Shadow

Shadow is a character played by Micah in the Lobster D&D Campaign.

## Background

### Pre-Discovery

Shadow does not remember anything before the party discovered him aside from "Snake-People" running around him. Then one of them grabbed his face and did something to him that made everything go black.

### The Discovery

Shadow was discovered by the party during Session 1 being dragged out of a river by two Bugbears. The group managed to avoid a confrontation with the Bugbears by scaring them off and moved to investigate Shadow's body. As the group did so they realized he was not a Human but was in fact a body made from wood, stone, metal, and wrapped in black cloth and and a cloak all of which seemed to radiate darkness. D picked up his sword which was the only other thing he had. When he did so the sword burst into shadows, a phenomenon exceedingly rare in these lands. For some yet unknown reason it was at this time that Shadow's body started to slowly wake up. As the group tried to figure out what exactly it was they were dealing with Shadow arose. His blue eyes glowed brightly, the only bright thing about him as everything other part of him was covered in darkness. Shadow did not know where he was, who he was, or much of anything really. He effectively has amnesia from his time "asleep" and was immediately confused by this group of people. He was given the name "Shadow" by the party and to show his appreciation he came along to help them.

### Meeting the Party

As Shadow was integrated into the party he began to learn more and more about the world and people. He began to develop a curious personality and a desire to learn about the world. Maze is happy to help teach the construct when he asks questions. He is mostly just wanting to learn about this world, but a fresh set of eyes might just be what some of the group needs.

### Meeting the Town

Shadow coming to town may not have been the best thing. He is immediately stopped by the town guard and accused of being a witch by Thame, who Shadow immediately regards as an idiot. Shadow passes the witch test, one that he does not understand, but is still kept under watch by the Guard Captain. He sort of makes his home the blacksmith shop, as that's where people want to meet and it's a safe place to hide. He hides the skeleton of Hermon there, which hopefully will not cause issues later on. The group disguises Shadow and explores the town, going up to the Duke's house where they are met with a lot of crossbows pointed at them. They eave and go back to the blacksmith's shop.

### Meeting the Golden Cricket

The group follows a lead about possible magic being used and this leads them to a group of people Shadow would later understand to be The Golden Cricket. They are amazed at Shadow's mere existence, and believe they could help him at a later time and invite him back that night. He is officially introduced to the Golden Cricket, but is off-put by their reference to him as an object for study and not a person attending. He ignores it for the sake of learning more about his past but remains suspicious of the group and their motives. He gains the knowledge that he was created for a war that ended over a hundred years ago. Most likely, based on the symbol on his forehead, he was created by the Yuan-ti, the "snake people" he remembers from before he was discovered by the party. While at this meeting he discovers the group is working on a cure for the gold disease or whatever it may be. After warning Behort to not bring harm to the town after he exhibits some questionable behavior, Shadow leaves.

### Sheep Heist

Shadow leaves the meeting to find Maze and begin trying to steal the golden sheep which started this mess. They pick up more and more people, which Shadow believes to be a mistake but doesn't comment on. They are able to sneak into the prison where the sheep is being held, however Shadow cannot lift the sheep as it has become far heavier than it used to be. He steals some golden flies at Maze's request, but when trying to leave something within him grinds and whirs with an awful noise. This is likely an after-effect of trying to pick up the sheep but it is unclear. He is forced to talk to the Guard Captain and shows off his face, letting the Captain know who and what he is. After he leaves he meets up with Maze and Garen, who share very personal information with him regarding the Duke. This makes Shadow angry, and he agrees to plan the "Family Reunion" with the two of them. They go back to the Church where Shadow has an unexpected shut-down and remains unresponsive for much of the next day. Again, likely the result of touching the Sheep but not for certain.

After Shadow wakes up he finds himself in the Shepherdson household with a lot of people, and he is again quite confused. He witnesses Garen's anger, and makes a note of the fact Garen loses control of himself rather easily when angry. It is at this time Shadow begins to feel his body creak and moan in strange ways. The group goes back to the blacksmith shop where they call on a Gnome friend to examine him. The Gnome removes his left arm and tells him that gold has been spreading throughout his gears. The Gnome also climbs inside of Shadow and finds out a lot about the construct. He apparently has another language setting, which Shadow does not really understand as no one explained it to him. He also has something in his right arm, it stopped the gold from spreading but it is a giant needle and vials. No idea what it does at all. For now Shadow keeps his arm off his body to stop the spread, waiting to figure out a cure. He wraps it in cloth and carries it around with him as they find the Golden Cricket once again to cure this gold disease. They cannot as they have run out what they need to make the cure, though apparently the other group was able to completely stop the spread. Regardless after some... persuasion... Behort agrees to make a cure as fast as he can. Shadow also befriends Gracie, a small child who is now with the group and seems fascinated by him. The group heads back to town to wait for a cure.

### Family Reunion

That night Shadow meets up with D at the lake house for another meeting of the Golden Cricket. They are no closer to discovering a cure, though the disease has definitely been stopped by now. Shadow plays games with Gracie, and they just have a good time. Shadow takes time to explore the town after leaving the meeting, being simply amazed by everything. Once morning hits Shadow meets Maze and Garen for breakfast, or rather they eat and he watches while asking questions about the town. On their way back Herman's skeleton bursts out of the blacksmith shop and starts getting dragged down the street by Herman's invisible servant. The town starts getting a bit distraught, but their fires are fueled by May after she can't find Gavin and blames it all on a witch of some kind, which Garen stokes the fire of and starts getting the town people to chant about burning the witch. Maze joins in. Shadow, not wishing to be the center of attention but wishing to be helpful in restoring order goes and picks up Herman's skeleton and hands it to D. The towns people start closing in suddenly on Shadow and D with definite intent to kill, something Shadow has never experienced before. The two of them run as Maze makes a distraction, but Shadow is very shaken up by this. The town forms a mob to go and kill the herbalist for "being a witch" and Shadow is taken back to the blacksmith shop by Maze. She then realizes the Duke's home is unguarded and tells Shadow it's time. He agrees to go and readies himself. They go to the Duke's home to find Garen hugging someone, very unusual. They realize it to be his brother, and Shadow promises that he will be free from the Duke's rule shortly as he draws his sword and enters the home of the Duke. The Duke stands there with his wife and tells Shadow to leave, Shadow does not, the Duke lunges at Shadow and imbeds one of his swords into Shadow's chest. This prompts his wife to say a small prayer to Torm, which causes Shadow to suddenly see something different than before.

Shadow seems to be teleported to another place. A prison where humans are crying out in pain to Torm, begging him to save them. A snakelike voice speaks to Shadow, calling him "Kage" the word that the Golden Cricket was able to decipher from the rune on his forehead. Shadow responds, which surprises the snakelike man as he was not programmed for that. Shadow, feeling his anger for the Yuan-ti grow, lashes out at the man. The man fades away, with Shadow unsure of what just happened. Everything slowly begins to fade to black and Shadow is left alone, calling out the names of the party.

Shadow is suddenly back at the Duke's home, having just decapitated his wife. Shadow is confused, he doesn't remember doing that nor wanting to do that. Maze screams and faints, and Shadow know that what he just apparently did wasn't right he must focus back on the Duke and deal with this afterwards. After a well-fought battle the Duke surrenders to Shadow, who terrified him enough so that he would submit. What happened next further scared this day into Shadow's mind as Garen began to torture the Duke while Maze ran upstairs for something. Shadow was confused, this didn't seem just but rather cruel, and though he tried to stop Garen he couldn't, then Garen informed him that he had just killed Maze's long-lost sister. Shadow felt the world stop, he froze and was suddenly horrified at what he had done. He had killed the most important person in the world to Maze, his best and only true friend. He was suddenly overflowing with emotions that he was never designed to feel. He drops his sword, horrified at himself. As Maze comes back Shadows hears a baby's cries and realizes he is a worse monster than he thought possible. He took away this child's mother, and the child's father was right there being tortured. Garen offered for Maze to kill him, but she couldn't for she was too shaken up by what had just happened. To try and make up for what he did, and so the last thing killed by his blade was not Maze's sister, Shadow offered to kill the Duke. With his final words the Duke tells Shadow, "Torm will surely damn you!" to which Shadow sullenly replied, "I believe he already has." With his death Shadow runs into the woods, and the party follows.

### Post Family Reunion

Shadow goes back to town with Garen and Baldemar. Garen to get his brother and May's sword (and later May) Baldemar to collect his stuff to leave town with the party, and Shadow to get his arm. He returns to Maze and the child before the others and looks sadly at them while Maze ignores him. He sadly looks away and slowly removes the swords the Duke stuck into his body. After doing this he walks further away, both to give Maze and the baby some space and because he cannot take the shame. As he goes far away, he carves into a tree a very rough depiction of Maze's sister. He then carves his symbol, "Kage" above her head. He then sits there and does what he understands to be prayer, just to anyone who is listening but more specifically to Torm. After this he stared at the carving, unable to process or fully comprehend the emotions he was feeling. If he could cry he probably would have.

#### Shadow's Prayer

> *"I am quite new at this, I don't even know if Torm will listen to some-- \*break\* something like me. If you, or another god, is listening to me I need your help. I have messed up, very badly. I killed this poor girl, but I have no memory of doing it. She was innocent and had been hurt by the Duke just like Maze, and I killed her. I hurt Maze, I destroyed the person she valued the most in the entire world. Please, if there is forgiveness for something like me, please let me have it. If there is someplace... beyond this, then I hope that she will rest peacefully. I ask that somehow, Maze will forgive me for what I did to her. But, I do not know if she ever will. Please, forgive me."*
>
>

### The "Party"

Though Shadow would remember none of the events surrounding the party that his group stumbled upon, it is still deemed necessary to records the events here. After the group left Stewton, Garen and Baldemar removed Shadow's remaining arm and wrapped it to his back. Feeling awful and deeply in despair Shadow considered running away, but realizing he had nowhere to go remained with the group at a distance and hidden. As they continued on their way they interacted with some guards from another town and the group realized that there might be repercussions for what they did. However, the meeting went without incident. It was not long after this that the group saw what appeared to be a party in the woods. The group, vastly tired but equally curious, went to investigate. It seemed harmless, yet very off. This caused the baby Cadbury to cry very much, which made Shadow feel worse as this child was an orphan by his hands. The group investigated and mingled, but none more than Shadow. Completely by accident, and due to his high curiosity, Shadow began to make "deals" with various people involved in the festival. By doing this he was able to get the gold infection completely removed from his arms and had them reattached. It was at this point that things went sour, quickly.

As Shadow left where his arms had been reattached he noticed his right hand was missing. As he went back to figure out why it was missing he realized that the deals made had very powerful consequences. A person there had wanted, "A hand in his field" and so that's where Shadow's hand had gone. As the rest of the group began to want to leave Shadow asked them to try and enjoy the festival, this was a part of another deal and having seen the effects of these deals he did not want to not hold up his end of a deal. In the course of this he went to the "Queen" of the festival to thank her and bid her goodbye. Here a storyteller pressed him to tell a story, along with much pressure from the "Queen" and other festival members. Being practically a child and very frustrated, (also believing he might know why these people seemed to know nothing about the world) he told them his story as a way to jog their memory. His hand was taken and shook before he realized what exactly was going on and the storyteller swapped a story with him. All of his memories that he had just given to the storyteller were gone, all of his good ones were gone and replaced by memories of being a princess. With the only memories he really had now being only ones where he betrayed his friends and only knew hardship and sadness he begged for his memories back. But, he needed a story to tell to get them back. So he told the only other story he had, his story of betraying his friends and killing their loved ones. The memories left, replaced with his happy memories. He still knew what he had done, but only as an observer. As if someone else had done it all.

At this point everyone wanted to leave but they discovered they couldn't leave. Something was keeping some of the party from leaving. The group tried to word deals that would allow for everyone to go, but they couldn't. Shadow then tried his hand and was able to make a deal that would let everyone leave, contingent on his owing them a favor at any time the Queen chose. Shadow shook on it, and a mark was seared into his hand. The group was safe, and that's what mattered to Shadow and his damaged memories.

### The Shut Down

After leaving the "Party" the group began to climb the hill to a building they saw. As Shadow began to climb he started to offer May love advice with information from his new memories. Maze became quite angry at Shadow for giving out any advice, but Shadow didn't really understand her anger as he no longer had any connection to having betrayed her. At this point Shadow began seeing things and started to attack imaginary creatures. His body shut down, and the group once again removed his arms as they dragged him up the hill, much to the dislike of Garen and the discomfort of Maze.

When Shadow was shut down he saw many things from his past. They were like dreams or visions, except Warforged do not dream. During the course of this shut down his memories were fixed, though he no longer remembered the Party nor what he had done for the group. He woke up in the room of a monastery, much to his surprise, and began to carefully navigate his way through the complex.

### The Monastery

While at the monastery Shadow spent some time reflecting on life, until his reflections were interrupted by his shame of being around Maze and Cadbury. As the group stayed there some guard approached the place and gave the monks wanted posters of the group, with a very incorrect one drawn of Shadow. As the group tried to figure out what to do Maze and a monk decided to pray, and something they said triggered Shadow's attack mode which had killed Maze's sister. Shadow cried out, yelling "No!" and resisting the urge to attack. He ran away into his room, leaving the group confused though none of them ever questioned him about it. A monk came and talked to Shadow who was scared and hiding in a corner, terrified of himself. The monk helped to calm him down and talked to him about Torm despite Shadow's protests for fear of attacking the monk. He described a Torm that was... different. Not the Torm spoken of by the townspeople. Shadow did not notice it though and simply accepted the advice. He began to attempt to read a book given to him by the monk and found a passage that described a shockingly different version of Torm than the one that he knew from the townspeople. He searched for the monk who wrote this passage and woke him up, asking to talk with him about this. He agreed and they discussed many things. During the course of this Shadow began to confide in the monk his fear of losing control. The monk feared demons were possessing Shadow, which Shadow doubted. The monk insisted on an exorcism to help, which Shadow allowed as it probably couldn't hurt him. The monk then went to bed, and Shadow was immensely suspicious of the two very different depictions of Torm he had heard.

The next morning Shadow found himself surrounded by monks and covered in oil. They did a lot of chanting and praying which confused Shadow, but by the end of it they seemed confident that he would be free of demons. Shadow just felt, strange.

### Leaving the Monastery

The group decided to leave and follow Maze after she had an encounter with Torm. This was made more difficult as suddenly D caught up with the group wanting to offer his help. The group did not trust him, but Shadow and May did once she asked him some questions. D came with the group as they left going where Maze lead them.

When they stopped and Shadow was put on watch due to not needing sleep, the group gave him his arms back in case of attack. No one attacked, but many people woke up with nightmares and Shadow had to figure that out. The next morning Shadow made food as he had when he was first discovered by the group. As the group woke up and had this stew he made he decided to try it himself, and pour some down his mouth. It was through this he found that the kit in his arm had been replaced with cooking tools, which Cadbury immediately started to play with. Shadow found this, fun, and played with Cadbury some. This healed his heart, a little.

## Personality & Traits

### "Amnesia"

Shadow has no memory of who he once was or what kind of life he once lead. He doesn't know why he exists or even who/what created him. He is effectively an amnesiac with the skills of a highly trained killer. He is a blank slate of personality with very little in the way of goals or ideals that he strives for. His only biggest over-arching ambition is to discover more about his past and to learn about this world.

### Goals

He wants to discover who made him, why they made him, and what his purpose is. He believes the "Snake-People" will help him understand that. He also is incredibly curious about this world he has been placed into. With almost childlike wonder he desires to learn all he can.

#### Post Family Reunion

Shadow wants to make things right with Maze and somehow undo what he did. He also wants to keep himself from ever hurting anything or anyone he cares about ever again.

### Values

Shadow is learning about this world as he goes and has no concept of what is right and what is wrong. Anything and everything could be okay. So far the only thing he understands is the value of friendship and protecting those friends. That is the highest order he understands, currently doing anything and everything else is okay. He also really likes his sword, it's his only possession and doesn't want anyone to take it from him again.

### Flaws

He doesn't understand basic ideas of good and evil or right and wrong. He is curious to the point of it being dangerous.

## Relationships

### People

#### D

D was the first person Shadow met. He gave him a name and showed him kindness initially. He was the person who taught him about friendship and initially taught him about the world. However, D very quickly abandoned the group leaving Shadow confused about his friendship and puzzled by D as a character. Shadow doesn't know how to deal with confusion, and therefore doesn't. His interactions with D since then have been brief but confusing and awkward, such as when D sneaked up to him and Shadow became startled and punched him in the chest before the Sheep Heist. Shadow feels awkward around D and doesn't know how to make things less so.

##### Post Family Reunion

Shadow understands D is motivated by wealth more than anything else.

#### Mazeline "Maze" Lumley

Maze seemed initially more cautious and wary of Shadow, generally a wise decision when dealing with strange creatures. Very quickly though she seemed to take a friendlier interest in Shadow and a genuine kindness in helping him explore the world. When D left Shadow needed someone to help him, and Maze quickly seemed up to the task. Maze is perhaps the only person Shadow truly trusts and his understanding of the world around him has been shaped mainly by her. He believes he owes her a great debt, but also values her as a great friend and one of the only people so far who has treated him at all times like an actual person. He would do just about anything for her.

##### Post Family Reunion

Shadow believes he has destroyed the relationship with the only person he considered a true friend. He is distraught over his actions and a great sense of shame weighs upon him whenever he sees Maze or her nephew. Shadow does not know how to fix this, nor how to deal with the pain he feels as a result. He wasn't programmed to feel this way. He is scared to be around Maze, horrified at the thought of what he might do to her. He believes the best thing for now is to stay away from Maze and her nephew, doing his best to make sure no further harm comes to them.

#### Baldemar Wayland

The smith was also part of the initial party which found Shadow. Though he stays a little quieter Shadow does trust him a little bit and seems to value his input. Shadow sees Baldemar as a kind soul and a heroic figure for having been so willing to risk his life saving the Duke. He sees Baldemar does not share the prejudices that many other humans seem to, much like Maze, and Shadow values that. He considers him a friend.

##### Post Family Reunion

Shadow is ashamed to be around Baldemar, but less so than he is around Maze. It is more of a shame that he feels to be around any of the people who called him friend. Baldemar is not on his mind right now, but he may be the only friend Shadow has left.

#### Drusilla "Dru" Sage Whittaker

This woman was also a member of the party who found Shadow, and she was initially very kind to Shadow as well. Shadow considers her a friend, and is also intrigued by her. She's exhibited some strange behavior from time to time, seems to have some vaguely magical knowledge, and has some sort of power over men that apparently comes from her ankles. Shadow is confused by this, and how her power called "flirting" works as it seemed to make the incompetent town's guard do whatever she wanted at the promise of "sex" whatever that may be. As this is one of the few things Maze will not tell him, he will have to ask Dru sometime himself.

#### Garen Warwick

Shadow is quiet around Garen, he doesn't know how Garen will treat him next. He's been rude, dismissive, and mocking of Shadow. Even though he was part of the group who found Shadow, Garen was pushing to leave him behind as if he was an object. However, Maze recently told Shadow that Garen is her friend and also his, so Shadow accepts this and wants to try and be Garen's friend, especially given what he knows now about Garen.

##### Post Family Reunion

Shadow is scared by Garen but not of Garen. The most horrifying thing is probably how little Garen changed his behavior around Shadow. That scares Shadow the most. He does not trust that Garen has anyone's best interests at heart apart from his own, and believes that Garen is a possible liability especially when he gets too emotional. He saw what Garen did just to support May and the chaos that ensued, he saw what Garen did as a result of finding his brother. He is watching Garen to make sure he doesn't continue to step out of line and put people's lives at risk.

#### Gavin Shepherdson

Gavin is the only child Shadow has interacted with. Shadow finds him mostly annoying, and a bit dumb which is really saying something coming from a construct that is practically two-days old. However, Gavin has a kind heart and means well. Therefore, Shadow tolerates him.

#### Dave Sal-trock

Shadow is aware that Dave is scared of him. He understands that Dave thinks Shadow could kill everyone around him at a moments notice. Shadow doesn't appreciate this at all and dislikes this thinking. Dave is nice and seems to mean well but his constant worrying about Shadow being a threat and trying to be an authority over Shadow is not received well. He is not Shadow's friend, despite his kindness.

#### Calan Lato

Shadow is confused by Calan. He taught Shadow about what is right and wrong and what justice means, but much like many others there that night he doesn't seem to totally know what is right and what is wrong and when justice is a good thing and when it is not. He is definitely well-meaning and kind, though Shadow believes that he and Calan serve two different purposes. Calan's is more direct justice, while Shadow's is more indirect.

#### Princess Charity Grace Eleanor Hatfield

Shadow doesn't trust the Princess nor her group. They seem to want knowledge at the cost of everything else. The Princess likes to switch between encouraging Shadow to be autonomous and asking Shadow to do various misdeeds. He understands her value however as she is helping to make an antidote for this golden disease, so he is not quick to toss her aside just yet.

#### Thame, The Incompetent Guard

Shadow enjoys making fun of this guard and pointing out how incompetent he is. He is a great annoyance to Shadow, and to most people, and therefore Shadow believes this is deserved.

#### Duke Vokkika

Broke into his home under false pretenses, seems to be an unkind gentleman.

##### Post Family Reunion

Their relationship status is complicated. He saw himself as alive, Shadow thought otherwise. The Duke and everything connected to him is now a very painful memory, and Shadow even felt guilty ending the Duke's life given what else he did.

#### Malrakus

Shadow is unsure what to think of this character. They've barely interacted, and Shadow isn't entirely certain he doesn't look like his wanted poster. So, he might have teeth.

#### Cordelia Evian

Shadow may have interacted with her once or twice. He doesn't know who she is or that she even exists.

### Groups

#### Yuan-ti

Shadow hates these snake people for what they did to him. If he finds any Yuan-ti he will have no qualms about fighting and killing them.

##### Post Family Reunion

Shadow hates the Yuan-ti even more now, but mostly because they created him. Given the chance he would slaughter every single one of them without a second thought due to the hatred he now has for himself and the monster they created.

#### The Golden Cricket

Shadow recently became a member of this group but he does not trust them. He is staying there because he believes they could be helpful, but nothing more.

#### The Town Guard

Shadow has a complicated relationship with the guard. He is forced to trust the Guard Captain with his identity as a Warforged, but he doesn't want to. He just hopes they stay out of each other's way.

#### The Town of Stewton

They tried him as a Witch and he has been forced to hide among them so they are not scared by him. He doesn't hate them, but he currently is only trying to help their town for the sake of goodness.

##### Post Family Reunion

Shadow never wants to come back. They tried to kill him just because he was there, he now wonders if all people are like this. He may not easily enter any town ever again because of the people of this village.