November One-shot Backstories

Finally, finished typing up the last of these. Still subject to change, but here all all six members of an as of yet unnamed adventuring company.  First, a refresher on the one I posted last week.

Natali Dumein: Human, Noblewoman, Fiend Warlock Pact of Blade
Age: 20 years Height: 5’5” Weight: 145 lbs Brown eyes, Tanned Skin, Brown Hair

Personality Traits: I judge people by their actions, not words.
Ideals: Chains are meant to be broken.
Bonds: Her Demonic Patron
Flaws: Don’t expect me to save those who won’t fight for themselves.

Natali was not born into the nobility, her family was poor and struggled through life working the lands around the Dumein estate. However, they believed their fortunes greatly changed when their daughter caught the eye of the young lord of the eccentric family. Taken to the manor and trained in the arts of nobility, including proper dancing, swordplay and manners, Natali eagerly awaited her wedding and the prosperity she could bring to her family. Immediately after the ceremony though, the family revealed its true intent. Long ago their ancestors had captured a dark being of great power, sealing it within a dark and twisted tree on the estate. It would give them prosperity as long as they sacrificed a noblewoman to it every decade, but if the blood of the family was ever offered its service was over. She was not truly of the blood, but her marriage made her a noble and she would appease the beasts hunger. Natali fought back, grabbing her husband’s blade and running him through. As the blood soaked into the tree everything went black. When Natali awoke she saw a great oozing shape tearing the Dumein family apart, but when it turned to her it instead offered a deal. When the family had it imprisoned it, they had stolen its many golden eyes and sold them across the world. If she wished to live, and not see it rampage through the village to kill the peasants, she would serve it and find it’s 1,000 eyes. She agreed, the rapier in her hand turned an inky black and her hand burned with the pact seal. Her master settled into the manor, keeping up the pretense that the Dumein still ruled and Natali set forth desperate to find someway to escape her new fate, but also gathering the eyes as promised, lest the beast wreck vengeance upon her home and it’s people.

At the time the adventure starts, Natali will have found 5 of the eyes, and her quest would have been going on for 4.5 years. Two of the eyes have been returned to the demon, while the remaining three are on her person. The eyes are orbs of pure gold, about the size of a baseball, with a streak of onyx buried within to act as the pupil. The treasure you seek now was buried with a pirate king, one that was rumored to have a golden eye.

Keth: Orc, Criminal (Smuggler), Oath of Vengeance Paladin
Age: 29 years Height: 6’2” Weight: 235 lbs Black eyes, Grey Skin, Bald

Personality Traits: I always have a plan, and a back-up plan.
Ideals: I’m loyal to my friends, not any fancy ideals or empty thrones.
Bonds: People died because of my mistake, never again.
Flaws: Too greedy for my own good, can’t resist making coin in spite of the risks.

Keth’s first life was like many in the slums of Dror, desperate and poor, but unlike many others Keth had a plan. He learned the ins and outs of the city, mapped out all the secret routes and gathered a crew, then began his second life as a smuggler. He was good, smuggling goods and people out or in as the customer demanded. Good enough he could have lived comfortably, but Keth always wanted more. His last job was different than may that had come before, the robed man who demanded they help smuggle a small crate into the city gave everyone the willies, bt he offered more coin than any of them had ever seen. So, despite his second in command’s protests, they took the job. When they arrived with the package they found the client finishing up a ritual, and the box exploded, revealing a demon with a golden circlet upon its head. It slaughtered his companions, and in that moment Keth’s third life began. Feeling rage and power like never before he took up his blade and struck down the beast with a brilliant explosion of energy. The Client escaped during the battle, but Keth swore upon all the dieties and the blood of his comrades that he would track him down and repay him in blood for the lives lost.

Your search has reached a dead-end, though you’ve learned this man is part of a larger organization. A bandit lord in the area seems to have information, but demands a sizeable payment for his cooperation. Luckily, you and your companions seem about to come into a large windfall.

Rain Clanless: Wildhunt Shifter, Outlander, Rogue Thief
Age: 15 years Height: 5’2” Weight: 101 lbs Yellow eyes, Tawny Fur, Mahogany hair/mane

Personality Traits: I get bored easily and seek entertainment.
Ideals: Honoring the clan is honoring the ancestors is immortality.
Bonds: Family and Clan are paramount.
Flaws: I am too enamored with ale and other pleasures of the cities.

Rain was originally part of the Swiftclaw clan, but one evening she was bored and decided to spy on a sacred ceremony preformed by the clan Shaman, Autumn Wind. Sneaking towards the glade, she saw the shaman speaking to a Great Darkness, with blood red eyes and fetid teeth, nothing like the Guardian Spirit of the clan. The Darkness saw her and cried challenge, she attempted to flee but the Shaman’s magic enveloped her. He took her in front of the tribe, claimed her spying had angered the spirits, and branded her a clanless outcast. Hunted and forced from her native lands Rain found herself in the human city of Durat and wandered its streets. She took what she needed to survive and one evening ended up in a tavern where a friendly dwarf offered to share his drink. He called it ale and Rain found she quite enjoyed it, as well as the several tankards which followed. Of course, to continue enjoying this drink she needed coin, and while she reasoned she could take enough to get by, it was best to have a pack to run with, in case things went awry.

The Dwarf could potentially be Harbeck Ungart, but that is for the players to decide.

Reverence: Tiefling, Merchant, Life Cleric of Boldrei
Age: 20 years Height: 5’4” Weight: 175 lbs Crimson eyes, Royal violet skin, dark hair

Personality Traits: Nothing can shake my optimism
Ideals: It is the duty of all civilized people to strengthen and support their community
Bonds: Church of Boldrie, Goddess of Community and Home
Flaws: I trust in my leaders absolutely, as the goddess commands

The Tiefling known as Reverence was not born to that name. Like many of her people she changed her name to reflect a defining moment in her life. Growing up in the small town of Tok life was simple and unassuming. Then she witnessed a miracle. A soldier stumbled into town, terrible wounds covering his body. She was certain he would die, until an old man walked up to hm, placed a hand glowing with golden light upon his forehead, and the wounds closed before her eyes. This miracle led the young child to the Goddess Boldrei, She who watches over hearth and community. Reverence joined the church and learned the healing arts, but soon discovered a terrible thing. The church, for all its good, was poor, too poor to offer all the services their goddess expected. So, taking up her holy symbol, Reverence set out as a traveling merchant, to fund her ailing church by selling brews, cheeses, anything she could. Of course, you need funds to start with, and adventurers always need healers…

Reverence recently registered with the Trade Federation, receiving a “Bag of Holding” to hold her goods, Her inventory is to be determined.

Osborne Perrin Roscoe Tealeaf III: Stout Halfling, Hermit, Divination Wizard
Age: 80 years Height: 3’4” Weight: 100 lbs Watery Grey eyes and glasses, pale skin, balding grey hair

Personality Traits: I often become enamored in intellectual pursuits, mental exercises, which lead me to not always pay the utmost attention
Ideals: Curiosity , questions, the seeking of the unknown to quantify it, these are the highest ideals
Bonds: My research has shown me troubling, very troubling, signs of an approaching cataclysm
Flaws: Sometimes I forget social niceties and speak my mind when I should not

Osborne Perrin Roscoe Tealeaf the Third, who only occasionally suffers his full title to be shortened to the easier said “Ozzy”, took his Grandfather’s fortune, which he inherited after the passing of his Grandfather Osborne Perrin Roscoe Tealeaf to the unfortunate circumstance of a rampaging Ettin, to fund his research into the arcane art of Divination. After many years of seclusion, to heighten the “oneness” of time which allows one to peer into the past and future as if they were the present, he began to see disturbing patterns. After a short while, somewhere around a decade, Osborne was able to trace the pattern and received a vision of a terrible, monstrous beast slumbering beneath the earth, a beast which would awaken once more and devastate the civilized lands. Desperate to learn more Osborne made a trip for supplies, only to learn that his funding had run dry (and that his beard had grown quite stinky), so gathering the necessary notes and tools and cleaning his beard, Osborne set off in search of further funding, casting a divination to find the most profitable endeavor for him to pursue.

Harbeck Ungart: Hill Dwarf, Soldier, Battlemaster Fighter
Age: 167 years Height: 5’0” Weight: 200 lbs Blue eyes, scarred skin, Scarlet, braided hair and beard

Personality Traits: Simple solutions are the best, complex plans fall apart.
Ideals: Our lot is to lay down our lives in defense of others.
Bonds: Never forget the defeat at Morlaend
Flaws: The monstrous enemy we faced still leaves me quivering in fear.

Harbeck rose through the ranks of the military to earn the honour of the the standard bearer, the rock that the unit would rally to, for the 89^th regiment of Harth. He served proudly for many years, but in an expedition to Morlaend in the Underdark he saw his regiment slaughtered by a great shadowy beast, as his commander refused to retreat. He never learned what they were after, because after hours fighting in the pitch black, only able to see the gleaming teeth of the monstrosity they fought, the line broke and he and the other survivors fled in terror. After this brutal massacre, with no explanation from the higher ups, Harbeck left the military to become a soldier of fortune, using his experience to keep his company alive and only fighting the battles he chose.

If anyone in the company could be considered the leader it would be Harbeck, both as the oldest and most experienced combatant. It is likely he gathered the others, building a adventuring company and a solid reputation.

Questions, comments, and suggestions all welcome.