Zacharias

Charisma

Zacharias is a ranger from Dark Island, and the unofficial leader of the 12 Heroes.

## Appearance

Zacharias a short teen with shoulder length shaggy black hair and sharp forest green eyes. He always wears his signature black cloak, over his brown woolen tunic, or, as the story progresses, his armour.

## Personality

Zacharias is pragmatic, curious, and initially highly independent and self centred. A wild boy, he has little understanding of the world and how people operate, mentally best equipped to choose a simple and logical path out of danger than taking others into consideration.

Unfortunately, he has been blessed with natural charisma, which causes him to be surrounded by people who are weaker than he is, get in the way and frequently put themselves in danger, mostly because they are with Zacharias. Over time, this causes him to change his ways, and become far more heroic and determined, gradually growing into the position of leadership the other eleven heroes have opened for him. A quiet yet powerful influence on his friends and a master tactician where the need is required.

## Background

Raised by his father Zagorn on a lonely, bloody path of goblin slaying, Zacharias taught himself how to fight and survive alongside a father who feared letting his son see the dangerous world outside the forest.

## Plot

### Save The Princess arc

#### Paul and the twins

Zacharias is found searching the forest with his father for a nest of goblins, his father showing vague interest and pride in Zacharias's abilities whilst still warning him about enlisting outside help with the growing threat, increasing numbers of increasingly sentient beings that appear in a group of around 100, that the pair subsequently have to contend with. Zacharias is effectively useless compared to his father but is smart enough to target those likely to escape, but he is disabled by a sudden headache while fighting the leader, and his father sustains a fatal injury while saving his life. The pair run to the goblin village for a cure, but fail, leaving Zacharias surrounded by enemies.

He next appears struggling out of the forest towards a village, where he is accosted by Paul, who is guarding said village and takes him for a bandit, until he realises that Zacharias is both too injured and too amused by his shiny armour to engage in any banditry. Zacharias brushes him off and attempts to find the village's leader to warn them about the vast horde of goblins that followed him there, but he is distracted by Paul's two twin sisters who persuade him to actively eliminate said horde, which is now outside the gates and endangering their brother. Fighting alongside Paul the swordsman, Terri the hunter and Tina the mage enables them to defeat the goblins.

## Equipment

**Zagorn's Axe:** The doubleaxe of Zacharias's father was enchanted and razor sharp, augmenting Zacharias's abilities considerably, though it broke before he could get any use from its enchantments.

**Zacharias's Axe:** A slightly modified wood chopping tool, yet devastating in the hands of a fighter like Zacharias.

**Kingbreaker:** Zacharias's signature weapon for the majority of the story. This axe was sharp, heavy and enchanted to a much higher quality than his father's axe, using rare metals. In the hands of an unskilled wielder this would be capable of shearing through stone.

**Deathlord Armour:** Constructed by a long dead master blacksmith to serve the general of an undead army, this armour was heavy and intimidating. The height of the wearer reduced the effect somewhat.

**Special Salve:** Zacharias's own invention, made from herbs. It heals wounds incredibly effectively. Nobody is quite sure how. Herschel theorises that Zacharias is subconsciously charging the plants with magic.

## Abilities

**Humanoid Killing:** Zacharias is heavily experienced at killing human shaped targets, under most circumstances requiring only a single blow. Unfortunately this carries with it an inability to injure opponents or spar safely. He gets better.

**Axe Proficiency:** His weapon of choice. Syncs up well with his preferred method of one shot killing.

**Improvised Weaponry:** As a highly skilled fighter, Zacharias is capable of putting up a fight with most weapons and everyday objects he can get his hands on. His small stature makes polearms an undesirable choice, however.

**Stealth:** Zacharias can move through rough terrain almost soundlessly, and hide his presence.

**Hunting, Foraging, and Tracking:** Zacharias is incredibly effective at living off the land, especially in the forests where he grew up. His skill at tracking is often called upon, and at times he is the best source of food for his group.

**Herbalism and Cooking:** Zacharias is very well practiced in the use of plants he finds on the ground. Those which do not have a medicinal effect are usually used in his very tasty cooking. He likes mushrooms.

**Stonebearer:** As the bearer of the golden godstone, Zacharias is marginally harder to kill outright, and occasionally summons discarded weapons.

### Magic

**Enhanced Focus:** By channeling light magic internally, Zacharias grants himself unparalleled accuracy in his movements. This skill was learned instinctively, and he unconsciously activates it whenever he's in a tough fight. When used, his irises glow a clear gold.

**Superior Tactics:** Also a purely instinctive magic form, dark magic control hones Zacharias's deductive reasoning skills when he's in a fight. This adds to his leadership ability, and makes it hard for even skilled foes to keep up with his maneuvers.

#### From Arc 2 onward

**Magic Lore:** After training with Gawain, Zacharias learns to channel his magic more consciously, and extends his natural abilities into fire, water, air, and earth. This enables him to keep up with stronger and stronger opponents as his control grows, and makes him capable of impressive feats of strength in a pinch.

#### From Arc 3 onward

**Light and Dark Magic:** During the events at the Southern Citadel, Zacharias is put under pressure and learns to extend his magical abilities to cast spells, making him even more formidable. His ability to use both light and dark magic is extremely rare, since few humans are as unbiased and innocent as he.

**Light Imbue:** Zacharias can extend the blade of his axe so that it is at least the length of the handle, giving him a very large single edged weapon that outdoes the swords of similar light users like Paul and Samuel because the long handle affords him a lot more leverage and thus power. This is his go to spell in the cases where magic is necessary. He can also use this spell with swords but this is not preferred.

**Light Wave:** Zacharias uses this spell liberally against multiple foes, producing a blinding and incapacitating wave of light energy with great range and speed.

**Dark Imbue:** Zacharias started to use dark imbues when he realised that charging in with a huge gleaming weapon was effective, but incompatible with his fighting style. Blows with a dark imbued weapon deliver a painful magical payload that weakens a foe over time.

**Dark Wave:** A powerful spell, but its short range means that it's only ever used as the last of last resorts, and a rather surprising one at that, especially if the foe is large.

### Weaknesses

**Heights:** Zacharias is afraid of heights. He's also short, so he can't reach things like high shelves.

## Quotes

#### Chapter \*

*Zacharias: It's three on one.*

*Madrass: What?!*

*Zacharias: Three. On. One.*