Coyote's page

When Tason refused to pay a local thieves’ guild, The Shadowstalkers, what they felt was their due, they sent some thugs to make him see the error of his ways. When they threatened Maisa and the young Jaden, Tason decided to do a little reeducation of his own. He fell to a lucky slash to his ribs, and Maisa fought valiantly to protect the whole family. A few short minutes later, Jaden was an orphan.

When the cleaning crew came to loot the store and remove the bodies, the captain, a half-elf named Ophidian took pity on Jaden and brought him home to replace the son she had lost a year earlier. It took nearly eight months, but Jaden’s memories of his dead family faded and he considered the guild his home.

An extremely agile and intelligent child, Jaden quickly graduated from begging to pickpocketing and was given his name, Coyote, at age 9. As a full-fledged, if junior, member of the guild, he was given increased responsibilities including charge of a begging crew, thanks in part to his adoptive mother, Ophidian. His father’s legacy, however, proved difficult to overcome and Coyote gained an influential enemy who resented his quick rise through the guild. And so Coyote was given his last job in the Shadowstalkers.

During the Midsummer Festival, he was to break into the home of a rich and lazy merchant to survey the place and make off with anything expensive and easily portable. The quality of the lock on the back door should have been his first clue, but Coyote was determined to live up to the faith he was being shown by the guild. Working a first-story window open, he slipped silently inside and began his survey of the house. Skipping over the obviously overwrought and gaudy, he selected several tasteful sculptures and a small bag of expertly cut gems. Moving on to the study and what he felt would be the big score, disaster struck.

Failing to find the trap on the door, Coyote was surprised to find himself plunging over a story into a dirty metal cage, twisting his ankle in the process. Surveying his surroundings, a small, dusty, otherwise empty stone room, he figured he had reached the end of his short life. It was two delirious days later when the merchant came home to find his trap sprung.

Walking into the room with more poise and cunning than any merchant should possess, he looked Coyote over warily. “You seem too scruffy to be a halfling, though you do have a good eye for an item’s worth. What is your name, boy?”
“Coyote,” he said sullenly.
“Hmm. Another Shadowstalker on a suicide mission. You must have really pissed someone off.”
When Coyote merely frowned noncommittally, the man continued, “Since you avoided dying, you are obviously either lucky or skilled. Either way, you could be a valuable asset, so I’ll give you a choice: join the Whisperwalkers or the others your guild has sent against me.”
He raised his hand as Coyote opened his mouth, “No, no need to answer now. Take some time and think about it. Meanwhile, I’ll trade you,” and he tossed a full waterskin in the cage as he took back the sack of loot.

It only took half a day for Coyote to carefully weigh his options, such as they were. He had been sent to die by the only family he had ever known and was being given a second chance by a man that looked like he could easily defeat the most skilled guildsman Coyote had met. He chose life, though he would later come to question this decision.

His life with the Whisperwalkers was the antithesis of his previous existence. Where the Shadowstalkers had ruled by fear and punishment, his new guild guided and educated. Coyote was taught to read and speak Common as well as Elven. He learned to use his intellect to find and remove traps, to puzzle the meaning out of strange writing, and to forge a wide variety of documents. He also learned to sneak and detect hidden sentries. Some say he even gained a touch of paranoia, though he would call it prudence.

It was during his tenth year with the Whisperwalkers that he was teamed up with the woman that would become the love of his life. Kyerie (Keer-ee) was a human rogue with raven black hair and ice blue eyes who was trained to complement Coyote’s skills. Where he was intellectual, she was charismatic. Where he manipulated words and documents, she manipulated people and institutions. Together, they made a formidable pair, specializing in extortion and blackmail, whose crime sprees baffled all explanation or prevention. They grew closer by month, until each forgot what life was like before they had met. Unfortunately, Coyote’s luck would not be denied this sweetest of prizes.

During what should have been another routine job, the pair was ambushed by a quartet of assassins. It took all their abilities to fight them off, but in the end Kyerie fell to their poisoned bolts. Fleeing the city watch with her over his shoulder, Coyote ran to a safe house and tended her wounds. Despite his best efforts, she died in his arms, telling him that it would all be okay if she could just sleep a while.

After the funeral, Coyote was approached by a beautiful half-elf who introduced herself as Ophidian, his one-time mother. She warned him that a powerful person in the Shadowstalkers had set his heart on seeing Coyote dead. She could not reveal the name, only that he was beyond reach and Coyote had best flee the city. She melded into the shadows, leaving Coyote’s mind and heart reeling.

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Jaden "Coyote" Cyrathas stands five and three-quarters feet tall and weighs in at 175 pounds. He has dirty blonde hair that he keeps tied back in numerous braids, a style that Kyerie was fond of. His dark brown eyes are almost preternaturally intelligent and seem to take in everything with a mere glance. His stance and bearing change depending on the effect he wants to achieve, though it normally puts off the air of casual competence and friendliness. His clothing is well cared for and of no particular style, and he easily blends in to nearly any crowd.
He still has not recovered from Kyerie’s death and is slightly withdrawn and contemplative, which sometimes comes off as standoffishness. He prefers manipulation to confrontation, though he does not shy away from defending himself or innocents in harms way. Inside, he is hanging on just long enough to see the man who ordered the death of his beloved punished. After that, his plan gets hazy.