Alix Roston

Alix "The Tinkerer" Roston

### Affiliation

Sentinel School of Artifice (on academic probation), Shark Head (member), Whitecliff University (ally, consultant)

## Physical description

### Eye color

Hazel

**Alix "The Tinkerer" Roston** is a human artificer (born 386 P.A.) from the city of Sentinel, in the Republic of Luxengrand. At 20 years old, Alix is a gifted inventor, demonstrating proficiency with multiple tools that allow him to construct a variety of weapons. He is accompanied by a mechanical construct, which he refers to as the "Brass Defender."

## History

### Childhood

Alix grew up on the streets of Sentinel, a city renowned for mining and metalworking and credited as the home of the lightning train, the first locomotive designed by humans in Kaldaran. From a young age, Alix possessed a talent for invention, finding broken trinkets strewn on the streets and scattered among piles of trash. At the age of 8, his talent was recognized by a professor from the Sentinel School of Artifice, who spotted the young tinkerer working on a small toy. The professor chose to sponsor Alix, giving him room and board at the school itself.

### Sentinel School of Artifice

Alix was a natural inventor, displaying a keen understanding of mechanisms and a quick grasp of new information. His rapid progress through the school, as well as his success in personal projects, earned him the admiration of students and professors alike. This constant praise likely influenced his behavior later in school.

At 12 years old, Alix showed signs of rebellious conduct, occasionally going beyond the parameters of assignments given by his professors. This would escalate into minor pranks involving small acts of vandalism, often to the detriment of school faculty. By 15, he had begun skipping classes and fell in with a small group of troublemakers, all of them fellow students at the school. Alix's actions were tolerated by his professor, who excused the young students' behavior as "boys being boys."

At 18, Alix had used up his professor's goodwill when, inebriated on a bottle of Devil's Lot Liquor, he crashed his Brass Defender through the dean's office wall. This incident led to his indefinite academic probation, banning him from the school. Since then, Alix has traveled across Kaldaran, seeking to prove himself as an artificer surpassing the skills of his instructors.

### Joining the Party

Alix encountered the party at the age of 20, after earning a license from the Luxengrand Adventurer's Guild. At the time, the party consisted of Elendar, Ginny, and Nix. They underwent a handful of basic missions for several months, including activities such as escorting civilians, clearing out dangerous creatures, and exploring caverns and ruins. For Alix, such hands-on activities were already proving more rewarding and exciting than the courses at his old school. Out in the field, he now had a way to test the capabilities of his Brass Defender, as well as the utility of his infusions in exploring dangerous locales. Besides these, Alix also had a new source of income, as he quickly learned how much money folks are willing to spend to send other people to solve their problems, allowing him to make more money in a week than he ever made in a year at school.

## Description

**Race:** Human (Variant)

**Class:** Artificer, Battle Smith

### Appearance

Alix is a young man with brown hair, light skin, and fair features. He wears a long, brown coat with interior pockets fashioned to serve as a *bag of holding*, and a pair of spectacles, which have been augmented to serve as *goggles of night*, allowing him limited darkvision. He carries a flintlock pistol at his side, as well as a magical magnum revolver known as the *Dragoon*, which he reclaimed from the Brewer District Laboratory. Due to his history with alcoholism, his clothes have a faint smell of booze.

He is accompanied by a construct he refers to as the Brass Defender, which assists him in daily tasks and in battle. Alix built the defender during his time at the Sentinel School of Artifice, and has refined it over the years. The defender is constructed from various metals (primarily brass), and animated using artifice magic. It resembles a humanoid creature wearing a military uniform, including a tall shako cap and a buttoned-down long-sleeved jacket. The defender's hands allow it to exert fine control on objects, including a rifle which Alix procured from a member of the Ripper Street Gang; however, the defender lacks the capacity to gain proficiency with weapons, and thus has difficulty aiming the rifle.

### Equipment

Alix is a walking armory of magical items, many of which he has crafted himself. His original flintlock pistol is infused with a *repeating shot* infusion, allowing him to fire with it multiple times using conjured ammunition, all without reloading the weapon. While proud of this modification, he currently favors the *Dragoon*, a powerful magnum revolver with an enchantment that allows the wielder to infuse bullets with elemental energy. This weapon can use conventional bullets, but also uses specialized magnums that can knock targets back a short distance.

Besides these weapons, Alix also wears a *cloak of elvenkind*, which he uses to camouflage himself against his surroundings; a pair of *goggles of night*, which lets him explore dark environs without relying on a light source; and a set of worn breastplate armor, sold to him by a scavenger named Scrapper. He also bears a *bag of holding* in one of the interior pockets of his cloak, which he uses to pull out objects at a moment's notice, or to sneak away things to smuggle in. Whenever he needs to communicate over large distances, he can create a pair of *sending stones* to telepathically converse with allies.

### Abilities

As a battle smith, Alix blends martial experience with magical knowledge, using artifice magic for both creative and direct solutions. His battle smith training gives him access to offensive and defensive spells, which he casts by using either his artisan's tools or thieves' tools as a spellcasting focus. Like most artificers, Alix utilizes the magic inherent in all objects within the realm to fuel his spellcraft.

Alix prefers the use of his firearms, more often using his spells to augment his attacks or defend himself. However, he applies his knowledge of healing and transmutative magic to good use in support of allies when the situation calls for it, and he enjoys using his magical equipment and illusions to elude threats when needed.

Alix's intellect and education have paid great dividends for him, allowing him reliable success with using his tools for his endeavors. Years of undergoing intense situations have also allowed him to apply his knowledge quickly under pressure, granting him flashes of genius that let him and his allies successfully find solutions to difficult problems.

After years of constantly refining his Brass Defender, Alix has learned how to give his construct a measure of his spellcasting ability, a breakthrough which he uses to great effect by having it cast *warding bond* before pitched battles. The Defender can also quickly assist others in difficult situations, thanks to its apparent bonding with the entity known as the Library. This assistance manifests in the Defender "correcting" allies before they perform some action.

### Personality

Alix is friendly and outgoing, if irreverent and boastful. He has a bad history with authority, and shows particular disdain towards law enforcement, given his previous confrontations with peace officers in Sentinel. Despite this, Alix does his best to keep his rebellious tendencies in check if it would present a clear danger to the party, unless guards are involved.

Alix's ego as a brilliant inventor and daredevil leads him to accept virtually any challenge directed towards him. If anyone should question either his intelligence or resolve, Alix will set out to prove his mettle, regardless of how small the slight made against him. This behavior led Alix to challenge Quinn to a contest on inventing new firearms, and having Elendar and Ginny judge between the two's inventions. The contest ultimately resulted in a draw, as well as a traumatized cow.

## The Library

On the 15th of Lirden, Alix encountered an incorporeal entity in his dreams, which seemed to take the form of a glowing, multi-faceted device with blue, shifting panels. After interacting with the device, the entity spoke to him and pleaded with Alix to help it return to the plane of Mechanus. The entity has since accompanied Alix, apparently speaking to him through the Brass Defender. No other creatures seem to hear the entity.

While the entity claims to have lost much of its memory, it seems to act as a repository for pieces of esoteric knowledge, resulting in Alix referring to it as the "Library." The Library explains that it needs a suitable vessel that will let it survive the journey to Mechanus, as well as a portal to enter the plane. It knows a few methods to create its vessel, one of which involves a dangerous gambit with a powerful substance.

## Inter-Party Relationships

### Elendar

Alix views Elendar as the more emotionally stable member of the party, and shares a similar moral obligation with the sorcerer to help those in need. That said, the two disagree on how they should treat their defeated foes: whereas Elendar often prefers kindness and mercy, as seen with the would-be murderer Darrow and the mischievous gloomwing Grendel, Alix believes a creature's evil actions deserve appropriate punishment. The sorcerer does not always object to Alix's arguments or actions, and can be swayed to Alix's side, as indicated when the two of them tormented Grendel upon learning of his treachery.

### Ginny

Alix is amused by Ginny's curiosity and brazen behavior, and occasionally likes to involve her in his experiments - despite a disastrous track record. The first experiment involved Alix becoming charmed by a set of *eyes of charming* worn by Ginny, while the second involved her spraying bullets from his revolving cannon across a wheat field and striking a cow in the behind. These experiences have not harmed the relationship between them, and while their solitary interactions are rare, they inevitably end in some form of amusing chaos.

### Nix

Alix respects Nix for his level-headed attitude and cunning, though he finds the warlock's urging for caution to be grating at times. These warnings have done little to curb his tendency for reckless behavior, but Alix has become more mindful of activities in terms of how they affect the party.

### Quinn

Alix enjoys having a member of the party that shares his interests in mechanisms, though he can't help but feel possessive of his creations around Quinn. He tends to act competitive around the young gunsmith, perhaps feeling the young talent threatens to undermine his own reputation as a young and brilliant mind. It is possible that his admiration and suspicion towards Quinn stem from a concern that, aside from the gunsmith's shyness and awkwardness around people, he see some of himself in Quinn. On the other hand, Alix probably just doesn't want Quinn getting any ideas about toying with his inventions, especially his Brass Defender or its weapons.

## Out-of-Party Relationships

Alix is familiar with his professor from the Sentinel School of Artifice, but neither party has made efforts to interact with the other since Alix's academic probation.

Recently, Alix met with Scrapper, a traveling warforged blacksmith who sold him materials and armor. While Scrapper is a prickly sort, the two have formed a cordial relationship.

Alix is acquainted with Wheezer, a former student from his school who was part of his friend group at the time. Wheezer had found employment at the Laughing Skulls hideout, and was visibly excited to see Alix again - feelings which Alix was loathe to reciprocate. The two have come together to work on a project of Alix's design.

## Goals

[To be filled by the party member as desired]

## Achievements

* Drafted blueprints for a tank, beginning its construction with a small, wooden wagon
* Helped reforge a magical hammer crafted for a dao champion
* Broke into an exhibit in Whitecliff University on the Khordain Royalty and stole the crown of a prince from the Khordain Royal Line
* Captured a gloomwing faerie in a beer bottle
* Invented a fully-functional prototype gatling gun as part of a bet

## Trivia

* Alix's backstory is partly inspired by the trope of university party animals, often depicted in media as hooligans whose antics escalate into ever-more ridiculous and destructive actions.