Avalon Nightshade

## Description

Nightshade's body is bulky at the shoulders, and because of the long years of training, he has become a hardy Yuan-Ti who is no stranger to physical strength. However, his legs are rather big for his stature, allowing him to move nimbly with his feet. He has snake eyes, which are bright yellow . His dark black hair typically reaches slightly past his eyebrows, and is rather messy as he never really groomed it with a comb. Nightshade would have numerous scars lining across his body, and a notable scar across his left wrist and eye. If his body was exposed, people would see him with a tattoo of a dragon across the torso. The tattoo is magical and of enchanting origin, but is unknown to the public.

**Equipment:**
Nightshade's equipment and gear varies often, but he is rarely found in formal attire for special events. He feels safer being suited in leather and metal, and can be seen as a walking armory. As such, he carries numerous daggers on his person, and at least two primary weapons such as short-medium sized swords. He also will pull out a bow or a crossbow from time to time, depending if he was prepared for the situation. His gear makes it obvious that he is an extremely cautious person, and shows that he does his best to prepare himself for any situation. Nightshade is also somewhat shameful of his Yuan-Ti eyes after he heard his race was considered overly egoistic by many in the Kullinzious lands. ====

## History

Avalon was born in Hlondeth (city of serpents), the Capital where Yuan-Ti creatures could be easily found, it was where they ruled previously to the Calimitous happening. He was born to his father named Ulketu, an Yuan-Ti Battlemage, and his mother known as Ima, a Yuan-Ti alchemist. At birth, he was without the sense of hearing. His parents recognized his handicap, and instead of pitying him, they wanted to prepare him before adulthood. Being isolated in society among his peers, he often found himself in difficulty of meeting expectations. Avalon discovered first hand that the world will not wait for him, and so he fought hard to prove his self-worth. This was when he started to discover his capacity for quick learning, tenacity, visual perception and mimicry, and fervent ambition.

He grew up as the black sheep of his community, but continued to hold emotionally steadfast much thanks to the efforts of his parents. Ulketu and Ima both have agreed to personally teach their child to read, speak, and learn much what there was necessary to know about the world. By the time Avalon became six, they began teaching basic magic to him. While they felt that Avalon's childhood with the community was in shambles, they were determined to give him the skills he needed to grow into a man they could be proud of.

In his wake, a small mercenary group caught Avalon and Ima unaware in their home. As Avalon tried to flee, a mercenary hacked off his left hand and rendered his left eye blind. From the pain and shock, the injured child fell to the floor and began to slowly pass out. Ima burst into the room, injuring one of the attackers before she was quickly injured and overwhelmingly subjugated. Avalon saw that she had turned around, wailing at him. With his vision blurring, he wasn’t too sure what to make out of it. Soon enough, he passed out from the pain.

As Nighthsade barely came to the sharp smell of smoke, he realized his house was burning down. Suddenly, he roared in agony before he turned to see his mutilated forearm covered in third degree burns. The boy understood that he was all alone now, that not even the gods would come to his rescue, as they have already forsaken him long before he was even born. Avalon began to sob in despair, accepting that his time has come, and it was his fate - the fate of the weak to die. Right when he was about to fall into unconsciousness, he remembered his mother shouting at him before she was taken away. But Avalon wasn’t sure what she had said, after all, he couldn’t hear anyth- then it dawned upon him that Ima was not audibly yelling, but mouthing a word that reverberated through his very spirit, “Survive.”

He could not let Ima's and Ulketu's love and effort come to nothing, and so he dragged himself back into life. Unsteadily, but unyielding, he stood despite the pain, and made his way for the kitchen where his mother had placed the restorative reagents. He dug into the medical cabinet, and as quickly as he could, he made for the exit with as many essential potions as he could bring. Avalon coughed violently as he emerged through the smokes of a smoldering ruin, and stumbled his way towards a boulder near the woods. Jorva sat against the large rock, and began searching through the potions. He applied the medicine to his wounds and used his own shirt to cover the large mutilation. He also drank from a vial that Jolina told him about, something to soothe the pain and shock. Then, with a heavy breath and encompassing all of the pain he had endured; mental, emotional, and physical all alike; he roared into the cloudy skies with a satisfying fury he never experienced himself before. Then under all of his curses, he slowly drifted off into sleep.

The Assassin...

Four days later, the boy found himself in a comforting bed under a wooden roof. He had been rescued by the a man, Dealvin. Dealvinhad found the boy lying against a bloodied boulder and returned him to a healthy state. The Sano was filled with regret as he saw Avalon's wounds and his griefs, after having convinced the boy’s parents to live in a land that was going to be ravaged by war. It had also been believed that Ulketu was killed on duty during the war. While Dealvin did not entirely blame himself for not knowing, he still felt a sense of responsibility to take Avalon under his wing.

During the few first months Avalon fell in a state of depression, and hatred festered within him quite violently. He was unusually resentful towards people, having experienced being shunned then almost killed. Avalon became cold and distant, believing that nothing mattered but survival. The child, however, quickly forgave Dealvin and became fond of the assassin, seeing that he was there for him when no one else was. One time, Dealvin brought Avalon with him to the markets. The Assassin taught him how to steal, how to sneak past and how to create an escape route if he was caught. Within the hour, Dealvin rushed back in to only discover that Avalon had been detained for nearly butchering a pickpocket with a dagger, then assaulting a guard after they tried to stop him. They only let the boy go because a thief was stopped, Avalon was but a child at the time, and he was under Dealvin's care.

Some months later, Dealvin hired, Mokato a well renowned surgeon from the continent. He began surgery on the child after bringing Avalon to full health. With mastery of medical knowledge and healing spells he used to help thousands of wounded and the sickly; Mokato replaced Avalon's hand, restored his eye, and for the first time – brought hearing into the boy’s once-deafened ears. Mokato considered this to be one of his greatest accomplishments, although he had left the scars intact due to Avalon's request. It took another two years for Avalon's ears to understand the basics of sound. In the meantime, the boy wasted no time growing up practicing assassination techniques, improving his dexterity and agility with Dealvin's orientation. Avalon was determined to become a strong assassin like Dealvin, so he would be able to destroy the wicked that prey upon those who are weak like himself.

His Master Dealvin wanted the boy to learn that there was more to strength than bloodshed.

Avalon, at age fifteen, began to absorb in Dealvin's teachings. Although Dealvin had grown, he was as tenacious, perceptive, and ambitious as when he was a child. His shrewdness developed with slyness. For four years, Dealvin educated Avalon much of his knowledge, but he has taught the growing man much more of his wisdom. After the years passed, Avalon had already developed into what the society would call a fully grown adult. Mokato had found that Assassination was not Avalon's main talent, but rather his ability to produce results in spite of odds stacked against him.

One day,  while the master and apprentice were out walking on the roads, they were attacked by very particular Kaldra creatures. They enganged in a battle against them, Avalon barely survived the ordeal, and by Avalon's suprise Dealvin was gone.

After a long time going on by himself he adopted a new nickname, of his new found strength and personality, something to distinguish new Avalon from old Avalon... He was now called the Nightshade

### Skills

Infiltration | You are able to assume another identity and infiltrate an enemy’s group without them knowing.

Acrobatics | You are exceptionally balanced and nimble, able to leap and contort effortlessly.

Athletics | You can run like the wind, swim across rivers, and climb cliffs and trees with ease.

## Personality

Nightshade is a man with much inner turmoil. While he appears to be levelheaded, his calm hides a storm. This maelstrom of conflicted feelings have brought him often to indecision, modesty, introversion, and reserve. He frequently intends good for others, even if they are strangers, but he also holds an equal amount of jealousy for them, wishing he was in their place. Nightshade frequently agonize himself even to the smallest of hints and circumstances, thinking that he's at fault for many things. This might have been a habit he developed during childhood when he was shunned by his peers.
Nightshade is slow to trust others, believing that he is fighting alone against the world. However, he feels that there are still good people that make living all worthwhile. While he may be capable of making acquaintances with others, he is without true friends. He made it a priority to find those he can trust, and as of result, he wanders from group to group looking for a place where others might gladly welcome him. Despite his cold and ambitious nature, he has feelings of fondness for home and companionship.
Under his appearance, brewed alongside his humanity of sympathy and hope, lies warped madness. Nightshade had been breeding a monster of himself since he was a child, hoarding the resentment and fury as fuel to feed it. His isolation from society, walking in the dark among laughter, and slowness to trust had brought him to reservation, not opening his ugly side to anyone else. Some people came as a positive influence in his life, but guilt held him away from sharing his burden upon anybody else. He figured no one would care anyways, and if they did, they would not understand. His madness, although rarely seen, can be both a boon and a curse. It was the reason Nightshade was capable of becoming absolutely ruthless, violent, and merciless when necessary. He was not afraid of being drawn into power, but he was concerned about what his potential friends might think of him.