Vaylen Stroud

[Vaylen Stroud]

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Vaylen Stroud

General Information

• Alias: The Wraith of Sunberth
• Birth Date: Winter 38, 494 AV
• Birth Place: Sunberth, Sylira


Employment Information

• Occupation: Mercenary Advanced (7gm/day)

• Employer:
—Irith Baughn, the merchant (Fall 1 — Fall 16, 514 AV)
—Freelance (Fall 17 — End of Fall Season, 514 AV)

• Duties: Unlike the usual top-heavy, giant, two-handed weapon proficient mercenary, Vaylen Stroud is quite different. Edging a fine line between rogue and fighter, he is a speedy combatant who relies more upon his athleticism and acrobatics to prove the victor. His attacks are always looking for the weak points of an enemy's armor, and his daggers prove to find vital organs more than enough. At the moment, he will do just about any mercenary job available, whether that be escorting an unguarded caravan, slaying a few monsters, or acquiring an artifact of some sort. During this frame of his life, Vaylen is simply trying to acquire fame and wealth.


Physical Information

• Age: 19
• Race: Human
• Gender: Male
• Height: 5'8"
• Weight: 160 lbs

• Appearance: The first characteristic that an individual will realize when viewing the image of Vaylen Stroud are his eyes—a steel-gray hue that garners no grief, no fear, no misery. They are the eyes of a killer, a man who enjoys watching the life fade from an enemy's eyes, knowing that he was the one who determined their fate. While usually wearing the Mask of the Wraith, his heirloom, below the facade is nothing more than a young man, but a young man of great physique. Peaking at the height of five feet and eight inches, he is defined by his small frame that is capable of performing athletic and acrobatic feats not akin to most human beings (eventually). His body itself is formed around sinewy, toned muscle that seems to be structured correctly at every angle of his anatomy. Large, calloused hands that held daggers since he was a young lad run through his short dark brown hair constantly. His jaw-line is well-structured, being mostly squared off into a handsome feature. His cheekbones are nearly unnoticeable, centered at either cheek wonderfully. Thin, dried lips are usually displayed in an unemotional line across his countenance, but sometimes they form a smirk—an expression that foretells doom. Finally, a light beard rounds his cheeks and jaw, lining his lips as well.


Background Information

• Personality: Most of Vaylen's true values have been hidden behind a stone-hard barrier of his inner self. Now, out in a world that is cold and unforgiving, he cares only to master two things in his existence: the art of killing and the art of fear. Beneath the two hefty goals he has been striving to achieve lies a man of sarcasm, wittiness, and manipulation. Vaylen's most dominant trait is his unpredictable killing tendencies when in the heart of battle. Many of times when he frees the life from another's body, Vaylen is overcome with a bloodlust to continue his spree of murders. Deep within the man, however, lie emotions that are only revealed through an unparalleled bond with Vaylen. Within his very core is a human desire to feel loved and cared for, though heavy tiers of emotional shields mostly prevent these from being spilled out onto those he meets.

From his childhood, with a careless mother and a cold-hearted father, he has been branded with the idea that he can trust no one, though this instinctive feeling could be overrun by persistent interaction. His loyalties do not lie with anyone, though he can have respect for another being and their combat prowess. He will work with others only if he benefits from the alliance, and his mere arrogance is a flaw that may lead to his death one day.

• Beliefs: The Wraith of Sunberth does not put his faith into any god, for just as he treats people, he believes that he owes no one his loyalty. While this may be true, he may feign loyalty to those who have something he yearns for, and if they decide to not give it over through simple communication, he will do his best to force it from their possession.

Vaylen finds love and friendship to be hindering factors as a warrior. Loved ones can lead an individual to their demise for the sake of simply saving them. If Vaylen has the choice whether to save himself or save another, he will undoubtedly choose himself and leave his "friend" to their fate. If there is a deeper bond beyond friend however, the decision may not be so easy. It is safe to say that, while Vaylen is nowhere near being a master killer in this moment in time, his personality alone puts him at an advantage to those he deals with in the lawless system of Sunberth.

Due to his parents' young experience of Obal Causten's cult, Vaylen himself despises all magic, unless it can bestow upon him some form of immortality.

• History: Forty years before Vaylen's birth, his parents were only four to five years old when the Obal Causten cult collapsed and lost its leadership of Sunberth. Therefore, while they had few memories concerning the horrific experience of the entire city, they did remember some events, and these occurrences caused them to lose their innocence forever. Rauvin Stroud, his father, and Elaine Morallis, his mother, grew up in the city of Sunberth as sinful individuals.

They cared nothing for people in their youths and only bonded with others if benefit came to them. The relationship between Vaylen's parents were of this sort. They were young, but they weren't in love. They used each other for personal pleasure—Rauvin Stroud, one of the most esteemed warriors of Sunberth, had infamy surrounding his name ever since he slayed his first victim, and Elaine Morallis, one of many beautiful women in Sunberth, fell into each other's embrace as nothing more than to raise their standing in society. Elaine would have a powerful husband, and Rauvin would have a beautiful wife that men throughout Sunberth would fawn over.

Eventually, somewhere down the road, Elaine became pregnant with Vaylen, which was something she never desired. Pregnancy did not benefit her in any way, shape, or form. The process would be agonizing, and Elaine was not maternal whatsoever. She hardly cared for her husband in a personal sense—how could she care for a child?

Nine months later, Vaylen was born into the world at the cold stares of his parents. Neither wanted the child, but his father—as a warrior—held honor and respect as core values, and he knew this was his son, a man who would carry on his name and his legacy. Elaine did not care for Vaylen, and as such, threw him into the stacking responsibilities of Rauvin.

As time passed and Vaylen reached adolescence, Rauvin began to teach his son the basics of combat. Without much training, both realized quickly that his favored weapon was the dagger, but not just any dagger—a kukri, a curved dagger that could whirl into motions most daggers could not. And not just one either, but two of them. He preferred dual-wielding over anything, and Vaylen's natural athleticism drew a grin across Rauvin's countenance whenever he watched Vaylen train. The young boy was his son after all, and it seemed he had inherited some of his instincts and natural battle flow.

Rauvin, from many jobs and travel, was a wealthy man. He and his "family" lived well, dining in one of the larger estates of Sunberth. Vaylen's father was one of the many to serve The Daggerhand of Sunberth, and in all honesty, he was one of the high-ranking members of Robern Dalagner. That was, until one day came upon Vaylen's life that altered him forever.

Through incessant shouting matches between his parents, through a lack of love for his mother, and through the ruthless nature that Rauvin had been training within his son, Vaylen grew to be the most sinister of the three. He was raised in a darkened world—a city's whose streets were spilling with crime and murder. He saw the throats of men and women slit before his very eyes when he was younger. He watched blood drip onto the cobblestone, filling the cracks with its dark red pigment. When the day came when Vaylen finally lost any care for his father, things ended.

Vaylen had just turned sixteen. He and his father, like every afternoon, were sparring in their training room. Daggers mixed with swords, Vaylen using his entire anatomy to evade the malicious attacks of his father. But finally, a sword from a master swordsman sliced open his left bicep, dampening his tunic with his blood. At that moment, time seemed to pause for the young Vaylen, his eyes wandering over his bloodied arm within the parameters of a second, and then returning to the battled stare of his opponent. Rauvin saw the inferno in Vaylen's eyes at that point—it was sight he had within himself, though a simple wound had never brought it to the surface. It was a glare that promised death, and while it would not be achieved in the current battle, Vaylen would eventually get what he desired.

The battle raged on, Vaylen seeming to acquire a ferocity that his father had never before seen. But Rauvin was a seasoned fighter. Though Vaylen's, for a young man, techniques were calculated and precise, the experience of his father knew every parry, every counter, and every successful strike. Soon, when Vaylen grew impatient and lunged forward for a lethal blow, he over-balanced his right foot and in an instant, Rauvin had flipped the sword in his right hand and knocked the pommel into his son's forehead, plunging him into the depths of unconsciousness almost instantly. Sheathing his blades, Rauvin returned Vaylen's resting form to his quarters. Lathered in sweat, Vaylen's father meandered down to the kitchen, preparing himself a meal after such a battle.

An hour or so later, Vaylen awakened, the blaze within his eyes still very prominent. He remembered everything, especially with the sting in his arm. While his father had stripped him of both of his kukris, there was one that Vaylen always kept beneath his bed in case of emergency. This was an emergency—Vaylen planned to end this part of his life. He was done with it.

Standing from his bed with kukri in hand, Vaylen ambled down the stairs. A cloud of malice and hatred put there by the city, his mother, and his father during any part of his life other than training, led him to his father's form that was turned away from him, enjoying a plate of roasted mutton.

Rauvin heard the soft footfalls behind him. He knew it was his son. But he, despite seeing the flare in his son's eyes only an hour before, did not know the true repercussions of bloodying his son in battle. He decided to try and turn around to meet his son's gaze with a mouth full of mutton, but something found his throat first.

Cold steel blasted the lifeblood forth from his father's jugular, making him choke on his mutton and spew dark crimson liquid all over the white kitchen tiles and walls. The chair that he sat in collapsed, its legs cracking beneath Rauvin's flailing body. Eventually, the gagging noises stopped and Vaylen's father went still. He would have left right then, gathering his belongings and everything he needed for a life in Sunberth and beyond, but his mother walked in. She screamed and covered her mouth, for while she was used to seeing death on the streets, she was too arrogant to believe she could be affected by it—especially from her own son.

A kukri flew through the air in an amateur fashion, but despite lodging itself into his mother's windpipe at an awkward angle, the weapon nudged her into the hands of death. Collecting his father's coin, two kukris, and other necessary equipment, Vaylen set out from his broken home with no regrets. He was his own person now, and he was willing to do whatever possible to become one of the best of The Daggerhand, or maybe even the mysterious Night Eyes. But first he had to build his name and his wealth, just as his trusting father had done. He had to become the Wraith of Sunberth.


Possessions

Attire—
• Simple Sleeveless Tunic
• Simple Pants
• Simple Belt
• Simple Boots
• Leather Vest
• Fur-Lined (Common) Cloak
• Leather Pants
• Leather Fingerless Gloves
• Undergarments (2)

Equipment—
• Night Leather Armor (chest piece, gauntlets, boots, leggings, shoulder guards)
• Kukri: Nightwraith

• Kukri: Goldwraith

• Throwing Daggers (5)
• Scabbards (2)
• Dagger Scabbards (5)
• Personal Sharpening Stone
• Simple Practice Dummy (kept in a copse of trees in the wildlands north of Sunberth)

Miscellaneous Materials—
• Waterskin
• Backpack: Contains comb, brush, razor, soap, food for a week, an eating knife, and flint & steel
• Belt Pouch (Contains mizas)
• Bedroll

Housing—
• Sunberth: Cheap Side, Sunset Quarters—Private Room, Basic (8cm/day)


Ledger

• 0gm + 100gm (Starting Package) = 100gm
• 100gm + 500gm (Housing Credit) = 600gm
• 600gm – 60gm (Leather, Night) = 540gm
• 540gm – 16gm (2 kukris) = 524gm
• 524gm – 5gm (5 throwing daggers) = 519gm
• 519gm – 8gm (2 scabbards) = 511gm
• 511gm – 10gm (5 dagger scabbards) = 501gm
• 501gm – 10gm (sharpening stone, personal) = 491gm
• 491gm – 1gm (belt pouch) = 490gm
• 490gm – 50gm (fur-line [common] cloak) = 440gm
• 440gm – 6sm (Leather Vest) = 439gm, 4sm
• 439gm, 4sm – 1gm (Leather Fingerless gloves) = 438gm, 4sm
• 438gm, 4sm – 16sm (Leather Pants) = 435gm, 8sm
• 435gm, 8sm – 2sm (2 undergarments) = 435gm, 6sm
• 435gm, 6sm - 1sm (bedroll) = 435gm, 5sm
• 435gm, 5sm - 2gm (medical assistance from Kechaiya) = 433gm, 5sm
• 433gm, 5sm - 1sm (mug of ale from Pig's Foot Tavern) = 433gm, 4sm
• 433gm, 4sm - 10gm (simple practice dummy) = 423gm, 4sm


Heirloom



The heirloom of the Stroud family, though found in the cellar of his parents' abandoned home a year after he murdered them, Vaylen now has the Mask of the Wraith. It is a two-toned, skull mask that only reveals one's eyes. The heirloom is crafted from toughened leather and human bones and allows easy breathing. Vaylen wears it most of the time outside of his own quarters. When the hood of his cloak is pulled up, his entire head, save his eyes, is concealed.


Skills

Skill	EXP	Total	Proficiency
Weapon: Kukri	+30 SP	30	Competent
Dual Wield	+10 SP, +15 RB	25	Novice
Acrobatics	+5 SP	5	Novice
Intimidation	+5 SP	5	Novice

Languages

• Common (Fluent)


Known Lores

• Lore of Sunberth Street Layout
• Lore of Gang Territory of Sunberth


Thread List

• Head Problems — 2nd of Fall, 514 AV
• Snakes for the Slaughter — 7th of Fall, 514 AV
• A Lonely Day & A Lonely Night — 9th of Fall, 514 AV
• The Bloodbath of Cheap Side — 16th of Fall, 514 AV
• A Rare Drink — 18th of Fall, 514 AV
• The Giant and The Wraith: Encounter I — 23rd of Fall, 514 AV

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