Hamish

"Become irreplaceable; never give them a reason to leave"

**Hamish** is a supporting character in Temptation's Ballad. He's in a committed relationship with Marrow Bonebreaker and a lieutenant of the Bonebreaker Mercenary Company located in the Marauder's District of the City of Axia.

*"Become irreplaceable; never give them a reason to leave."*

"Hamish began life as the humble son of a hunter and a scullery maid.

From a young age, he was trained in the art of hunting and tracking by his father and brought home quality meats and pelts to support his family.

His home life was a modest, but happy one.

When tragedy struck and Hamish found himself alone in the world, he was taken in by Marrow Bonebreaker and served as his right-hand man.

Soon after, a romance blossomed between them and these two hyenas have since become inseparable.

Despite the man's stern exterior, Hamish is rather sensitive and prone to crying.

It is a habit that he has learned to curtail over the years, especially in the presence of their son, but it occasionally resurfaces behind closed doors.

Marrow thinks it's adorably sweet while Hamish threatens to make Marrow sleep on the couch the next time he calls his crying spouts "cute"."

## Appearance

Hamish is a relatively tall and toned spotted hyena with brown/gray-ish fur and dark brown spots, and relatively short and pointy ears with a wound on his left ear. He wears a blue jockstrap, a blue, ripped cloak of holding and dark blue pants. Hamish has purple eyes.

## Personality

As Marrow's Foil, Hamish presents himself as a very calm and collected individual. He often acts as the voice of reason when things are getting out of hand in the Mercenary Company, and will point out details or key facts about situations that others either have missed or are trying to ignore in order to talk sense into them.

His sensitivity betrays his otherwise cool-headed exterior. In the past, it has been pointed out that Hamish was a very emotional individual, prone to crying for transgressions as minor as a dirty look. While he no longer sheds tears quite as readily-perhaps due to Marrow's influence, he is still as delicate as ever, and this can be clearly observed in his facial expressions when he is called out or put on blast.

## Background

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

Hamish's father was a hunter and his mother was a maid, and he grew up learning his father's trade, hunting and procuring meat to provide for his family. Despite their seemingly happy life, his mother always seemed to regard him with a distant look, instilling in the young hyena the sense that he was never good enough for her affections.

One night, in a hunt to procure food for the winter, Hamish's father was felled before his very eyes. To make matters worse, Hamish returned alone to his home, only to find it burned down into rubble.

In a desperate pursuit to find his mother, Hamish spent months searching the city to find her, only to discover that she had found another husband and had a child who she sincerely loved. The shock of this revelation shook him to his core, shattering the remnants of his self-confidence.

Several days later, while plotting to take his own life, he meets Marrow, formerly named Merrick. Merrick distracts him from his despair by provisioning his assistance with the task he was assigned by his own father. The kindness that Merrick shows Hamish allows him to finally begin processing his grief from the traumatic experience he has experienced, and he cries messy tears in front of him. Sometime thereafter, they fall in love.

## Abilities

Specced into two very agile classes, Hamish is a swift and dexterous combatant whose specialty is weaving in and out of combat and laying traps for the enemy. Due to his history, he has both connections with the higher authorities and the underworld, and is able to use them to great affect to gather information and resources from anywhere. His greatest weapon is probably the pool of knowledge he is able to draw from, and his ability to strategize and execute on optimized battle plans.

Hamish is also capable of using magic, as evidenced in his fight with Zelos. With his clever tactics and resourcefulness, he is able to maximize the effectiveness of his magic, even if they may not possess immediately noticeable offensive capabilities. He is said to have learned magic some years after his first meeting with Marrow.

### Spells/Cantrips

* **Hail of Thorns** - Hamish uses this in conjunction with aetherically charged wires to lay a web of wires to limit Zelos' movement during his one on one encounter with her. Hamish's [Hail of Thorns] appear to be ice-aspected.
* **Longstrider** - By using it to kick a restrained Zelos, Hamish manages to convert what would ordinarily be a spell used for movement into a powerful offensive strike.

 Dexterity
 Constitution
 Intelligence
 Wisdom
 Charisma

## Relationships

### Bonebreaker Mercenary Company

Hamish acts as the second in command in the Bonebreaker Guild. Where Marrow can be found running off into battle and doing his own thing, Hamish can be found cleaning up after him and taking care of all of the logistics involved with running the guild. He is often seen taking care of required paperwork and meeting up with important individuals to make sure everything is in order with the Company. In recounted tales, he is a backline saboteur, laying traps for the enemy to give the Bonebreakers an advantage. Those who have fought against the Bonebreakers have testified that Hamish's contributions were what truly made the Mercenary squad a menace, as his network of traps gave the Marrow and the other mercenaries many opportunities to launch continued assaults on a disoriented and weakened opponent.

### Marrow Bonebreaker

In public interactions, Hamish puts on airs with Marrow, regularly appearing exasperated with his antics. However, it is clear that Hamish truly does love Marrow, as faint smiles will often shine through his fake grimaces-It is likely that his attitude towards Marrow is to make sure he stays in line and presents himself properly as the mercenary leader, though he has been shown to be genuinely irritated with his wanton destruction and disregard for his and other's prior commitments, as he is often the one responsible for dealing with the consequences of his haphazard behavior.

Deep down inside, Hamish retains a biting fear that someday, Marrow may abandon him like the others in his life once had. Hamish keeps his own magical abilities a secret from him as a result.

### Collodi Bonebreaker

Hamish is stern with Cole, often pulling him aside to lecture him and correct his behavior. However, he does this from a place of love and in fact, deeply cares about Cole, whom he considers his son. He is readily willing to assist him and set him on the right path, despite Cole's bratty attitude and frequent tongue lashings in response. His conviction to continue being there for Cole despite his verbal abuse and Hamish's own sensitivities stands as a testament to his compassion.

Their relationship appears to mend following the events of Marrow's talk with Cole and Zelos' attack, but it once again tears at the seams after an argument where in Cole calls out Hamish's hypocrisy for urging him to confess his ability to use magic to Marrow while hiding his own latent spellcasting ability.

### House O'Shannessy

Hamish is stated to have worked under House O'Shannessy for a brief period of time, though the nature of his work remains a mystery. More generally, however, he does shares Marrow's disposition of not liking nobles.