Shakala Blackscale

## History

Shakala is born originally Ix Matoi Rextoi, in a burgeoning tribe of a swampland on the far reaches of the continent of Etera. The culture within his own tribe demands that Rextoi, who is a male, to take up arms in defense of his tribe as a hunter. Growing up alongside his brother, Ix Matel Oberon, Rextoi and Oberon joined his other broodsiblings and tribesmates to learn how to hunt and fight. Such is the way of the tribe of Ix Matel.

As Rextoi matures, something odd happened to him that is considered sacred to his people. Unlike Oberon who is green-grey scaled, his scales started to darken and turn a shade of black, and he also starts to grow small spikes. The warchief and shaman had long held a folklore that an ancient black dragon had mated with the first brood of lizardfolk that had settled here, and with it granted their descendants draconic might to aid them to capture new lands and establish their civilization. The blood had thinned, but it was said that once in a blue moon, a lizardfolk will be born of such power and exhibit the same appearances as their more draconic ancestors. At that point Rextoi had established his unique ferocity and might as a warrior, that he was incorporated into the exclusive Berserker squadron. Coupled with his new change, the warchief granted him the name Shakala, after one of the most ferocious and most primal of the ancestral warriors.

Trouble came not long after the crowning of Names, as neighbouring villages heard of a black, draconic-looking lizardman, and feared the return of the draconic warriors of old, and sent an envoy bearing gifts of spices and treasure, one of them a golden statue. His tribe suspected nothing, and accepted the gifts, only for the statue to unleash its corruption hidden within it. Within just a night, the tribe of Ix Matel flew into a frenzy of murderous rage, killing each other without reason other than pure rage. Shakala and a few of the Berserkers, as well as some of the younger lizardfolks, including his brother Oberon, tried to escape the maddening slaughter of their own kind. The Berserkers find themselves quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number and rage of the older, veteran Berserkers and were quickly mauled and ripped to death, Shakala himself escaping by the scales of his teeth, disappearing into the waters bloodied and heavily scarred. And in that frenzy and confusion, Shakala lost sight of his brother as well.

Now in Babel, Shakala is seeking help to resolve the corruption of his tribe, hoping against all hope that he would be able to save his tribe.

## Appearance

Shakala stands at an impressive 13'9", and has a well-forged, albeit extremely scarred, physique. One might say that he is just a hulking mass of pure muscle and scales. His eyes are red, and glows whenever he enters his bloodrage. Since his evolution (ascension), Shakala grows more draconic in visual, his already thick and jagged black scales growing thick and spikey. His tail toughened and became extremely powerful, with dangerous spines forming from the scales of his tail. His impressive, muscular jaws have thick, under-scales that hides rows of razor sharp, jagged teeth. His arms and legs end in sharp claws, his arms especially strong and bulky. He also grew small horns reminiscent of his black dragon ancestry, curved and menacing, though not strong enough to be used as weapons. His back is slightly hunched, as in most lizardfolk, but along where his spine is, small spines like those on a black dragon grew on his back.

## Personality

Shakala demonstrates admirable restraint for someone considered to be the embodiment of a Berserker. He is pragmatic and rational, and can be reasoned with in general, but finds the more civilized folks' vows and purposeful restraint to be distasteful, stupid at worst. His fury and rage is bottled, but that does not mean he is not prone to outburst of anger at times, especially when he considers one to have gotten it better than what could possibly happen.

Shakala holds the bonds he had made with others very close to his heart, and he does not tolerate betrayal very well, even going out of his way to declare vengeance on the individual that has crossed him. While he welcomes a challenge to test his might, he is not foolish enough to challenge stronger things needlessly. He is also surprisingly sensitive, and unless someone talks about it to him, Shakala usually leaves the individual alone. He views an individual's privacy highly, and would strive to not pry.

## Shakala's Adventures

### Remember Us, Part 1

All over Etera, otherwise happy, stable people have been making hushed reports of an alleged unnatural phenomenon. They inform guardsmen, community leaders, and famous adventurers alike, often being selective about their confidants. They say people who have always been part of their lives- neighbors, town leaders, even occasionally loved ones and children- actually just suddenly appeared overnight. These people, when pressed, do acknowledge memories of these people going back years, but this does not break their delusion; they continue to insist that the individuals are strangers, and that their memories aren't real. Various adventurers have, either of their own curiosity or at the request of locals, gathered to investigate the matter outside the main library and archive of official city documents in Babel... Only to find the door barred from the outside, and a frantic looking man slumped against it.

Shakala and a few adventurers found themselves and each other in front of a library: Smerk, Yoki, and Xalia. At the front door was a half-elven man who seemed to be gravely wounded. After some words telling them not to enter, he just collapsed and ceased to move. While the others were not sure what to do, Shakala noticed a weird, briny smell and decided to take a bite at it, only to find the "man" is not really of muscle, bone and blood, but a messy paste of pink goo. Spitting it out, Shakala felt a bubbling sense of uneasiness at the task ahead. They agreed that based on what they were told about by the people, they would need records to prove some things, which Shakala did not understood at the time due to most of the conversation happening in Common, a language Shakala does not understand.

Upon entering the library, the party finds themselves face to face against an *exact* copy of the half-elf that had died outside. While the others were not keen to do anything, Shakala was more than willing to prove his uneasiness by taking a bite at the man, stopping short when Smerk stopped him. As he did, the "man" transformed into a monstrous creature that Shakala, and he presume would be the same with the others, had never seen before. The creature was quickly dispatched, but the uneasiness within Shakala only ever grew.

Within the library was a large quantity of the same monstrous creature, in some form of humanoid form. Shakala was old that they were looking for records of the citizens and mapping of Babel that would assist them to find out who was or was not around, in hopes of isolating the monsters which, Shakala and the others learnt, are able to implant new memories within the minds of people and masquerade as someone they knew intimately. Shakala could not understand the written languages, so he left Yoki to search for clues of the records. It was not long before Smerk came in contact with a smaller creature in the form of a boy. Without hesitation, Shakala went in for the bite, with Smerk swinging and dispatching the monster. In an instance, the whole ground floor's worth of creatures swarmed the adventurers. Despite the adversity in numbers, they fought hard against the swarm, Smerk taking the brunt of the attacks and knocked unconscious by the sheer damage. Seeing his ally fall, Shakala's rage sparked, and in his fury, he tore through the enemies, and with backup support of Yoki and Xalia, the swarm was quickly dispatched, and Shakala used the only healing potions to resuscitate Smerk.

After Smerk returned from seeking a healer, Yoki found a clue that the records they seek are at the second floor. Upon reaching the second floor, Shakala caught sight of one of the library's table shaking and the tablecloth fluttering. Danger sense flaring, Shakala pulled back the cloth, only to find a ratfolk shaking and on the verge of fainting. Turns out the ratfolk was trapped in the library and was not able to escape. Yoki volunteered to escort the ratfolk out, returning shortly after.

Hastily going to the shelves, they were greeting by two creatures, with one managing to implant the memory of her being a wife to both Shakala and Smerk. While they both were confused about the situation and the situation between them were about to escalate, Xalia quickly dispatched both the creatures, ending the memory, with Shakala and Smerk looking at each other like idiots.

But that was when the real danger showed up.

A large glob of tentacles, eyes and teeth emerged, and Shakala was on the verge of vomitting. That *thing* was outright unnatural, whatever it was. But he knows its dangerous, and must be taken out. With Xalia, Yoki and Smerk, Shakala led the charge and had at it, his rage building and exploding in an escalation of bites, claws, punches and slashes. The battle was tough, but Shakala managed to finally end the creature by a powerful bite. The creature quivers and shakes, and just like the others, became nothing more than a pool of brine-smelling liquid which Shakala was not keen to taste.

With the records in hand, they all left the library and assessed what they had learnt about the creatures they had encountered, and agreed that no one could be trusted, as the monsters could take on the guise of a humanoid. With that, suspicions fell on Smerk and Yoki, as the two that had never left the sight of each other were Xalia and Shakala. In order to prove their veracity, Shakala pointed out the creatures do not bleed as they do, and that prompted a quick stab and bite exchanges to prove that they were the real deal. With fresh blood flowing, they next deduced that they need a safe haven to hide the records, where Smerk offered to bring them to The Haven where he resided. With Yoki's safehouse potentially compromised in that Yoki might have come in contact with one of the creatures, they agreed.

At the same time, Shakala felt his scales itch, and a powerful surge of power expanding within him. It had not manifested yet, but Shakala only felt warmth of the power.....