Silent, the boy's page

The young man keeps his head cleanly shaved, and most of his body is covered with intricately detailed tattoos. While his face remains clear, his scalp, neck, and every other surface you can see are carved with strange, swirling patterns interspersed with animals - both natural and fantastical - who battle across his sun-tanned skin. The only thing that breaks up the tattoos is the immense scarring. Everywhere you look on his exposed skin are scars. Some small and circular in small patterns. Some long and deep, as if from a drawn blade. And some on his back are obviously whips or flails. And under his chin you can see what looks like the permanent marks of rope around his neck. His nose is crooked from multiple breakings, his face carries multiple white scars, one particularly big one running across his forehead and down over his right eye towards his ear.

He stands casually, but with an air of readiness. And across his broad back is strapped a strange curved single-edged blade. His clothes are simple, loose, and serviceable. A backpack sits next to his feet, with a small black-board peeking out of the corner.

While he is attentive and generally respectful to others when they address him, you've never heard him utter a word in return. You've only seen him smile the few times you've seen him play with some of the local children, and when he does, he shows a surprising amount of abandon from his usual stoic self. Other than that, you rarely see anything but a haunted look in his youthful gold eyes…. which again drift towards the west.

They are coming

He was carried into town and given care. Over time he healed physically, though it was obvious the young man - who was younger than initially thought - had emotional scarring. He woke screaming many nights, was slow to trust anyone, had obvious signs of abuse or torture, and never spoke a word. He was given a black slate and some chalk, and his story began to come out.

His earliest memories were of some sort of closed community far to the west. The people were simple, relying on each other for survival and companionship. Everyone pitched in, working the fields when the time was right, helping with hunts, learning to nurture and defend each other. And while the young man knew he wasn't born in the community, he and his parents had been welcomed despite his parents' obviously savage heritage. As this was the only home he had really known, the young man didn't realize how unique this community was. They were completely self-reliant, and furthermore believed that every path a person was offered could lead to personal perfection; it was just a matter of training oneself to recognize the opportunities and find growth therein. While the young man struggled with some of the concepts, he excelled at the physical training. When the elders taught combat - and this was not uncommon - he listened.. and learned. It was a simple life, but a fulfilling one.

Then they came. Mormont's men.

And they brought war. Well, slaughter, really. The isolated community had little time to prepare; the killers came fast and without warning. The young man, along with his family and friends, fought as best they could, but it was a fast thing… and brutal. He saw his mother die. His father. His friends, elders, and siblings. And who the killers didn't murder they took for darker ends. The young man was a play-thing for the killers. He wrote to his interviewers of pain, torture, and darker things, his scars giving silent testament to his written words.

The young man proved resilient, however, and in days was out of the bed. While he remained reserved emotionally, he became a fixture in the town, volunteering to join the watch as soon as they allowed it. Despite his age, he was accepted. Not knowing what else to call him, the locals just dubbed the young man Silent.

He didn't even pull his first pay-check before they came.

The young man, ever vigilant and ever read, was one of the first to the walls. But when the walls broke before Mormont's killers, the young man - ever the survivor - turned and ran. Not out of fear, but out of necessity.

If he's dead, how can he fulfill that which fuels him?

If I'm dead, how can I kill Mormont?

Steeling his mind and gripping his strange blade, he prepared for the fight.

The fight itself is a chaotic, shapeless thing in the young man's mind. He remember screams, crashes, horns… the same sounds he remembers from a few months back. One thing that is clear, however, is that one moment.

He had fallen back with the rest of the militia when the signal came. The walls were lost. Fight house to house to protect the citizens. The young man's black eyes took in the fighting men around him, the invaders, and the innocents. It was hopeless. All of these people would die. In that moment, when the defenses of the town and the light of the day failed simultaneously, the young man knew it was either stand and die uselessly…. or flee to fight another day. To him it wasn't even a hard decision. His heart had been destroyed months ago. As much as it should have hurt him to know the children he'd played with would die this night, he would live to bring justice to the monster Mormont. The cries of men, women, and children - fading into the night behind the young man - only reinforced his decision. He would be as hard as he had to be. Even this was an opportunity to learn. To learn to be stronger. To learn to be harder. To learn to be more deadly, so when the time came, he would be the perfect weapon delivered directly to the heart of the man who'd taken so much from so many.

So Silent - quiet as his new namesake - padded under cover of night east out of the city. More than once he saw someone in need. Someone injured. Someone innocent. And more than once he turned away, knowing that person is just another way to die before he could complete his mission.

Taking whatever gear and provisions he could from those fallen in combat or houses abandoned, Silent slipped away from the town, hugging the water-line. It was perfect, really. The fires of the dying city blinded the attackers. The wails of the dying towns-folk distracted their ears. And the availability of so many innocents to torture slaked the killers' desire to pursue.

One last time Silent looked back. The flames of the city burning into his memory. Redoubling the fury in his heart, and sharpening the steel rock that was his broken heart.

Your death comes, Mormont. It will be fast. And it will be silent.

Natural Lycanthrope (Wolf) - gains the shapechanger subtype.
AC: (+4 Natural armor) In hybrid or animal form the lycanthrope has the natural armor bonus of the base animal increased by +2.
Defensive Abilities: (DR 1/Silver) A natural lycanthrope gains DR / silver in animal or hybrid form. The amount of DR is equal to 1/2 the character level.
Melee: A lycanthrope gains natural attacks in animal and hybrid forms according to the base animal.
Special Attacks: (Trip) A lycanthrope retains all the special attacks, qualities, and abilities of the base creature. In hybrid or animal form it gains the special attacks, qualities, and abilities of the base animal. A lycanthrope also gains low-light vision, scent, and the following:
Change Shape (Su) All lycanthropes have three forms—a humanoid form, an animal form, and a hybrid form. Equipment does not meld with the new form between humanoid and hybrid form, but does between those forms and animal form. A natural lycanthrope can shift to any of its three alternate forms as a move-equivalent action. A slain lycanthrope reverts to its humanoid form, although it remains dead. For additional rules on this supernatural ability, see page 298 (Bestiary).
Curse of Lycanthropy (Su) A natural lycanthrope’s bite attack in animal or hybrid form infects a humanoid target with lycanthropy (Fortitude DC 15 negates). If the victim’s size is not within one size category of the lycanthrope, this ability has no effect.
Lycanthropic Empathy (Ex) In any form, natural lycanthropes can communicate and empathize with animals related to their animal form. They can use Diplomacy to alter such an animal’s attitude, and when so doing gain a +4 racial bonus on the check. Afflicted lycanthropes only gain this ability in animal or hybrid form.
Ability Scores: +2 Wis, –2 Cha in all forms; +2 Str, +2 Con in hybrid and animal forms. Lycanthropes have enhanced senses but are not fully in control of their emotions and animalistic urges. In addition to these adjustments to the base creature’s stats, a lycanthrope’s ability scores change when he assumes hybrid or animal form. In human form, the lycanthrope’s ability scores are unchanged from the base creature’s form. In animal and hybrid form, the lycanthrope’s ability scores are the same as the base creature’s or the base animal’s, whichever ability score is higher.
Bonus Feat: Improved Grapple (1)
Flurry of Blows (-1/-1)
Stunning Fist: 2/day; DC 15 fort save
Unarmed Strike: 1d6
Vow of Silence: +1 ki per six levels (min. +1)
Evasion

Benefits: You gain a +5 to all checks made to see things like traps and ambushes and even to see how someone may respond to something you or someone else says or does. This will also enable you to use Augery as a spell-like ability for a number of times a day equal to your wisdom modifier (To a minimum of +1).

Cons of Premonitions: On occasion (Depending on the current happenings,) you will receive a dream revealing a clue you can attempt to use to understand your situation or get ideas. These premonitions have the drawback of leaving you fatigued or even exhausted, even if you are normally immune to these conditions. They rack your mind with foreign power and you have no control over when you have them. They are not always useful.

Str 21 Con 17
.
HP: 24
.
AC: 20 • FF 18 • Touch 16
CMD: 22 (24 vs. grapple)
.
Fort: +6 = 3 + 3 con
Reflex: +5 = 3 + 2 dex
Will: +7 = 3 + 4 wis
.
CMB: +6 (Grapple +8)
.
Temple Sword +7 (1d8 + 5; 19/x2)
--> Flurry +6/+6
--> 2-handed +7 (1d8 + 7)
.
Unarmed +6 (1d6 + 5; x2)
--> Flurry +5/+5
.
Bite +6 (1d6 + 7; x2; plus trip & Curse of Lycanthropy)

Str 21 Con 17
.
HP: 24
Speed: 50
.
AC: 20 • FF 18 • Touch 16
CMD: 22 (24 vs. Grapple; 26 vs. trip)
.
Fort: +6 = 3 + 3 con
Reflex: +5 = 3 + 2 dex
Will: +7 = 3 + 4 wis
.
CMB: +6 (Grapple +8)
.
Bite +6 (1d6 + 7; x2; plus trip & Curse of Lycanthropy)
.
Skills
+14 Acro to Jump

str 19 (+4) 13 (+2 racial)
dex 14 (+2) 5
con 12 (+1) 2
int 10 ( -- ) 0
wis 18 (+3) 10 (+2 lycan)
cha 8 (-1) 0 (-2 lycan)

Mormont will die… along with any of his heartless thugs Silent can manage to kill.

At some point, there will be an emphasis on poisons… especially the Poison Quiggong Monk ability. :)