Marco Lancet

In Cairn of the winter king, the adventure I'm running at fallcrest, Marko
Lancet is an npc who is used as an adventure hook.

This is his basic bio

Marco Lancet grew up on the mean streets of Hadrakar( not a faerun place).
He lived a life of fraud, gambling and petty theft until he was caught. He was
sentenced to slave away in the mines of frostjaw peaks, but he escaped,
killing a guard in the process. Whilst on the run from guard patrols, he was
forced to head higher into the mountain. A storm in the cold peaks forced the
patrols to give up, and Marko saved himself by taking shelter in an ice cave
beneath a pillar of ice filled with skulls - The cairn of the winter king.

Exploring deep into the winding cave, Marko found the ice sceptre in the grip
of a figure frozen to a throne and obscured by a thick coating of ice. He took
the valuable looking object and immediately felt warmer. When he left the
cave the storm had vanished, he left the mountains, now unafraid of the cold.
after three days of climbing he descended the mountain and all around him
the land seemed to be covered in snow. He thought it unusual but wasn't
from these parts and was unsure of the climate in the north. He also found
that the sceptre kept him warm. He intended to sell it at fallcrest ( the first
city he came across) but given the mood of the town he thought it best to
leave it.
Marko doesn't want to confess to anyone his past but when hard pressed will
break down and explain where he got the sceptre. Marko doesn't want to go
back to the cairn and will give up the sceptre to the party. however he notices
that he may be punished and facing certain death if left in town, agrees to
follow the party.

This is the basic adventure background for him. Since your character wants to
search for hidden, powerful objects to advance their agenda the story could
be changed.

You hired some thugs to help to investigate an old dwarven ruin high in the
star mountains (in faerun, near highforest) After many days of battling the
strong icy winds you find it, a cave set deep into the mountain walls with a
large pillar of ice outside. As you approached some of the thugs get scared,
claiming ill omens, as you notice the pillar is filled with skulls from all
different races. Demanding they have a contract they breach the cave and
begin to explore, you wait in a large empty chamber, the floor and walls are
all covered in ice so you set up a fire and leave the thugs to go explore. after
some time passes you hear a commotion. Looking down a nearby corridor a
young tiefling (one of the thugs you hired) comes running towards you with a
ornate, golden rod in his hands. As he runs he shouts to you to run and you
can see some arrows fly past him. behind him three black clad archers are
pursuing him. As he gets closer to you an arrow strikes him in the knee and
he falls to the floor. Not wanting to lose the potential artefact you make your
way towards him. Stopping to bend down to him he laughs and thanks you,
stretching his hand out towards you for you to pick him up. You push it aside
and grab the rod before fleeing, leaving him to his pursuers. Without looking
back you hear him scream "damn you to the nine heeeellllllllsssssss!" as you
run out into the storm. Outside you find the coldness you where feeling has
passed, you suddenly feel remarkably warm. Heading down the mountain,
artefact in hand you find your way to the town of fallcrest. Spending a few
days inside the inn studying the relic you make no progress. However you do
note that all around you snow has started to fall. By the end of the week the
mood in town is tense as farmers from the nearby fields and merchants from
the town are amassing in protest of this unusual coldness for the middle of
summer. You assume the snow may be related to the rod, but that only
inspires you to further investigate it.

this could then lead to the large commotion in town that the adventurers will
come across upon entering, and then the rest of the adventure plays out as
normal. This allows your character to genuinely not know anything about the
cairn ( you never explored) and the ability to hide the artefact ("I bought it
from someone, I didn't know better" )