Name: Decimus, Last Scholar of Praetan
Age, Gender: 30, Male
Appearance:
Personality: Decimus is a scholar, he studies and researches incessantly primarily about the creatures of the night. however he is somewhat of a coward, he would much rather avoid combat if possible. in his day to day life Decimus is quiet and reserved, but friendly. his desire to accumulate knowledge about the creatures of night will often have him talking about them, which has earned his share of scorn when most would rather not discuss such a subject.
Backstory: Decimus hails from the country of Pretan, at one time it was a very mighty nation. Decimus lived a fairly uneventful life in the capital city until he was 16 and began to pursue acedemia. he did well, but his family could not pay for the costs of prolonged schooling. to pay for his education he joined the city guard and learned very valuable martial skills. he could fight as well as any other recruit, but his superiours understood that he was a coward and only had him do basic duties such as breaking up bar fights and patrolling the city interior. those patrolling the city walls where the ones that encountered the odd vampire or zombie mob.
over the years, Decimus' education and position in the town watch began to pay off. he began to rise in the ranks becoming a lieutenant of the watch, responsible for the organizing a unit of the watch. this position and several skirmishes against the undead gave Decimus an insatiable desire to understand this enemy. he began to devour literature about the monsters of the night, luckily Praetan had accumulated a great deal of knowledge about such monsters. Decimus perffered studying the undead such as skeletons, vampires or zombies. one night he found an anichient tome about the dreaded lords of the undead, the Lich, and it explained how to kill them. every other tome he read had said they where immortal, however this tome mentioned that every Lich has a Phylactery. A vessel where it keeps its life force and the destruction of the vessel would destroy the lich.
the night after finding this tome, he was called to the wall. the town watch had seen something strange out in the wilds surrounding the city. trails of lights where stretching deep into the forest, nobody was sure what was happening. by morning the lights had disappeared, when soldiers where dispatched to investigate they never returned. this continued for several days. every night there were a few more skirmishes with monsters but not so many as would raise alarm. the lights however began to fill the city with fear. after almost a week it finally happened, the first stones where launched at the city walls. they where under siege by a vast legion of undead. Decimus rallied his troops as best he could but he knew Praetan was lost, the city would fall. Decimus abandoned his post as soon as the legions broke through the walls. he went to the library and took several tomes, including the tome about the Phylactery. he ran from the library with the tomes under his arm. as he left he could see the full extent of the siege, vampires and skeletal knights roaming the streets putting every man, woman, and child to the sword. he began to run looking for a way out of the city, until he heard something shouting orders. Decimus looked back to find out what it was, he looked into the eyes of a Lich who shifted its gaze and shouted to the minions around it,
"The book, get the book!" as the Lich shouted Decimus felt a burning sensation on his chest just below the collar bone. fortunately only zombies heard the Lich and slowly began to lumber after him. he spent an hour evading the undead, but he did manage to get to his watch barracks and collect some gear for his escape. he found that the south gate of the city was open and that citizens where trying to escape. he managed to use his rank and essentially steal a horse from a poor merchant, leaving the merchants supply cart stranded. he ran, galloping away from the city as fast as the horse could go. we watched the refugees get snatched by monsters the road becoming a feeding frenzy. when morning broke the city was only a pillar of smoke behind him. he traveled the entire night and through the rest of the day until he found a tavern. he bought a room and some supplies, once this was done he began to collect himself, beneath his armor he found the rune that marked him. he was being hunted by a lord of the undead.
Equipment:
Spear
Shield
short sword
breast plate & chain mail
several books about monsters (mostly the undead)
Money (not enough to be wealthy but can afford a couple weeks at a good tavern)
Bedroll and tent
flint
food & water for ~4 days
Spyglass
Map
Theme:
Edge of NightOther: i am operating under the assumption that a Lich can raise minions to do its biding, and would be sending out groups of skeletons or zombies to hunt my character rather than doing it himself.
