Rain Soaked Alley - Tabaxi Warlock (Hexblade)
Background: - Urban Bounty Hunter Play Style: Aggressive Attack Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Character Traits:
I would rather make a new friend than a new enemy.
Ideals:
Freedom. Chains are meant to be broken, as are those who would forge them. (Chaotic)
Bonds
Someone I loved died because of a mistake I made. That will never happen again.
Flaws
If there’s a plan, I’ll forget it. If I don’t forget it, I’ll ignore it.
Backstory:
Wing of a Raven (Raven) was a Tabaxi female who had been granted the trait of curiosity by the Cat Lord. She left her village to explore the world with the intention of returning one day with news of outside lands. One day, her journey led her into the human town of Neverwinter. Not long after her arrival she was imprisoned as many were had not seen a Tabaxi before. During her imprisonment it was discovered that she was pregnant. The overseer of the prison, Dargan Garthington, saw this as an opportunity, that this creature’s offspring could be trained to be secret weapons.
He instructed one of the guards, Jelnik Traxin, to watch over her and insure that his plans were executed properly. As Jelnik watched over her, he got to know her better. She taught him all about the Tabaxi people and all about her village. Eventually he realized that she was not harmful. He tried to convince Dargan that they should let her go, but to no avail as all he cared about was getting his secret weapons, so the request was denied.
Jelnik decided that if an opportunity arose, he would help her get out of there himself. Weeks went by and the right moment never presented itself. Finally he decided he would let out some of the prisoners so they could start a riot to cause a distraction, fully confident his fellow guards would be able to keep the situation contained long enough for him to get her out. Unfortunately, it turned out that some of the prisoners were not so easy to contain as this prison contained some of the worst rogues in the town. As they were just about to escape, a human male prisoner by the name of Annor Vilbarnan saw them and attacked. During the scuffle Raven was stabbed in the stomach by a knife Annor had found.
As Jelnik tended to her, Annor escaped, along with many others. The shock of getting stabbed induced labor in Raven, but due to the location of the stab wound only one of her offspring survived. As she was dying, she asked Jelnik to please teach her son the Tabaxi ways she had told him about, but also that she knew his curiosity about the outside world would be just as strong as hers. She asked that he let him learn all about the outside world so that one day he may return to their village and tell them all about it. Jelnik escaped with the newborn Tabaxi in tow and no one was the wiser.
Since Dargan’s prized plan had been ruined under Jelnik’s watch, he placed him in charge of hunting down all the prisoners who had escaped, no matter how long it would take to track them down. Feeling the guilt of not only getting some of his fellow guards killed, but also letting dangerous criminals out, he had no choice but to oblige. Bounties were placed on their heads, but he knew it was his responsibility to track them down, not some bounty hunters.
As time went on he raised the young Tabaxi boy in secret, teaching him the traditions that Raven had told him about, but also about the human world. He taught him about the tactics that he had been using to track down and capture the criminals he had been seeking like how to stealthily traverse the dark alleys of the town, and also how to charm and gain the trust of people who are in the criminal underworld from rough-and-tumble street folk all the way up to members of high-society. Since they spent so much time traversing through the alleys, he gave him a traditional Tabaxi name that suited this lifestyle, Rain Soaked Alley (Rain). Once Rain was old enough, he even started helping Jelnik out. Over the years they would pick up other bounties on the side. Eventually they caught most of the escaped prisoners, all but Annor.
After many years, Jelnik finally found the location of Annor. He knew that if he were to return him to the prison, Dargan would relieve his debt and him and Rain could finally be free. He told Rain that he must do this one alone as he was worried that if he were to encounter the man who killed his mother, he might retaliate and kill him before he could be returned, thus being unable to return him to end the debt. Jelnik went to Annor’s location, captured him and took him back to Dargan.
Once they arrived, Dargan smiled greatly at them, “Ah, very good. I knew this day would come Annor Vilbarnan. No one stays escaped from my custody forever. Now Jelnik, I know you didn’t do this on your own...” Jelnik suddenly became very nervous. “But at this point, it doesn’t matter. All the escaped prisoners have been returned. You are free of my debt.” Jelnik relaxed a little.
As it turned out, Rain had been following them the whole time. He wanted to know why this was so secretive. He got to a hidden position within earshot of the conversation between Dargan and Jelnik. It was then that Dargan walked over to the Annor and said, “So many years ago you killed that Tabaxi female and ruined my plans for a secret army.”
In this moment Rain started to see red and went into a feral rage. He lunged out of the shadows at Annor and started to attack. Jelnik yelled “Rain, stop!” He ran over to get Rain off Annor and started to calm him down, warning him that he’d lose his freedom if he continued. At that moment a blade went through Jelnik’s chest from behind. As he turned he saw Dargan standing there seething. “I knew you betrayed me! I knew you had one of them hidden from me all this time! But now that I know the truth, I no longer need you and I shall take him as my prisoner. He shall become my perfect weapon!”
As Jelnik collapsed to his knees he looked at Rain and just said, “Run! Don’t look back!” Shocked, Rain was frozen. As the prison guards closed in on him he heard Jelnik one last time, “RUN! Don’t lose your freedom!” He snapped out of it and started his escape. He scaled the walls and ran into the forest as the guards chased him. As he looked back to see how close the guards were, he felt the earth below him give way, tumbling and falling into a dark chamber. Once he regained his composer he realized this was an unmarked tomb. As the guards ran buy above, he started to hear something in the back of the chamber. He walked towards it and started to hear a voice, although he couldn’t really make out what it was saying. All he could see was a bunch of weapons lined up against the wall. However, hanging on the wall was a dull, rusted scimitar. As he stared at the blade the voice got louder.
He reached out to touch the sword, and as he made contact the voice suddenly became clear in his head. “Take it….You shall need it for the days ahead….And it shall need you to carry out my will…” At that moment Rain heard the guards coming back and surrounding the hole he had fallen into. “He’s down there! Get some rope!” Rain looked back at the blade, and reached out to grab it. As he did the rust started to fade away and the dull blade started to sharpen. Within moments it looked brand new. Rain suddenly felt a chill run up his spine. He heard the voice one last time, “Now be free…”, and in that moment he blacked out…
As he awoke, he realized he was in a field. He saw a ridge up ahead, and over that ridge he could see smoke. Curious, he headed over the ridge and saw a small town, which was nowhere near Neverwinter. In that moment he heard the voice say again. “Enter…” As he started to approach he heard people screaming. He knew in that he must continue doing what he’d been taught to do. He proceeded into the town to find what adventure awaits.