Collodi Bonebreaker

"You gotta own your truth, my man~...Life's too short for guilty pleasures! Enjoy it to the fullest!"

## Character Info

### Profession

Adventurer
Mercenary

### Nickname(s)

Cole
Coleslaw (by Clyde Bessemer)

**Collodi Bonebreaker**, also commonly referred to by his nickname **Cole**, is one of the protagonists of Temptation's Ballad. He's the son of Marrow Bonebreaker, captain of the Bonebreaker Mercenary Company in the City of Axia.

In the game, he is referred to as "the liar".

"As son of the legendary mercenary Marrow Bonebreaker, Cole is expected to follow in his father's footsteps despite his diminutive size and lack of strength.

A compulsive and cunning liar, Cole has a talent of worming himself into and out of trouble unscathed.

The same cannot be said of his companions whom he drags along with him."

## Appearance

Cole is a short hyena with light brown fur, and lighter and dark brown markings, and has relatively short and pointy ears. He is quite slenderly built, and wears a dark brown and red loincloth. He's always seen wearing his lute on his back. His dad does not seem to take much notice of the fact that his son is significantly shorter and less muscular than him, believing that Cole is "just a late bloomer", despite him already being 23 years old.

## Personality

Cole is a perceptive and charming individual. He is also very promiscuous, much like every other member of the Bonebreaker Mercenaries. With his charm and his words, Cole can easily get on anyone's good side if he puts his mind to it.

That being said, Cole is also a bit of a scoundrel and a self-proclaimed chronic liar, who is often willing to throw other people under the bus for personal gain or protection. While he is sometimes shown to feel guilty about his constant deception, it can also be argued that this guilt only serves to perpetuate his dishonest behavior, as it prevents him from coming to terms with it.

Despite his deceitful nature, Cole does appear to often have people's best interests in mind, and genuinely cares about others. He has been shown to employ both wholesome and questionable methods to help people in need, and has some degree of compassion for others, allowing himself to be guilted into taking good care of his party members. He has bought into the Bonebreaker Creed wholesale-believing that the mercenaries should take care of their own, and embodies this in his interactions with his party members as he becomes closer to them.

Cole is fairly intelligent, which lends not only to his ability to lay out cunning plans, but also towards enhancing his latent bardic abilities. He is also rather observant and able to reason out oddities that others may miss, all characteristics he has likely taken from Hamish, though Cole himself would refuse to acknowledge this.

As Cole doesn't get much of an opportunity to interact with magic, he very curious about magic of all kinds, often getting excited about it as if he were a young child. Due to his upbringing though, he often tries to hide and repress this curiosity, regularly trying to feign interest whenever he catches himself getting too excited.

Additionally, Cole enjoys playing his lute as a hobby, which Marrow wholeheartedly supports.

## Background

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

Cole grew up wanting to become just like his dad - a brave, powerful warrior who could decimate everyone standing in his path. However, due to an illness in his youth, his body became unusually frail. This side effect eventually came back to haunt him when he went to his first weapons training session with Hamish at the age of 14. He struggled to wield two fairly lightweight hand axes, and attempted to power through his training while putting on a brave face, ultimately resulting in intense injuries which required a visit to the healers. While he recovered, it was there that he was informed that he should avoid such strenuous activity, and that he would never be a warrior like his father, Marrow.

Being the son of the captain of the most revered (and infamous) mercenary company of the city, people have high expectations of him-especially his father, Marrow. Even though he expects Cole to eventually take over the mercenary company, Cole himself does not seem very interested in inheriting it. He puts up a brave face and pretends that he does, eager to please his father-but Hamish sees through this quite early on.

## Abilities

Despite his dad's belief that magic is "the tool for the weak and spineless", Cole draws much of his power from it, as he is very much lacking in physical strength, often stating that he can barely lift an axe. Due to his father's disdain for magic, Cole is often ashamed of his abilities, choosing to either deny them or keep them a secret. In particular, he absolutely refuses to tell his father of his arcane talents, making sure that others who know of his magical abilities are sworn to secrecy.

As a Bard, Cole possesses a range of both supportive and debilitating spells and cantrips, which he can use to buff his allies or manipulate his enemies to his advantage.

Very notably, as Malus has pointed out, Cole seems to be incapable of casting any offensive magic, but his affinity for illusory and deceptive magics are significantly higher than the average bard.

### Spells/Cantrips

* **Minor Illusion** - Cole regularly uses this spell along with [Prestidigitation] to trick people for personal or monetary gain, though he has made use of it in order to help teach Sidd how to read.
* **Prestidigitation** - Cole regularly uses this spell along with [Minor Illusion] to trick people for personal or monetary gain, though he has made use of it in order to calm Artemi down during one of her panic attacks.
* **Bardic Inspiration** - Cole has been most often shown using this ability to boost Sidd's fighting prowess.
* **Charm Person** - Cole charmed Clyde with this ability in order to obtain the obsidian crown that Artemi had lost.
* **Disguise Self** - Cole has used this in a variety of ways, most notably to thwart the cloaked figure's plans and dispel his mass mind control magic.
* **Mage Hand** - Cole has been shown being taught this cantrip by Ilia Shrikewood.
* **Detect Thoughts** - Granted to Cole by Malus as part of his "free trial".
* **Ghostly Gaze** - Granted to Cole by Malus as part of his "free trial". He uses this spell when trying to identify Zelos during their encounter.
* **Detect Magic** - Granted to Cole by Malus as part of his "free trial". He uses this spell when trying to identify Zelos during their encounter.

 Dexterity
 Constitution
 Intelligence
 Wisdom
 Charisma

## Relationships

### Marrow Bonebreaker

Cole admires and looks up to his father as the greatest warrior alive, wanting to be just like him, affectionally referring to him as papa. While this admiration seems like sunshine and roses at a glance, his admiration and desire to make his father happy, coupled with Marrow's overwhelming love and high expectations for his son, has created a severe communication barrier between them; Cole often finds himself unable to be open and honest with his father, as he is deeply afraid of disappointing him.

### Hamish

Cole's relationship with Hamish is quite strained. He refuses to truly acknowledge him as his second father (though that doesn't stop him from poking fun at Hamish for not making more of an effort to tie the knot between him and Marrow, occasionally referring to him as "dad #2", but only jokingly), and responds to much of his advice and guidance with bitterness and spite, most of it undeserved. Despite this, Cole often acknowledges the validity and value of Hamish's statements-though he is *not* happy to do so-and generally feels some guilt or shame following his childish snippy episodes. After the events of Chapter 2, Cole can be seen making an effort to warm up to him during the events of Chapter 3.

### Clyde Bessemer

Cole's childhood friend and ex-lover, Cole was very close with Clyde for quite a number of years until one day breaking up under poor terms. Despite this, however, they still often meet and hook up casually. Cole still seems to feel some fondness for Clyde, but is unwilling to properly communicate with him to reconcile the events of the past.

### Wes

Cole's "favorite city-watch sheriff". Cole regularly makes a hobby of getting captured by him, only to easily escape from jail and keep the pursuit going. He seems to enjoy egging the sheriff on, and annoying him, and makes a sport out of it. He is also acutely aware that Wes is at least slightly attracted to him, as he aggressively flirts with and teases him whenever he gets the chance... though this could have more to do with Cole simply being perpetually horny than anything else.

### Cole's Adventuring Party

As the leader of his little adventuring squad, Cole is generally very protective of his party members, treating them as his own. However, this doesn't stop him from lying or deceiving them when it is convenient for him. As a leader should, Cole often lays out the plans for the party's activities and doles out the responsibilities to each member, taking his leadership position very seriously. Due to his frail constitution and plethora of supportive abilities, he is best suited to being in the backline and casting buffs and debuffs to assist his team. In a direct confrontation, however, he is cunning enough to hold his own, using his illusory spells to confuse the opponent and his trusty lute as a surprise weapon if need be.

### Sidd Shrikewood

Sidd is employed under Cole as one of his lackeys, initially because Cole saw Sidd as gullible and easy to manipulate. Over time, however, their relationship has become closer, with Cole regarding him as more of a faithful companion and rookie to be shown the ropes. Cole is very perceptive of Sidd's insecurities and actively tries to help him get over them when he is able to.

### Artemi Johanna Gautier

While initially Cole generally disregards Artemi, believing her to be merely a bumbling goody-two-shoes, he comes to view her with more respect after their first adventuring foray. Overall, he still believes that Artemi is too rigid, and often tries to get her to loosen up and relax every once in a while. Due to their opposing ideologies, they frequently butt heads, but are otherwise fairly amicable.

### Malus

Originally expecting Malus to simply be a valuable ruby, Cole begrudgingly is obligated to keep Malus (who he has affectionally named Noodle) in his company after the snake creates a soul-link between them, causing any damage and sensations inflicted unto Cole to affect Malus, and vice-versa. Cole views Malus as a pest, particularly when the demon nags at him for experiences from the Material Plane, more than anything else, but occasionally finds times where his demon powers can prove useful for his ends. Due to Malus' lack of persuasiveness, it is generally very easy for Cole to dismiss Malus' advances towards forming a demon pact.

## Trivia

* The lute he always walks around with on his back was a gift that he received from his dad after he came back from a mercenary job.
* As stated by Shirokoi in a podcast interview with DeckerLink (also known as Vivian Jade on YouTube), Cole's full name Collodi is derived from the author of Pinnochio, Carlo Collodi. Notably, Pinnochio was a liar and originally a puppet.