Nakamura "Stroke" Runin

Nakamura Runin, usually known by her handle "Stroke", or by the nickname "Rin" for those who she considers close or trusted friends, is one of the Protagonists of MONOLITH. She is a street ganger and former member of the Chalice Club before they dissolved, and is currently a member of Diamant's Crew. "Nakamura Runin" is known to not be her real name, but her birth name is unknown. Stroke is a skilled martial artist, marksman, and cagefighter. She is currently the temporary leader of the Tartarus Crew while AM is taking a leave of absence. Mechanically, she is a Sopratonian Hitman.

## Nakamura Runin

Official Character Portrait (AI Generated)

## Stats

### REA

5
5
9
9

### CLN

9
5
6
4

## Contacts

### Aliases

Stroke (street handle)
Rin (friendly nickname)

### Family

Unnamed (mother, deceased)
Unnamed (father, deceased)
AM (adoptive father)

### Friends

Lismohr "Red" Omalog (best friend)
Ava "4VA" O'Sean (friend)
Farrah "Ringer" Silverlock (friend)
Diana "Diamant" Bernhardson (frenemy)

### Contacts

Soot Zariel (crew member)
Euphemia "Stitches" Silversmith (sector)
Mya "Auntie" Li (sector)
Arandyl "Peppermint" Peyzazh (sector)
Erlareo "Candlewax" Peyzazh (sector)

### Factions

Chalice Club (formerly)
Tartarus Crew (temporary leader)
Diamant's Crew (member)

## Biography

### Languages

Common, Shou, Thieves' Cant, Elvish, Goblinish, and Midcommon

## Campaign

### First Appearance

ARTIFICIAL HEART // PRELUDE

*NOTE: Nakamura Runin is a character with a Sopratonian metavariant. These cultures place the family name (Nakamura) first, and the given name (Runin) second.*

## History

### Before the events of MONOLITH

Little is known about Stroke's childhood, but she has mentioned to Ringer that she is an orphan and has mentioned to the party that she has been working for AM and living at the Tartarus Club since she was at least twelve years old.

Stroke was a member of the Chalice Club, a sector of Wastehunters that were one of the gangs under the Cobalt Serpents umbrella, and operated out of the Kormanov Warehouse. Her crew was slaughtered on the 15th of Ickasha, 2465, by unknown assailants whose affiliation and motivations are currently unknown. Stroke was the only survivor, and was arrested by E-SEC to be held for questioning. Curiously, however, according to Rebekah Joshi, the questioning records were thrown out and she was kept incarcerated without a trial or even charges for nearly 6 months. This incident is now believed to be a much larger part of a corporate conspiracy involving New Evolution Corp, Empyrean Security, and maybe even AutoDoc. According to Wakakoa Wright, Stroke was one of fifteen prisoners held in a "strange" manner and supposedly experimented upon.

### ARTIFICIAL HEART

Stroke was identified as the survivor by Ringer, and was visited by the group in order to try and learn more about the massacre. While she didn't know a ton of information, the group resolved to free her from the facility regardless, as both a favor to Rebekah and because they didn't like her being locked up without charges. She was being escorted back to a safehouse by the group before the 2466 AutoDoc Bombing. She offered to bring the group back to her safehouse, where they met her friends who worked out of the Tartarus club. While the group was nervous, Stroke insisted it was alright, being a friend of Red and referring to AM, who had scared the group quite a bit, as a father figure. When the rest of the group eventually left, she remained at Tartarus to make money doing cagefights.

The next day, Stroke went with the rest of the party to the cafe, where they found Director Silvers holding Stitches' friends hostage. When Silvers leaves the cafe, Stroke, Peppermint, and Stitches run after him. They are met by a group of PCAs who aim their guns at the party, and a chase ensues, with the party getting away. That night, the party goes to the docks to attempt to find Silvers again. They board Diamant's helicopter. They find a large yacht that appears to be connected to the PCAs they saw earlier, and Stroke shoots at a dwarf who has an anti-aircraft gun. Stroke is injured in the ensuing firefight, rendering her cybernetic arm useless. Afterwards, Stroke returns to the Tartarus Club. The next day, she speaks with Ringer about what happened to the Chalice Club and the two go to the Ballrooms district to steal from casino-goers.

After the second AutoDoc bombing, Stroke reunited with the group at Ringer's house in the Oldwood Reservation. There, she met Erlareo, who asked the group to help him find the Elysian Charm. The group debated how they should handle this, and Diamant resolved that they first needed to fix Stroke's arm. Diamant took her to her Ripperdoc in the ELITE district. Stroke was notably nervous during the surgery but refused anesthesia. It ended up costing Diamant a considerable amount of credits which Stroke agreed to pay back. Afterwards, they headed to the bombed AutoDoc office, where they found a group of Drow inside surrounding the amulet. The party, with Stroke playing a key role in recovering the amulet, recovered the amulet and fled the building with an injured Anthony Silvers.

After escaping the building, Stroke took the party back to Tartarus, where they met with AM. Upon seeing Stroke, he gave her a hug, which Stroke seemed shocked about. He agreed to fix the amulet but said he needed two weeks away to do it. He left Stroke in charge of Tartarus for these two weeks and then left. The next morning, Tartarus was attacked by a large group of Drow, who the party defeated quickly.

Stroke spent that day with the party and her friends at Tartarus, trying to be in charge of the club and help the party recover. When speaking to Anthony Silvers, they discovered that Warden Wakakoa Wright had told Anthony Silvers about her situation at Arcanum Northside. Silvers reported that Wright had told him that he was in trouble with the New Evolution Corp for releasing a woman who had assassinated one of their major shareholders, Makina Yuri. Stroke told Diamant afterwards that she had never heard of Makina Yuri, nor had she killed her. Curiously, Makina Yuri's death was not reported as a homicide and she had never been accused of or linked to the crime. After interrogating Silvers, Stroke spent time with the party and members of the Tartarus Crew. Notably, she had an emotional conversation with Ringer, revealing that her parents had died when she was young in response to Ringer's story.

While the party was in HELL, Stroke played an instrumental role in the fight against Merlekka and against the Gore Ooze. She attempted to offer comfort to Peppermint after Erlareo died, but it was not well-received. Afterwards, Diamant leaving her in charge, she led the party into HELL. Later, seeing Ringer distraught, she offered her Sid, which made her condition significantly worse. This led to a blow-up fight with Diamant, leaving both of them angry and in bad straits. While the party was gathering information in the city of HELL itself, Stroke accompanied Ringer to the Purple Serpent and then later went with Stitches to the converted temple, making friends with some local Wastehunters. She performed surveillance on the Purple Serpent nightclub with Ringer. Afterwards, she slipped in with Ringer and Azat in the middle of the night, successfully rescuing Anthony Silvers' family and returning them to him.

After the party's trip to HELL, Stroke spent some time with the people at the Tartarus Club before meeting up with Diamant. The two made up and resolved to go speak to Warden Wakakoa Wright at his house. When they went there and spoke with him, the two learned that Stroke had not been the only person wrongfully imprisoned and, in fact, that there were fifteen other people like her. Wakakoa Wright told them that he believed Stroke had been experimented on, which sent her into a spiral. After speaking with Stitches and being told there was nothing wrong with her, Stroke went back to the Tartarus Club. The rest of the party would eventually join her there as they were forced to go into hiding after E-SEC put out warrants for their arrest.

## Biological Information

Stroke is a Sopratonian, the traditional Human metavariant from the Sopraton Plains, and has similar features to match, with rounded ears, narrow gray eyes, light-caramel skin, and seemingly dyed ash gray short hair. Stroke stands at an impressive 6' 2". She has her hair combed over to cover her right eye. Both her left eye and right arm have been replaced with cybernetic parts. She is 23 years old.

## Powers and Gear

### Traits

* **Social Anxiety** - Stroke takes a -4 Hit Penalty to Composure Tests against those not in her Contacts.
* **Fade to Black** - Allows Stroke to make a Sneak Check at any point during combat, even if there are creatures looking at her.
* **Jinxed** - Stroke scores a Critical Success when she rolls a number of Hits equal to her Dice Pool, instead of a number exceeding it. On the flipside, rolling 1 Hit is considered a Glitch, rather than just 0 Hits.

### Perks

* **Sneak Attack I** - Stroke gains double damage on attacks against creatures who are unaware of her presence.
* **Second Wind** - Once per Rest, Stroke can instantly regain 10 Stamina as a Free Action.
* **Killshot** - Once per Rest, Stroke can choose to automatically succeed on an Attack, instead of having to roll.

### Spells

* Stroke has stated that she has no magical abilities or any idea how magic even works.

### Gear

* **Cybernetic Arm w/ Integrated Riot Gun** - Stroke has a chrome colored artificial right arm, which has a large gun integrated into the side.
* **Cybernetic Eye w/ Smartlink and Ocular Drone** - Stroke has an artificial left eye, which can be taken out of her skull and used as a flying drone with a camera that transmits to her eyesight.
* **MustangArms Crossfire** - Energy pistol.

## Trivia

* Stroke's blood type is AB-, confirmed using Auntie's Olfactory Booster.
* Stroke has a severe phobia of needles.