Shade Lark

Shade Lark is a traveling rogue, styling himself a "relic hunter" of sorts. While he does indeed often explore ancient ruins and recover various treasures, he's also certainly not above liberating the coins from someone's purse if he needs a bit of money for some reason. While Shade is fae in nature, he generally passes himself off as coming from an elven bloodline, just to avoid dealing with the intimidating reputation of the greater fae. A master thief, his services are usually for hire.

Personality

Shade tends to be very playful and mischievous, but he is also easygoing and relaxed, willing to accept almost anyone who accepts him. Also high-spirited, he tends to leap before he looks. Often "leaping" headlong into danger, Shade is often forced to rely on quick wits to save his neck. This is partially due to a reckless nature, but mostly it's simply an excess of enthusiasm coupled with a dose of impatience. As the Puck once said, "those things do best please me that befall preposterously." Shade can be a bit of a prankster. He loves to play tricks, usually the kind that make their target look silly, and are designed to make everyone laugh, but nothing that would do anyone real harm. Oddly enough, despite all this he can be quite professional when hired for a job or focused on a task, and his cocky, playful nature almost seems to bolster his abilities in this regard. Quite the curious sort, Shade is always quick to look in upon a scene of interest or investigate an odd sight or noise. His eye is easily caught, as is his fancy, and one may find him hanging around with an undesired interest at the most inopportune times. However, his whimsy is matched by a particular kind of gallantry, and he's as fierce and true a friend as one could hope to find.

Background

Tales of the wandering rogue, Shade Lark, have been circulating for generations. No one knows just where he came from, and in truth he doesn't remember it so well. As a fae, he was as much born by the woods and paths of the world as anything else, and time simply does not seem to stick to him as it does to others. He's not forgetful, per se, but he wears his years lightly and does not dwell much on their passing. So, he's been around quite some time, and he's been earning infamy and renown as a rogue, thief, prankster, and relic hunter for most of it. How long has he been around, exactly? No one is entirely sure, but one could generally ask one's grandfather, and there's a very good chance that he can tell how, when he was a boy, they were still telling tales of Shade Lark.

SKILLS

Athletics - Expert Level

Exploration - Expert Level

Larceny - Expert Level

Lore - Competent Level

Stealth - Expert Level

Survivalism - Competent Level

Thrown Weapons - Expert Level

Unarmed Combat - Expert Level

Whips - Expert Level

ABILITIES

Power: Awareness - Enhanced Level

As a born magic-user of significant power, Shade is quite sensitive to magic and other mystical forces. He can generally detect the presence of spells, enchantments, or supernatural creatures nearby without difficulty, and he can in most cases identify the nature of such when observed with only moderate effort. It is difficult to fool him with illusions or other deceptions.

Innate: Fae Form - Supreme Level

Shade is a lesser fae, but he's full-blooded fae nonetheless. This means that he matures at a slightly slower rate than others, but more importantly it renders him effectively ageless and immortal. He is effectively immune to being physically harmed by poisons, disease, or various forms of magical energy. He's also physically much more durable than humans. While he can be harmed physically, such as with weapons or direct magical attacks, he endures these well and, even if he's injured, he can eventually recover from nearly any injury with great speed, and with enough time he will always recover. However, this does not grant him any immunity to pain. He has no immunity to pain at all, so pain is an effective weapon against him. Thanks to his fae nature, Shade is also considerably more agile than a typical human or elf. His ability to move around, squirm through tight spaces, and perform various feats of manual dexterity is beyond the capability of most creatures. He also runs several times faster than is possible for a normal human, and he can dodge projectiles such as arrows with fair ease, catching them with moderate effort. He is also an exceptional leaper, able to move through treetops by jumping from branch to branch just as fast as he can sprint along the ground.

Innate: Fae Mind - Supreme Level

As one of the fae, Shade has an indomitable will and impregnable mind. Mental influence or attack is virtually useless against him unless he chooses to allow it. Unlike many of the greater fae, he has not learned to perform active feats of mentalism, but his mind still remains naturally very strong.

Power: Shapeshifting - Basic Level

Shade cannot fully transform himself, such as into another creature, but he can alter his physical shape into various other humanoid forms. He cannot hold an altered shape indefinitely, as it does take concentration, but he can pass flawlessly (physically, anyway) as a different humanoid of similar mass for extended periods.

Power: Spellcasting - Basic Level

Shade is a gifted natural spell-caster but has little practical training and lacks extensive experience. Most of the time he limits himself to simple cantrips and minor spells of convenience, such as conjuring flames, light, or other basic natural elements. He's also fairly good at spells involving stealth and concealment.

Innate: Strength - Basic Level

Shade has the strength typical of a healthy humanoid in his prime, but it is not enhanced in any special way.

ADVANTAGES

Gear

Shade routinely carries a variety of basic gear, ranging from his supple elven-made "leathers" (actually made of mystic plant fibers) to his throwing daggers, elastic and difficult to damage whip, a variety of common potions that can be thrown at enemies (causing smoke, grogginess, etc.), and other typical adventurer's gear.

Reputation

Shade is widely known as a relic hunter and purveyor of interesting things. In this regard, he has a very strong reputation and is widely regarded as one of the very best. As a result, he seldom has trouble marketing his particular set of skills.

WEAKNESSES

Infamy

Shade is widely known as an infamous thief and mischief-maker. While he's known to be reliable when hired, when he's on his own he's seen as just plain trouble. As a result, he often has to be very careful not to let his renown get in his own way.

Physiology

Shade's physiology is greatly different from that of humans, elves, and other more commonly known creatures. Herbs and other healing contrivances that will help humans, for instance, have no effect on him at all. His body can do some odd and unpredictable things at times in general. For example, sugar can make him exceptionally giddy, and he often craves it like a drug.

Sticky Fingers

Shade is a thief because he just can't resist the allure of shiny things. Sometimes this leads him to undertake bold adventures to discover rare treasures, but just as often it leads him to dip his fingers into someone else's purse. He often doesn't even do this on purpose, but somehow or another he frequently ends up taking things that don't belong to him. Even when Shade manages to control his tendency to steal things that don't belong to him, he's got a nearly insatiable curiosity. This can lead him to explore dark passages or dangerous parts of a forest, to sneak through a goblin camp or to wander into the tower of a sorcerer. The outcome isn't always bad, but it definitely makes his life more complicated.

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