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Inktume Chaotic Good Male Oruli
Level 3 Rogue
Str 12 Dex 19 Con 12 Int 17 Wis 13 Cha 18 Hit Points: 15 Status: Retired The Beginning
Inktume was born twenty years ago in the wilds of the Hanois jungle. The child spent the next few years learning the ways of the tropical forest. He found a friend in a young girl named Merla, and they were almost inseparable. His favorite thing was singing around the campfire late into the night, the aroma of a well-cooked meal filling the air. As time passed it came time for Inktume’s first hunt. He went out with a gathering group and a few other boys coming of age. While he and another youngster were alone, they spotted a hart. Inktume’s sling went long but the other boy struck true. Unfortunately, the creature attacked in defense, killing the other boy. When it came time to answer the tribe’s questions, Inktume explained that he almost saved his tribesman by killing the animal. To this day the oruli doesn't know why he lied, but he does know he appreciated the resulting attention. This was Inktume’s first taste of dishonesty and evil.
On his fourteenth birthday, Inktume finally received permission to court Merla. That night, they made love deep in the jungle for the first time. The next day, Merla began her studies to become a Spirit Shaman in the tribe. Fortunately this overshadowed her discomforts for the next few days.
Inktume resented how everyone assumed he would be the perfect husband. For crying out loud, they were just courting at this point. All he cared about was getting by in life, making a name for himself. Eventually, he even started hating his tribe. In the following weeks, Merla became increasingly distant. When Inktume finally asked her about it, she confided in him that she was with child. She pleaded for him to marry her, but there was no way he would throw his life away. It would be the tribe’s responsibility to rear the child, but Inktume still felt he was too young to explain to the tribe. Leaving a crying girl behind, he decided to run. Away from his love, his child, and the tribe for whom his hatred grew daily. He snuck around the village, stealing whatever he could easily sell, strapped it to his back, and climbed silently off into the wilderness.
By his next birthday, Inktume had made it as far as the farthest outskirts of Cobalt. He was happy living a life near the trusting community, hiding his name, and learning the ways of thievery from the, “Order of Ra’Han,” which was a group that believed in controlling the market by controlling supply and demand. They owned several legitimate shops, and Inktume was one of the ones who simply ensured there would be a need for their latest shipment. It was here he learned the refined social skills and sweet-talking, as his, "day job" was in one of these shops, convincing victims to buy at higher prices. Because of this, he adopted a philosophy of the, “smart thief,” as opposed to most simpletons who took without thought. This is what made him one of the most reliable in the chapter. The young oruli’s conscience eventually started to get the better of him, but he hadn’t yet nearly reached the end of his rope. A small group of travelers, mostly oruli, came to his home one night begging for shelter. As he refused, they explained that an angry band of orcs were right on their tails, clearly wishing to kill them. Inktume, not wanting any trouble, told them to make a run for the town, two miles away. The next morning, he awoke to the smell of burning flesh and fur as the townsfolk were piling and burning the corpses. To make matters worse for Inktume, he recognized one of the bloody faces as Merla. He asked about any young, but was told there were none found.
The Downfall
Inktume’s conscience weighed heavily. But instead of facing his demons, he decided to hide from them in a blaze of anger and thievery. He buried his soul in wealth gained by illegitimate means, and made a run for Hana, where no one would judge him.
Recent History
The rookie thief spent a while trying to adopt the philosophy of the Order of Ra’Han, but found they had already dipped their fingers in the upper tiers of the jungle city. Frustrated by this, he decided to steal, in good humor to him, a trinket from the headquarters of the Order. Before he even made it inside, he overheard plans to sell religious artifacts of his race to some of the local merchant princes. As if he had been slapped back to reality, the oruli’s conscience finally got the better of him. It was time for a trip home.
Inktume made his way in secret, warning the armed tribesmen in time to prepare. Instantly recognized, Inktume decided to confront his departure. After some fancy footwork and a quick donation, Inktume was cleared of his transgressions against the tribe. No one seemed to know about Merla’s end or about their baby. She left on a pilgrimage some time ago in good standing, and was presumed dead.
With his connections to the Order, and his advanced diplomatic skills, his village asked him to stay long enough to convince the order not to take their relics. Unfortunately, Inktume was recognized by a leader of the would-be raiding party, in fact the only one who was not persuaded to leave peacefully. Deciding his soul was worth the risk, he thought nothing of it. He didn’t realize the organizer of that raid, Jandar Vantora, would never forget this invasion of privacy, not to mention was a rather powerful merchant in Hana.
Inktume’s brief slap to reality did not last long enough. The more he thought about Merla’s death and the wrongs of his past, the more he wanted to escape from these dark memories. He confided this to his roommate, who mentioned it in passing to a friend, and eventually it reached the ears of Vantora. The evil man came to Inktume one night offering him peace from his emotional torment and a path to forgiveness from Vantar himself. He explained that he brought with him a creature known as a mind leech, which briefly joined with the host and absorbed all negative feelings, dropping dead to the floor afterwards. Inktume vigorously agreed. That night, the oruli joined with a puppeteer, and lost control of his body.
During the next two years the puppeteer controlled most of Inktume’s actions while his mind looked helplessly through his own eyes. This led to a period of torment as both Vantar and the puppeteer used his skills to gather information about their enemies. Inktume was one of Vantar’s most trusted and depraved lieutenants. The evil leech killed three men during its stay, as well as created six more puppets.
A year ago, Inktume’s affliction was recognized by one Elaine Hasmire, an adventuring mentat expert. In an incredibly painful battle, the puppeteer used its host’s battle prowess while the trapped oruli hoped he would lose. Finally, he did, and Elaine blasted the puppeteer off Inktume’s neck, blood gushing everywhere. She trapped the creature in a jar and gave it to the recently liberated slave, telling him it may be useful when past transgressions come into question. Inktume, not ever having been a truly evil person, now felt more than ever his need to turn to the side of complete good- lest his soul be damned, by his logic. He feels responsible for the actions committed by the evil creature that enslaved him, since he was partially willing to have it attached. Under false pretenses, perhaps, but Inktume should have known Vantar could not be trusted.
His first day of freedom, Inktume went for a walk while he pondered better ways to atone for his time spent in the path of evil. This lasted twelve hours. He watched as a group of thieves mugged a family in their own tent, their few belongings taken as they sat there and watched. With the rampant atrocities occurring in a place like Hana, there needed to be an equalizer. Someone to not just speak up for the commoners, but take back their belongings by force. Inktume believes in good, but believes a paladin’s ways are too strict, and in a land absent of law, it is required to abuse the side of evil as much as they abuse the good. Always being gifted in the arts of stealth and lock picking, Inktume approaches his career with the attitude that he must be better than the best evil thief to do his job effectively. << BACK
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