Investigation Field Report

First Lieutenant Jabril Porthan

My investigation into the death of Sargent Dorian Waine has revealed more questions than answers. I have determined that he was indeed murdered but I have been unable to ascertain who committed the crime. Allow me to lay out the facts of the case:

Sargent Wayne commissioned a new blade from the blacksmithy shop Raynor’s Smithy in Neverwinter. It was a beautiful field officer sword with a single sharp edge, silver grip, and enlaid with gold leaf decorations. Raynor remembers Wayne personally making the commission. It took the smithy two weeks to create the sword. No enchantments were laid upon it and the blade was wrapped up and delivered by courier to the military camp on the field of Lasgoth along Triboar Trail. The courier could not be interviewed as she never returned home. I believe the courier was intercepted and possibly killed as the individual who delivered the sword did not match the description of the one who initially took it. There has been no trace of either courier.

Sargent Wayne received the sword just five days after Greengrass. He was very pleased with the weapon and showed it off to the other officers. Nothing seemed amiss or out of place until two weeks later during a gnoll attack. Through eye witness testimony, here is an approximation of what happened:

It was during the darkest part of the night when they attacked the garrison. The patrols had been quietly overwhelmed and so no alarm came until the night watch blew their trumpets. The gnolls attacked in mass and easily outnumbered our troops by two to one. They were being led by a Fang of Yeenoghu and so they demonstrated an unusual intelligence in their tactics. The gnolls attacked from the north and south-east and we took heavy losses during the first few minutes of the battle. Sargent Wayne and his command was stationed on the western portion and thus were able to rally and prepare a counter-offensive. The fighting was intense and the gnolls had taken us by surprise but our soldiers, with their superior training and discipline, were soon able to turn the tide of battle. 

Sargent Wayne entered the fight himself and he slashed his way through the gnoll lines like they were butter. Wayne was reportedly a very skilled fighter but witnesses to the battle say that he was beyond incredible that night. Wayne dodged and weaved through the melee killing gnolls with aparent ease. He even dueled a pack lord who had slain many of our men and Wayne dispatched the dreaded beast without taking a scratch. One soldier who was close by said that he saw Wayne coated in gnoll blood and that the sargent was laughing and shouting encouragement to the troops when it happened. The sargent had just killed the pack lord and was moving to intercept another enemy when he stopped midswing as if frozen. Sargent Wayne stood as still as a statue in the midst of battle for several moments before the gnolls forgot their surprise and swarmed him. Within seconds, Wayne was torn to pieces without making a cry of pain or a call for help. His body was recovered after our troops routed the gnolls and killed the Fang.

I had the sword tested and found that it had been enchanted with a curse from the school of abjuration. The enchantment provides the wielder with speed and strength in battle but will periodically cause a temporal freezing effect. It is considerably unfortunate that this effect caught Sargent Wayne during a dangerous moment in the fight while he was away from potential allies who could have helped him. I have ascertained that this enchantment was placed on the blade without Sargent Wayne’s knowledge and that this cursed effect was not the result of an inexperienced enchanter. Someone intentionally wanted Sargent Wayne to suffer. It is possible the goal was not the sargent’s death but maybe just to embarrass or descredit him but given the disappearance of the first courier, I think the perpetrator had deadly intentions.

Sargent Wayne was, as I have learned, a most hated man. His subordinates confided to me frequent instances of abuse and overreaches of power. He would make outrageous demands and when they could not be met he would administer cruel punishments. He was particularly rough on the female recruits. Sargent Wayne led with ruthless efficiency and through fear. The other sargents revealed that Wayne was a bully, a bragart, and had made many enemies in his rise through the ranks. No one liked him and some suspected that his allegiences were questionable but I could find no evidence to substantiate these claims. I could also not find any record of formal complaints although several people insisted that they had submitted them. This suggests to me possible tampering and/or shielding by someone. 

I have found some possible evidence of bribery and am currently exploring those leads but my efforts have largely been unfruitful and I am disinclined to dig further. My suspect list is impossibly large and so unwieldy that we may never know who orchestrated the crime but perhaps this is all for the best. Sargent Wayne was not a competent leader, he possibly harbored dangerous aspirations, and I think his downfall was inevitable.  My official recommendation is declare the sargent’s death an accident, send condolences and compensation to his family, and ship the offending sword to the wizards of Neverwinter for further study.  

Signed and sealed by First Luitentant Jabril Porthan.