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View Full Version : Character #4 - Kathris Terall, the Ripper.



Cogwheel
2007-09-17, 12:45 AM
Slowly, with a sigh, Arthur Teranov, captain of the guard, sat down on his chair, his journal on the desk before him. Dipping his quill in the inkpot, he began to write...

October 24

It seems I have another hard case on my plate - just what I need. Several bodies have been found on the streets at night these past few days, torn and bloodied, as if they were ripped apart by some beast's claws. Each one seems to have been killed by exactly the same method - not anything an animal might do. I can tell that this is going to be a tough one, I just hope it's sorted out soon...

October 26

I should never have sent them out to patrol on a night like this! Three of my best me, lying by the watch house's doorstep, as neat as you please, as dead as dead can be, their backs torn apart by the same method. This isn't anything I can send normal men out to do, I'm going to have to think on this one for a while..

November 2

I'll never forgive myself for this day... I finally saw the man we were after - The Ripper, they call him - but at what cost? I swear that street was empty when we went into it - no one came in, no one went out. And yet, in a moment, there he was, a gruesome insect-man, a dagger in each of his four, twisted claws, the moonlight shining on his black shell. he looked at me with those yellow eyes, clicking his mandibles together, and jumped at my men, cutting through them like they were nothing more than paper. When he turned around and stared at me with those crazed yellow eyes... I ran. What else was there to do? And yet, I can't help but feel that I could have done something...

November 16

I've sent the bugbears out on a search - they should be enough to stop the madman, even if they aren't good for much else...

November 20

After four days, they've yet to return... whether they deserted or were killed is not my concern. Either way, this doesn't bode well.

November 28

I found the bugbears... or what's left of them. Their bodies were left outside the city, the snow covering their bloodied skeletons. The man carved his own name into their skulls - Kathris Terall. I can't help but feel that he'll destroy all of the watch at this rate...

December 2

I have him at last! Young willhelm spied him in the distance, and we surrounded the area, there was no way he could escape - even the rooftops were guarded. he took down five of my men, but we finally have him in prison. Tommorow is his execution, but before that, I intend to make him pay for what he's done....

The captain sets his quill down and closes the journal. As it snaps shut, he hears an eerily familiar scraping sound, the sound of insectile claws scrabbling on a stone floor. Too late, he hears a hissing voice behind him.

"Good evening, Captain."

They say that your life flashes by in front of your eyes in the moments before you die. For captain Arthur Teranov, there wasn't even time for that.


Crunch: The Ripper is a CE character for a campaign I play in, and yes, he's a team player if he's forced to be/sees some use in the party, so don't worry about that. he is a cold, calculated, methodical and perfectly calm killer, and a Swordsage, with heavy emphasis on Shadow hand/Tiger Claw. his weapon of choice is multi-weapon fighting with spiked chains, seeing as he's a Thri-Kreen. If you can track down/survive him, he's the best assassin in the city, not just because he's so skilled, but because being able to kill someone/something is pay enough for him, and as such, there need not be any money involved.


So...messed up enough? What say you, Gaming boards?

Dr. Weasel
2007-09-17, 07:50 AM
Neat if you can play this well. This doesn't seem like it could be easily pulled off in a group without either completely turning it around from "mysterious monster" to "team-player" or without boring the group to death with a generic antihero storyline.

I like it, but it seems better suited for an NPC than a player's character.

Cogwheel
2007-09-17, 09:03 AM
It is, but I can turn it around. here, let me type up some stuff that I forgot to say earlier...

As to what led him to do that, well... put simply, he's mad. Completely so. I know, it's a cop-out, but there's a reason. he was captured some time by a wizard specializing in crafting golems. In the name of experimentation, the wizard (or sorcerer, doesn't matter much) chopped his claws off, grafting on claws from a stained glass golem instead (half-golem template). Unfortunately, the process drove the previously neutral and sane Thri-kreen into utter madness. he killed the wizard, escaped, and is now out for revenge on the world, which he believes to have turned him over to the wizard. No reason for him to think that, he's just completely mad.

I know, I completely forgot to mention it, but I was in a hurry. Also, I know it's a stretch, but it's the best I could manage.


As for how he would grow in a party... well, one idea is that he would grow to trust and even respect the party if they prove themselves to him (by voluntarily helping him/risking themselves for him). While his madness is likely incurable (without very high level magic, anyway), he might atleast be turned
around to neutrality, or even good, if his trust in the world is restored and he "forgives" the world.

Crow
2007-09-17, 01:32 PM
Great character...maybe not so good as part of a group...But would make a great NPC.

Shorten the bio.

Cogwheel
2007-09-17, 05:13 PM
Thanks! Shorten the bio, though? It seems like a lot of people here believe in one-liners for background, and for the life of me, I can't tell why. Everyone I've ever played with reads and expects a decent-sized background, and besides, it only takes...what, a minute or two to read? I can't tell what's wrong with it, myself.

Crow
2007-09-17, 09:17 PM
looking at it again, it's not so bad. The computer I was on before had lower resolution so the format made the paragraphs loooong. I did mine a while ago...It was hardly a one liner either (Jorundr Hrafn-Veurr).

A good idea is to do one for yourself that is long, and one that can be printed on a single sheet of paper for your DM.

Cogwheel
2007-09-17, 11:49 PM
hmm... this comes pretty close, I tend to do 1.5 A4 pages or so, simply because that's all the space I need. I think this is more like 1-1/4, but still, easily readable, no?

Incidentally, this guy's gonna have a few Diamond Mind maneuvers here and there, and may be going for modified Bloodclaw Master for uber MWF, but I digress. A lot.