Sidd Shrikewood

**Sidd Shrikewood** is one of the protagonists of Temptation's Ballad. He's the adoptive son of Ilia and Rennet Shrikewood, who runs the Sparrow's Roost Inn & Tavern, in the Market District of the City of Axia.

In the game, he's referred to as"the Commoner".

"The humble adoptive son of a local innkeeper and cheesemaker, Sidd dreams of one day becoming a famed adventurer.

He has trouble concentrating on menial tasks, which lead him to be fired from multiple jobs and apprenticeships in the past, but he is very hopeful that his current adventuring job with Cole will be what finally sticks.

Sidd admits that he's not exactly the smartest tool in the shed and is rather self-conscious about it, but believes that his incredible natural-born strength is his only redeeming trait."

## Appearance

Sidd is a very tall and well-built badger with light- and dark gray fur, and short ears. He wears a regular white and brown tunic, as well as a pair of dark brown shorts and round, black glasses. Due to his exceeding large stature, he has difficulty finding clothes his size, requiring his mother Ilia to tailor them for him so that they fit correctly. Despite this, they still often end up tightfitting and very revealing, drawing the attention of many male suitors.

## Personality

Sidd is an earnest and gentle character, often eager to do what he can to help out whenever possible. He is also a bit of a nerd, idolizing Marrow Bonebreaker and the Bonebreaker Mercenaries, and generally being very fond of the adventuring lifestyle. His naïve nature leads him to be easily swayed.

Despite his bulky build and intimidating stature, Sidd is very shy and timid. Due to having been bullied in his youth, and his difficulty maintaining a job, he severely lacks self confidence-often times feeling very inadequate or even worthless, despite his parents and party members telling him otherwise. This lends to his desire to help out, as he likes pleasing others. He is shown to be very embarrassed about his parent's doting nature, feeling as though they treat him like a child rather than an adult.

In contrast to his bashful demeanor, Sidd's personality changes pretty notably when he is in the thick of an intense fight, gaining a great deal of confidence, focus and aggression when he is in a full-on battle high. He will generally revert back to his timid self once heat of battle expires.

Sidd is also fiercely loyal, having stated on multiple occasions that he would put his life on the line for Cole and Artemi. This synergizes with his bulky build and high combat prowess, as he is a solid frontline unit that can tank for his companions.

**Significant plot details follow** - peruse at your own risk, lest your game experience be ruined.

Owing to his feelings of inadequacy, Sidd is a very envious person, showing bitterness and jealousy towards Artemi due to her "privileged" upbringing and talents as the chosen one. This jealousy eventually manifests itself in Sidd's treatment of her, as he starts to act in petty and bratty ways towards her, most of said actions being unwarranted.

## Background

Being the son of two birds, Sidd was adopted by his parents. He is described as not having many friends, and has been kicked out of every internship in town thus far by the start of the game. He dreams of becoming an adventurer of legends, to his parent's discomfort, as they are both deeply worried for his safety and are afraid that he may meet a tragic fate while on a dangerous quest.

Despite their concerns, however, they allow him to become an adventurer-but only under the condition that he is able to make new friends around town at the adventurer's guild, and form an official adventuring party with them.

## Abilities

Sidd is a natural-born fighter, possessing exceptional strength and a large build to go along with it. He can hold his own in most 1v1 battles and can carry himself through them with brute force. However, he lacks in any formal combat training, his lack of technique and finesse can hold him back in battle against more experienced fighters. He does not appear to possess any notable magical capabilities to speak of.

His absurd strength allows him to wield the Lanius, a powerful weapon of Clyde's creation. This large, shapeshifting polearm significantly enhances his combat ability, extending his reach and allowing him to deal heavy blows using a variety of shapeshifted weaponry.

After some training with Clyde on how to wield the Lanius, his combat ability is further improved with practical battle training. He is also later shown to have fearsome battle potential when he reaches his peak battle high, capable of showing great ferocity when in the heat of the moment.

 Dexterity
 Constitution
 Intelligence
 Wisdom
 Charisma

## Relationships

### Ilia and Rennet Shrikewood

Although Sidd is not very fond of the way his parents treat him like a child, He deeply loves both of his parents and care about them greatly. One of his goals is to make a proper living and offer his adventuring earnings to his parents so that they (especially his mother), do not have to work as hard to support him. Similarly to Cole with his own dad, Sidd often wonders if his parents are simply buttering him up when they express their support for him, and frequently doubts the sincerity of their positivity.

### Cole's Adventuring Party

Sidd is generally accepted to be positioned as the right hand man to Cole, and acts as the muscle of the party, staying in the front lines and protecting his allies. Due to his shy and innocent nature, he generally goes with the flow and follows whatever the rest of the group thinks is best, believing their opinions to hold more weight and validity than his. As Sidd is the most impartial of the three party members, he also serves to balance out the opposing personalities of Cole and Artemi, keeping interactions between them from getting too heated and rounding out the personalities of the party.

### Collodi Bonebreaker

As Cole is the son of Marrow Bonebreaker, Sidd holds him in very high regards, perhaps even putting him on a pedestal. He has stated several times that he will take care of anything Cole needs and will put his life on the line for him. It is also implied that there is some mutual physical attraction between the two of them.

### Artemi Johanna Gautier

While Sidd initially shows great respect and admiration for Artemi, blushing deeply at her praises and going all out to defend her, this admiration quickly turns to jealousy; particularly after his first training session with Marrow, in which he failed to impress the renowned warrior but Artemi did. Believing that she was simply blessed with all of the talents she has, he scorns her good fortune and avoids her for some time, but they later discuss and reconcile some of those differences at the firefly festival after he is called out by Calder.

### Clyde Bessemer

With the help of Cole's meddling, Clyde trains Sidd to use the Lanius, imparting unto him the knowledge of all the ways the weapon can transform and be wielded. That said, the training sessions are not without more than their fair share of flirting and groping.

### Val

The two share a general sense of respect for each other as warriors, though Val is displeased with Sidd's choice of people to work under.

### Reinier

Owing to an incident which causes Reinier's money to be stolen by Emil due to Sidd's passiveness, Reinier forcibly enlists Sidd into an alliance for the Firefly Festival brawl. They form a fairly competent duo and beat out the competition with their combined strength.

## Trivia

* He has a close friend named Betsy... who is a toad, much to the concern of his parents.