Azura Nightfur

Scars Across Chest

Father: Montaurian (Mont) Nightfur(Deceased)

Azura Nightfur is a 5’11 Snow Leopard Tabaxi Ranger, with a lithe and agile build. Being only 20, he appears young, though holds himself with a more mature posture. His most striking feature is his mismatched eyes, one a deep dark brown, and the other a piercing green with a blue tint. His whiskers are also a distinguishing feature, though they're not as prominent as one would expect, as the tips of his whiskers seem to be burnt off, causing them to be somewhat misshaped.

He wears bandages on his hands, which are stained with blood, and run up to his elbows, concealing scars that tell a story of abuse and enslavement. These bandages serve the dual purpose of hiding his injuries and hiding the transformation that has started to occur as a result of being enslaved by blood hunters. His vest-like coat is made of leather and lined with wool, providing warmth on cold nights, and his buckled pants suggest he was once a bartender or waiter in his past. His shirt is buttoned halfway down, and his collar is popped, giving him a slightly rebellious and nonchalant air.

On his neck, he wears a black bandana with a crescent moon on the front, which he took from his father after his parents were killed. He also carries a pair of hand crossbows on either hip, and curved daggers are attached just under each crossbow, suggesting he is a skilled fighter. The scars on his chest from being whipped are visible through the opening in his vest and shirt, further emphasizing his strength and resilience despite the hardships he's faced.

Overall, Azura's physical appearance conveys a sense of hardship, loss, and hidden strength. His scars, bandages, and weapons suggest that he has been through a lot, and his mismatched eyes and burned whiskers give him a unique and striking appearance.

## History

Azura Nightfur grew up as the son of Montaurian (Dad) and Semeara (Mom) Nightfur. The Nightfurs owned a local tavern and inn called MoonWhiskers just outside of Kalgh's Forge, near the cave entrance. While they weren't necessarily poor, they did have to work to make sure they got business. Montaurian, or those who know him call him "Mont", would often send Azura when he was younger out to handout flyers just outside the city. Often attracting the adventurers who were in and out of the city. Time and time again, he would make his way into the city looking for extra customers to bring to the Inn. Oftentimes causing trouble as he did.

One day, has young Azura was doing his usual routes in the city, he stopped by one of the local busy local taverns and snuck behind the bar. He opened one of the kegs and put a handful of worms into the barrel. He left the bar and headed towards the door. On his way out, a stout and round dwarf with a big, bushy beard that reaches his belly grabbed Azura by the back of neck and held him up to eye height (which was not much higher than Azura himself). He has bright, blue eyes that seem to twinkle with merriment and a ruddy complexion from years of indulging in the tavern's ale. He wears a floppy, pointed hat with a feather in it, a patchwork vest over a stained shirt, and leather boots with curled toes. He opened his mouth to speak and the smell of old ale reached Azuras nose. “That’s quite a trick you pulled Fluff, where ya from?” Azura struggled and tried to get out of his grip, to which the gnome let go. He introduced himself as Gribble Fizzleton, the local ale enthusiast. When Azura heard that, he gave his best sales pitch as he could for the MoonWhiskers. After explaining that he had never really left the city, he said he sounded very intrigued in the tavern Azura spoke of, and also impressed at the lengths Azura went to prove it the best. Just then, a Goliath threw spit out ale just behind the two. He then proceeded to dump his mug onto the counter to reveal the worms squirming all over the bar. Taking that as their quo, Azura and Gribble left and made their way to MoonWhiskers. Since then Gribble has been drunk at MoonWhiskers, except for two days. After Gribble told Mont the story of how he met Azura, Mont was furious with Azura for going into the city and grounded him for a month, but after seeing the decline in business, just let Azura start going back.

When Azura got older, (15) instead of going to the city to pass out flyers, Mont started taking him out to hunt to gather the food for the MoonWhiskers, teaching him how to use a bow and navigate through the mountains. This excited Azura as he always wanted to go hunting with his father. And he enjoyed doing so immensely. On their way back there was a hill right before they reached the inn, and everytime they would come back from hunting, no matter what they caught, Mont would challenge Azura to a race up the hill. Of course Mont beat him every time, but as Azura got older, he eventually beat his father. As Azura got even older, he insisted he would be able to hunt on his own, being 20. Although his father was quite protective, and wouldn't let him, citing the tavern incident from Kalgh’s Forge. This annoyed Azura, but he obeyed. Life went well in the tavern, until one day Mont fell sick. This meant he could not go out and hunt in preparation for the month ahead, and would have to close the kitchen until he felt well, which would lose them a lot of money. Azura knew he could go out and bring back something at least to pass them over till Mont got better. So he went out, taking his own crossbow, but also his fathers.

It had only been a few hours in the mountains. Azura had found some herbs that could be good for seasoning, but nothing too big. Though, it started to get dark so he decided to start heading back to the Inn. It wasn’t long until he had his sights on a big, fat goat. He drew his crossbow and prepared to fire a bolt, when he felt a sharp, warm pain in his torso, and when he looked down he saw a sword going through his side and he passed out.

When he woke up, he saw himself lined up next to other various people from seemingly different backgrounds. Next to him a gnome, and next to him a small female halfling, tied up in the same manner as him. Suddenly a covered man forces a drink down their throat, and it burns like hell as it goes down. Azura couldnt help but to gag, though they wouldn't let him spit it out. As he got it down, he looked to the side and saw both the gnome and the halfling, seemingly passed out, or dead.

He spent the next month as a slave to what he found out to be a blood hunter clan. He doesn’t remember much of his time here as after escaping he blocked much of it out from trauma. Though, he does remember the face that stabbed him, the man had deep dark brown eyes, a slit in his left eyebrow, and a large cut on his bottom lip, almost as if someone tried to cut just his lip off. He also remembers being forced to participate in blood rituals, a power he did not know he even possessed.

After a month Azura escapes; navigating the mountains, using the skills his father taught him. Before he left, he found the tent where his gear was stored and took it back. He could hear the tribe running not far behind him. Making use of his claws to climb the trees, he eventually was able to escape the search party and continued his way back to the Inn. After a long day of traveling through the mountains, he eventually came to a hill; he recognized it as the one him and his father would race on. He mustered up the energy and started running up the hill with everything he could, looking forward to being reunited with his parents. As he got closer to the peak, he noticed smoke rising into the sky, and smelt a horrid burning smell. He ran faster and faster, until he reached the top, and saw the MoonWhiskers completely engulfed in flames, with bodies surrounding the outside.

Azura ran down the hill as fast as he could, tripping on his way down. As he got closer he tried to make out the faces, Gribble was not there, though he recognized a few other regulars; a dwarf and dark elf, among the bodies was one of the tribesman that held him enslaved. As he continued getting closer and scanning more faces, his eyes drifted onto where the door would be, to see his mother and father’s lifeless bodies, with a note “Welcome Home”. He stood at their bodies staring, he took the bandana around his dads neck and put it around his own, and started crying.

After spending time processing what he was seeing, and the situation he was in. He stood up from his parents' bodies, and headed to Kalgh’s Forge. When he got there, he begged for food to get by, when he couldn't get food that way, he resorted to taking what he could without getting caught. Trying to find a familiar face, though he was not able to find anyone he knew, so he mainly kept to himself. After a week of living on the streets, men snatched him and took him to Coughers Town. Claiming he was “Sick”. They stripped him of his gear, and sent him into a quarantined part of the city where he had to fight for his life. He was lucky as he has claws, a natural weapon, though others do not. He was able to find his gear and survive in the zone for a few days… Though he is uncertain of what is to come next.