Tash McKenzie

**Tash McKenzie**, also known as **Captain Skyblade**, is a well-traveled adventurer, explorer, and archeologist from the Dawn Islands.

## History

### Pre-Campaign

Tash Mackenzie’s adventures first started at the age of 9. He was born and raised by Biff and Vitiion McKenzie in a very poor area. When he was 9, some marauders visited his home and killed his mother Vitiion, and he was kidnapped and sold into black market swashbuckling gangs. His father, Biff, would spend the rest of his life searching for his son. McKenzie donned the name “Skyblade” after a swashbuckler named “Leafblade” he had aspired to be.

Eventually in one of his adventurer he met a Tabaxi woman named Miri Ravena. The two went on multiple adventures together, finding priceless artifacts and falling in love. One adventure included McKenzie finding an ancient ring made with diamonds and worth a small fortune. McKenzie had planned on proposing to Miri but unfortunately Miri was kidnapped and sold to the Black Market to become a slave. McKenzie promised himself, all of the money he would earn from his adventures would go to researching and finding Miri. However, with his devotion to the swashbuckler’s it became hard for him to pay off his debts and still have money for finding Miri.

When he was in his late 30s, McKenzie was offered a mission by a mysterious Warforged group of criminals offering the most amount of money he had ever been offered. McKenzie agreed to the mission, which was to save an imprisoned human female named Sheva Delste from a dangerous tribe of Dragonborns. McKenzie was assigned a team of infiltrators to save Sheva from the prison. One of these infiltrators was a Dwarf named Orugg Gleemort who would later become best friends with McKenzie. Ultimately the mission was successful, however the only survivors of the infiltration were McKenzie, Orugg, and Sheva. Since McKenzie saved Sheva, she started falling in love with him, and while reluctant at first, McKenzie gave in and the two married. However, McKenzie would still feel an empty hole in his heart he would never address to Sheva, and that was how much he missed Miri.

Sheva and McKenzie ended up having a child together, who they named Hugo. The three lived at peace, and McKenzie stopped working black market deals and started supporting his family with the earnings he got from saving Sheva. However, the Dragonborns were planning an attack raid to capture back Sheva once and for all, and one dark and stormy night they made their way to McKenzie’s house. The Dragonborns burned their house down, and planned on taking back Sheva. Tash, Sheva, and Hugo ran out into the city but were confronted by the Dragonborns. They fought in a massive and deadly battle, which ended with Sheva being burned and killed. Tash and his son escaped onto a boat, leaving his house, wealth and food behind. The two traveled to Orugg’s place and Tash explained what happened. Orugg was sympathetic and allowed them to stay at his place. Tash decided that the way of the swashbuckler was the only way to get back good money to support him and his son, so he decided to get back to the field while Orugg would watch and raise Hugo in a remote dwarf village. Tash wasn’t present often in Hugo’s life, but the times he was present, Hugo wanted nothing to do with him.

However, his most adventurous story is what most people hear when they hear the name “Skyblade”. When Tash got in his 40s, he went on a mission with a few swashbucklers that involved an ancient underwater city named Tanzark. This city was one that people had been looking for for thousands of years, and was said to contain a lost city of gold. The name Tash McKenzie was heard quite often around the town since he had been doing his best to recruit a team to go underwater and find the city. Tash and Orugg decided to adventure together, since Hugo would be busy in school. They hopped onto a boat to find the underwater city of Tanzark, when suddenly an old man, in his early 70s, walked up to Tash. This man, was his father Biff, who had not stopped looking for his son since he last saw him. The two were grateful to see each other. Biff agreed to journey with Tash to find the lost city Tanzark. Tash spent most of his journey to Tanzark telling Biff all the adventures he had, and how he had raised a son. Tash promised Biff he would get to meet his grandson when the adventure was over. The crew then arrived above Tanzark, took a potion they had gotten from a warlock to allow them to breathe underwater for about 3 hours, and they journeyed down to the city. It was more majestic than they had ever thought it’d be. The entire city was made out of gold, and was completely abandoned, or so they thought. While the crew was retrieving the gold back to the ship, a group of deadly piranhas and sharks swarmed the crew and killed a few members. Luckily, Orugg was on the boat when the attack happened. However Tash, his father, and a few other members were stuck in the city while they fought off the sharks. Tash’s whole crew was killed off except for one halfling named Sion Gravanc. Tash, Biff, and Sion were safe in an underwater room, until they released they were starting to drown; the potion was wearing off.

In a panic, they all three swam upward and didn’t think about the sharks and piranhas. Just in time however, Orugg fired off harpoons from the ship he crafted while they were still underwater. The harpoons killed off the sharks and scared the piranhas away Sion hopped onto the boat first, with Tash just behind him. Biff was still struggling to make it to the top. And Tash dipped his arm underwater to grab Biff’s hand. Biff reached for his son, but in the last moment he drowned. The piranhas were swimming back and they had to go fast. As Biff fell back into the bottom of the sea, he was devoured by the piranhas. A necklace came off of him and floated up to the top where Tash grabbed it as they fled the scene. He opened up a necklace to see a picture of his mother. The crew mourned for Tash, and Tash agreed this was the final adventure he would ever be on. When they made it back to the city, they each divided the money and went on their own separate ways. Tash blamed himself for his Father’s death, and was miserable for years because of it.