Rex Darkpaw

D8 D6
D10 D8

Physical
Height: 16 hands
Dash: 8 paces
Lift bonus: 3
Magic points: -

Size: 8 stone
Stride: 2 paces
Strength: D8
Soak: D8
Gifts: Claws (Racial),
Flaws:
Self-improvement: -

Equipment
Left Hand: Knife (But only theoretically)
Head Glasses (Ornamental only, he has perfect eyesight)
Body: Rich, but not exaggerated clothing
Dark-blue velveted cape
Concealed: 4 Aureals, 42 Denarii
Paper, Ink&Quills, A set of little worthless glass trinkets, Book of reciepts, Locket with picture of Lienne, Pair of white handkerchiefs, Bar of red wax, Sigil stamp

Hit Points
Race: Otter   Habitat: Plains   Senses: Smell
D6 Career: Merchant
 D10 Career: Spy
  D6  
     Skills
D6     Breath-holding
D6     Contortionist
D6     Fishing
D6     Swimming
 D10   D8 Administration
 D10   D10 Literacy
 D10   D8 Bribery
 D10   D6 Ciphering
  D6  D8 Cryptography
  D6   Disguise
  D6   Fast-talk
  D6   Streetwise
    D10 Etiquette
    D10 Heraldry
    D8 Lore: Law (Triskellian)
    D10 Diplomacy
    D6 Oratory
    D8 Calligraphy (Useful for quickly manufacturing documents)
    D6 Knife

Combat

Weapon (A): Knife
To-hit: 2D6
Parry: 2D6
Damage: D10, D8
Special: -

Weapon (B): Claws
To-hit: 2D6
Parry: 2D6
Damage: D8, D6
Special: +D6

Initiative: D10, D6
Resolve: D8
Armour: -
Dice & Soak: D8

Block: D6
Dodge: D6
Shield: -

Status: NPC, otter merchant and former spy. Father of Risla.

Happiness had been theirs, that unforgettable day, so many years ago. After long weeks of hesitation, he had finally gathered his courage, asked Lienne, and she'd said yes! The joy they felt! The love they shared! Destiny was smiling at the happy couple.

Sure, destiny was smiling, alright... with barely concealed fangs.

The night before the ceremony, Rex had celebrated in customary fashion, with his old friends. It had been a really splendid party with a diverse and plentiful assortion of spirits flowing in the general direction of several abdominal regions. Rex had even undergone the last solo dive traditional ritual at the harbor. It had been a still wet, but very warm and happy otter sitting a corner of The Frothing Otter in Triskellian. Back then, the inn had been a bit less classy, but with style. Oh yes, even back then, it had style.

Ten minutes later, Rex's smile had transferred itself to a wolf holding a parchment in front of the now desperate otter. It clearly and beyond any doubt claimed Lienne as security payment for an old, since decades forgotten debt to the Volrath. Lienne's parents, who had signed the document without realizing its implications, were no longer counted among the living, and the wolf (who was obviously of Volrath blood) had come to claim Lienne, at a suspiciously well selected random time. Rex had been told that there was nothing that he could do about it... unless...

"Unless" can sometimes be a terribly ugly word.

A quarter of a century later, he was still happily married to Lienne, and with a horde of five young and wild... well, four wild and one civilized otter youngsters, Rex was doing very well indeed. He had indeed become a spy for the Volrath, and his extensive connections with the Rinaldi had proven very fruitful to the wolves. They seldom bothered him, and he never ever questioned their missions and motives. There still existed a certain legal document, safely stored somewhere in Volrath Castle. Lienne never knew, and so it must remain.

And now, now what? Rex is chased, hunted, without the possibility to return home. He's tried to send a message to Lienne; to hide far away, away from the Volrath who surely will come to claim her now. Rex doesn't know whether she is safe. He doesn't even know whether she's alive.

But he's rescued Risla, his wild, unruly, and hopelessly romantic daughter from the icy lupine fangs of certain death. Jeopardizing everything that he'd been living for during the last decades, he's freed her from the Volrath who had captured her and her friends. Naturally, it didn't take them long to figure out whose deed that was. Now, he's in flight. He ought to be furious at Risla's irresponsibility.

But he can't help feeling proud of her. She's fighting for what she knows is right, and not cowardly doing the wolves' dirty works like he himself has been doing up 'til now. Rex offers a prayer to whatever deity might be listen, and continues his combined escape and quest for his family.

Rex Darkpaw is Copyright © Thomas Hagenfeldt (a.k.a. Chama C. Fox) 2001