Character Name: Amos Knutter (Character Sheet) Race: Human, Variant Class: Barbarian, Zealot Alignment: Chaotic Good Background: Folk Hero Characteristics:
Trait 1: I judge people by their actions, not their words (or their titles). Trait 2: Thinking is for other people. I prefer action. Ideal: Sincerity. There's no good in pretending to be something I'm not. Bond: I protect those who cannot protect themselves. Flaw: I have a weakness for the vices of town, especially hard drink.
Amos Knutter is a fairly average looking young man in his mid-20s: average in looks, average in height at 5'8", strawberry hair just starting to recede, sideburns, heavily freckled with the slightest ruddy tan, and blue eyes. He's more heavily muscled than average, what the locals call "a stout fellow," but not remarkable and far from a candidate for circus strong man. The only thing that sets him apart is the strain on his face, as if he's already forgotten joy at his young age.
In dress, he's a walking advertisement for his trade: shirt and slops in fine, cool knits of undyed linen, with some elaborate knotwork in the shirt for style and ventilation. His colorful sash and wallet, shady hat, and sandals are all hand made of thicker cotton, linen, or jute yarn with intricate weaves and decorative beads, fringe, and knotting patterns. He has even knitted his own water-resistant but light wool pancho, which he pulls out on chilly evenings and for the rain.
A Saltmarsh area local, Amos was born into a local knitting and net-making family, the Knutters. When he was six, he, his parents, Alfred and Edith, and his older sister, Hilda, were hand-line crabbing at in inlet away from town. Hoping to catch Saltmarsh unawares, raiding goblinoid pirates set ashore there, surprising his family. His mother managed to hide him under some driftwood. Peeking out, he saw his parents and sister slaughtered.
After the pirate raid, he was taken in by his Uncle Gordon and Aunt Almira, who brought him up as their own and taught him the family trade.
A few years ago, his wife Anna, pregnant with their first child, was raped and murdered by three drunken pirates from the Empty Net who wandered over to their small cottage nearby. Amos had been out, returning in time to see the pirates but not in time stop their crimes. He went more than a little crazy. Calling out to Tritherion for vengeance, he took up his wife's washing bat and beat all three to death with it, nearly dying from his own wounds. In the process, he became something of a local hero.
The intervening years have not been kind to him. Still awash in grief, he has not remarried. He still lives in the tiny cottage, no longer the tidy home Anna kept but the sad, filthy hovel of a bachelor. Though a skilled knitter of clothes, accessories, nets, hammocks, charpoys — really anything that can be knit, knotted, plaited, or braided out of fiber — but he is too irregular in his business habits to be prosperous. Dark moods and occasional drinking benders kill his focus. He barely scrapes by, mostly on small jobs from family and friends.
A few times when the ire has risen in him, he has met out rough justice in the name of Tritherion on monsters and evil doers in the area, working alone or with others as chance has it — usually without the blessing and oversight of the local authorities, especially Captain Fireborn, who doesn't appreciate his vigilantism. Though most of the townsfolk respect and accept him, he is also pitied as a "broken man" and a "tortured soul." "And who can blame him," they say, "after everything he's been through? Such a brave and sad young man."
Beldeen is a tall, stocky woman of Suloise descent with pale, freckled skin. Her hair is orange-red, but even more striking are her green eyes, based upon which her name (a variant of the words for 'jade eyes' in Suloise) was bestowed. However, her other facial features are relatively coarse.
She wears dark brown, leather armor and sports a woven circlet around her forehead, mostly to prevent sweat from getting in her eyes. A leather cape drapes her shoulders, and various light weapons adorn her waist, ideal for an agile warrior. However, none is as important to her as her longbow, which is always kept near at hand.
For sixteen years, Beldeen spent what passed for the quiet, normal life in the hinterlands east of North Reach. Her mother managed a small farmstead, while her father was an iron miner in the foothills of the Jotens. With her elder and younger brother, she passed the days hunting, fishing, and helping around the home, and she was an accomplished bowhunter. Despite her sense of duty to her family, she was adventurous and sometimes got in trouble with her parents for neglecting work while out exploring somewhere. As she neared her sixteenth birthday, the adventures of the outgoing young woman included a developing relationship with a Flannae boy named Hochu, which she had to keep secret from her culturally hidebound mother and father.
Her life was upended soon after she turned sixteen, precipitated by her father's accidental discovery that his supervisor, Elten Ken, was using the mining operation as a front for human trafficking. Keshtan Mazar confided his finding to one of his closest friends in the mine, who turned out to be a traitor. One night when Beldeen was out meeting with Hochu, Ken's henchmen descended on the Mazar homestead, killing her parents and abducting her brothers, then burning the buildings and leaving "evidence" of a hobgoblin raid. When Beldeen discovered the disaster, she was overcome with grief and guilt, and Hochu cared for the near-catatonic girl for nearly a week, hidden in a hayloft on his own family's land. When she came to, Beldeen had nothing left in her heart besides anger and vengeance. Despite her lover's entreaties, she joined a caravan of mercenaries headed to the far southwest of The Yeomanry on the Borderlands of the Flaeness, where stood a legendary Keep that provided defense between the monstrous humanoids of the Crystalmists and the civilized lands. The castellan of the Keep was more than happy to have her bow in his service, and the guard captain saw to her warrior training. She participated in several successful raids outside a cave system that served as a breeding grounds for orcs, goblinoids, and kobolds, but never saw a sign of her lost siblings. She grew in skill and the esteem of her peers. However, after two months she was forced to face a new reality: she was carrying Hochu's child.
Not wanting to give birth in the spartan environs of the Keep, Beldeen travelled as a caravan guard to Niole Dra, where she took up residence in a convent of Pelor. She gave birth to her child, a boy with deep tan skin and red-gold hair, who she named Tanro. But unable to contemplate forming a new familial bond after her recent pain, and unwilling to give up her hunt to avenge her family and reunite what was left of it, if any, she gave him to the Sisters of Pelor to raise. Needing to earn a living in the city, she found that her skills were of value in hunting down criminal suspects for the City, and joined a bounty hunting guild that was officially sanctioned by the Niole Dra watch. There, she received further training in the arts of deception and stealth. One quarry that she apprehended, a half-orc named Jabdaz, was a suspected human trafficker, and upon questioning by the City Watch, he turned out to be a connection between slavers working under Elten Ken in The Yeomanry and "clients" away east in the Drachensgrab hills. He also had information about the assault on the Mazar homestead.
The Chief of the bounty hunters, a half-elven woman with an eyepatch called Otta Orem, realized immediately that this information would be of great value to her young apprentice, Beldeen. But in a consultation with the head of the Watch, the two leaders agreed that her emotional reaction to this discovery might interfere with official operations to take down the slave trade. Thus, she was kept in the dark. Without explanation besides that her experience was needed by an important ally of the city, Beldeen was dispatched to Saltmarsh, where she reported to Madame Oweland and The Council.
Javern sighed How did I get myself into this? This was not a normal sigh but one of many layers.
The first aspect of the sigh was exhaustion. Stupid merchant had to be first. The caravan had traveled hard and fast, pushed constantly by the merchant to be one of the first to arrive with goods for the troubled city. Javern nudged his team of six mules, four pulling at time, and an empty bed and grumbled aloud to one of the other wagoneers.My wagon could have gone faster and longer.
The second aspect of the sigh was annoyance. Javern disliked bargaining with humans. In fact he disliked their whole culture. Yet, it was part of the job. Javern looked over his shoulder at the human who just bought all his wares and grumbled A beard isn’t a beard to them, it’s just a little bit extra on the chin.
The most identifiable part of the sigh was of remembrance. He had a dream. A vivid dream. One where he made a covenant. And even though it was made in a dream it was also made with spirit. Dwarves don’t break contracts.
Javern looked again at the people that were maneuvering within the streets, sighed again, a normal sigh, shrugged his shoulders and snapped his reins. His empty wagon lurched forward, gold in his pocket and the promise of food and drink at some bar or inn up ahead. He mumbled It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.
Javern has the physical build of a typical dwarf. His movements are strong and simple, yet he has almost a dancer’s touch to his gait; which comes in the form of a slight hop. His voice is gnarled and unwelcoming. Javern has snow white hair tied in a ponytail. He has a large jawline, solid forehead and strong cheekbones that rest within a square shaped face. In typical dwarven fashion, he has one central braid that centers on his chin and two smaller braids that fall just below his ears. He has a single scar running diagonally across his hawkish nose with wide nostrils and two parallel scars running beneath his left eye across his cheek to his clean shaven upper lip. His eyes are almond shaped with brownish orange pupils. He emits an aroma of coal smoke forged with vanilla.
He has fiery brownish red skin, marbled with yellowish white dots, covered by the soft natural brown colors of his armor. His torso is protected by a long shirt made up of thousands of interlocking silvery, glistening very fine metal rings. His forearms, back of hands, thighs and shins are protected by separate pieces of armor made with small sized hexagon plates of stone, horn and bone attached to each other by a small thick cord and sewn to a layer of soft leather. Separating his skin from the armor are undergarments matching his stone-grey cloak.
On his forearms and thighs are sheaths containing wooden and iron spikes. On his hip is a wide belt that supports two quivers, sprouting colorful fletching arrows, a solid wooden heavy shield, a dwarven ax and a few thick pouches. Over his shoulder sits a bow. Quick release straps run from his back over his shoulders and under his arms supporting a backpack loaded with supplies and equipment.
Javern had an unusual upbringing as his family were in the moving business. He traveled throughout the civilized lands with his family moving possessions or delivering goods; above ground and below. He learned all aspects of the various terrains and all life that lived within. Once of age Javern became a soldier and due to his skills was assigned the role of a scout. Over the years his reputation grew and he was soon assigned to one of the most prestigious battalions. Overconfidence and drink caused a lapse in duty that led to multiple deaths. Embarrassment of the incident chased Javern away from his homeland.
Javern went back to his upbringing and built himself a wagon. He now travels throughout the same lands. Customers who need supplies delivered by road seek out Javern. Sometimes the job was getting goods from the upper district down to the docks. Other times it was to another city.
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Goblins, Kobolds or any other small race !!! If you are allowing or want one sign me up.
Last edited by Kshnik; Sep 27th, 2021 at 09:02 PM.