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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy E Grenemyer" data-source="post: 7079541" data-attributes="member: 12388">Jallask "The Old Crow" DowntlurkJallask Downtlurk is a tall man with shoulder-length black hair that frames a craggy face in which two beady eyes keep watch over a long, downward pointed nose. Jallask's every word and gesture communicates that he already knows what you're thinking, what your plans are, that you have no other options and yes, you really are going to take his offer and hand over the deed to your property.Jallask is a miserly, hardblade (i.e. merciless) moneylender and landlord. Property owners throughout Cormyr know Jallask follows Crown law to the letter, just as they know that to borrow coin from Jallask is to soon find one's coin coffers empty, while Jallask grows richer.The full extent of Jallask's holdings in Cormyr are known only by the Crown. Property owners that keep each other's company have speculated that Jallask owns at least one dwelling in every community that holds 500 or more residents, and countless more buildings that reside in Cormyr's open spaces.Jallask is often the only lender willing to provide coin to desperate indebted property owners that no other self-respecting moneylender would do business with. His first order of business is to keep continuous track of which individuals and businesses are in dire need of coin, and to carefully assess who among them would be willing to use their property as collateral in exchange for a loan. Thus, Jallask and his entourage move from city to town to hamlet in Cormyr. Though his reputation precedes him wherever he goes, Jallask is never turned away. His factors don't stay long once Jallask arrives to make his loans or take possession of properties; usually they've already departed to the next community, there to gather the most recent news and rumors in preparation for their master's arrival. Additional agents remind behind after Jallask departs, both to secure newly acquired properties and to find suitable renters willing to pay the highest rates. Jallask seems unconcerned with the condition of the properties he obtains, and he gives equal effort to every attempt at an acquisition. Not even the members of his entourage have divined a pattern in his lending, nor in his purchase of properties for sale. This habit of Jallask's to "swoop in, pick up the whole carcass and fly off with it," is what earned him the nickname "The Old Crow." Few dare use this nickname in Jallask' presence. [1]Potential borrowers find Jallask to be an acute judge of character, and someone that knows on a near instinctive level when he is being lied too. It's rare for Jallask to know less about a building than its current owner.The Truth About JallaskUnknown to all but a handful of individuals residing outside of Cormyr (as well as one dragon thought to still lair along Cormyr's mountainous borders), Jallask is a member of the long ago exiled Merendil noble family.[2]Jallask cultivates several varieties of jaod, With these masks of living flesh he is able to craft his current visage, as well as several other faces he uses when conducting business in Cormyr. Still more jaod reside on Jallask's body, allowing him to reshape himself as needed.[3]One such persona is that of Mordrin Behlaskur, a broad shouldered, sharp-eyed building inspector. Jallask takes on the identity of Mordrin when he desires to explore the various properties he claims as collateral when his debtors fail to repay their loans, or when prospective buyers wish to hire the services of an experienced assessor of the value of properties put up for sale.Jallask's true first name has been lost to time; he has been living for so long in Cormyr under so many different identities that he us no longer himself so much as the personas he takes on. Among other roles, he is his own factor (i.e. business agent), personal guard and chamberlain, and Jallask has developed a unique identity for each.These personas mix and mingle with his personal entourage of loyal servants and hirelings. Currently there are no living servants that know Jallask' true identity, though there have been others in the past. Should anyone in his service learn his true nature before Jallask judges them ready, he eliminates them and takes on their persona for himself. Even without the Jaod, Jallask is an expert at disguise and mimicking voices. He remains a living library of the various customs, protocols and rules that have fallen in and out of fashion in Cormyr. Jallask knows a great deal about property, Crown law relating to property and taxes, who has owned what and when, as well as the going rates for various holdings and estates throughout Cormyr.Unlike the handful of far-flung Merendils whose agents lurk in Cormyr and commit various misdeeds, Jallask prefers to simply take possession of by legal means any property he suspects might contain treasures that belonged to the ancient dragon Oraundalaghhaumtalattor.Such treasure is usually magical in nature, though most of it has been enspelled not to give off any sort of magical radiance. Jallask has bred his living disguises to seek out the dragon's lost treasures, however, and they rarely fail to discover such hidden objects once Jallask has shed the Jaod from his body and sent them crawling through a newly acquired property.The life-sustaining reward Oraun provides those loyal servants who return its treasure have kept Jallask alive for centuries, though the means by which Jallask transfers his finds to the dragon remain unknown.********[1] As opined by Melmuth Orsborg, landlord of Suzail and a frequent competitor of Jallask's, who's also been heard to add, "That beak of a nose notwithstanding."[2] "The Merendils! What trouble they caused. And what riches they left behind!" This phrase is oft-repeated in Cormyr's largest cities, where one can still ask about the Merendils and find someone who's heard a story or two about them. And since we can't exactly listen in on such stories your best option, Dear Reader, is to learn about the Merendil noble family and their (mis)deeds by reading "The Merendil Gold" article in Dragon #409. [3] See "Masks of Living Flesh" in Dungeon #192 for a full description (which was a fun and inspiring read for yours truly, but here's the short and sweet version: Jaod are lumpy blobs that slowly consume liquids and simple things like hair and dead skin, and can live and remain on a host for centuries. When they are on a non-plant host, jaod can be slowly worked by anyone with skill at fashioning clay to resemble body parts, and makeup, paints, false hair or other accoutrements can be added to them without harm. Such additions can be worn for as long as the wearer desires.</blockquote>

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