...
I mighty be bending the morality of the group with this but how do you feel about a character having associations with the Aspis Consortium?
Not familiar with the Apsis Consortium, but Seredoc acts like a knight. He half-way thinks he IS a knight, of the purest kind. don Quijote, anyone?
Background, for those who are interested:
Born to an outrider family in the savannas of Katapesh, Seredoc idolized the Outriders and followed them around constantly. He groomed the dogs. He cleaned up the dogs' messes. He occasionally went shopping for doggie treats. On one such shopping trip he, too, was kidnapped and sold in the flesh markets.
His new master was a wealthy noble who fancied himself a scholar, and Seredoc was set the sole task of keeping his books in order. He never bothered to give Seredoc his name, or learn the halfling's. Since Seredoc was forbidden to leave the book room except to go to his small cupboard adjoining it, he had little to do except read. Tales of dogs, nobility, ettiquette and combat were his favorites, of course, but one book on magic caught his eye. The Summoning of the Dog Moste Potente.
The majority of the book was taken up with the practices and exercises necessary to master the ritual. Seredoc had intended to skip these, but, all he had was time, and he might as well do the thing right. Eventually, he worked up his nerve to perform the ritual, and a great big, beautiful, black dog appeared. Seredoc had intended to call him Cuchulain, after a name he had read in a book, but the dog immediately found Seredoc's dinner and scarfed it down, so was christened Scarf, instead.
Having found his partner and noble steed, Seredoc decided the time for freedom had come. It was absurdly easy. Nobody talked to him or looked at him twice. He had to wonder if they even knew his name. Once outdoors again, for the first time in months, he mounted Scarf, waited for his eyes to adjust and rode into the sunset, eager for his first adventure.
His first adventure was getting lost, with no money, supplies, or friends in the great city of Katapesh. He earned the odd copper here and there using minor magics to mend the items of folk slightly better off than he. He faced down a bully, once, but when the bully came back with his gang, he and Scarf quickly learned about the better part of valor.
But his chivalrous instincts died hard. He later saw that same gang corner a human woman in an alley, and wondering if this would end his tale, he and Scarf charged in to her aid. The woman easily drove them off, but invited her 'Rescuers' for a hot meal. The woman turned out to be an adventurer named Haleen.
He and Scarf stayed with her a while, and she eventually arranged for them to return to his people on the savanna. Still, she kept in contact. She constantly encouraged him in his dream to become a knight, telling him that many things were possible for those with great hearts. One day a letter came that was not at all like her, and Seredoc feared for her safety. He packed his things and said goodbye to his family. His family understood his need to repay what he saw as a debt of honor and presented him with the lance of his grandfather, slain in combat during a gnoll raid.
Finally, he heard that Haleen had been sighted in Kelmarane. He immediately signed up with the first group headed that way, anxious to rescue or at least avenge his friend.