: a place of temporary custody for runaway mages and criminals awaiting handover, and of interrogation and execution. A guard with a baton took the pair roughly in hand.^{15 16}

Through a glowing magical gate they were led into a deep, well-like common ward lit from above, with few beds, filthy buckets, chains and a cage holding a skeleton; patrols watched from above, where buckets of poison gas stood ready.^{17 18 19}

Among the prisoners were a beaten high elf, a one-eyed human and a woman known for a mage by the mark on her back.²⁰

The high elf, a preacher, argued that the emperors used their claim to divine choice to justify poverty, when the gods want the world's goods shared. The interrogator said he had learned under questioning that the preacher had plotted to kill important imperial officials and had been sentenced by the high judge to die at the next dawn; at dawn he was taken away.^{21 22 23}

In the ward

Hançer was brought into the ward through a series of doors that opened and closed in turn. He spoke with Sarah while Ephorus was away, saying she did not behave like the drow below and could still be saved, and that they had enemies in common; he doubted that the young Ephorus could be saved.^{24 25}

He said he had been taken because he was wounded after a successful job, while his friends escaped, and warned Ephorus, who claimed to have robbed the baron, that magical questioning might make him talk.^{26 27}

Meanwhile Ephorus was taken for questioning about the baron's stolen goods and paid for the cover in earnest: he was beaten, a nail was torn out, part of his ear was cut and he was burned, until he invented a hiding place for the loot.^{28 29 30}

Hançer told of a mission against another house in which he and a few others had killed a woman leader, after which he understood that such women were not untouchable; later he killed an old woman of his own circle and fled. He meant to keep fighting the drow women once free, and said his aim was to free as many drow as possible.^{31 32 33}

He promised helpers and hiding places outside, and asked Ephorus to come with him to the captain's office on the way out to recover something precious taken from him.^{34 35}

In exchange for their help he advised them to leave Gromkar, for an attack was coming: the army below was moving up, there was no other target nearby worth its while, and it would come within a month or two at most. In that attack he hoped to strike at a drow woman leader who would leave her safe walls. He made it his condition that Sarah be free to choose her own road.^{36 37 38}

The fifth night

On the fifth night the prison was unusually quiet and the doors were not locked in their usual order. Ephorus opened the door with a hidden tool and they slipped past sleeping guards; Hançer wanted the other prisoners' doors opened too. Ephorus gave up the visit to the captain's office and made for the way out, and Hançer followed to keep their bargain.^{39 40 41}

Spoiler: What followedRevealSpoils: Sürgün Günlükleri #32 part 2 · Say what you have read

Outside, the waiting force attacked Hançer. Struck several times in the chest, he was cut down in close fighting and beheaded. The officers recognised Sarah and Ephorus, and the two reported that the forces of the drow house were advancing through the tunnels, that its matron would be with the attack, and that Hançer had meant to strike at her.^{42 43 44}

At the close of the mission it was suggested that Hançer was the one who had killed Ephorus's mother.⁴⁵

On the road back Ephorus apologised for the harsh part he had played, troubled that it resembled the man he had once been. The warning they had brought back became the ground for the defence of Gromkar, and the company was asked to stay in the city rather than patrol.^{46 47}