Backstory: Alicia grew up in a poor household of farmers who barely eked out an existence. Seeing her parents grovel and kiss the boots of those higher up in the hierarchy left a bitter taste in her mouth, as did their insistence that she join them in doing so as she grew older. Although she understood the value of a hierarchy, she hated being at the bottom of it. Her freakish physical power manifested itself at the onset of puberty, and her parents left her to her own devices after that as she often threw violent fits if she was admonished. Frustration was her nearly constant companion through her early teens, yearning for something more but always stuck working, doing chores, or cow-towing to the mighty. At 16, she left her parents' home, never to return.
She had found a young half-elven man, a soldier, and he had wooed her with his interest (the local boys, despite her decent looks, were all scared of her size and eyes), his tales of glory, his exotic looks, and his talk of the spoils of war. They traveled together for months, joining with this cause or that, sharing in the plunders of war and sharing each other in the evenings. Their romance ended abruptly as she found him in the bed of another one day when he was supposed to be procuring their new contract. In a fit of jealous rage, she slew them both where they lay, leaving her dagger buried in the man's belly as she left.
The next few years were a blur, as she went from job to job, selling her sword to whoever was paying, not caring about the task at hand. After a few flings that amounted to nothing but sated lust, she finally found another love, Eric. Eric was handsome and charming, not only a soldier, but a socialite. They fought and killed together during the day, and flitted about with people much higher in the hierarchy than they at night. Alicia was intoxicated with it all, and so when Eric brought to her the plans to kill Lord Hoyt, she was all too eager, both for the small fortune it promised them and to bring one of the High and Mighty low.
She was to sneak over the wall as Eric and some others staged a diversion. From there it was a quick sprint to the estate and a bottom floor window. She was to enter, ensure the man breathed no more, then exit. Not more than a minute, if timed correctly. When the time came, Eric and the others gathered at the gates as expected, and Alicia slipped around to the side, counting to fifty as they had rehearsed. Unbeknownst to her, the guards had proven less pliable than Eric and his cronies had imagined. After no more than thirty seconds the conspirators fled, no one going to warn Alicia in their haste to make their escape.
Alicia hopped the wall and sprinted to the house, quickly forcing the window open with dagger in hand. She was advancing to the Lord's room when she was intercepted by the man's now-alert guards. After a brief struggle she was captured. She is being sent to Branderscar to lose her head, and she spits bile each time she thinks of Eric and his treachery.
