It's a dangerous world out there for a little mouse... For those who have not completed Ghost of a Tale, this page or section may contain spoilers regarding the plot. Discretion is advised. |
“ | You know, you're the shortest creature I've ever looked up to. | „ |
~ Silas |
Silas Wagstaffe is a Rat in Ghost of a Tale. He is the signal guard at Dwindling Heights Keep, in charge of the care and use of Skappbeetles. He has blue eyes, wears an emerald cloak over leather armor, and carries a sword. He lives at the top of the main keep in a small turret and is found standing by a fire on the roof.
History[]
While Silas was a pup, his father died and his mother abandoned him, leaving him to be raised by mice. He served as a sergeant in the Red Paw, until being demoted after an incident in the north, and requested a transfer to be stationed as the signal guard at Dwindling Heights Keep.
When Tilo is imprisoned within the jail of the keep, Silas secretly helps him to escape, in exchange for Tilo's help obtaining a mysterious chest lost in the catacombs below the keep. After Tilo retrieves the chest from the tomb of Duinlan, Silas tasks him with getting a silver band back that had been stolen from him by Gusto and Fatale.
Upon returning the silver band, Silas tells Tilo that his wife Merra will be arriving soon in a prisoner transport that is stopping briefly at harbour. When Tilo discovers that Merra is not there, he finds Silas drunk in the commissary. After sobering him up, Silas finally reveals his story to the minstrel.
Silas was raised by Mice, and is the son of the last Rat king, Rodrik. When he enlisted in the Red Paw, he was eventually part of a convoy escorting the Baroness from Pesa to the capital. They stopped at the Temple of Karam, where he took the Baroness to the reliquary to offer her prayers. There he saw a silver ring similar in design to the one he had been given, and took it from Karam's corpse. In time, he discovered that other rings had been found in similar temples, and that they were the tail rings of the Rat kings, entrusted to the Wardens of the Green Flame.
When Tilo returns from speaking with Ravik, he learns that Silas has been arrested and convicted of the Jailer's murder, and is being held in Tilo's old cell. There, as Tilo tries to convince him to escape, he reveals the truth: the incident that demoted him from being a sergeant in the Red Paw was when Tilo and Merra brought their infant son, Brin, to a checkpoint on the Tern road. Brin was dying of a spider bite, and Silas was the sergeant who tried to save him, but lost his way in the road; Silas admits to Tilo that he was drunk on that night, and thought that he could make things right when he saw the minstrel's name on the prisoner transfer list. He tells Tilo to find Merra, and to find happiness.
As he is about to be hanged, Tilo returns from the Bone Shore after accidentally releasing the Green Flame from the chest that was buried there. With the help of Rolo the blacksmith, the Commander and his guards are knocked unconscious, and Silas joins Rolo and Tilo on the Bone Shore to destroy the crystals in the chest.
Tilo is able to destroy them with brisance, and Silas sends him off to the Isle of Periclave with a fond farewell, promising to help Gusto, Fatale, and Rolo – revealed to be Captain Otto Powderkeg – warn the Council of the Red Paw about the return of the Green Flame.