Montaron and the Laughing Skull

Possibly the most ornery halfling in all of Toril, Montaron is aggressive, bloodthirsty, and absolutely ruthless. He puts his natural nimbleness to use as a skilled assassin working for the Shadow Thieves. He used to work for a rival criminal organization known as the Zhentarim until he was killed during a mission. He despises his old organization, but not nearly as much as he does socalled “goody-goodies.” He was eventually brought back to life by the Shadow Thieves because of his relationship with his old partner, a necromancer named Xzar. Xzar was already known for his erratic and bizarre behavior before he decided to attempt the magical ritual that would turn him into a lich. While successful at achieving this goal, once he embraced undeath he quickly descended into insanity. Xzar lost track of his phylactery and thus didn’t feed it the souls required to fuel his undead state. Several decades later his body had crumbled to dust and Xzar had devolved into a demilich. Montaron was brought back by the Shadow Thieves to utilize the demilich. The halfling keeps Xzar’s skull in a bag of holding, only bringing it out during a mission. When Xzar is active, he will sometimes affectionately refer to the halfling as “Monty”. Most of the time he will just berate Montaron for being an insufferable idiot. Montaron is motivated by two things: amassing coin and finding outlets for his hot temper. He secretly despises his old partner Xzar, but knows that the demilich makes him a much more effective assassin.