"Headsman"'s page

Headsman is a tan young man with greasy short black hair and sunken eyes. His physique is an unusual mix of scrawny yet muscular, an unmistakeable sign of going hungry on a daily basis. He wears faded and tattered clothing, as well as a necklace of Shoanti craftsmanship. Truth be told, he could probably use a bath. Headsman is suspiciously more armed than one would expect of a citizen of Korvosa, lugging around the unwieldy mass of a greataxe. His weaponry and armor both are Shoanti heirlooms inherited from his father. His posture is somewhat hunched and untrusting. Except in the company of friends and his adoptive kin, he is eternally dour-faced.

Headsman is best defined by his lack of faith in the society that surrounds him. He holds the average Korvosan in little regard, as they go about their lives unthinking of those who live in misery below them. He reserves true disdain for the upper class and the aristocracy. They, he believes, are those best placed to help the destitute, and yet they remain sat on their balconies, stuffing themselves full of luxury and laughing at the little people below.

Headsman resents society for failing his brothers, sisters, and himself.

He is not, however, without a softer side. Having come to being regarded as a leader and guardian, he has found somewhat of a family amongst fellow street urchins. Amongst younger folk of the street, or even amongst destitute adults, he stands as a proud and defiant figure. He refuses to back down before the miseries of society, and is willing to fight claw and nail to force society to give them the retribution they are owed.

The cornered beast, they say, fights the hardest.

The streets of Korvosa are home to many street urchins. Orphans, children of the destitute, teenagers on the run, and so forth, bustle in gangs and crews, edging a living where they can, the oldest of them taking on surrogate sibling roles for the younger.

Of note is the Court of Cooper Street, a gang of children and young teenagers residing, for lack of a better term, amongst the Shingles, living under the radar in an abandoned and dilapidated hotel. Most of them know each other only by nicknames, but they are as close-knit as the noblest of families. These nicknames, borrowed from courtly imagery and fantasy, are a means of escape, a way to dream of being more than they are. The youngest children are often given the highest titles, with the older children willingly taking on lesser roles for the benefit of their younger companions.

The de facto leader of the Court of Cooper Street is also their eldest: Headsman, the half-breed son of a Shoanti warrior and a Korvosan inn maid of Cheliaxian descent. He had become a child of the street when his father was slain by a corrupt member of the Cheliaxian guard over some perceived crime. He and his mother had never gotten along, and he chose to disappear into the night and forge a life on his own.

This life came not too long before he came of age. As per Shoanti tradition, children gave up their birth name and took on a title as they became adults. Without a family or shaman to grant him one, Headsman took this duty upon himself. He adopted as his true name the nickname he had taken when he and several others founded their Court. The title of Headsman, one who takes on the ungrateful job of removing threats to the safety of his fellow courtiers, was only fitting.

The children of the Court look upon Headsman as a protector and a guide. Their number comes and goes, and it is always cause for great celebration when one of their number finds a new life, whether through adoption or apprenticeship. He frequently takes work as a bodyguard or delivery boy, using the pay to help his destitute companions fed as best as he can.

Recently, however, two children of the Court have gone missing: The youngest girl, Princess, and a young boy who had been escorting her at the time, Duke. Princess had become one of their number at a very young age; to Headsman, she was more than merely a charge or a friend: She was the younger sister he had never had. Duke was, much the same, one of Headsman's most trusted lieutenants.The older boys of the Court collaborated to investigate this disparition, and soon came to an answer: Most likely, the two had been taken by Gaedren Lamm, a figure most infamous to the urchins of the Court.

This was not the first time the old man had laid a hand on some of their number, but if Headsman had his word to say, it would be the last. He himself had been a captive of Lamm for a time, and it was only his sheer strength that had allowed him to get away: Suspecting the boy would attempt escape, or worse, during the night, Lamm had kept him chained down, never expecting that his captive would succeed at tearing an iron stake out of the wood where it had been nailed down.

Unfortunately, these searches have come to a dead end. Korvosa is a large city, and there is much to be searched. He'd have to dig deeper, perhaps into more unsavory avenues. Leaving his second-in-command, Knight, in charge of the Court for the time being, Headsman strikes out on his own, hoping to shake down the mystery one thug at a time.

Perhaps, once this is all over, he'll have a chance to seek out his Shoanti roots, but that's of little concern right now.

Str 20 (+2 to str checks to break objects); Dex 18; Con 17; Int 12; Wis 16; Cha 14
Feats

• Power Attack
  
• Intimidating Prowess
  
• Weapon Focus: Greataxe

Traits

• Missing Son or Daughter
  
• Vandal

Racial Traits

• Bonus Feat: Intimidating Prowess
  
• Heart of the Streets: Humans from bustling cities are skilled with crowds. They gain a +1 racial bonus on Reflex saves and a +1 dodge bonus to Armor Class when adjacent to at least two other allies. Crowds do not count as difficult terrain for them. This racial trait replaces skilled.

Class Features

• Fast Movement
  
• Rage(11/d): +2 to melee attack and damage, thrown weapon damage, and will saves. -2 to AC. 2 temporary HP.
  
• Rage Powers: Knockdown Stance, Intimidating Glare
  
• Uncanny Dodge
  
• Danger Sense +1

Trained Skills: (4 + 2 campaign bonus + 1 int)
Armor Check Penalty: -1

• Acrobatics +8
  
• Climb +11
  
• Intimidate +14
  
• Perception +10
  
• Stealth(cc) +6
  
• Survival +10
  
• Swim (-1 ranks) +10
  
• Linguistics (1 rank) +2
  

Spoken Languages: Common, Shoanti

Gear[list]

+1 Fire-Forged Greataxe

Masterwork Composite Longbow (Strength Rating +5) | Arrows x20

+1 Chain Shirt

Barbarian's Kit (belt pouch, blanket, flint and steel, iron pot, rope, soap, torches (10), trail rations (5 days), waterskin

Potion of Cure Light Wounds x2

Barbarian Chew x2

Masterwork Backpack

Adventurer's Sash

Money: 1890 gp.

Five Major Points
1. Headsman is a former Lamb who now leads a gang of street urchins calling itself the Court of Cooper Street.
2. He is prone to anger and believes he has every right to fight back against a society that has mistreated him.
3. His father, a Sklar-Quah warrior, was slain by a corrupt guard of the town watch. Headsman has little trust for the guard and other figures of law due to this.
4. He wishes to one day reconnect with his Shoanti origins, but is too preoccupied with hunting down Gaedren to do so currently.
5. He has no name. Shoanti children obtain a new name as they come of age, but he has no one to grant him this name. Headsman is a nickname given to him by the Court.

Two Goals
1. I would like for Headsman to have a chance to occasionally meet up with the Cooper Street court, and to support them with the means he gains as an adventurer.
2. I would like Headsman to eventually reconnect with Shoanti society and culture, and be granted a name now that he has reached adulthood.

Two Secrets
1. Headsman keeps the hideout of the Court of Cooper Street under wraps, and has his fellow courtiers do so, so as to avoid unsavory folks, especially the likes of Lamm, troubling the younger urchins.
2. Headsman's father, Blaze Runner, was exiled from his clan over a conflict with their chief. Finding acceptance amongst his people will prove quite difficult.
Bonus secret: Headsman's child name, which he has since abandoned, was Tero.

Three People
1. Headsman's father, Blaze Runner, was a Shoanti exile who found a new life as a bodyguard for hire in the city. Headsman learned most of what he knows from his father.
2. Headsman's mother, Julianna, is an inn maid from Old Korvosa. She grew to resent Blaze Runner for putting himself in danger, and this eventually drove her and Headsman apart as well.
3. Princess, a young girl of Chelish descent, is Headsman's favorite amongst the Court of Cooper Street. He regards her as the little sister he never had, and is beside himself with fury and fear at her being taken. He is no less furious about the other boy taken, Duke, but is more confident in the boy's ability to get himself out of trouble.

Three memories
1. Picking a fight with a pair of Czarni thugs who had stolen what little money Jester, a fellow street urchin of the Court of Cooper Street, had made performing... and coming out on top, albeit with a broken arm.
2. Being severely beaten by Gaedren Lamm for stealing a box of cookies and sharing them with his fellow Lambs under the cover of night. Also, pulling the same stunt the next time the opportunity came up.
3. Faint memories of traveling in merchant wagons alongside his father, and of watching in amazement as the warrior drove bandits away as though they were mere vermin.