About Jethryk DevarreMERISIEL
Elven Immunities: Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2
Forlorn: Having lived outside of traditional elf society for much of
Keen Senses: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Reactionary: Merisiel is quick on her feet, and gains a +2 trait bonus
Trapfinding: Merisiel gains a +1 bonus on Perception checks to
Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows,
Weapon Finesse: With a light weapon, rapier, whip, or spiked chain,
Armor Check Penalty: Merisiel’s armor weighs her down when she
Alt. Build - please ignore :-) Appearance:
Jethryk is a tall, wiry young man with coal-black hair, pale skin, and icy blue eyes. He rarely smiles, as that shows off the fact that his teeth are a tad too sharp for any 'normal' man. Despite his size (and his fairly looming presence as a result), Jethryk does his best to maintain a low profile, preferring to skulk around the edges of a gathering, rather than engaging in a direct 'line of attack'. Alt. Build - please ignore :-) Background:
Born the youngest of five sons to a minor noble
family in the capital of Talingarde, Jethryk's early days were hardly ones filled with privation, but he chafed at the knowledge that his effective inheritance was worthless; his eldest brother was destined to inherit the family estate, his second eldest and third eldest brothers found commissions in the Talingarde military, and his fourth eldest brother was bundled off to join the clergy. Showing no interest in the military, nor the clergy, his options were limited; he needed *some* way to support himself, after all, ideally one that would be appropriate for a gentleman... His main accomplishment seemed destined to be draining the family wine cellar, until his despairing father hit upon the idea of sending him to medical school; whilst hardly the most prestigous of professions, at least becoming a physician would give him a veneer of respectability. Jethryk, of course, immediately hated it; the cramped, dingy halls of the teaching hospital, and the ungodly smells, were hardly what he was used to. Still, he eventually uncovered a passion for anatomy; initially experimenting primarily on lesser animals (mostly birds, rats, cats, and the occasional stray dog he thought no-one would miss), he desperately wanted to explore human anatomy, but the dissection courses offered in that were ruinously expensive... or so he thought, until he hit upon the idea of providing a body of his own. Procuring a shovel, he decided to lurk one evening down near the pauper's cemetery, hoping to find some freshly-turned earth... However, once he started digging, he realised that this was too much like actual work; there had to be another option. Instead, he started scouring the streets and alleys, hitting upon the idea of looking for the body of a recently deceased vagrant. After all, who would miss one such as that? Eventually, his patience was rewarded, for he discovered the body of a beggar in a dark alley... However, when he started to man-handle the 'body' into a nearby barrel, he received a rude shock, for there was still some life left in the beggar's body! In a blind panic, he threw the beggar to the ground, there was a sharp crack, the beggar jerked spasmodically for a few seconds, and then lay still. Instantly realising the gravity of what he had done, Jethryk nonetheless remained calm, crammed the now-definitely-a-corpse into the barrel, sealed it, and procured the services of a porter to help him escort it back to the hospital. Once there, he felt it was prudent to dispose of the body as quickly as possible, and offered to sell it to one of the other students, who promptly offered the princely sum of 50gp for it. Jethryk immediately put the whole affair out of his mind, and was a model student for the next week. However, after a while, when nothing happened to him, and he had had time to reflect on what had happened, Jethryk realised that he had hit upon a potential gold mine - turning the otherwise useless dregs of society into cold, hard cash. No-one would miss them, or at least, no-one important enough to actually do anything would care. Thus, over the next few months, Jethryk turned 'live-resurrectioning' into an art form. Cloaked in black, he would prowl the deserted night-time streets, looking for potential marks; ideally drunks too intoxicated to notice their surroundings, or those too weak or infirm to resist. He would then sap them into unconsciousness, and smother them, before packing the body into a barrel, and having it hauled to one of the capital's medical schools, where the bodies (and therefore the evidence) quickly disappeared into the ever-hungry maw of the dissection chambers. Still, he tried to be careful: He did not go out every night, or even every week; he varied the parts of the city where he would go to stalk his prey; and he tried not to be too greedy, never taking more than three or four 'consignments' per month. This state of affairs continued for almost two years, before fate intervened, and his careful web started to unravel: One of his victims, not quite as drunk as he thought they were, put up more of a fight than he was expecting, and although he was able to silence the man, he had to beat a hasty retreat, leaving his precious merchandise behind, lest he be discovered. Then, a week later, in a dissection room across town, one of the students recognised the body of a former servant, and began to ask inconvenient questions... Feeling that things were becoming a little *too* lively for his personal taste, Jethryk wisely decided to cut his losses and retreat to the family estate, to no avail. Barely a week later, a posse of the local gendarmes presented to the Devarre estate, demanding that he be turned over to them. Jethryk's father initially refused, but once the full extent of his son's 'hobby' was made clear to him, he gladly handed Jethryk over to them, cursing the day he was born, and declaring that henceforth, he had no 5th son. Alt. Build - please ignore :-) Motivations/Goals:
Jethryk is filled with a burning hatred for his family, both for the way they were unable to offer him opportunities and wealth, and the fact that they abandoned him once he proved to be a liability. He would like nothing better than to see them brought low, and would derive some satisfation from seeing them sent to the dissecting table. He also blames the city fathers and nobility in general for not having the intelligence to see that the poor, whilst nromally naught but a drain on society, can, with a little creative thinking, be turned into a lucrative resource.
Realistically, Jethryk would be happy to swear fealty to anyone who could save him from death. That said, the teachings of the Asmodeus would certainly appeal to... certain aspects... of his character, and he would undoubtedly become a devoted follower, once he was made aware of his doctrines. |