Cassian O'Daire (Real)

Cassian O'Daire

**Cassian O'Daire** (birth date unknown, aged between 50 - 56) was an assassin employed by Bovark in the 17th of Merend, 388 P.A., working for the Shark Head crime syndicate in Port Dairwane until the 12th of Atrios, 404 P.A. A skilled fencer and sharpshooter, he often combined martial skill with a proficiency in deadly venoms to assassinate his targets, though he could adapt different methods of murder as the situation suited him. When he learned that someone had taken his identity and assassinated Magister Wilhelm Wainstock in his guise, Cassian began investigating this copycat, concluding that the individual was somehow connected to the Shark Head syndicate. While committing a spree of killings, each of his victims being valuable clients of Shark Head, Cassian, remaining anonymous, declared that the kilings would stop until he met the "real" Cassian O'Daire alone. Nix and the rest of the party met Cassian's demands, and in the process, brought the assassin to justice for his countless crimes.

## History

### Shark Head

Little is known of Cassian's history prior to joining Shark Head, despite Bovark's investigation into his past. All that could be determined was that Cassian's name was likely an alias, and that his skills may have been picked up from the Caien Murtos, a cabal of assassins that operates throughout Luxengrand. When Cassian approached Bovark for a position in his gang, the sekolin crime lord thought he had been approached because of his own growing reputation. He now suspects Cassian had been fleeing from some past obligation, and that he came to Shark Head because he had nowhere else to go in order to ply his trade.

Shortly after Cassian was hired, Bovark put him to work training a young half-elf named Valeer, who the sekolin had picked up off the streets in order to run reconnaisance. Cassian took this task seriously, teaching Valeer how to fight with a saber, how to sneak around without being noticed, and how to kill a creature efficiently. He refused to hold back when sparring with Valeer, declaring that an assassin should never hold back when taking a life, and that one shouldn't expect mercy from their would-be victims. When Valeer finally took his first life, Cassian was there to applaud him, awarding the half-elf with his own rapier.

### The Wavebreaker Incident

On the 1st of Atrios, 404 P.A., Cassian, Valeer, Lonzo Grimjaw, Visha Shoreseeker, and Obed Artani were given a job by the collector Jin Alastair to board a merchant vessel known as the Wavebreaker. While aboard, they were to retrieve a silver lantern for Alastair and assassinate the ship's captain, Jirakh Stormblood. Cassian was pleased with the promised reward, but was dissapointed to learn how much Bovark's cut would be after the job's completion.

While not the sole reason for Cassian's decision to leave Shark Head, this job would serve as the tipping point for his and the others' departure from the syndicate. After convincing his peers to join with him, Cassian organized a secret meeting with Alastair, negotiating a new agreement by preying on the collector's paranoia. Rather than kill only Captain Stormblood, Cassian suggested killing the entire crew, using the chaos to fake his group's demise and ideally elude Bovark. With Alastair tripling the reward, the group could likely retire comfortably for the rest of their lives.

Whether by unfortunate circumstance, or, as Cassian suspects, by Valeer's treachery, the job was a bust. Valeer, being discovered and named by one of the crewmates, attracted the attention of the crew, forcing them to flee from the Wavebreaker onto Visha's ship, Scylla's Revenge. After questioning Valeer about what had happened, Cassian slew the young half-elf and convinced Lonzo and Obed to join in, with Visha firing a shot through Valeer's heart. As Cassian watched Obed summon a school of sharks to devour the half-elf's body, he was convinced that Valeer had perished - and frustrated that their plans had completely fallen through.

### Leaving Shark Head

After relaying the news of the group's failure to Alastair and lying about Valeer's demise to Bovark and Moira, Cassian would disappear from Shark Head on the 12th of Atrios, 404 P.A. Though he achieved his goal of severing ties with the syndicate, the assassin was hardly any richer than when he first started. Leaving for parts unknown, the persona of Cassian O'Daire was discarded, and the now-nameless assassin hoped to begin a new life elsewhere.

### Nix's Revenge

The assassin's plans were once again foiled, as news had spread throughout the Republic of Luxengrand of one Cassian O'Daire. According to various news outlets and gossips, such a man had been found in the town of Eldenmarch, where he developed a reputation as a swashbuckling anarchist responsible for assassinating the town's magister, Wilhelm Wainstock. Fearing someone might trace the killing back to him, the assassin began investigating the killing, eventually leading him back to Port Dairwane. Upon learning that Lonzo Grimjaw had also been slain two months earlier, the assassin suspected this person had some connection to the Wavebreaker job, and he began contacting (or, at least, attempted to) Visha Shoreseeker and Obed Artani to probe them for more information.

After briefly infiltrating Shark Head, the assassin learned that Lonzo's killers were associated with Shark Head, further feeding his fear that someone learned what happened on the Wavebreaker. Hiding his identity, the assassin prepared to confront his doppleganger, reaching out to suppliers for tools and poisons, and deciding to put fire under Shark Head's feet by killing their clientele. The assassin had only one demand, which he relayed only to Shark Head: hand over Cassian O'Daire, or the killings would continue.

Nine days passed, in which he nearly slew Marco Castel and Kenshi during a botched operation by Shark Head, as he prepared for this meeting. Kenshi, investigating the assassin's whereabouts to seek revenge for Marco, discovered the assassin's meeting place at the Stenzen Shipyard, but was attacked by the assassin and held captive for later questioning. Later that night, the assassin's demands would be met when Valeer, returned from the dead as the shapeshifting revenant Nix, met him alone at the Shipyard.

Nix demanded answers regarding the circumstances of his demise, to which the assassin, accepting the name Cassian O'Daire once more, obliged. As he answered Nix's questions, Cassian expected an easy kill against his former student, but was shocked to find that his return from the grave had granted him a suite of deadly, supernatural abilities. As Nix held him in his cold grip, Cassian attempted to bargain for his life, offering an alliance to begin a new career as assassins, and telling Nix to look for a man named Cortez in order to find Visha. Nix replied to Cassian's offer by ripping out his throat, claiming his soul and damning the assassin to Nedeker's domain.

## Description

### Appearance

Cassian was a lean, fair-skinned human with shoulder-length black hair and a combed moustache. He wore a set of dark studded leather and a black cloak, which hid various weapons, poison vials, and tools. While moving, he proved light on his feet, barely making a sound even as he strode and leapt around the field of battle.

### Equipment

Cassian used a balanced rapier, a finely-tuned light crossbow, and a pair of daggers, including a Dagger of Venom. He would apply poison to his blades and bolts, ensuring that if his deadly strikes couldn't kill the victim, the venom surely would.

When conventional weapons failed him, Cassian employed a set of potent poisons to disable his targets. While he had access to various poisons, he favored Malice, Essence of Ether, and the Breath of Voldurgh. Besides these, he enjoyed using othur to create deadly fumes by burning them.

**Malice** is a reddish poison which inflicts blindness on its victims while they remain poisoned. It has a sharp, stinging odor reminiscent of infierno peppers from Aztlan.

**Essence of Ether** is a pale gas with a sharp, sweet smell that knocks its victims unconscious when inhaled. While potent enough to induce sleep, it can be overcome with a sudden shock of adrenaline resulting from fear or pain.

**Breath of Voldurgh** is a greenish-yellow gas with a sickly, sour scent. Those who breathe it in suffer extended lethargy, slowing their movements and reaction times.

**Burnt Othur Fumes** emanate from a mixture of toxic herbs, collectively referred to as *othur*, which activate their poisonous properties when burnt (as the name suggests). Even after escaping the cloud of toxins, victims remain subjected to the poison, which can remain in their systems for an extended period of time if left untreated.

### Abilities

While a capable duelist, Cassian preferred to fight from a distance, using the element of suprise to deal debilitating damage to his victims. He employed his crossbow to fire from hidden vantage points, pulling out his rapier only to fend off foes that manged to close the distance on him. In a pinch, he could throw out poison vials that burst in gasses, subjecting targets to a variety of effects as he prepared to turn the tables on them. His agility and cunning, developed from years of training as an assassin, allowed him to nimbly evade and elude targets.

There was a time when Cassian firmly believed that no man or woman could hope to catch him. Ever the professional, no one escaped that could exact revenge against him, and no one could find sufficient evidence against him to bring him to justice. He could never have expected Nix.