Crowl "Smiles" Strathmill's page

Crowle "Smiles" Strathmill was born in Crow's Foot, the son of working girl and a member of the Crows while Madrin was still in charge of it. Dark-haired, handsome, if a bit dirty and wordy, Crowle was raised amongst the Crows all his life. The life of the scoundrel was the life he was most accustomed to and when he was sixteen years old, he joined the Crows as an official member. It was the proudest he had ever seen his father been.

Life had always been up and down for Crowle but unlike his father, who just accepted things as they were and worked to make them better, Crowle wanted to learn why things were the way they were. He wanted to see how a favor owed could damn a gang to die while another word might be able to save them. He studied carefully, learned what he could, and began to follow the trade of the Spiders. What good was it to spill blood if you didn't know why you were doing it?

His father was killed by the Billhooks a few years after that in retaliation against the Crews taking more territory from them and it was during the massacre afterwards that he was given the nickname "Smiles". Crowle was usually a cheery, friendly man but when he learned his father was murderd and made an example of, the smile wouldn't leave his face. When he lured those responsible into the clutches of the Crows, his smile didn't disappear as he cut the man's eyes out and left them as a warning to know their place. The rumor had it then that if you see Crowle smiling, it either means you're in for a party or someone is going to die.

After his betrayal at the hands of Salia and his time locked away within Ironhook Prison, Smiles came out to see how the world had changed. His mother, despite the care that the Crows formerly gave her, passed away without medicine after there was the sudden change in leadership. Lyssa approached him with an offer to rejoin the gang but he was disgusted with her betrayal and refused, especially hearing how she had help broker peace between them and the Billhooks and how they had forgotten to take care of his ailing mother while he was serving his time.

Without a crew to call his own, Smiles has relied upon Jeren and the few contacts he has left to keep an ear out for any up and comers. Maybe it was time he stopped being the loyal follower, the gifted helper, and started calling the shots himself? All he needed was a crew to get behind him and he'd lead them to bloody glory through Duskwall.

Jeren and Smiles both grew up in the abject poverty that is Crow's Foot, watching the gangs go to war and the Bluecoats steal what they could from the honest folk and criminals alike. They lived across the street from one another and as young children into young adults, were close friends. Jeren wasn't interested in going the path of the scoundrel and wanted to go straight, something that Smiles respected from his close friend. When others would try to get in Jeren's face, Smiles was always there to break their face first or get the dirt they needed to ensure he'd be left alone.

As adults, they have both gone their own ways but are still good friends and can drink and tell stories. Jeren hasn't forgotten the kindness of Smiles and helps him where he can with information that the scoundrel can't usually get. In return, Smiles makes sure no one gets to put his friend in a rough spot.

Smiles was once good friends with Salia, a renowned information broker who usually played neutral in most things. He would come and exchange secrets for coin to her and vice versa, a friendly relationship that almost turned to something more. However, while he was on a job for the Crows striking at the Billhooks, the enemy was waiting for them.

Most of his boys and girls got cut down and Smiles was picked up by a Bluecoat patrol that wasn't under the tab of the Crows. He had only told the operation to one person; Salia, over a few cups of ale at the Leaky Bucket. That cost him five years of his life, five years in the hell that was Ironhook Prison. Now he is free again and he wants two things from her; the reason why...and her life.