Eliza VonTrapp

Scoundrel and Hero

Born a street rat in the alleys of Coventine, one would not assume that the young Eliza was destined for greater things. Luckily for the rest of the world, that assumption could not be further from the truth. She spent her formative years moving through several child gangs before she finally made what she thought was the 'big time' when she joined a gang of pirates called the Night Cutlasses. The group hid out on boats at sea which they would quietly dock at night to steal from the town before sailing off by the morning light. Their lack of a land base made them very difficult for authorities to track down and also made it easy for them to move on when things got too hot.

Eliza quickly rose up the ranks of the gang and was respected as one of the highest skilled members in the group. Nothing seemed secure enough to stop her. That's of course until there was. On one job, she broke into a wealthy home when she encountered a magical trap that froze her in her tracks. An alarm alerted the home's owner as she stood paralyzed in place, both parts annoyed and embarrassed that she had been caught. Within moments an old mage appeared and looked the young thief over before tying her up and asking her some questions.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Eliza," she replied, unable to do otherwise.

"Have you ever killed anyone?" the mage further inquired.

"No," was all Eliza could say.

"Would you like to go to jail or work for me?" the mage asked his third and final question.

Eliza paused for a moment, but working for the mage seemed the obvious choice so she agreed. The moment she agreed, the mage cast a geas upon her that would forever affect her life: "You must use your skills to do one act of true good, every day."

With that, she was released and told she was free to go. At first, she thought the mage was a fool, letting her off easy. But she soon found out that the geas was no joke. A day passed and she did not do as the mage had requested. Searing pain surged through her brain that hurt so bad she thought she might die. Once she recovered, she got started trying to do as the mage had asked her by returning something she had stolen. She snuck into a home and instead of taking something, she slipped a pouch of money back where she got it. Out of curiosity, she quietly watched over the home from the shadows to see how the people there would react. It turned out that the money she had taken was the family's rent money and they were about to be evicted without it. Thanks to its return, they were able to stay in their home and they prayed thanks to their god.

Eliza thought back on all the places she had robbed and wondered how many she had harmed over the years. She couldn't feasibly give back everything as she didn't have it all or remember where she got everything even if she did. So, she decided to leave the Night Cutlasses and secretly help people. At first, she was worried about how she would feed herself by doing the right thing, but she soon found that in doing the right thing, people were generous in return. She was given food and a warm bed as thanks, and it was refreshing to not have to worry about the town guard arresting her at any moment. As she matured, her schemes to do good got more complex until she got the attention of Saylin Borolie, and joined his band of heroes. The group travelled the world slaying dragons, stopping wars, and protecting the weak from those who would exploit them. Their one white whale was a demon named Daggos the Untamed. Daggos was a powerful demon who delighted in pitting kingdoms against one another then selling weapons to both sides. Among the weapons were special cursed weapons that would force the souls of any who was killed by one to go to the abyss and become one of the lowly demons there. Whenever the group would hear word of the demon, they would try to find and confront him, but each time he would slip through their fingers.

Finally, they managed to confront the demon and did battle with it. The group managed to banish it back to the abyss, but not without casualty. Their leader Saylin was slain in the conflict. Between the loss of their leader and finally slaying their most dangerous foe, the group decided it was time to settle down and make way for the next generation of heroes to step up. Thus, Eliza and the remaining 3 heroes formed the Academy of Heroism.