Tolas Answith's page

River Rat You gain a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls with a dagger and a +1 trait bonus on Swim checks. Swim is always a class skill for you.
Reactionary You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks.

Child of the Shadow (Shadowshore) You gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks made to learn about a city’s black markets. You gain a +2 bonus on Initiative checks in urban environments. Enemies cannot gain cover from you if they are in your reach; you can thus attack someone around a corner without penalty. A creature with total cover from you still receives all benefits of his cover.

Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.

Two-weapon Fighting Benefit: Your penalties on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons are reduced. The penalty for your primary hand lessens by 2 and the one for your off hand lessens by 6.
Normal: If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. When fighting in this way you suffer a –6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a –10 penalty to the attack with your off hand. If your off-hand weapon is light, the penalties are reduced by 2 each. An unarmed strike is always considered light.

Acrobatics +7
Appraise +5
Bluff +8
Climb +7
Diplomacy +8
Disable Device +7
Disguise +4
Escape Artist +7
Perception +4
Sense Motive +4
Sleight of Hand +7 (+9 regarding items in the wrist sheath)
Stealth +7
Survival +0 (+2 to avoid becoming lost)
Swim +8

Equipped arrows(20), leather armor, dagger, dagger, shortbow, wrist sheath (dagger) (2)
Backpack bedroll, crowbar, grappling arrow (4), silk rope (50 ft.), , torch (3), waterskin
Belt pouch chalk (4), compass, mirror, thieves' tools, 23 gp, 8 sp, 3 cp

A lifelong native of Sasserine, Tolas is the nephew of Gregar Skeen, Master of the Shipwright’s Guild, Tolas primarily works as a courier, transporting rare herbs, spices, and other sought after natural ingredients from the Order of the Flaming Leaf, a druid’s circle just outside of Sasserine for sale on the black market or - if he’s particularly lucky that day - he sells them to the Amedio Trading Concern, based out of Shadowshore and run by Vico Bevenin. He is never told what the packages contain, for they are tightly wrapped in large lacquered leaves and emblazoned with a red oak leaf, the symbol of the order, painted in jintberry juice. While these ingredients are no doubt immediately processed further into illicit drugs of all kinds, Tolas is oblivious to this fact as well, and prefers it that way. He simply does what he must in order to survive the harsh streets of Shadowshore. The less he knows, the less he can reveal, and releasing information into the wrong hands in Sasserine is, more often than not, a blunder one very seldom lives long enough to repeat.

What most citizens of Sasserine don’t know is that the Order of the Flaming Leaf colludes with a band of fey that have taken up residence in the woods nearby. Tolas’ natural link to the First World is the sole reason he was chosen as courier when he happened upon them while making camp in a small clearing just off of the road heading north from Sasserine. It surely saved his life that day, for the fey are very keen on keeping their presence in the area a secret. Even more so than with Tolas, the fey felt an immediate kinship with Eit and welcomed her into their order. She could always find solace within their trees. After many months spent running goods for the mischievous creatures, it wasn’t long before he was fluent in their native tongue.

When he isn’t busying himself with running contraband, Tolas helps his uncle at the docks, running lines, or - if he’s have a particularly bad streak of luck - scraping barnacles off of the hulls of the myriad ships docked along the eastern bank of Shadowshore. He worries that one day his uncle will find out about his working relationship with Bevenin, due to the Trading company’s questionable reputation. He hopes to one day make enough coin smuggling goods to uproot and join up with the Seekers over in Sunrise to pursue a thrilling life of adventuring and treasure-seeking.

Eit is always close at hand, but rarely seen, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. She only speaks to the fey outside of the city, otherwise she remains silent, sharing her thoughts with Tolas through their arcane link. When the duo is forced to travel out of the city, they prefer to do so under the cover of darkness. While within Sasserine, Tolas always keeps materials on hand to craft her a suitable disguise.

Curious, mischievous, light-hearted, trustworthy (at least as much as rogue can be), good-natured. He enters every situation with a lop-sided grin on his face, his arms nonchalantly crossed over his chest (his daggers always just a quick flick of the wrist away) and he tends to lean upon whatever surface presents itself, propping himself up with one leg bent at the knee. Confident with just a touch of arrogance. His sapphire eyes are constantly flicking to the shadows, checking on the whereabouts of his partner in crime, Eit, but you wouldn’t notice this unless you watched him with a very keen eye. If he has no opinion on a matter, he will usually side with the majority, part of his easy-going manner. In terms of Eit, well, you won’t see her unless she makes a point of being seen. And that usually means she’s already rent your flesh with her claws…

With deep blue eyes and fair skin, most wouldn’t be able to pick Tolas out of a lineup, if it weren’t for his striking perpetually tousled bright copper hair. A broad white studded bandana holds his wild hair in check, while also serving to conceal the arcane rune on his forehead marking him as a summoner. Otherwise, he looks like a typical youth not coming from nobility or poverty. He is slightly above average in height with a lean build. Beneath his pocketed vest and open necked shirt, a sharp eye could spot the finely tooled scrollwork on his leather armor hidden beneath, and his only visible weapon (who’s to say how many more are concealed on his person?) is a short bow and quiver of arrows slung across his shoulders. In reality, he has a dagger hidden in a wrist sheath on each arm with possibly one or two more hidden in his vest or boots... His dusty brown leather boots come up almost to his knees and his gloves have the fingers cut out (to manipulate all manner of security device, of course, although you didn’t hear that from him).

A somewhat, but not really, accurate Tolas concept image.

…The halfling woman stares at you, one eyebrow ticked up in question. "Well?”

Tolas holds the letter up to his face with both hands, squinting his eyes and turning his head this way and that, making a mockery of giving the matter intense thought. He drops the charade and tosses the paper back to the Halfling woman, a lop-sided grin splayed across his face, ”I’d never pass up a free meal. Tell your lady I will be there.” he gives a low bow, his coppery hair almost brushing the barroom floor, ”So long as Eit is invited, too.” He gestures to the corner and Kora can barely distinguish the figure of a lithe female stalking among the shadows, a slight shimmer to her blue-tinged skin.

It is no secret to those in the right circles that Tolas solely represents an organization outside of the city which has made a lot of money on the black market and through Vico Bevenin and the Amedio Trading Concern. It is possible that Lady Vanderboren wishes to know more about the nature of this enterprise. Or perhaps she has the insight to realize that if Tolas can be trusted with maintaining the level of secrecy needed to transport whatever goods this mystery organization is providing, that he might well be trustworthy enough to handle whatever this ‘opportunity’ entails and, more importantly, to keep quiet about it. She is also aware that in the handful of disputes Tolas wasn’t able to talk his way out of, he’s actually pretty skilled with the daggers concealed on his person.