Ivan presents himself

        "Hello, everyone. I salute you for your courage and your bravery, and
I consider myself in eternal debt to you for saving my life," begins the man.
He has a low, guttural voice. It is only now, after settling down from the
long, fast escape, that you realize exactly how tall he is: nearly 7 feet. He
has well developed muscles and looks very handsome despite the fact that he
must have led the cruel life of an enslaved gladiator for years. He appears to
be in his twenties, but his hardened features and tanned body make him seem
much older.
        "Allow me to present myself to you. I am Ivan, a gladiator from Htron.
I was born the illegitimate child of a poor slave girl in some southern
country, and I was sold into slavery myself no sooner than my third birthday.
At first, it wasn't so bad, but as I got older, I had to do more work, and my
master would beat me more harshly whenever I did something even remotely
displeasing. Eventually, I ran away, but no sooner had I made my escape than I
was captured once again by a vicious group of pirates heading north to Htron,
where they there sold me to one of the local gladiator stables. I was trained
in the use of many weapons, foremost of which the deadly drussus." Ivan stops
for a moment to pull a sharp blade from a leather backpack at his side. He
examines it, holding it very delicately.
        "You see this?" he growls. "Eighty gold pieces worth of the finest
steel money can buy, sharpened with such precision that it can split a human
hair lengthwise in two." He carefully replaces the sword into the backpack. "I
only took it from Claude because it was rightfully mine. It was, honestly."
Seeing the puzzled look he is receiving from some of you, he quickly changes
the subject.
        "Once again, my eternal thanks for saving me from such a horrid
fate... I was to fight a minotaur in Florce! Can you imagine that? Me, pitted
against such a brutal, man-eating beast? I would surely have been killed!"
        "Well, it looks as if we've gone far enough. Would you like to keep
this wagon, or would you rather leave it here? I doubt we'll be caught if we
continue to use it, but I couldn't help overhearing your little disagreement
over whether or not it was right to 'steal' the wagon.. In any case, I don't
really care, so long as you don't mind me taking the horses. Trust me, you do
NOT want to give the horses back to those men! If you saw the way they treat
them.. I almost feel sorry for the poor beasts. Why, look at this one here!
See all the scars from the whipping on the hindquarters? I'm most certainly
not going to let THEM get ahold of these fine steeds! They'll beat them half
to death before they even get to the mountains!"

Sage's Desk AD&D