| Tobias the Black | |
|---|---|
 Tobias in 4E 218 | |
| Race | Nord |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 35 |
| Status | Deceased |
| Titles | Lieutenant (Formerly), Captain |
| Factions | Rift Guards (Formerly), Maven's Goons, the Blackguards |
| Birthplace | Riften, Skyrim |
| Family | Unknown |
| “ | Tobias, now that you are the Captain of the Guard I want you to get rid of all the guards that aren't in my pocket. | ” |
— Maven speaking to Tobias
|
Tobias the Black was a corrupt guard in Riften and later the mercenary leader and founder of the Blackguards. He was in the pocket of Maven Black-Briar while he served the Jarl of Riften and was rewarded, being given the position of Captain of the Guard when Jarl Saerlund took power with Maven controllig the strings. When Maven was arrested, he fled Riften with a handful of followers and founded the Blackguards. He was killed by Francois Beaufort, but his mercenary group lived on for some time.
Early Life[]
Tobias has been a greedy person. Ever since he joined the guard he has been stealing confiscated evidence to sell. Maven eventually caught wind of this and offered him money to get him on her pay role, Tobias agreed. Over the years he has eventually become a Lieutenant in the guard and after Francois Beaufort disappeared he became the Captain.
RPs[]
Character Card[]
- Class: Jailor
- Skills: Master One-Handed, Expert Light Armor/Sneak, Adept Speech/Block/Lockpicking
- Powers: Battle Cry
- Equipment: Rift Guard Armor, Rift Guard Shield, Steel Axe.
Back to Roots II[]
Tobias was ordered by Maven to gather some corrupt guards and act as the go between in a deal that she had set up with Thane Mjoll Grimlion, trading her kidnapped family members for the evindence that the guards had compiled to arrest Maven. He gathered together a group of bought off guards, disguised themselves as bandits and took Aerin, Mjoll's husband, with them to the Ratways to trade with the thane.
Mjoll walked around the first few chambers of the Ratways and found a group of bandit looking fellows in one of the rooms. She assumed they were the contacts. Tobias confirmed this and asked about the evidence. Mjoll demanded to see her family. The bandits refused until they got the evidence. Mjoll intimidatingly insisted. Tobias caved and told his men to bring out her husband. The men brought in Aerin, he was severely beaten. She then took the papers out of her pouch. She wanted to save Aerin so she threw the papers over at the men. She told them to hand him over. They threw Aerin over, he stumbled over himself and fell. Mjoll ran over to him and helped him up, asking if he was okay. Aerin said he was fine and asked about their daughter. She stood up and put a hand on her sword. She demanded to see her daughter. The bandits said that was safe for now, they were keeping her as guarantee she wouldn't stick her nose into Maven's business anymore. If she cooperated she would remain safe, if not she would only get her back in pieces. Mjoll cursed and drew Grimsever. The bandit said that if she harmed them then her daughter would be killed. Mjoll reluctantly sheathed her sword, then helped Aerin get back up again. Tobias said it was good doing business with her. Mjoll told them to rot in Oblivion. She and Aerin walked out of the room and returned to their house.
The current Captain of the Guard, Francois Beaufort went missing shortly after the murder of Jarl Laila Law-Giver. Following this, the acting Jarl, Saerlund Law-Giver appointed Tobias as the new Guard Captain. Tobias met with Maven Black-Briar after he received the news of his promotion. She told him that now that he was the captain, she wanted him to get rid of all the guards that weren't in her pocket. Tobias asked for some incentive. She offered to double his usual pay. He agreed in a heartbeat, since he was quite greedy. She handed him an envelope. He asked what it was. It was a list of all the guards she was currently bribing. Any guard who's name was not on the list needed to be dealt with. Tobias nodded. After the meeting he headed to the barracks.
Tobias was walking through the Barracks when he found Arnor Gray-Dawn looking at a writ in the evidence safe. Tobias quickly opened the envelope that Maven gave him and looked at the list of names to see if Arnor's name was on it. Tobias didn't see Arnor's name on the list. He saw that Arnor was looking over some evidence and decided to approach the Nord asked him what he was doing. Arnor said that he was doing his job. Tobias looked at the writ and said that Arnor was not assigned to that case. He couldn't just look into any evidence that he wanted. Arnor said that neither he nor Abbard were at the scene so as the veteran investigators they needed to investigate the crime now, after his smart guards had cleaned up the scene. Tobias said that he had other men running that investigation. He had heard that Arnor's task was to investigate the thieves guild so he told him to get back to that. Arnor stubbornly refused, saying that whomever was running the investigation was not qualified to do so and was likely corrupt. He said that he'd be taking over and told Tobias to let them do their job. He tucked the writ into a pouch on his belt before leaving.
Tobias followed Arnor. He said that the Nord wasn't allowed to take evidence from an ongoing investigation that he was not assigned to. He ordered him to put it back in the safe or be arrested for stealing evidence. Arnor stopped, slowly turned around, and got in Tobias' face. He told him that he knew he was corrupt and that he was not going to put the evidence back so it could be disposed of or tampered with. Tobias denied it and said that the only one that was corrupt was Arnor, who was trying to steal evidence. He ordered him to return it now or face the consequences, he'd have the new Jarl lock him up for treason. Arnor laughed. He decided not to take the letter but he was going to defiantly stay and look over the evidence. He sat down at the table he was at, where he picked up the magnifying glass and began to examine the letter closely. Tobias grunted angrily, he ordered him to leave immediately. He was not a part of the investigation and he his meddling was only interrupting the investigation. He reminded the Nord that he was the new Captain of the Guard and Arnor was under his command. Disobeying a direct over would get him kicked out of the guard. Arnor said that he could not command him to leave the barracks, as he lived there. He did, however, put the letter back for now. He warned Tobias not to get rid of it. Arnor locked it back in the safe and went to lie down on his cot. Tobias was glad he saw reason. When Arnor was gone he cursed him and said that he would get what was coming to him. Tobias opened Maven's list and searched for Abbard's name. He figured that it would be easier to take care of Arnor's partner first.
A guard approached Tobias in the Barracks. He informed him that Abbard was looking through Laila's things. Tobias said that he and Arnor were trying to continue the investigation. He already had a plan on how to deal with Abbard. He told the guard to gather three others and bring Abbard to the barracks. He was going to send some men into the Ratways to get someone for him. The guard nodded then went to do as Tobias asked. Tobias then headed into the Evidence Vault, searching for some evidence from another case that the guard had been working on. Arnor was nearby, but Tobias was the expert in stealing evidence so taking the vials of Skooma from its container was no problem. Afterwards the left the Evidence Vault and headed to the guards' quarters. Tobias headed for the Abbard's bunk and picked open his chest, hiding the skooma bottles inside, along with a pouch of gold.
Abbard was led into the Barracks. He saw Tobias in front of him. Abbard asked what the captain wanted. Tobias stated that he was under arrest for possession of Skooma and aiding the Ratway's Skooma ring. Abbard protested. The captain then ordered the guard to open his chest. Abbard did as he asked. There were some clothes inside and seemingly nothing else. Tobias ordered him to empty it. Abbard did as he ordered and under the clothes in between some of Abbard's other possessions were three bottles of Skooma and a pouch of gold. Abbard was shocked and tried to protest. Tobias ordered the other guards to take him to the dungeon to await his trial and to gather the evidence and place it in the vault. Some guards escorted Abbard to the dungeon while others got the evidence and took it to the Vault.
Tobias was in the captain's office cross-checking Maven's list with the list of guards employed in Riften, so he knew who else needed to be taken care of. Tobias called some guards to his office. He told them that Harrald Law-Giver's trial would be soon, so he ordered them to gather the evidence and when it got closer to the trial go get him from the jail. Maven was going to act as persecutor for the crown while Saerlund judged, since Saerlund couldn't judge and persecute. Three guards left Tobias' office and headed to the Evidence Vault, to gather the evidence on Harrald's case. Tobias found the name of another non-corrupt guard, Balfring, he assigned Balfring to patrol the alleys near the docks at night. It was the most dangerous patrol route. Tobias saw that only three other names weren't on the list. Arnor's, Lieli Stone and Eldrid Red-Spear, the former captain before Francois.He had Eldrid assigned to clear out a bandit hideout, with two other corrupt guards. They would make sure that he didn't come back.
The guards brought the evidence box back to Tobias. When they put it down on his desk he went up to it. He ordered them to bring Harrald to the keep, the trial was going to start soon. When Tobias was going through the evidence he did a last look through it and saw something peculiar in the writ. He ordered the guards to wait as they were walking out of his office. He asked why it didn't have a broken seal. The guards asked him to explain. Tobias pointed out that the Jarl's seal was missing on the writ. The guards didn't know, they never opened the box. One of the guards pointed out that Arnor and Lieli were acting strange, they were checking evidence on a closed case. Tobias cursed when he figured out what that Arnor must have switched the writ for a fake one. He ordered a manhunt for him and the woman. He then headed to Maven. The three guards did as Tobias asked while Tobias headed for Maven's Manor.
Tobias entered Maven's study. He told her of the problem caused by Arnor taking Laila's original writ. Maven snapped at him angrily, he was supposed to deal with all the guards not on her payroll. Tobias said that ther ewere only three he hadn't deal with yet and one wasn't going to live through the night. Though two of them had gone missing. She asked what he was going to do about the fake writ. Tobias was going to improve the forgery before the trial. He asked that she have her men find the escaped guards and have Maul deal with them like he dealt with the former captain.
When the trial started, Saerlund Law-Giver was sitting on the throne. Harrald was brought in and Tobias had the evidence, including the newly sealed writ. Some of the citizens were there too. Saerlund began introducing the trial, introducing himself as judge, Maven as the prosecutor and stated Harrald's crimes, the murder of his mother. he asked his brother what he had to say in his defense. Harrald pled innocent, saying that he would never commit such crimes. Saerlund asked Maven to present the evidence. The citizens present anxiously awaited as Tobias brought the evidence box. Maven presented Harrald's dagger, found impaled in Laila's chest just inches away from his hand. Tobias held up the dagger for all to see, it still had some of Laila's blood on it. Saerlund turned to Harrald. Harrald said that he didn't know how the dagger got there, he guessed that it was stolen before his mother was killed. Maven said that no theft was ever record. She then presented the writ, sealed and written by Laila. It's contents showed the motive for the murder. She asked Tobias to read it aloud. Tobias did as Maven asked. Some of the citizens gasped when they heard the content. Harrald pled ignorant of the contents of the writ. Maven said that the letter was found in the Jarl's chamber and lastly she presented the eye witnesses, a half-dozen guards, that saw Harrald holding the body alone just moments after heading Laila's dying scream. The guards said their testimonies. Again the citizens gasped. Harrald explained that he heard the scream and went running to her room, but it wasn't him that killed her. Maven noted that there was no trace of another person in the room. Harrald asked Saerlund to trust him and pleaded innocent once more. He said he was being set up. Saerlund reluctantly deemed him guilty, as all the evidence pointed to him, and sentenced him to the darkest cell in the dungeons.
The guards brought the man that they had taken from the Ratway to Tobias' office. Tobias greeted the Khajiit, J'rathra. The Khajiit asked why he was bothered, why he was taken from his den. He thought their deal was still in effect. Tobias assured him that it still was. However, he needed to testify against a guard. He need the Khajiit to say he was his partner, the inside man in the city guard. He asked what he got out of it. Tobias said that the Khajiit would continue his Skooma ring. All he needed to do was show the evidence, pointing at the bottles of Skooma and the pouch of gold, and identify that it was given to Abbard. J'rathra asked when the trial would take place. On the morrow. The Khajiit would need to spend the night in a special cell, the one usually saved for Sibbi, to show him generosity and to make sure he would follow his orders to the letter.
Guards entered Tobias' office and reported that they found the uniforms of Arnor and Lieli in the wilderness. Tobias asked if they could be tracked. The guard said that they covered their tracks pretty thoroughly, they would need an expert tracker to follow their trail. Tobias cursed Arnor. He was an investigator so he knew how to cover evidence. The captain would need to see Maven and try to find out what to do. He met with her in the keep and informed her that they didn't have good enough trackers to follow their trail. Maven told him to leave it to her men.