Sir Up Ton

Official image of Sir Up Ton, drawn by @grace.pptx on Instagram

Sir Up Ton is a player character for Arc 8 and played by Moose.

## Description

Sir Up Ton is a half Elf, half Bugbear Hexblade Warlock with a giant, flowing beard and a handlebar mustache that is wider than his face. He wears dreads down to about half of his shoulder, and a plethora of rings and bracelets made of gold, silver, or sometimes even wood. His looks are inspired by sudanese tradition.

He is the head of the King's Guard, and thus also the leader of the Royal Army and head of security. As such, he helps out the king and keeps the kingdom safe, but does not always approve of everything the king does. His bedroom is in the same area of the Ember Keep as the private rooms of the royal family, because they like to keep him close.

With his position also comes a seat on the Minor Council, which he got from the previous head of the King's Guard. As such, he joins the death ceremony of King Alaric Eirik in 163 AE, hoping to be able to keep his job. At this point, he is the Minor Council member that has his seat the longest.

His Patreon submitted magic item is the Ring of the Master Key, with which he can open any locks within the Ember Keep.

His sword, a very sharp curved blade, can talk with him in his head, but sometimes, he struggles to actually keep the conversation in his head completely and accidentally mutters some words out loud.

## Backstory

Born and raised an orphan in the pits of Glaceria, Sir Up has travelled through the world and risen through the ranks. On his journey, he has seen places even some adventurers do not get to see. At one point, he also worked as a guard for the Lovejoys, including Penny Lovejoy, with whom he is on good terms again after they had a bit of a fallout after the arrest of Gem Lovejoy.

Around 123 AE, Sir Up became head of the King's Guard, and has been in this position ever since. During that time, he has become kind of an uncle figure for Princess Sybilla Eirik, but with a "bad influence" on her: he allowed her to do the things she wasn't supposed to do, and sometimes even opened doors for her that she shouldn't go through.

## Character Arc

Sir Up is shown to have a very close relationship to Princess Sybilla, who he saw grow up, and to whom he is a bit like an uncle. On the day of her father's death ceremony, he gives her the ring he wore when he applied to become head of the King's Guard as a token of good luck. Additionally, he tells the guards again to make sure she gets whatever she needs, and tells them to be vigilant and available at a moment's notice. Later, when Sybilla greets the guests together with King Alaric, he does his best to fill the silence between them.

Throughout the day, he also improves and re-establishes his relationships with Penny and Helga through pleasant conversation and interest in their respective motivations.

Despite this, he has secret plans himself. As he is getting ready for the day, he poses as a king in his mirror while the sword gives him affirmations. The sword is connected in some way to Alaric dying, and the two of them make plans for Sir Up to get the throne. Later, it is implied more and more that the talking sword is the old King Lucius Pinn.

For most of the ceremony, Sir Up manages to keep up his appearance of the dutiful head of the royal army. However, he regularly assures himself that the army is ready if necessary, and on multiple occasions lets his second in command, Penelope Grayshield, reinforce the security measures that are ready to be activated on a sign from him. At first, he claims that it is just to ensure the safety of everyone involved, but more and more, he lets it show that he is willing to have the guards arrest people to force the transition of power into a direction that suits him. Penelope Grayshield does not resist these orders at all.

Apart from Sybilla, the person most dangerous to his plan is Crigley Jigglesphere, a popular city baron that has good chances of becoming the next monarch should Sybilla not get the vote. At the end of Episode 3, Sir Up casts a Subtle Spell to make Crigley attack the Queen. As Crigley gets arrested, Penny uses her fan to spread the rumour that he tried to kill the entire Major Council, ruining Crigley's name and reputation for ever.

In Episode 5, then, Sir Up opens up about his plans first to Nephila, then to Penny, telling them both that he plans to take his chance and try to become king should the vote not go in favour of the Eiriks. He offers Nephila that they could change the system towards a more just system together, and Penny that she could become his right hand, which she lets him assure her in a contract. He also speaks to the Prime Lord Wizard and assures him that whatever happens, he will keep his position, power, and privileges if Sir Up has a say in it. Nephila tells on him to Jim and Sybilla, warning them about his intentions and that they don't know how far he is willing to go to get the power he wants.

When the time to vote comes, Sir Up Ton refers to Annie Wintersummer's assessment of Sybilla to support his claim that he cannot trust Sybilla anymore, and is unsure how far she would go to get power. He votes against her, but yet, Sybilla becomes the new Queen of Hyranor. As they stand on the balcony to deliver the news to the people of Tyle, Sir Up gives his guards a sign to start the coup. At the same time, he teleports away and closer towards Sybilla, but makes it look as if Nephila had cast a spell on him.

As he arrives at the Prime Lord Wizard's office, where he knows Sybilla to be, Loroy is not there anymore. He tries to offer Sybilla to go into exile together with her family, where they can all be safe. While he does not want to hurt her, his sword does. It contains a fragment of the soul of Lucius Pinn, and this soul fragment tries to take over. Sir Up manages to keep control, but as Sybilla refuses to go into exile, he attacks her with a *Banishing Smite*, banishing her into a demiplane while she is unconscious. Knowing that her allies are not far, he uses *Disguise Self* and *Minor Illusion* as well as his Actor feat to pretend to be her. At the same time, he, hoping that Loroy has devices to listen in on him in the room, tells Loroy again that they can make a deal that is favourable for both of them. As Annie enters the room and teleports behind the desk, she quickly sees through the illusion, though, and traps him with a *Power Word Stun*, which breaks his concentration, meaning that Sybilla reappears in the room and can be healed by Helga. Isadora, angry at him for betraying them, knocks him unconscious, and he is tied up and brought to jail. Annie takes his sword, knowing about its nature, to investigate it further.

In the jail cell, he is able to summon his sword back to him, since it is his pact weapon, and then, after telling Pinn that he will get him back, sends it to a demiplane for the time being, since he doesn't have a plan on how to get out yet.

## Trivia

* "Sir" is his title, "Up" his first name, "Ton" his last name.
* Since he was an orphan, Sir Up Ton chose his last name himself.
* Moose orginially considered making Sir Up a Paladin.
* As the head of the Royal Army, Sir Up is the boss of Sir Mister Person.
* He likes crocheting, but has given up on it because he hasn't got the time.

## Fan Additions

* Playlist made by Moose: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJR8IbYIUd1UsllArDULVe1wmnncyRGj8