Orson

Orson is an old scholar in the campaign Yeni Dünya ("New World"), described as an Unchained scholar whose expertise concerns The Dark One. His surname is not known.¹²³

The abduction

Travis, who had a report on the scholar prepared by one of his men in the Coalition of Enlightenment, told the band that Orson had been missing for more than a week. He had been taken from a poorly guarded wing of the same castle where the governor lived, and a mannequin left in his bed; no one knew whether he was alive. Asked whether the old man might have given information to the enemy of his own free will, Travis showed that he had not considered it. He suggested that the band approach the noblewoman Rozanna Westpike as Orson's old friends, and gave them a porcelain plate showing four of them with the old man.⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸

It was said that Orson had been taken by people tied to Deimos and was thought to be alive. Rozanna warned that he would die if they waited. In an old tunnel the band found a man's fine silk nightgown, not bloodied, that seemed to have lain there for a week or more.¹⁹¹⁰

Witnesses

An elf of the mercenary company that took him, who gave his name as Meldet, said that he was one of those who brought Orson out through that tunnel, dressing him in ordinary clothes so that he would not be known and leaving his own clothes behind; they later handed him over to their client. The elf believed him alive only because he had seemed too valuable to kill. When Orson saw the employer he was struck with dread, which the elf read as fear not of who the employer was but of what he was. The elf insisted that they had not taken Orson from the castle of his own will; the band wondered whether his knowledge of what he feared came from his years in the Empire.^11121314

The mage Manfred, who led the company, said that someone in the palace wearing a guard's uniform handed Orson over, and that the old man came out of fear, so no sleep spell was needed. He claimed that Deimos, under another identity, had held long scholarly talks with Orson, and that when Orson saw the dangerous purpose behind them he broke them off and stayed within the castle, so he was taken to be reached again. Manfred had heard that Orson had spent time in the archives and with the Chainbearers and had seen the Living Wall, and believed it was this deep knowledge that was wanted.^1516171819

Spoiler: Where he is heldRevealSpoils: Yeni Dünya #28 · Say what you have read

The stranger Klam Ezor told the band that Orson was held at Perses Castle, now under Deimos's control, and that his knowledge joined to Deimos's cunning would bring ruin. He urged them to slip into Perses and bring Orson out before returning to Aquila, and said that if they could not, the place Orson would go after death would not be a bad one. The band set out for Perses by a road they knew. His fate is not known.³²⁰²¹