 About Skander GhaelekinA solidly built man in a bronzed breastplate stands before you. He wears a pair of cesti on his hands, brass plates reflecting the sunlight. High black leather boots rise up to his knees. Gold buttons line the outer edge of his black suede breeches that appear so tight as to have been painted on his legs. The yellow doublet is fashionably cut to show the black of his silk shirt. He holds a hand crossbow. Hanging from his hip is a vicious looking barbed whip. He is a yellow jacket, one of the vaunted inquisitors of Calistria who practice seduction, subterfuge and slaying. Obviously a varisian, he seems somehow more, as if he were what varisians were meant to be. Hair so black as to be blue grows thick and long. His copper skin shines. Golden orbs look out at you yet it isn't the lack or irises and whites which leaves you feeling unsettled, but rather the penetrating gaze of a hunter boring into your being, measuring your soul. Hopefully, he'll not find you wanting. Skender never knew his parents. Gaedran Lamm only laughed at him the one time he actually asked. Skender was an orphan slave to Gaedran Lamm. His life was a misery of begging, picking pockets and much, much worse, only to hand over the meager earnings to Lamm or his henchmen. Every day, Skender went to sleep hungry, his rail thin body sore from the abuse. At age 10 he made the mistake of withholding some of the money. Gaedran mercilessly beat the boy to death; or so he thought. Skender awoke to find an angel standing over him, her face obscured by the light of the shining halo about her head. She reached down to his broken body healing his mortal wounds with but a touch. He wept, his tears the release of all his pain and suffering. When next he awoke, he found out that he had been saved by a priest of Calistria. Shelanya was one of the mysterious elves of the enclave. She told Skender that she heard the sound of a woman sobbing, her crying a dirge of being wronged. When Shelanya came upon the place where she heard the weeping, she found Skender. "You are a special child, my boy. You are no human child, but a child of Elysium. Your fate was decided by the Vengeful Vixen and you are hers to be used as she sees fit. Follow her. Know her lusts and prosecute her vengeance. She will guide your head, hand and heart, leading you to those who have been wronged so you may mete out her punishment upon their aggressors. Many will become your lover, but as your love is held by Lady Lust all will find you callous in the end. Skender grasped at the gorgeous she elf's words burning them upon his soul. He trained for years, learning how to serve Calistria and mete out her divine retribution. Then one day he heard that Gaedran Lamm was dead. His chance for personal vengeance was no more. That his death came from the hands of a fellow adherent to the Savored Sting only slightly mitigated the sting of missed opportunity. Her tale of her companions slaying Lamm gave him pause. Here was a group that sought out vengeance, however, inadvertantly. Perhaps they could be of use to him by latching on to others who would need revenge. Following Tapestry's directions, he set out to find them. Discovering the group of adventurers where he had been directed, Skender made their acquaintance and joined them in attempting to solve the king's murder. This avenue pleased him as it served the goddess' holy mandate to serve vengeance for the slighted. When word came that the murderer had been found out and a mob was on their way to kill her, Skender rejoiced. The crown's marshal (who had been the party's patron) demanded the party intervene to keep her from the mob until her true guilt or innocence could be determined. Skender had already explained his duty to the others and argued that the city was scared in the wake of their monarch's assassination and needed the release of a good lynching to allay such fears. His new friends were unable to differentiate between justice and vengeance and argued that it would be wrong to allow the mob to kill her if she was innocent. Skender countered that if the mob's vengeance were unjust, it would be his duty to carry out judgement against the members of the mob. A win-win as it were. Upon locating the alleged murderer, the group was content to capture the murderer, but in the confusion, Skender was able to enact vengeance for the murder of the king and to ease the fear and panic of the people of Korvosa. Shocked, the group turned on Skender. He escaped and went to ground. Over the next several months, he enacted vengeance upon the party, one member at a time, for attempting to keep him from his holy mission. Cressida Kroft, lord marshal of Korvosa, also fell to his machinations. As the crown had determined the matter of the king's murder to be resolved with the death of the artist, Trinia Sabor, they never looked any farther into the circumstances. Yet, at the lord marshal's death, they began to hunt for Skender. Placing his trust in Calistria to use him as she pleased, he continued to pursue vengeance at every turn without regard to the efforts of the city guard to stop him. A young woman left abused and in an embarrassing way by her scornful lover had chosen to end her life rather than live with the humiliation. Skender kept her soul from the Grey Lady and carried her himself to a local brothel, where she could learn a new way of life. At her tearful words, he accepted the Savored Sting's calling once more and began tracking down the rake to an inn catering to the well-to-do. The wild hair and murderous gleam in his eye did as much to keep the patrons and staff back as the yellow and black of his garb. When his stern gaze fell upon the nobleman, the knave actually had the audacity to lie. As Skender recited the litany of the man's transgressions, the fool drew his rapier and lunged. Pronouncing his judgement, Skender batted the blade aside, hammering the scoundrel in the chest just left of center. Again and again he beat his cestus into the man's breast, following him to floor where he continued his bloody assault until he could no longer lift his arm. There was only a pulpy mess left, the breastbone smashed and the heart pulverized. A broken heart for a broken heart. Taking out a dagger, he drove it up under the corpe's chin, driving it in to the hilt. Out came another dagger and it plunged at a downward angle through the left temple. Finally, a third dagger through the right temple to complete an inverted form of the Savored Sting itself, three daggers pointing inward. As he rose, the doors behind him burst open and the city guard augmented with the Korvosan guard rushed him. Fighting for his life, he flung guards aside trying to make good his escape, but the numbers were overwhelming. He was beaten unconscious. Waking to find himself in a statuary, he wondered what had happened. A mocking voice bounced around the walls, floor and ceiling. It proclaimed his guilt of multiple murders. The sentence was death, however; in light of his deeds in quelling the riots in the aftermath of the king's death (and certainly out of some healthy fear of displeasing the goddess of vengeance) his sentence would be commuted to life... as a statue amongst fields of statues. Skender Ghaelekin
SQ Bane 7/rd/dy(Su): imbue weapon with bane as per spell; does not need to be consecutive rounds, Cunning Initiative: add Wisdom modifier to Initiative, Detect Alignment: use detect chaos, detect evil, detect good or [i]detect law at will, Discern Lies 7/rd/dy (Sp): use discern lies as per the spell; does not need to be consecutive rounds, Domain: Trickery Domain (Deception Sub-domain), Judgement 3/day, Monster Lore: add Wisdom modifier to all knowledge checks to identify monsters and their weaknesses, Skilled: +2 Diplomacy and Perception, Stern Gaze: add 1/2 inquisitor level to Intimidate and Sense Motive checks, Track: add 1/2 inquisitor level to follow or identify tracks Weight 49
Sacred Touch - Standard action to stabilize a dying creature with merely a touch Trickery (deception)
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