Yugiri Kamae

Yugiri Kamae

**Yugiri Kamae** (approx. age 20) is a barbarian and monk of the Way of Shadow. Trained from a young age as an assassin, she now plies her trade with the criminal mastermind Orric, running jobs throughout the continent of Rhealis. Armed with a cursed *kama* called Arariel, Yugiri seeks her purpose in life with Orric, struggling not to be consumed by her weapon's rage-inducing magic while employing it against her foes.

## History

### Childhood

Yugiri keeps the details of her life before meeting Orric secret. Her name and fighting style, however, suggest some ties to Tiandai, a once war-torn continent renowned for its dreamlike landscapes to the west of Rhealis across the Markavian Ocean. Whether she hails from that land or from elsewhere is unclear, and Yugiri likely wants to keep it that way to anyone except the people she is closest to.

Growing up, Yugiri faced many hardships, most of them inflicted by her father and mentor, Shen. The young monk never knew her mother, so her upbringing fell squarely on her father's shoulders. From the age of 5, Yugiri trained under the teachings of Yingshe, a great and mystical serpent under which her father's order served. A master of shadows and dealer of death, Yingshe passed its secrets on to a cabal of assassin monks centuries ago, its arts surviving through many generations until finally reaching the master assassin Shen.

Despite being his daughter, Yugiri was shown no mercy from her father; if anything, she was subjected to greater brutality than any of his other students. As a girl, she was made to run grueling obstacle courses, endure the harsh environs of rain and snow, and skirmish with her fellow disciples one after another without rest. Any failure was met with painful punishment, and even when she succeeded, her father would critique her performance and declare his disappointment in her.

Nothing Yugiri accomplished seemed to please Shen. Even after she defeated all of Shen's other disciples at once and killed the weakest of them, the best praise she received was a silent acknowledgment of her success as he awarded Yugiri her own assassin's garb and shadow-serpent tattoo: the mark of a true assassin of the order, a Fang of Yingshe.

### Meeting Amanda

At the age of 17, Yugiri was sent by the Shadowfang Order to assassinate a crime lord encroaching on the Order's territory. She dispatched the crime lord and escaped from his lackeys, but suffered multiple injuries, including a deep slash in the side of her abdomen. The assassin would have bled to death were she not saved by an alchemist named Amanda. As she recovered from her injuries over the course of a week, Yugiri grew close with Amanda, and the two eventually started dating.

After losing contact with her for this week, the Order eventually discovered Yugiri and retrieved her just a block away from the clinic. Knowing her father would never approve of a romantic relationship, Yugiri kept her feelings for Amanda a secret. Luckily for her, Yugiri's new responsibilities allowed her some independence, so she could visit Amanda between jobs.

### Arariel, the Scornblade

Around age 20, Yugiri was tasked with killing an archaeologist that had recovered ancient treasures of the Order, making sure to retrieve these treasures for the Order in the process. The monk managed to infiltrate the archaeologist's office unseen, but was surprised to meet some resistance from her victim. Yugiri had little time to gather the archaeologist's findings before his bodyguards could investigate the noise coming from his office.

As she scrambled to gather these items, Yugiri grasped a vicious-looking *kama* of celestial design, feeling a surge of adrenaline rush through her body as heat raced across her arm. She barely had time to register what was happening to her as the doors to the office burst open and the guards attacked her. Yugiri felt a crossbow bolt sink into her shoulder as her vision turned a vivid red. When she became lucid again, she found herself standing over a ring of massacred bodies, and heard a seemingly-sourceless voice in the back of her head, relishing in the carnage.

Since that day, Yugiri was cursed with a bloodthirsty rage, which would manifest in the heat of battle. Her increasing lack of subtlety and patience frustrated Shen, and she fell into drinking to cope with the voice in her head tormenting her. This ill-temper would eventually lead to her and Amanda breaking up, with the latter unable to tolerate Yugiri's bouts of anger.

### Working for Orric

Seeking a way to end her curse, she separated from the Order and found her way to Orric, a savvy criminal mastermind operating out of Rhealis. Under Orric, Yugiri was put to work acting as protection for him and his crew, discovering a sense of belonging she never felt even in the Order. Her new boss proved a helpful mentor and role model, despite his illegal dealings, while her compatriot, Elvira, was a good source of friendship and fun (when she wasn't getting on Yugiri's nerves).

### Meeting the Party

On the 20th of Sun's Rise, 406 P.A., Yugiri was asked to help Orric with a favor he owed to Bovark, the sekolin crime lord of the Shark Head syndicate. She, along with four other members of her crew, were tasked with delivering a shipment of spices through the Underdark, bringing it to the Wailing Waif Cavern in the city of Whitecliff. Orric gave the team a map intended to guide them safely through the region.

Unfortunately for Yugiri's team, Orric's map was outdated by a few years. Worse still, they had been assigned Mathias Craw, a loudmouth smuggler whose antics attracted the attention of mechanical dwarves belonging to the long-dormant kingdom of Duen-Darro. The team was captured by the dwarves and imprisoned for 3 days, during which time the dwarves tortured and interrogated the group, as well as whisked away their two mages to meet with King Melgir.

On the morning of the 23rd of Sun's Rise, Yugiri was brought before King Melgir, where she met Alix Roston, Elendar Xiloscient, and Ginny. Yugiri was given two choices by King Melgir: help these strangers kill Mettatron the All-Mind in exchange for her and her companions' freedom, or rot in jail with her companions for the rest of their lives. The monk reluctantly agreed, helping the party kill the mad demigod and freeing her allies, Mathias and Dobey, from captivity. Mathias, thinking King Melgir wouldn't understand him speaking Common and wanting to mock his captor before leaving, insulted the king, getting crushed for his churlishness.

After returning from her job, Yugiri has been assigned to work additional jobs along with Shark Head, with Orric effectively loaning her services to Bovark for the foreseeable future.

## Description

### Appearance

Yugiri is dressed in a dark *gi* revealing serpent-pattern tattoos along her arms. She keeps her dark hair short and wild, and hides a deceptive strength and agility in her lithe form.

### Equipment

As a monk, Yugiri travels light, carrying only the bare essentials along with a handful of lightweight weapons. While she has a collection of darts to use against out-of-reach foes, she has plenty of options to make use of Arariel, her cursed *kama*.

#### Arariel

Arariel is a magical *kama*, a farming implement similar to a sickle which has been adapted into a weapon. Unlike most *kama*, Arariel is slightly larger and heavier, distinguishing it from more traditional versions of its kind. The weapon itself is magically enchanted to apply deadlier strikes, but its greatest strength lies in its ability to let its owner retaliate against attacks, granting them advantage in a rapid counterattack.

Yugiri learned later that Arariel is a sentient weapon, whose voice urges her to indulge in acts of violence and anger. She is uncertain of how Arariel came to be or how to purge its influence, but she knows that as long as she remains tied to it, she will never be free of its influence.

### Abilities

As a practitioner of the Way of Shadow, and as a disciple of the Shadowfang Order, Yugiri combines martial discipline with obfuscating spells. Shen's training has made her a capable martial artist, able to harm and disable even armored foes with her bare fists, though she prefers to have a weapon in hand. Yingshe's shadow arts, meanwhile, give her access to spells for infiltration and distraction, letting her produce clouds of shadow and travel between areas of darkness via teleportation.

In addition to this refined training, Yugiri can draw upon a well of rage thanks to Arariel's influence. This rage allows Yugiri to bolster her might, as well as to ignore most physical pain.

## Inter-party Relationships

### Alix

Yugiri and Alix don't seem to get along as friends, despite working well enough together to fight effectively. Alix has difficulty adjusting to her prickly attitude, and Yugiri often mocks Alix whenever he tries to explain the gravity of a situation.

### Elendar

Elendar finds Yugiri exhausting, but seems especially shocked that she and Elvira are acquainted with each other. Yugiri switches between blunt honesty and teasing lies with Elendar, much to the latter's chagrin.

### Ginny

Yugiri and Ginny have had little opportunity to converse with each other, though the valkyrie has grown on Yugiri somewhat. After taking out a pentadrone in a unite strike and working with each other to escape an angry wizard, the two have formed a bond of sorts.

## Out-of-Party Relationships

### Orric

Orric is one of the few people whom Yugiri respects. He demonstrates a fatherly patience towards her, and has even given her instructions on how to handle her anger. Knowing her temper, Orric rarely sends Yugiri out on assassination missions, instead assigning her to protections or stakeouts.

### Elvira

Yugiri has a difficult time keeping up with Elvira's energy and antics, and seems to blame her for being a "bad influence" on some of the other crew members. Even so, her presence seems to make the world a little more colorful, if unpredictable.

## Trivia

* Yugiri's description likely draws inspiration from the champion Akali from Riot Games' *League of Legends*. Akali, formerly known as the "Fist of Shadow," is a ninja and former member of the Kinkou Order, known in her current design for wielding a kama and multiple shuriken, as well as using a smoke cloud to hide herself from enemies.
	+ Yugiri's mentor, Shen, also shares his name with another champion from the same game. In *League of Legends*, Shen is a ninja who wields a steel saber and uses magic to defend himself and his allies from attacks.
* Yugiri appears as an NPC in at least one setting created by her player. In that setting, she works for Orric as his right hand and eventually introduces the party to him, leading to their temporary employment by the crime lord.