Editing SotDL: Forestalling Midnight: Brutus

Back to [[SotDL:_Forestalling_Midnight]]

==BRUTUS of Fog Reach==
'''DESCRIPTION'''

Brutus' natural form is depressingly hideous, his ghoulish visage in no way improved by the loss of his left ear and eye, along with the index finger of his left paw. Snaggle-toothed and grey of skin, he is a monster in appearance. This is inconvenient in public office, so Brutus typically dresses in intimidating black leathers accented with tasteful accents of purple and crimson silk, a swooping cloak he likes to flourish during entrances and departures, and tops off his ensemble with an iron mask fastened over his distorted face. He lopes slowly along with the aid of a rather dapper silver-headed walking cane. The leathers have an ingenious system of ties, buckles and straps allowing him to tighten and loosen areas as he transforms from his traditional ghoulish figure, crouched, loping and long-limbed, to that of one of his recent meals.

Brutus' ability to transform his appearance after feeding is one he uses to political and social advantage - often appearing so much more normal and benign as an elderly lady, callow youth or non-descript burgher. The changes in his stature, stance, gender and other aspects mystify most of those he commands, which he likes to believe adds an alluring mystique to his position. 

Ghoulish appetites aside, Brutus sees himself as an affable, easy-going type at home in the company of a diverse group, accepting of all. His stewardship is fundamentally benign in a time known for its harshness and bleak punishments. Of course, examples must be made and the Shadow's power demonstrated but Brutus never revels in that aspect of his role - in fact he finds it a distasteful duty and one that, in some ways, hurts him more than those punished, so contrary is it to his fundamentally caring nature. Life, or in this case unlife, is a complicated state full of a rich array of contradictions and nuance - Brutus feels he exemplifies these dichotomies and complexities in every way. He feels history will judge him sympathetically, as would most he lords over, if only they knew the trials he faces.

Death holds a particular terror for Brutus, in many ways the reason why ghouldom was an appealing option for him when death appeared spectre-like as his only alternative. His ambitions lie in the material world, not in the hereafter, and he is in no rush to enter that dreary realm of the dead. His desire is to achieve glory and show up his awful family for their scornful treatment and disregard for his talents, a goal he feels destined to achieve, step by inexorable step. 

'''BRUTUS' STORY'''

'''Early Life'''

Brutus was born into the wealthy family of Valenance, with a holding within Port Esben and property scattered across the land. One of nine siblings, it was hard to get noticed within the family. The Valenance fortune came primarily from its ownership and commanding of the Virilian Banners, a mercenary company which the family used strategically to better their prospects, amass wealth and generally throw their weight around. Grandfather acquired the Banners and made the families name, pulling himself out of the gutter to slice throats and trample on everyone in his way til he beheaded his Captain-General and took his place and fancy hat. Grandfather always felt the story both hilarious and improved by the repeating, but it did put the Valenance name under a cloud right from the start. Things of course improved with regime change, something Grandfather and Mother cannily anticipated and supported.

Being a member of the Valenance family was always a cutthroat business - Brutus' older brother Seth was 'accidently' shot in the back by one of his men on campaign, for which one of his other brothers Gerand and his only sister Violet were strongly suspected of engineering. Normally this sort of rivalry would be tacitly condoned, but it was clumsily done and Mother was not pleased. They're now the only ones in the family with a lower reputation than Brutus.

Brutus always had a way with people, and through a chance meeting, managed to catch the attention of mad Vildar Esben. Vildar suggested Brutus' intelligence made him a good candidate to undertake sorcerous training. School was enlightening in all the wrong ways, but Brutus did at least unlock a strong latent magical talent as a result - book learning being his strong point. Acquiring knowledge of the forbidden Sundered Tongue, he then went on to learn enchantment, finding that enormously useful in improving his lot after college. 

He did his customary obligation to the Shadow, serving as a conscript in the regional army as demonstration of the family's willingness to sacrifice for their masters. While his family could have pulled strings to keep him out of it, Mother felt is necessary for him to 'build character.' Two long years of wasted opportunities, he know keeps his old uniform on display and uses it for occasional target practice. At least during this time he did use the long hours to further expand his growing magical knowledge. 

'''An Uninspiring Career Cut Short'''

It was on one bitter night in the Erethor Forest hunting rebels that never seemed to be found that he was approached by an entity that offered Brutus a path to what he had secretly wanted all along - glory, power and the ability to grind his awful family's faces into the mud. Some sort of fey creature, she taught him many dangerous secrets of the true paths to power through the teachings of witchcraft. The madness tradition Saladriel taught him opened Brutus' mind in more ways than one, and he left the Shadow's service a changed man with a soul he'd bargained away in exchange for the promise of power and glory. She also gifted him with a magical earhorn allowing him to eavesdrop on the land of the fey - to what end he's yet to discover.

He next took up the dutiful role within the family, getting some more battlefield experience as a mercenary in the Virilian Banners. He found himself better suited to logistics and management than cut and thrust, and wangled a role as quartermaster for the company, a role coming with significant perks. Alas, the life of the mercenary involves ups and downs and somehow he found himself freezing to death in a forsaken valley with a handful of compatriots. Initially well-provisioned, they ended up snowed in to the extent they had to survive the winter without aid. Starvation beckoned, and gradually they ate everything possible until nothing remained. Some died of sickness, the cold, starvation. An awful choice presented itself, but Brutus' fear of death outweighed his moral squeamishness. He and his remaining two companions ate the corpses of their comrades to try to eke out their lives further, but once the bones were picked clean they still had weeks of winter to endure.

Saladriel visited, concerned her investment was going to cash out too early, and implored Brutus to do what was 'necessary'. He enchanted his companions into a slumber, then slaughtered them in their sleep and feasted on their flesh. Pleased, Saladriel informed Brutus his survival was assured - but he'd need to get used to some changes, as he transformed into a ghoul. The trauma, long with the loss of intelligence, all but wiped Brutus of his sorcerous powers, retaining only those spells ingrained enough that he could recall their incantations through the fog of his newly-ghouled mind.

'''A New Chapter'''

In many ways this was a rebirth for Brutus. For good or ill, he had committed, perhaps unwittingly, to a path where only the Shadow could accept him. Impossible to hide his changed nature, many questions were asked when he eventually stumbled back to the winter camp of the Virilian Banners. Anger greeted the change, and Brutus fled the province for Erenland and the capital of Bastion. After some weeks adapting to his new and hideous nature, Brutus approached an agent of the Legate, Siluria, and begged for protection and a place in her retinue. Initially dismissive, Brutus eventually proved his usefulness and was eventually taken on as a kind of twisted retainer for Siluria. Showing a surprising adeptness at manipulating politics and people, he became an able right-hand man to this agent in the running of the settlement of Fog Reach.

The enemies of the Shadow came eventually though, and Siluria was murdered. Trapped in an attic while his would=be murderer attempted to bash their way in, Brutus turned to his patron Saladriel for aid. This time she failed to appear - or perhaps she did, as Brutus discovered a tome the agent owned and had secreted away in the attic. Drawn to it with a feeling of destiny, Brutus opened the tome with trembling talons and poured over it's forbidden contents. He found an incantation to summon otherworldly alien, summoning an unimpressively small demon. The demon proved more able than its size however, and drove off Brutus' attackers for long enough for him to make his escape. The demon went about its own business, but does reappear from time to time to taunt, or sometimes just to chat (it gets lonely). Attempts to capture it have been thus far unsuccessful.

Brutus made it back to the Legate and reported the attack and killing of her servant. Enraged, the Legate grudgingly appointed Brutus to his dead master's role as steward of Fog Reach. However, he had to pay a terrible price for his failure, the Legate using powerful magics to tear at him and rip away his left eye, ear and a finger of the hand he tried to shield himself with. The Legate now possess these ruined appendages, using them undoubtably as hostages for some fell purpose.

On the other (undamaged) claw, Brutus was promoted!

'''Recent Events'''

Life, or unlife, was good for Brutus - as a courtier he had access to inner circles and lucrative contacts that were willing to overlook his ghoulish mien. After all, when you serve the Shadow, what's a little extra darkness going to hurt?

There's a sense though that the good times won't last - large influxes of goblin, hobgoblin, and other creatures from the Northern Marches. Brutus' network of administrators is buzzing with tales of razed villages, whole towns taken over by goblinoids, their human inhabitants displaced as refugees at best, killed outright or enslaved at worst. Fog Reach has grown crowded with refugees, and the 'secure' little spot he's scratched out grows less so with every month that passes. One highlight was acquiring (through perhaps underhanded pressures on the executors of a will) the deed to a profitable farm holding nearby, along with confiscation of some 'contraband' goods. 

A few months back Brutus was rifling through Siluria's possessions and discovered a magical pocket knife that grows when it draws blood and, more recently, an old knife, its blade pitted but still razor-sharp. Something about the knife drew his attention, an aura of something about it - almost as if some force was guiding him towards it. With a past featuring powerful beings guiding Brutus to new knowledge, he wasn't one to resist such promptings and examined the knife. That was how he met the ghost Cairistine. What relations she had with his former employer Brutus is yet to discover, but apparently she's an assassin despite the presumed barriers to employment death presents, and one hired to kill Brutus. 

===Ghoul/Powerful Ancestry (former Magician)/Courtier L6===

'''Strength''' 10 <br>
'''Agility''' 13 <br>
'''Intellect''' 11 <br>
'''Will''' 9

'''Perception:''' 16 | '''Defense:''' 15 (16 with leather armour) | '''Damage/Health:''' 18/24 | '''Healing Rate:''' 6 | '''Composure:''' 7 <br>
'''Size:''' 1 | '''Speed:''' 8 | '''Power''' 2 <br>
'''Insanity:''' 3 | '''Corruption:''' 1 <br>
'''Madness/Quirks:'''
*2 boons to avoid gain Insanity (from Dark Magic)

'''Languages:''' Erenlander (speak/read), Iron Tongue, Sundered Tongue<br>
'''Professions:''' Military | Conscript, Military | Mercenary, Military | Quartermaster, Civic | Retainer

===Talents===
*''Magician:  made a pact with an otherworldly being. I offered my soul, a gift or service in exchange for magical knowledge''
*''Ghoul''
** '''Immune''' to damage from disease or poison; diseased, poisoned conditions
**'''Shadowsight:''' You see in areas obscured by shadows as if those areas were lit.
**'''Dreadful Appearance:''' When you attack a living creature that can see you, the target creature must make a Will challenge roll. The creature becomes frightened for 1 minute on a failure or becomes immune to your Dreadful Appearance until after it completes a rest on a success.
**'''Unholy Feast:''' You can use an action to eat one dead creature you can reach, which requires concentrating for 1 minute. At the end of this time, you utterly consume the target corpse, and you assume its living appearance until you complete a rest. While you have this appearance, you lose the Dreadful Appearance talent. 
**'''Accursed Compulsion:''' At the end of each round that you are within short range of a dead creature, you must make a Will challenge roll. On a failure, you must move toward the dead creature and use your Unholy Feast talent when you are next able. Once you do so, you lose Accursed Compulsion for 1 hour.
**'''Fear of the Gods:''' Against creatures wearing or wielding religious symbols or icons you make attack rolls with 1 bane. In addition, you become frightened while on areas of holy ground (see Uncertain Faith) and remain frightened for as long as you remain there.
**Powerful Ancestry
**'''Natural Weapons:''' You can attack with your claws and teeth. Together, they count as a basic weapon with the finesse property that deals 1d6 + 3 damage.
**'''Unwholesome Recovery:''' Once per day, when you use your Unholy Feast talent, you heal damage equal to your healing rate.
**'''Drink Blood:''' When you attack with your natural weapons and the total of your attack roll is 20 or higher and exceeds the target number by at least 5, you can drink the blood of a living target. The target takes 1d6 extra damage and becomes fatigued for 1 minute. While fatigued in this way, the target is also slowed. If already fatigued, the target takes another 1d6 damage.
*''Courtier: I wheedled my way into my present position using a combination of charm and wit to open the doors to your betters.'' 
**'''Accomplished Negotiator:''' You make attack rolls in social situations with 1 boon and do +1d6 Influence damage.
**'''Enamour:''' If you spend at least 1 minute talking to a living creature that can understand what you say, you can make an Intellect attack roll against the target’s Will. On a success, the target becomes charmed until it completes a rest or until you attack it. On a failure, the target becomes immune to your use of Enamor until the target completes a rest.
**'''Quick Reflexes:''' You can use a triggered action on your turn to hide or retreat.
**'''Network (Access):''' Your position affords you certain benefits when it comes to dealing with your own kind. You exploit the standing obligations of hospitality maintained by local rulers and other nobles. As long as you travel in your homeland or a land friendly to your homeland, you need never pay for food or lodging, since you gain these things from the local aristocracy. This benefit might extend to your group, depending on your host and your host’s attitude toward the members of your group (as determined by the GM).
**'''Coerce:''' You can use an action to make an Intellect attack roll against the Will of one creature charmed by you. On a success, the creature becomes compelled for 1 round.

===Spells===
*'''Spell Traditions:''' Enchantment, Madness
*'''Spells:''' Convincing Word (L0 Enchantment); Command (L1 Enchantment); Serenity (L0 Madness); Black Breath (L1 Madness) <br>
*'''Spells/Day:''' 3/2/1<br>
*'''Dark Magic:''' Each time you learn a spell from a dark magic tradition, roll a d6. If the roll is lower than the number of dark magic spells you have learned, including the one you have just learned, you gain 1 Corruption. However, each dark magic spell you learn grants 1 boon on challenge rolls you make to avoid gaining Insanity.
**'''Mind Fractures:''' Each time you learn a spell from the Madness tradition, you must make a Will challenge roll with a number of banes equal to the number of Madness spells you have learned so far. On a failure, you gain 1 Insanity.
**'''Mitigating the Madness:''' Whenever you roll a d6 to end the effects of a particular form of madness, you add a bonus to the roll equal to the rank of the highest-rank Madness spell you have learned.

'''Interesting Things:''' A small dog (Mr. Ruffles) with a tendency towards viciousness and a taste for human flesh| A colony of friendly and helpful cockroaches | A clockwork ear horn from Saladriel, picking up whispers from the Midnight Lands (demesne of the Queen of Dreams and Shadows) | A tapeworm named Jerry | A foldable knife that increases in size the more blood it spills | Deed from a profitable farm.

===Equipment=== 

Lifestyle: Getting By <br>
Worn: Soft leather armour and courtier's clothing, silver-topped walking cane with a long knife in the hilt (spent 1gp if that's fair?), tinderbox, small and cryptically-engraved mirror (magic implement), dagger containing ghostly soul, cloak, 5ss and 25cp <br>
Lodgings: Conscript Uniform used for target practice, hidden crossbow and 10 bolts, hidden book of spells (incantations) still containing Bone Armour (Necromancy) and Brand of Doom (Rune), another 12ss in confiscated trade goods (furs, precious ores), riding horse <br>

===Background===
'''Generated background:'''

*Ancestors: At least one was a criminal or did something shameful 
*Family Circumstances: Born to a wealthy family who ran a mercenary company. Both parents are still alive.
*Siblings: 8 siblings: 
*4 older brothers (2 alive, 1 alive but disgraced, 1 dead from natural causes), 
*3 younger brothers (all alive)
*1 older sister (alive but disgraced)
*Life Experiences: Minor Setback: Learned a dangerous secret; Minor Windfall: Add a random Common profession – Conscript
*Magician Training: I made a pact with an otherworldly being. I offered my soul, a gift or service in exchange for magical knowledge
*Courtier Story Development: I wheedled my way into my present position using a combination of charm and wit to open the doors to my betters

'''Generated appearance:'''

*Well-educated young adult of 25 with a homely appearance (although now a monstrous ghoul missing an eye, ear and finger) and hearty build (5'10", 174lbs)

'''Generated personality:'''

*Neither particularly outgoing or withdrawn, adaptable to a variety of social situations
*Gets on well with those close to me, neutral about others
*Desires: Glory
*Fears: Death
*Obligations: Values law and order and tries to live up to obligations
*Morality: A paragon of virtue, an evil thought never entered my head and make every effort to do good works
*Religious Beliefs: Witchcraft, pretending to be part of the Cult of Izrador

===Weapons + Damage===
*Talons (finesse), +3 to hit, 1d6+3
*Long Knife in Cane (finesse, offhand), +3 to hit, 1d6
*Ever-growing pocket knife (finesses, offhand, thrown (range: short)) +3, 1d3
*Crossbow (long range, reload), +3 to hit, 2d6 - hidden in Brutus' office

==Notes/Story==
'''BRUTUS' STORY'''

'''Early Life'''

Brutus was born into the wealthy family of Valenance, with a holding within Port Esben and property scattered across the land. One of nine siblings, it was hard to get noticed within the family. The Valenance fortune came primarily from its ownership and commanding of the Virilian Banners, a mercenary company which the family used strategically to better their prospects, amass wealth and generally throw their weight around. Grandfather acquired the Banners and made the families name, pulling himself out of the gutter to slice throats and trample on everyone in his way til he beheaded his Captain-General and took his place and fancy hat. Grandfather always felt the story both hilarious and improved by the repeating, but it did put the Valenance name under a cloud right from the start. Things of course improved with regime change, something Grandfather and Mother cannily anticipated and supported.

Being a member of the Valenance family was always a cutthroat business - Brutus' older brother Seth was 'accidently' shot in the back by one of his men on campaign, for which one of his other brothers Gerand and his only sister Violet were strongly suspected of engineering. Normally this sort of rivalry would be tacitly condoned, but it was clumsily done and Mother was not pleased. They're now the only ones in the family with a lower reputation than Brutus.

Brutus always had a way with people, and through a chance meeting, managed to catch the attention of mad Vildar Esben. Vildar suggested Brutus' intelligence made him a good candidate to undertake sorcerous training. School was enlightening in all the wrong ways, but Brutus did at least unlock a strong latent magical talent as a result - book learning being his strong point. Acquiring knowledge of the forbidden Sundered Tongue, he then went on to learn enchantment, finding that enormously useful in improving his lot after college.

He did his customary obligation to the Shadow, serving as a conscript in the regional army as demonstration of the family's willingness to sacrifice for their masters. While his family could have pulled strings to keep him out of it, Mother felt is necessary for him to 'build character.' Two long years of wasted opportunities, he know keeps his old uniform on display and uses it for occasional target practice. At least during this time he did use the long hours to further expand his growing magical knowledge.

'''An Uninspiring Career Cut Short'''

It was on one bitter night in the Erethor Forest hunting rebels that never seemed to be found that he was approached by an entity that offered Brutus a path to what he had secretly wanted all along - glory, power and the ability to grind his awful family's faces into the mud. Some sort of fey creature, she taught him many dangerous secrets of the true paths to power through the teachings of witchcraft. The madness tradition Saladriel taught him opened Brutus' mind in more ways than one, and he left the Shadow's service a changed man with a soul he'd bargained away in exchange for the promise of power and glory. She also gifted him with a magical earhorn allowing him to eavesdrop on the land of the fey - to what end he's yet to discover.

He next took up the dutiful role within the family, getting some more battlefield experience as a mercenary in the Virilian Banners. He found himself better suited to logistics and management than cut and thrust, and wangled a role as quartermaster for the company, a role coming with significant perks. Alas, the life of the mercenary involves ups and downs and somehow he found himself freezing to death in a forsaken valley with a handful of compatriots. Initially well-provisioned, they ended up snowed in to the extent they had to survive the winter without aid. Starvation beckoned, and gradually they ate everything possible until nothing remained. Some died of sickness, the cold, starvation. An awful choice presented itself, but Brutus' fear of death outweighed his moral squeamishness. He and his remaining two companions ate the corpses of their comrades to try to eke out their lives further, but once the bones were picked clean they still had weeks of winter to endure.

Saladriel visited, concerned her investment was going to cash out too early, and implored Brutus to do what was 'necessary'. He enchanted his companions into a slumber, then slaughtered them in their sleep and feasted on their flesh. Pleased, Saladriel informed Brutus his survival was assured - but he'd need to get used to some changes, as he transformed into a ghoul. The trauma, long with the loss of intelligence, all but wiped Brutus of his sorcerous powers, retaining only those spells ingrained enough that he could recall their incantations through the fog of his newly-ghouled mind.

'''A New Chapter'''

In many ways this was a rebirth for Brutus. For good or ill, he had committed, perhaps unwittingly, to a path where only the Shadow could accept him. Impossible to hide his changed nature, many questions were asked when he eventually stumbled back to the winter camp of the Virilian Banners. Anger greeted the change, and Brutus fled the province for Erenland and the capital of Bastion. After some weeks adapting to his new and hideous nature, Brutus approached an agent of the Legate, Siluria, and begged for protection and a place in her retinue. Initially dismissive, Brutus eventually proved his usefulness and was eventually taken on as a kind of twisted retainer for Siluria. Showing a surprising adeptness at manipulating politics and people, he became an able right-hand man to this agent in the running of the settlement of Fog Reach.

The enemies of the Shadow came eventually though, and Siluria was murdered. Trapped in an attic while his would=be murderer attempted to bash their way in, Brutus turned to his patron Saladriel for aid. This time she failed to appear - or perhaps she did, as Brutus discovered a tome the agent owned and had secreted away in the attic. Drawn to it with a feeling of destiny, Brutus opened the tome with trembling talons and poured over it's forbidden contents. He found an incantation to summon otherworldly alien, summoning an unimpressively small demon. The demon proved more able than its size however, and drove off Brutus' attackers for long enough for him to make his escape. The demon went about its own business, but does reappear from time to time to taunt, or sometimes just to chat (it gets lonely). Attempts to capture it have been thus far unsuccessful.

Brutus made it back to the Legate and reported the attack and killing of her servant. Enraged, the Legate grudgingly appointed Brutus to his dead master's role as steward of Fog Reach. However, he had to pay a terrible price for his failure, the Legate using powerful magics to tear at him and rip away his left eye, ear and a finger of the hand he tried to shield himself with. The Legate now possess these ruined appendages, using them undoubtably as hostages for some fell purpose.

On the other (undamaged) claw, Brutus was promoted!

'''Recent Events'''

Life, or unlife, was good for Brutus - as a courtier he had access to inner circles and lucrative contacts that were willing to overlook his ghoulish mien. After all, when you serve the Shadow, what's a little extra darkness going to hurt?

There's a sense though that the good times won't last - large influxes of goblin, hobgoblin, and other creatures from the Northern Marches. Brutus' network of administrators is buzzing with tales of razed villages, whole towns taken over by goblinoids, their human inhabitants displaced as refugees at best, killed outright or enslaved at worst. Fog Reach has grown crowded with refugees, and the 'secure' little spot he's scratched out grows less so with every month that passes. One highlight was the confiscation of some 'contraband' goods.

A few months back Brutus was rifling through Siluria's possessions and discovered a magical pocket knife that grows when it draws blood and, more recently, an old knife, its blade pitted but still razor-sharp. Something about the knife drew his attention, an aura of something about it - almost as if some force was guiding him towards it. With a past featuring powerful beings guiding Brutus to new knowledge, he wasn't one to resist such promptings and examined the knife. That was how he met the ghost Cairistine. What relations she had with his former employer Brutus is yet to discover, but apparently she's an assassin despite the presumed barriers to employment death presents.

The demon Brutus summoned into this world came running back a week ago, terrified. It told a terrible secret... three legates within the Order of Shadow were summoning demons and implanting them into human and hobgoblin bodies, using fell magics. It brought Brutus a deed to a farm, which it said was one of the places that held their secrets, and struggled to name them -- it couldn't -- before it was dragged screaming from the room by some compulsion. It was truly afraid for its existence, and Brutus is certain by the level of control exhibited over it by pulling it from its meeting with him that it would be unable to keep secret the fact it had told Brutus these things; by bringing this to him, it has signed his death warrant.

A day later, Durvan came to kill Brutus. Brutus revealed the secret to Durvan to stay his hand from murder. Brutus knows that demonology is the foulest of magics, forbidden even to the forces of the Shadow. Only Izrador is allowed to traffic with demons.

After consultation, Cairistìne decided to spy on Durvan's legate. In the course of that, she was recruited to finish the job Durvan hadn't. The legate didn't know of her connection to Brutus, just that Cairistine was a ghost who could manage the deed quietly.