Those Who Walk in Blood (Inactive)

Game Master Stalwart

Tith'Kali This is a SPECIAL TRAIT that takes the place of both traits, plus a drawback, plus your starting feat. I will limit the campaign to ONLY ONE character with the Tith'Kali trait. Aasimars do not qualify for this trait.
You are a special child of the Red Mantis assassins, conceived while your mother was conducting an assassination of your father (think about how mantises mate, minus the cannibalism. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about so I don't have to go into more detail). You are favored of the god Achaekek and the Red Mantis assassins. You have been raised on the island of Mediogalti in the Crimson Citadel and given the best training and education. If your race has a floating +2 ability score bonus, that bonus is +3. Alternatively, if your race has a negative ability score modifier, that penalty is negated (if you have more than one, choose one, and the rest apply). The Red Mantis prestige class is a favored class for you. You gain the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (sawtooth sabre) feat. Each time you take a rank in a favored class, you receive both a hit point and a skill point. Stealth, Intimidate, and Perception are always class skills for you. You have a tattoo/birthmark of the unholy symbol of Achaekek, which may be used as a focus for divine spells. Your indoctrination into the Red Mantis assassins is complete. You receive a -2 penalty on all saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities from those Red Mantises with a higher ranking than you. You are shaken for 24 hours if you fail or stray from a task that a higher-ranking assassin gives you. You have some feature (hair, eyes, teeth, etc) that is crimson and imparts a -4 penalty on all Disguise checks.

Offered as Payment The Red Mantis sometimes demand something other than gold for payment for their services. Someone in your family had desired the services of Those Who Walk in Blood, and you were their price. You went willingly, for to refuse would have spelled the same doom for your family as their target. Rather than enslave you, they trained you as a Red Mantis assassin and you embraced the teaching of the god Achaekek. You receive a +1 trait bonus on Will saves and that bonus becomes a +2 against charm and compulsion spells and effects.

Vengeance Was Mine You wanted someone dead, and sought out the Red Mantis to do the deed, but you couldn't find them. After months of searching, you took matters into your own hands, training and readying yourself for the act. When you finally committed yourself, the Red Mantis appeared and assisted you. When you saw the lifeless eyes of your target, dead by your own hand, you realized why you couldn't find the Red Mantis; they were watching you to see if you were worthy. You didn't know until that moment yourself, but now you have joined their ranks. You gain a +2 trait bonus on attack rolls you make during the surprise round.

Azir Native You were fascinated when you learned that the godless city of Azir in Rahadoum was the Golarion birthplace of the cult of Red Mantis assassins before they moved to Mediogalti Island. After years of persistence, you were able to find signs of the cult in your hometown and made contact with the mysterious order. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Knowledge (history) and Diplomacy for gather information checks.

Ilizmagorti Native You once were just a lowlife pirate of the Shackles, a seedy deckhand who would trade your mother for a few silver. That reputation drew the attention of the Red Mantis, who first started using you as a courier of messages, and a source for those looking for the Red Mantis's services. Eventually, your usefulness turned into true devotion, and the Red Mantis accepted you as one of their instruments of assassination. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive, Profession (sailor) checks and a +3 trait bonus on Bluff checks to relay secret messages.

Raised in Secrecy You had a typical life, in a mundane part of the world doing mundane things. Except that one or both of your parents were Red Mantis assassins and you were trained to follow in their footsteps. One of these days, you hope to see the island of Mediogalti and visit the Crimson Citadel, but for now, you need to prove yourself. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff, Disguise, and either Knowledge (local) or Knowledge (nobility) and one of these skills is always a class skill for you.

Zarklo
Human (chelaxian) ranger (urban ranger) 4 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 129)
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +10
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 34 (4d10+6)
Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +2
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk sawtooth sabre +4 (1d8+1/19-20) or
. . mwk sawtooth sabre +4 (1d8/19-20)
Special Attacks combat style (two-weapon combat), favored enemy (humans +2)
Ranger (Urban Ranger) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +2)
. . 1st—bleeding strike
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 12, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 19
Feats Alertness, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (sawtooth sabre), Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Traits friend in every town
Skills Acrobatics +6, Diplomacy +10, Disable Device +15, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +6, Knowledge (local) +7, Perception +10, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +16, Survival +8
Languages Common, Polyglot
SQ favored community (City +2), hunter's bond (leopard named animal companion), track +2, trapfinding +2, wild empathy +6
Combat Gear mask of the mantis, potion of cure moderate wounds (2), potion of darkvision (2); Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, mwk sawtooth sabre, mwk sawtooth sabre, cloak of elvenkind, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, masterwork thieves' tools, silk rope (50 ft.), 685 gp, 9 sp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Favored Community (City +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls when in Favored Community (City).
Favored Enemy (Humans +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs. Favored Enemy (Humans) foes.
Mask of the mantis A mask of the mantis is the traditional headgear of the Red Mantis assassin. Designed both to mask the wearer's identity while on a job and to enhance the wearer's ferocious appearance, a mask of the mantis has 3 daily charges that can be used to gain additional bonuses. The wearer can spend a charge to gain darkvision to a range of 60 feet, the effects of see invisibility, the effects of deathwatch, or a +5 competence bonus on Perception checks. Once a charge is spent, the effect granted persists for 30 minutes before fading. Multiple effects can be active simultaneously. Charges replenish automatically in 24 hours.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, darkvision, see invisibility, deathwatch; Cost 3,000 gp
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as touch spells.
Track +2 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Trapfinding +2 Gain a bonus to find or disable traps, including magical ones.
Wild Empathy +6 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.

--------------------

Animal Companion
Leopard
N Small animal
Init +5; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +5
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+5 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 15 (+2)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +1
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d4+1), 2 claws +7 (1d2+1)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 12, Dex 21, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +1; CMB +1; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +5 (+13 to jump), Perception +5, Stealth +13 (+17 in Undergrowth); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth in Undergrowth
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Trip (Ex) You can make a trip attempt on a successful attack.

Pertreeko and his nest-brother, Narad, struggled together to yank off some old rotten boards that had been nailed over a doorframe. "I'm telling you, Narad, my source is trustworthy," Pertreeko commented as he gave a final tug and ripped the wood free with a grunt. "I'd stake my feathers on there being at least some shred of evidence of the Red Mantis Assassins here."

"Then I hope we find some extra rags in here to cover your nakedness when the information falls flat, like last time," his cynical younger brother groused. Still, he followed his older brother's lead like always, ducking under the wooden boards that remained and following him into the abandoned Aziran apartment without a sound. At least, until he turned his head inside to come face-to-face with a grinning skull mask, centimeters away from his own beak. "Damnation!" he shouted in surprise, before growling angrily as giggling could be heard behind the mask. Pertreeko takes it away from his own beaked face and chortles at his younger brother, pointing a finger at him mockingly. "C'mon, scaredy-bird," he said, "the loot's supposed to be deeper inside the apartment..."

Male Human Cleric 4
LE medium humanoid
Init 0 Senses Normal Vision Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 10, flat-footed 19
hp 31
Fort 6 Reflex 1 Will 7 +1 vs charms and compulsions
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft
Melee +1 Mithral Sawtooth Sabre +6 (1d8+3/19-20/x2)
Space 5 Reach 5
STATISTICS
STR 14 DEX 10 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 15 CHA 16
BAB 3 CMB 5 CMD 15
Feats Extra Channel, Channel Smite, Channeling Force
Skills Acrobatics -4, Appraise 0, Bluff 8, Climb 1, Diplomacy 3, Disguise 7, Escape Artist -4, Fly -4, Heal 6, Intimidate 3, Knowledge (planes) 4, Knowledge (religion) 4, Linguistics 5, Perception 2, Ride -4, Sense Motive 6, Spellcraft 6, Stealth 3, Survival 2, Swim -2
Languages Common
Gear +1 Mithral Sawtooth Sabre, +1 Agile Breatplate, MWK Large Wooden Shield, Mantis Mask
Human Traits (Core 27)

• Bonus Feat (Core 27): You gain 1 bonus feat at 1st level*.

• Skilled (Core 27): You gain 1 additional skill rank at each level*.

Traits

• Killer (APG 328): You deal additional damage equal to your weapon's critical hit modifier when you score a successful critical hit with a weapon; this additional damage is added to the final total, and is not multiplied by the critical hit multiple itself. This extra damage is a trait bonus.
• Offered as Payment: The Red Mantis sometimes demand something other than gold for payment for their services. Someone in your family had desired the services of Those Who Walk in Blood, and you were their price. You went willingly, for to refuse would have spelled the same doom for your family as their target. Rather than enslave you, they trained you as a Red Mantis assassin and you embraced the teaching of the god Achaekek. You receive a +1 trait bonus on Will saves and that bonus becomes a +2 against charm and compulsion spells and effects.
Class Features

• Armor and Shield Proficiency: You are proficient in Light and Medium Armor. You are proficient with shields (except Tower Shields).*

• Weapon Proficiency: You are proficient with all Simple Weapons. Additionally you are proficient with the following weapons: Sawtooth Sabre

• Aura (Core 39): A cleric of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity’s alignment

• Favored Weapon (Core 39): You gain proficiency with the favored weapon of your deity (Sawtooth sabre)

• Channel Energy (Su): You can release a wave of negative energy which causes 2d6 of damage to living creatures. (Will Save DC 15). You can use this abilty 8 times a day.

• Spontaneous Casting (Core 41): You can channel stored spell energy into inflict spells.

Domains
• Murder (Death)
• Bleeding Touch (Sp) (Core 42): As a melee touch attack, you can cause a living creature to take 1d6 points of damage per round for 2 rounds or until stopped with a DC 15 Heal check or any spell or effect that heals damage. You can use this ability 5 times a day.
• Trickery
• Copycat (Sp) (Core 48): You can create an illusory double of yourself as a move action. This double functions as a single Mirror Image and lasts for 4 rounds or until the illusory duplicate is dispelled or destroyed.

Feats
• Extra Channel (Core 123): You can channel divine energy two additional times/day*
• Channel Smite (Core 119): You can channel your divine energy through a melee weapon you wield.
• Channeling Force (ACG 143): As a swift action, you can expend on use of channel energy to grant your weapon attacks a bonus on damage rolls equal to the number of dice of your channel energy. This extra damage is force and lasts for three attacks or until the end of combat, whichever comes first.
• Armor Proficiency, Medium (Core 118): You are proficient wearing medium armor.
• Armor Proficiency, Light (Core 118): You are proficient wearing light armor.
• Shield Proficiency (Core 133): When you use a shield, the shield's armor check penalty only applies to Strength- and Dexterity-based skills.*

FCB
• +1 Skill point
• +1 Skill point
• +1 Skill point
• +1 Skill point
Spells
0 Enhanced Diplomacy, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Stabilize
1 Cure Light Wounds, Bless, Divine Favor, Infernal Healing, Disguise Self
2 Bull's Strength, Spiritual Weapon, Death Knell, Invisibility

Trait: Ilizmagorti Native

Deka was born in the Shackles, but fled from a violent family life at a young age, scraping by as a street urchin and bilge rat. Stowing away on some pirate ships and working as a deck hand on others, she traveled the Inner Sea armed with ruthless self-discipline and a sharp blade. She eventually gained a reputation for her merciless and discrete dealings, especially after returning to her childhood home to murder her father. Deka and her mother Nariza took to the seas and a life of privacy, and on one fateful trip to Mediogalti Island were approached by a member of the Red Mantis to serve as couriers and agents of the assassins’ services.

While content for a while to serve the Red Mantis for mere coin, Deka’s admiration for the assassins grew as she learned more about them. Originally she had thought them mere secretive murderers for hire, but their single focus on assassination—and nothing else, despite some clients’ desires for other trivialities—impressed her, and the young woman strived to emulate their artful self-control. It happened slowly, but eventually Deka came to revere Achaekek and the sacredness of his assassinations. Nariza noticed this, too, although she was less thrilled with what she saw as her daughter’s obsession with The Mantis God. Deka sought out her contacts in the Red Mantis and requested to join their ranks. After testing her worth and loyalty, the Red Mantis took Deka into their fold.

A severe Garundi woman with a distaste for jokes and cruel tyrants (although, in keeping with Achaekek’s teachings, no rightful rulers could truly be called tyrants), Deka has the pirate chops and connections to get around the Inner Sea relatively quickly to track down targets and end them. Her mother Nariza, despite apprehensions about her daughter’s calling, still acts as a contact for Red Mantis services, and channels a portion of Deka’s funds into housing and caring for beggars and street folk in port cities. In return for operating these shelters, Deka gains numerous hideouts and sources of information, and she hopes she can expand on this model by rising through the ranks of the Red Mantis.

Build: My current thought is to go Swashbuckler 1 / Inquisitor (Infiltrator archetype, and maybe also Sanctified Slayer archetype) 3 and dual-wield sawtooth sabres with Slashing Grace. Race is currently human, but a tiefling might also be fun.

Eris Triguna had always been destined for the shadowy world that so many people never managed to see around them…she just didn’t know it. From a young age, she was raised by her mother as a single parent, a fact made tougher on them by her mother’s insistence to travel, who apparently worked in a position of commerce, travelling to establish satisfactory trade routes and other such mediums.

Despite the absence of her mother, Eris experienced a rather normal childhood, although admittedly a more active childhood than some of her friends. For instance, on one never to be forgotten occasion, her mother decided to take her daughter to a sparring master, which turned out to be a disaster for all involved. Eris had struggled to even swing the sword, and eventually had gotten frustrated enough to blast the teacher with a Color Spray. Eris had expected a reprimand from her mother but never got one, although the incident was not spoken of again.

As Eris grew older however, she began to get annoyed that her mother kept vanishing, but more frustrated about the fact that she never knew who her father was. Unknown to her mother, Eris began to investigate on her own, snooping around, first the house, and then eventually establishing a small information network, making excellent use of her Kitsune abilities to appear like anyone at a moment’s notice. Eventually, quite by accident, Eris stumbled onto a long held secret by her mother, she didn’t work for a commerce organisation at all, she was actually a Red Mantis Assassin.

Eris waited for her mother to return home, before confronting her. At the start of the conversation, both parties were under the impression that the other would be mad at each other, but the truth was exactly the opposite. Eris believed that discovering her mother’s secret would get her into quite amount of trouble, but on the contrary, her Mother was delighted that her daughter had inherited a talent for information gathering and deception, although understandably she was keen to discover what sources of information existed that had allowed someone to decode her secret…such sources expired shortly after. For her part, Eris’s mother was worried her daughter would condemn her, but after Eris learned that it was the Red Mantis organisation that had taken in her mother, looked after her, trained her and given her a source of income that had allowed Eris to live a good life, she felt that she owed the secret organisation something in return. In truth, Eris wanted to learn more, and her mother was happy to teach her.

As a sorcerer, the opportunities for Eris to actually assassinate a target were rather limited, so Eris focused on her talents for deception. She could walk into any building, pass herself off as someone who worked there, and quietly leave the building soon after, with any sort of information that she had been after in the first place. As Eris got my experienced however, she began to take far more of an active role, learning to manipulate a target into walking into the “kill zone” of an assassination. Transforming herself into a loved one, Eris was capable of managing to provide access to a Red Mantis Assassin to the target, or better yet, manipulate a target into meeting their eventual killer in a terrain of her choosing. As Eris grew more adapt with Illusion magic, she was able to play off her targets fears or likes, throwing up a clever illusion to distract or manipulate a target, or to make a quick exist after an assassination had proved successful. Eventually, her ability to read the surface thoughts of her target, her talent for lying, and her flawless ability to disguise herself as an individual at a moment’s notice impressed her mother so much she formally recommended her daughter into the Red Mantis organisation for more advanced training, firmly under the impression that her child would succeed her in every possible way.

Eris is perhaps one of the few Mantis Assassins that doesn't enjoy the glory of the act of killing. For her, the thrill comes from manipulating the target into entering the position that makes the assassination possible, the actual killing is just a happy consequence. Manipulating a target, then isolating them, before finally putting them in a vulnerable state, and then casually leaving them to their fate is a talent Eris particularly enjoys, as she can use her talent for disguise and infiltration particularly well, fully aware that her physical abilities are not suitable for the actual physical nature of an assassination. On a basic level, she feels loyal to the Mantis organisation for looking after her single mother, inducting her into the organisation and providing her with a way for her and Eris to live a comfortable life, however on a more personal level, Eris secretly wants to achieve Vernai status, or eventually Blood Mistress, a position only attainable by a female, although Eris privately acknowledges such a lofty goal would be difficult to accomplish, as well as dangerous to speak openly about, so she keeps it to herself.

Eris Triguna
Kitsune sorcerer 4 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 192)
LE Medium humanoid (kitsune, shapechanger)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception -1
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 22 (4d6+4)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mwk sawtooth sabre -3 (1d8-2/19-20) or
mwk sawtooth sabre -3 (1d8-2/19-20) or
bite +0 (1d4-2)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 4th; concentration +9)
2nd (4/day)—glitterdust (DC 17)
1st (8/day)—charm person (DC 16), color spray (DC 17), grease, silent image (DC 17)
0 (at will)—acid splash, detect magic, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic
Bloodline Rakshasa
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 7, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 21
Base Atk +2; CMB +0; CMD 12
Feats Eschew Materials, Realistic Likeness[ARG], Spell Focus (illusion)
Traits reactionary
Skills Acrobatics +4, Bluff +13, Disguise +13, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Spellcraft +8; Racial Modifiers +2 Acrobatics
Languages Common, Elven, Sylvan
SQ change shape, fast shifter, mind reader, silver tongue
Combat Gear mask of the mantis, silent metamagic rod (lesser); Other Gear mwk sawtooth sabre, mwk sawtooth sabre, cloak of resistance +1, handy haversack
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Change Shape (Su) Assume a single human form.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fast Shifter (Su) Using your racial change shape ability is a move action instead of a standard action
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mind Reader (1/day, DC 17) (Sp) At 3rd level, you can read minds as a spell-like ability. This ability acts like detect thoughts, except it lasts only 1 round, you use it on a single target as a standard action, and if the target fails its Will save, you gain information as
Rakshasa At some point in your family's history, one of your ancestors was tainted by the influence of a rakshasa. Though most of your family seem entirely normal, you have always felt your own skin is a prison from which magic allows you to escape. Your birt
Realistic Likeness Change shape can mimic individuals you've met, gain a +10 bonus to Disguise to impersonate.
Silent metamagic rod (lesser, 3/day) Metamagic rods hold the essence of a metamagic feat, allowing the user to apply metamagic effects to spells (but not spell like abilities) as they are cast. This does not change the spell slot of the altered spell. All the rods described here are use-activated (but casting spells in a threatened area still draws an attack of opportunity). A caster may only use one metamagic rod on any given spell, but it is permissible to combine a rod with metamagic feats possessed by the rod's wielder. In this case, only the feats possessed by the wielder adjust the spell slot of the spell being cast.

Possession of a metamagic rod does not confer the associated feat on the owner, only the ability to use the given feat a specified number of times per day. A sorcerer still must take a full-round action when using a metamagic rod, just as if using a metamagic feat he possesses (except for quicken metamagic rods, which can be used as a swift action).

The wielder can cast up to three spells per day without verbal components as though using the Silent Spell feat. Lesser metamagic rods can be used with spells of 3rd level or lower.

Construction
Requirements: Craft Rod, Silent Spell feat; Cost 1,500 gp
Silver Tongue (8/day) (Su) At 1st level, you can draw upon your outsider heritage to spin amazingly convincing lies. Activating this ability is a swift action. You gain a +5 bonus on one Bluff check made to convince another of the truth of your words (similar to using glibn
Spell Focus (Illusion) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.

The guild is mother, the guild is father. When the guild asks, it is done. The guild is all I’ve ever really known, I barely remember my birth mother. The guild asked for me and she obeyed, I was three years old. Since then it’s as if I’ve been training my entire life, endurance, weapons practice, foreign languages, stealth. My complexion doesn’t help, not many albinos with a shock of crimson hair out there. Master Brinn tells me its a golfing handicap, I have to work harder to walk unnoticed through the crowd. It makes up for my other gifts he says.

It wasn’t until my twelfth summer that I really knew what the guild was about. Everyone knows Master Brinn of course, arguably the best red mantis in town. He would stride like a god, entirely without fear. How I looked up to him from the shadows. Back then I was in one of the feeder guilds, the black dragons, rather than the guild proper. Just because of an auspicious birth I don’t get any favoritism, oh no. If anything it’s harder, I have no excuse for weakness, for failure.

I was just a guild rat like any other, doing a mix of second story work and whatever didn’t end up in a noose. So many of my guild brothers and sisters ended up hanged by the watch. The old ones always made us watch, and cursed us we cried or looked away. They said it was character building and that we had a solemn duty to remember those who got caught and how they failed.

No one had to work, but no one had to get fed either. The guild dues were a gold eagle per week. I must admit I enjoyed the work, the rush of a heist, a petty plan coming together. The camaraderie of the other urchins in the theifmaker’s warren. There was one girl Ele who was like my little sister, she was a fair dip-pocket and painfully thin. I was old enough by that stage to know what the guild bigs wanted from her and did what I could to protect her. This and the fact I was talented, brought me no end of trouble. In particular there was one big called Weasle. Weasle who had it in for me. Weasle who was four years older, twice my size and had half a dozen lieutenants drawn from the more vicious bigs in the black dragons.

Among many other qualities Weasle wasn’t picky who he slept with, boy or girl, just so long as they got hurt and humiliated. I’d protected Ele from him for years, paying her dues when she was sick or had bad luck, but we all knew what was coming. One night after a particularly lucy heist, Weasle was drunk and called for me. I had no choice but to come, and His toughs beat me mercilessly. Through a red film from boated and bloody eyes I helplessly watched Weasle as he called for Ele and told her that I would die unless she let him have his way. Soundlessly she agreed, I still remember her cries of pain.

They left me there, half broken and wanting to die. That night I think perhaps I might, except there was a visitor. Master Brinn. How he sneered at my weakness. ”Let me study with you!”, I begged him, as I marveled with how he walked through the night unafraid, like a shark. ”Boy you do not know what you ask,” he replied with a hint of bitterness. ”I don’t want to be afraid anymore! Not for me nor my my friends,” I begged him. Brinn looked sad as he replied, ”Boy if you follow me, you’ll no longer have friends, you’ll only have contacts.” It was as if he was trying to dissuade me. ”I will do anything!”, I begged. With a sigh, Master Brinn replied, ”Very well. You will kill Weasle yourself, within the week or I will kill you myself. Do not return until he is dead, or you are ready to die.”

My mind was reeling! Me kill Weasle? But how! There was no way I could approach him armed, not with all those bigs around him. For days I was despondent, not knowing what to do. Soon it was dues day and I’d got not a copper bit to my name. I threw myself into the window with a passion. Ele was there and Tommy too. The three of us found a fat miller’s house to burgle. The miller was out with his mistress and we made off with three eagles and half a dozen buns. They were still warm and tasted like a slice of heaven. We meandered back to the safe house safe in the knowledge that we were fed and had our dues, but disaster struck!

With lazy malevolence Weasle told us the dues had gone up, it was now one eagle and three bits per week. I had enough to pay but Ele was short for the second week week running. I gave everything I had to her, and bowed my head when my name was called. Weasle laughed and said “Kage, I always knew liked a bit of pain. You’re mine now.” Everyone knew what that meant. Weasel's toughs searched me from head to toe as he laughed, satisfied they nodded at Weasle who dismissed them saying ”You can go now. I will be some time...” Ele looked at me with big eyes and flung herself at me weeping. Weasle batted her away cruelly but not before she’d palmed something into my hand.

I followed Weasle to his stinking room and did what was required. I’d like to claim I didn’t cry out but that wasn’t true and Weasle was well pleased. Just like my mother had with my father, I knew there would be a moment of weakness, when Weasle was glorying in his power. I struck him with the small knife that Ele gave me and he yelped, I struck again,and again. Weasle battered me aside and I groggily rose to strike him one more. I think he would have killed me, for despite the wounds I was greatly out matched, but the blood loss crept up on him and although he had me straddled and was strangling me, he passed out before I did. I don’t recall how long I lay there with my tormentor dead above me, but eventually I wormed my way out.

When I looked up Master Brinn was there who said simply, ”Follow me.” Form there on in my life changed. Training with Master Brinn was brutal, and I was often left bruised and battered. And then made to study languages and courtly etiquette, and formal logic. Brinn was a genius with the dagger, the sword, the garotte, the short bow, the long bow, with poisons and with languages. I guess some of that rubbed off on me, for after three with Brinn he declared that I wasn’t entirely hopeless. Soon after I asked him, ”Master, when will I become an assassin?” Master Brinn Sneered, “Assassins have targets, we have corpses. Assassins sometimes miss, we don’t.” It was a formative moment, for the difference between an assassin and us is the talent. It’s what the guild looks for and nurtures, it’s what I and my guild brothers and sisters have.

Is what we do evil? Yes undoubtedly. But you must remember, for us life is meaningless. When we kill, nothing of value is lost. It’s true we sometimes slay innocents, but for everyone of those, we make hundreds or even thousands of corpses from those who truly deserve it. After all few people can afford to waste our fees on just anyone...

I didn’t see the patterns at first, but over time I’ve come to truly believe that what we do is necessary. Does the life of one out weight the needs of a nation? We are like gardeners, a nip here a tuck there, a war averted, a pogrom not issued.

When we take on a contract, we must know our corpse better than they know themselves. Every contract is different and every death unique. For some contracts the lightest of touches is required, the right whispers and toxins to convince our corpse that yes they do want to jump off the bridge. Others require a more direct approach... Yet we are not needlessly cruel, we work and train so hard that we may do it right. No chance of missing, no botched executions, no witnesses, just the single corpse as ordered with no collateral damage. Above all we pride precision, in a job well done.

Str: 10, Dex: 18, Con: 12, Int: 10, Wis: 12, Cha: 17
Swashbuckler (Mouser) 4
Traits: Ilizmagorti Native, TBC
Skills: Stealth, Acrobatics, TBC
Feats: Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Fencing Grace
Gear: Rapier +1, MW Chain Shirt, Buckler +1, TBC

Standing average height and of a slight build, the halfling doesn't immediately draw your attention. Mousled brown hair sits like an unkempt mop atop a thin clean shaven face with narrowed brown eyes. There is but a single feature to him that both diminishes and enhances the effect... a duelling scar that arcs across his left cheek and back to his ear. The scar draws the left corner of his mouth slightly higher twisting his mouth into a permanent half-smirk.

He wears loose fitting pantaloons and an open silk shirt that clearly shows the linked chain shirt that protects his chest. At his right hip is a thin blade with basket hilt, and his bearing suggests that he knows full well how to use it.

Tobar maintains a relatively sardonic air to all and sundry whether they be fleeting acquaintances or close friends. There is little bias to his mocking, as near all subjects are at risk of his whim. That said it takes ardour and effort to rouse his anger... though when cause is given he pursues vengeance with singular purpose.

The one topic that draws his attention entire without skeptical bent is application to the tasks put before him by Red Mantis superiors. Tobar does not share the fanatical deification of Achaekek (though he does pay a homage) and instead views the art as his life's calling.

Tobar Pannell was born to Chelish slaves aboard a galleon at sea, and served his youth afloat. Though his life truly began when the Chelish vessel was chased into the shallows of Mosquito island off the shores of Mediogalti. The galleon scuppered it was easily boarded by a Mantis manned skiff and the most of the crew slaughtered. Tobar, though still a boy, took up a blade and resisted... and something was seen in him, as the Mantis before him turned his blade and laid him out with the flat.

Dumped in the outskirts of Ilizmagorti, Tobar was left to fend for himself and prove that he had not just heart... but a will to survive. An existence was eked out at first, before the halfling turned to the blade as well as the shadowed step - and began to find succor more easily. Always Red eyes were watching, as Tobar grew into adulthood and carved out a niche in the piratical city.

Enough potential seen by the watching eyes, Tobar was eventually given a final test - and surreptitiously given a task at theft... that put him squarely before a Red Mantis assassin. Given the option of flight or death, Tobar stubbornly stayed - and though he pushed the assassin for a few minutes, he was disarmed and earned the dueling scar that marks his cheek. An ultimatum of join or die was given, and Tobar accepted.

Since then he has been trained and incorporated into the lower echelons of Achaekek's cult - put to learn with blade and word... and now ready to be unleashed unto the world to spill blood for profit.

The assassin that admitted and initially trained him is left open to either be incorporated into the narrative - or swept to one side and left as a pure backstory character.