Hot DM's Song of Silver (Inactive)

Game Master Hotaru of the Society

While aquatic elves tend to be more level-headed, and even more patient, than their land cousins, Jaquerai was as rebellious as they come, often straying from his lessons, putting little effort into the study of magic or hunting, preferring sports, exploration, and racing with dolphins.

And decades came and went, and like many sea elves, he gradually drifted away from his family and city. For a time, Jaquerai traveled the coast with the Razorharp Clan, a traveling family of merfolk bards, learning to read the mood motion of waves, hunt alongside humpback whales, and leap clean over the smaller ships that plied the profitable shipping lanes between Devil’s Perch and the Steaming Sea. But for all his enthusiasm, the elf lacked the patience of a skilled hunter, and the better sea-adapted folk he traveled with grew weary of his sluggish swimming, and so, not wishing to continue being a burden, he found his way to shallower waters, never returning since.

Yolubilis River
The salt-works of Old Kintargo were what first drew him to the city. Other sea elves—scavengers and hermits—had mentioned it in passing. Salt was a strange delicacy to a creature of the sea, but broken crates scattered across rocks at low tide provided a… unique experience, but only as a garnish. Spoiled food and surplus fishing hauls—unsold workman’s lunches, pots of day-old stew, and unwanted by-catch squid and jellyfish were regularly dumped into the ocean by the gallon, and with a bit of timing and luck, Jaquerai found himself living quite richly on a diet of raw seafood and strange human cuisine.

But things got more interesting further up the river. Yolubilis Harbor handled mostly boring export cargo, but Bleakbridge and Redroof were a fascination. From his swims up and down the river, Jaquerai saw everything from massive barges to potion shops to markets selling the sort of fancy clothing that would never be practical underwater. At night he slept in the bones of shipwrecks, collecting skulls from the bodies of drowned sailors and skimming coins from the mud of the river; but during the day, he played in the river.

And, as he got bolder, Jaquerai began to draw attention for his escapades. Always the daredevil, leaping out of the water to vault over pole-barges or perform splashing backflips, he would occasionally experience the curious phenomenon of applause. After a few months of experience with audiences, he reached the point where idling sailors or riverside spectators would toss him their loose change, calling out blessings to Shelyn and asking for tricks by name. And so the elf realized: what had once gotten him into trouble was, to the land-folk, an employable talent. All he had to do was step onto the shore, and, save for a few small gills, he could be one of them.

Riverbanks of Redroof
In the slums and boarding houses of Redroof, Jaquerai was just another poor immigrant, hoping to make a name for himself as a performer in the streets of Kintargo. Like so many of the city’s would-be celebrities, he had dreams and plans and a name and act. “Flying Jack Seagull” was an up-and-coming street acrobat, and while he lacked an indoor trapeze or fancy tent, he made a name for himself through his unique talent: water acrobatics. Leaping from the sea, Jack could clear a line of seated spectators, landing on the ground behind them with a muddy splash; occasionally he’d borrow cooper’s rings, tossing the large metal circles into the air or spinning them on the surface of the river while jumping through them.

“Flying Jack” was not well-socialized, compared to the gossipy citizens of Kintargo, but his foreign accent lent him a sort of air of confidence and mystery, and he learned quickly to work this into charm on an audience, earning enough with his shows to pay a modest rent and occasionally even eat meals not found floating in the river. But he found other work, too. With its single crowded bridge and frequent gate taxes, Kintargo had a use for anyone who could cross the river quickly, and Jack Seagull found work as a courier of small packages and letters. As many of his customers were fellow Redroof immigrants, he often performed such services for free or a single copper, earning him a small amount of local recognition and goodwill.

House of Imperfection
Flying Jack, despite decades of experience as a free-swimming elf in the oceans and rivers, was still young and unlearned when he came to live in Kintargo. Despite his feats of aquatic acrobatics, he frequently found himself at a loss on land, preferring instead to perform on the river banks or the small lakes of Aria Park, startling the occasional trawler or flock of ducks. And so he sought the aid and expertise of the city’s finer street celebrities and, eventually, found a mentor.

Master Koshi, the Wind-Juggler, was an old Tengu monk with a storied history. In his youth, or so he claimed, he had trained for a decade in the Monastery of Unfolding Wind at the fabled Houses of Perfection on the Isle of Jalmeray. Through focus and study, Koshi had learned impossible feats of agility and celerity, able to play games of catch with the wind itself. But while the old crow was disciplined *for a Kintargan*, Tengu age as quickly as humans, and he had chafed at the prospect of living his whole life of structure and solitude in Jalmeray. And so he had set off for a life of travel, sailing, and adventure, eventually settling in Kintargo in his old age.

At the edge of the Devil’s Nursery, in the shadow of the city walls, Master Koshi had turned an old tavern into the “House of Imperfection,” halfway between an orphanage and a monastery. For a decade, the man had taken skilled pickpockets and tieflings off the streets, teaching the best of them juggling and acrobatics, in the style of the monks of Jalmeray. Flying Jack, when he finally met the man, was far too old and a bit too well-off to join Master Koshi’s Wind-Jugglers; but the old juggler, impressed with Flying Jack’s enthusiasm, agreed to teach him juggling in exchange for helping out around the house.

For the past year, Jack has helped keep the House of Imperfection up-and-coming, finding food, running errands, and guarding against Redroof’s burglars when the Master and his retinue of child-acrobats and jugglers would hit the streets of Kintargo to perform. Master Koshi also welcomed, to some extent, having another adult around the house—though Jack considered him a far older man with a far richer life, Koshi was only half his age, considered the elf a good role model for his younger apprentices, the oldest of whom had already left to join traveling acrobatic troupes or become company dancers at the opera house. And in exchange, Flying Jack has learned passable skill at juggling, as well as a set of Jalmeri exercises and mantras that the Master claims will last him his whole life if he keeps practicing them—not the full training of a Monk of the Unfolding Wind, but enough to pull off at least a few of their aerial tricks. He’s learned a bit about fighting as well, though not by intention, as the old monk’s appreciated having a sparring partner his own height who won’t get into any trouble just by knowing martial arts.

Night of Ashes
In the past week, a dozen buildings across Kintargo have mysteriously burned to the ground. Some have been notable estates and businesses; others have been less notable. Jack, returning with three of his fellow students from an evening trip to the market, found the House of Imperfection in flames. There were no bodies among the ashes, but Master Koshi and his other two students (tiefling twins Jaffy and Osmun Cabbage) have missing for a week. There are rumors, to be sure—Koshi, as a man of unusual talents and frequent dissents, was known to frequent drinking halls filled with rebels and foreigners alike, and may simply have gone underground with some resistance movement—but Jack has come to suspect, like so many of his fellow citizens, that something bad has happened at the hands of the Dottari.

The story is the same all over Redroof. With the house disbanded, Jack Seagull has spent more time among the other street performers of Kintargo’s slums, and heard tales of over a dozen disappearances. The heart of the Devil’s Nursery, Strea Vestori herself (one of the most magnanimous tricksters he’s ever met) is likewise missing; along with a few other high-profile disappearances, someone may well be trying to remove Kintargo’s neighborhood leaders. And things seem to only be getting worse.

While it’s been years since he wore the traditional seaweed of his people, Jack is still heavily influenced by their beliefs that clothing should be simple and practical. His simple outfit conceals the inner-sewn pockets in which he often carries hidden tricks, props, and weapons; a functional bandolier brings additional storage space to his outfit, and his juggler’s bag is well-made and rugged, capable of hauling thirty pounds of throwing implements. A thick metal bangle on his right wrist conceals a small, watertight pocket, used to carry and conceal small messages or coins. Often, he carries a cheap throwing trident as well, though this is mostly for show, playing off of his aquatic heritage—he bought the thing off a fisherman a few months back, a cheap imitation of the crafts of his birthplace.

Careful in the rising paranoia that is Kintargo’s religious scene, Jack Seagull carries no religious symbols and attends no houses of worship. Among his fellow performers, Shelyn is quite popular, and perhaps it is mostly to her that he prays when he feels the need, though he’s unregistered as a Sheylnite. But so far, he’s rarely felt the need, and it’s become quite apparent that if this city boils over, it won’t be at the side of some god like the Glorious Revolution now sweeping other parts of Cheliax.

All in all, Jack is a man of simple routines and beliefs, and rarely talks politics with others, as he still considers himself a foreigner. If he had no ties to Kintargo, he’d see no reason to stay in the city after Barzillai Thrune’s arrival; but now that something personal is at stake, he’d like to help where he can. While he’s a dab hand with a throwing knife or a chakram, he’s never seriously injured someone else, and never tried. But his blood’s running hot these days, and some part of him itches for a fight, even if deep down he’d rather hide behind his throwing shield than toss it at someone’s head. He’s generally got little interest in the city or its mayor’s laws—and, with the ability to escape into the city’s rivers, he’s got less reason to follow them. But he would like to see a bit of justice and a spark of fun without fear return to Kintargo, and hopefully soon, before he things get so bad that he gives up, packs up his tools, and swims to Magnimar or some other city on the Varisian coast where an acrobat might find a job.

A killer routine
Someone’s been disappearing artists and orphans from the slums of Redroof. Jack isn’t worried for his own safety—if the city ever falls to pieces, he’ll simply slip away into the river and disappear—but things are certainly getting more dangerous, and he’s begun acquiring a few odd “juggling” weapons to incorporate into his act. While once, Flying Jack would toss harmless rings and wooden axes, he now carries a few sharpened rings and real axes with them as well, though so far he hasn’t needed to employ any in self-defense.

His act, itself, varies by location. On the riverbank, he’ll do mostly aquatic tricks, focusing on dives flips, and elegant leaps out of the water. His juggling is all-the-more impressive at the water’s edge, as he’s learned to conceal his hands behind the waves that he kicks up, seemingly throwing and catching objects through the action of the waves themselves. On land, he’s much more traditional, tossing torches, rings, balls, and daggers, though he’ll occasionally do so while dangling from a tree or standing neck-deep in one of Kintargo’s many urban ponds, taking care not to extinguish his torches.

But Jack Seagull has a few peculiar hobbies as well. Never one to worry about social etiquette, he frequently dredges the Yolubilis river, turning up coins, trinkets, and the occasional corpse. And while he does what he can to treat such finds with decorum, he once found a small wreck filled with bleached skeletons just outside the city’s borders, and took a few souvenirs—very rarely, on a dark night, he’ll sit on the rocks near the river and practice juggling skulls, remarking to himself on how absurd and baffling his undersea brothers would find his current life.

Juggling in the darkness
In a way, Jack’s been a bit of a rebel ever since he got to Kintargo, in the small ways he lived outside the city’s laws, helping others avoid taxes and constraints. But since the arrival of Barzillai Thrune, such actions have gotten a bit more direct. With the new taxes on Bleakbridge, Jack Seagull has spent much of his time ferrying messages and cargo across the river for free, aiding those less-fortunate residents of the Devil’s Nursery who would otherwise be unable to continue their lives and business.

And he’s tossed around some other ideas as well. With a climbing kit, a grappling hook to throw, and the right spot to jump from, he could probably make it onto the roof of Castle Kintargo. And with a few small knives and Master Koshi’s old iron brush hidden in his pockets, he’s begun to get some dangerous ideas. Someone, somewhere, has to stop what’s happening. But long-term planning is not Jack’s strong suit, and a lifetime spent playing in the sun has cost him the keen eyesight and night-friendliness of typical elves.

Recently, he’s heard something about a certain revolutionary, one whose movement Master Koshi mentioned more than once. And so he’s on his way to Aria Park—an area he already knows quite well, along with many of its performers—to try and find out just what’s going on behind the scenes, and whether he and his unique talents should be involved.

* Mother from Kintargo, Father from Qadira
* Grew up in Katheer
* Rich young noble woman
* Newly Orphaned
* Finds out about mother's tragic history in Kintargo. Curious to find out more
* Charismatic, adventurous and adaptable. Has made Kintargo a new home easily.
* Devotee of Sarenrae. The Silver Star and Shensen made her feel right at home in Kintargo.
* Pissed off the Silver Star got burned down during the Night of Ashes.

Step 2: List two goals for the character that you, as a player, think would be cool to see accomplished in-game.

* Find out what happened to Shensen
* Get Kintargo back to the way it was but maybe with even more freedom so Sarenites don't have to hide their faith.
* Find out more about the mother's side of her family (a minor noble family that got wiped out by Thrune)

Step 3: List two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises!

* A secret she knows is who her mother was, she hasn't told anyone about that.
* Honestly I'd prefer to just play the character and not make up elements that she wouldn't know at the start of the story so no secret that she doesn't know if you don't mind :)

Step 4: Describe three people that are tied to the character though blood, romance or honor. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. All can do something useful for you, if you can get the situations to line up. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.

* A little leery of expanding this section heavily as well but she would have someone who helped her get settled in, basically a concierge that helped her find a place to live and introduced her to the city. Was paid for the help of course but Melissa is generous and charming so a new friend.

* An NPC from the Silver Star who introduced her to the Sarenrae temple would be great to be an ally.

* A hostile person would be a dancer at one of the dance halls that Melissa frequents who is jealous of Melissa's grace and exotic looks and training.

Step 5: Describe three memories that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.

* Swinging and skipping while holding both her parent's hands as they walk through a Kelish park.
* Going through her mom's things after she died.
* Going down to the temple in the basement of the Silver Star the first time.