Ashling's page

About Ashling

Some 15 years ago, merchants travelling to Korvosa came upon a strange sight. A small Halfling child with ash grey skin, shaggy black hair, stunning blue eyes, and tribal tattoos stumbling along the road. She was in shock, covered in dried blood, dehydrated, and starving. The merchants took the little girl along with them, hoping to get her help once they arrived at Korvosa. The girl had no memory of where she came from, though from her tattoos the merchants that rescued her surmised that she had to have been part of a barbarian tribe somewhere in the Cinderlands. Her rescuers named her Ash because of her strange gray skin.

She was given over to one of the many orphanages in Korvosa after she had been nursed back to health, but despite the fact that she couldn't remember anything of her life before that fateful moment along the road, her barbarian mannerisms were clearly ingrained into her personality. She was quick to anger, quick to react, had a problem with authority and generally refused to be subdued by the orphanage matron's rules. So the matron eagerly accepted the proposal made to her by the magistrate Gaedren Lamm offering her a sizeable loan in exchange for the wilful brat.

After being "recruited" as one of Gaedren's `Little Lamms', Ash found herself thrust into a world of petty crime and debauchery. She was forced to steal, lie, cheat, and once she was a little older, debase herself in ways that left her a sobbing heap on the pile of rags she called home most nights. Each wilful act of defiance was met with violence. She was no stranger to broken ribs, cracked wrists and horrible bruises. It was at her lowest point that she met a man who would change her life and outlook forever.

Ash had been tasked with whoring herself to a disgusting nobleman who enjoyed whipping his women into submission. By this point in her life, her wilful spirit and fire had been all but extinguished. In one final act of defiance she screamed as the nobleman came for her, raked her nails across his face, and kicked out, connecting with his sensitive manhood. She almost escaped, but the enraged nobleman dragged her back, wrapped his meaty hands around her tiny throat and had every intention of simply raping her on the spot while he choked the life out of her. She clenched her eyes tight sensing the end, but satisfied that if she was going to die she at least went down fighting.

There was a loud crack, and the nobleman's body went rigid, and then limp as he fell to the side of her, dead. Looking to her rescuer she found he was none other than Blackjack himself, the masked hero of the downtrodden and oppressed. He made certain that she was uninjured and then tipped his hat to her and disappeared. Ash made her escape from Gaedren that very night, bolstered by newfound courage and strength of will thanks to Blackjack. She realized she didn't have to be a victim. That the only thing that kept her as a slave was fear. She vowed never again to be the puppet of another man, and that Gaedren would pay no matter what she had to sacrifice to make him do so.

She lives now, a young Halfling woman of the streets, doing what she has to do to survive, and biding her time until she can get her chance at ending the life of her former task master.