Daramas Hawthorne

Daramas Hawthorne

### Appearance

Daramas is a Lunar Elf with purple skin and white hair. He notably has several scars and a facial tattoo.

Daramas stands at 5'9" tall, and is slim in build. Hawthorne wears Wolf Armour, a form of Chain Armour that allows him to be much more dexterous than normal Chain Armour would. Hawthorne also has a sickle, his weapon of choice, made from Baatorian Green Steel.

## Backstory

Daramas was born in the village of Ixani in the Final Frontier, a large dry steppe of land in the centre of Karandor, as the only child of Ukah Hawthorne and Jord Hawthorne The town expanded from the larger settlement of Orinia, being separated by a drawbridge across Blackthunder River. Ixani was mostly made up of farmers, as Orinia was needing the extra land to grow crops. It was a tight-knit community of farmers, cattle and crop alike. Being of humble origins, there were small local shops dotted around selling home grown produce, and everyone knew everyone. Crime was virtually non-existent aside from the odd cow thief. Due to the quick expansion of the village, the defences were rather lacking and as farmers were not equipped to fight back against the hostile flora and fauna, only being able to use the small knowledge they had on swords, axes and bows. With the growing population there had been many requests sent to the mayor of Orinia, pleading for resources, guards, funding, anything really to protect Ixani; every time however they were brushed off each time with an obvious and pathetic excuse as to why the request was unable to be fulfilled.

When Hawthorne was six, Ixani fell under attack by the beasts of the plains. To everyone's horror, it was a seemingly coordinated attack, leaving the helpless villagers to do their utmost to fight back against the onslaught. It was a futile attempt, the village was quickly overrun, and with the only hope of survival being running away, many fled towards the bridge connecting Ixani and Orinia. During the evacuation Jord got separated from them, leaving mother and son to fight their way through others that had the same idea as them. However, Lord Fenhet, the mayor of Orinia, had ordered the settlements gates to remain closed, sentencing the villagers of Ixani to their death. Once they got closer to the gate and the rumour that the gate was closed started to spread amongst the stampeding crowd. Not wanting to stand and wait for death, Ukah ran with Daramas back into the village looking for somewhere to hide. With the low light of evening, and houses starting to burn causing a heaving smoke to fall, it made it easy finding an abandoned house to hide in without being spotted. The last things that Daramas rembers is the house creaking under the weight of something on the roof with scratchy nails, followed by his mother shouting as the roof gave way, then falling while trying to avoid the debris, timber and rubble that would eventually crush his legs. What he doesn’t remember is something talking to his mother, promising that, for a price, it would save her and her son from this Night of Fire and Fang. What this price was though was yet to be decided, but when the time was right, they would come to collect.

In the subsequent years to follow, Ukah worked hard to save up for prosthetic legs for Daramas, while also being incredibly protective, doing everything in her power to prevent harm. This gave him plenty of time to teach himself how to read. The inability to walk made Daramas grow restless, as he watched his mother skip meals to save money, whiste also refusing his help on the farm. It was starting to take its toll on the now ten year old Daramas. When the time finally came that his mother could commission the prosthetics from a surgeon in Oriana, Daramas made the promise to himself that as soon as he was in a position to support himself he would leave and never look back.

It was early in the summer of his thirteenth birthday when the surgeon knocked on the farmhouse door with the promise of freedom. It took longer than Daramas thought to learn to walk again, it took till he was fifteen to be able to go out on his own, only small trips around the village and some chores on the farm. It was on one of these trips that he came across a burnt out church, a small building consisting of what once was a two story tower and connecting hall. Mostly rubble. Daramas saw this as a good opportunity to test his manoeuvrability, clambering over bits of wall and timber beams, this was until he discovered a trap door hidden partly under a broken piece of altar. Once he managed to get it open, it turned out it hadn't been disturbed in many years, possibly not before the destruction. Amongst the thick layers of dust was a book, propped up in the centre of the basement on a plinth, seeing this as something of importance, Daramas took the book, not fully realising the significance of the recipes and instructions inside.

In the span of a year Daramas had read the book front to back many times, he had no idea what the book was fully detailing as the cover was weathered beyond readability, but he understood that the potions that it contained allowed him to become stronger, or smarter, or tougher, resist the cold or even curse someone/thing. To be able to utilise these potions however he needed to complete a ritual named the Hunter’s Bane. The steps set out in the book required a potion made from the blood of a cold hearted beast along with a shockingly small list of herbs that grew around Ixani. The plants were easy to collect, the blood was a different story, Daramas hasn’t picked up a sword, let alone fought a monster. It took longer than he was willing to admit to get the guts to take two sickles from the barn and sneak out into the night to find himself a beast to slay. It took multiple nights out into the Final Frontieer to finally get the blood he was after. Daramas eventually got the blood from an old Minokawa, so old that its razor-like feathers were falling out. The Minokawa, even with missing feathers, a cracked beak, and blunt talons, proved a hard fight for Daramas, though after what felt like an age, Daramas won.

After collecting the blood, the next night, he sat in the centre of the barn, a circle drawn around him in the dirt, the ingredients of his potion surrounding him, the book of unknown origin in his lap. Working meticulously, following each step to the dot, he made the potion titled ‘The Hunter’s Liquid Bane’. With a deep breath, he threw back the thick black concoction, choking a little as it coated both the inside of his mouth and his throat with a foul taste. It wasn’t long till he passed out. Once he came to Daramas realised he felt stronger, not physically, but internally; in a way that left without an easy way of explaining it, but this internal change was what he was looking for. There was a lot he still needed to learn, but he had done all he could, stuck at home. It was time to sink or swim. He didn’t have many possessions, so it was easy packing a spare pair of clothes, a water skin and the two sickles he had carried for nights on end. All he left behind was a hastily scribbled note to his mother explaining that the reason he was leaving was to ensure that she put herself first, he was now in a position to look after himself, therefore he was going to find a job in another town and any money that he made he would send back to her.

It was a slightly more palatable version of the truth, in reality Daramas was leaving to become a monster hunter, to fight back against the creatures that ruined his mother's life and nearly ended his. Turns out monster fighting isn't an easy vacation to get into, especially when you have no combat training, so Daramas survived by reading people's fortune by day. For what Daramas lacked in physical strength, he made up for in intelligence and wisdom. He knew there was just as much information in what people said, as well as what they didn't. During the quiet hours of the morning he would sharpen his skill with blades as well as his potions, when travelling alone he needed to be able to protect himself, both from man and monster alike.

It was many years later of travelling, training, connection building and fortune telling that Daramas encountered someone that would have a hand in his own fortune. Mazdarian Pyralspite. The two met when Daramas was 23 and Maz was 18. Daramas had been in Galdrin for a few months, he liked watching the pompous wizards try and work out if his tarot readings were just good intuition or magic. Taunting the Wizard Hierarchy was some of the most fun Daramas had had in a long while, though he did have to make some stealthy escapes to not end up in one too many hairy situations; trying to explain that the reason he knew a wizard's wife was cheating on him was because she had been to him yesterday asking the cards if her dark secret was going to remain cloaked, or if she needed to ‘call it off’, and not because he could actually see the future. He didn’t possess the magic that was so illegal to have here, it was another branch entirely that he was determined to keep to himself.

Daramas had met Maz by tempting him to a fortune reading, he had seen the young man a few times in the area talking to different working class individuals, but didn’t seem to have a particular group he called his own. After approaching Maz and introducing himself, Daramas worked on picking apart the younger man, finding out what made him tick and what to expect from the cards to give him the best reading he could and in turn get the best tip. Now Daramas himself wasn’t quite sure how his tarot deck worked, he could do all the interpreting and character reading imaginable but somehow the cards themselves were always right, it was always cryptic and not always obvious, he could play up some facts and downplay others, but at the end of the day, the cards rang true. Even with this, paired with Daramas’ insight, he was rarely surprised by what they said.

That of course, changed with Maz. Expecting the cards to say he was surrounded by friends and that people liked him for who he was, to expect his hard work to pay off in the future after a few stumbles. Instead they told of a man who was hiding from himself as well as others, his mirror confused by the many reflections it gives, a dark shadow lingers over his future that leads to shimmering flame. Never had Daramas seen a fortune that shocked him so much, never had he been so wrong. This seemingly average man had such an extraordinary path before him. Maz also seemed surprised by the reading, asking many questions on how Daramas got that conclusion, if he was magic or just very imaginative. This created intrigue between the two, they met up many times after, initially to talk about magic, and progressing into a genuine friendship. Mostly Maz buying lunch for the pair and Daramas recounting the recent scandal he had his hand in stirring. One of their favourite past times was slightly bending the truth when it came to reading the fortunes of the upper crust of the Wizard Hierarchy. Watching an entitled elitist sweat would never get old. Fortune waits for no man however as Maz was about to find out, and subsequently, Daramas.

Maz’s adoptive guardian had passed away. Which was a bombshell in itself when Maz had told Daramas. But the surprises didn’t end there. No, Maz was more than he had originally let on. He was a raised as a wizard, one of the elites that they had spent many afternoons ragging on. However, Maz explained he had been adopted by a sorcerer, like himself, hiding in plain sight from the W.H. as a wizard for years. Maz had been discovered as a boy with the same innate magic abilities as Laborious, his adopter. Teaching him to masquerade his abilities behind the mask of a wizard. After explaining his situation of not wanting to remain in a city that hates him, Maz asked Daramas if he could travel with him, offering his abilities as a sorcerer to help protect the tarot reader. Maz was unaware that Daramas was a self-taught Blood Hunter Mutant who had been able to defend himself, but he wasn’t one to turn down a friend.

Thus with a smile and a firm handshake the odd pair left in search of adventure.

## Campaign 1: Silvered Fates

Daramas was an original member of the Silvered Fates, before they decided on their name, having met the original members outside the Grimwood Manor.

### Arc 1: Siege of Sharkweir

During the first arc of their adventure, Daramas was still set on being a monster hunter for money. His combat abilities came in very beneficial to the party, allowing for him to make short work of most enemies for the majority of their time in Sharkweir, however there were several close calls with death, and Daramas was infected by a Wereshark twice. These early encounters made Daramas realise how much harder being a monster hunter was, than he had first thought.

During their encounter with Pallaton Runebreeze, Daramas brutally butchered the two Minotaur goons and threatened Pallaton with the same fate. Afterwards, when washing the blood and guts off of himself in the river, Daramas was attacked by a Red Lily, and almost drowned. Daramas also slayed the mayor of Sharkweir, who had turned into a Wereshark during the championship fight, but was infected by him during the encounter. The same thing would happen again whilst searching for a nobleman. Daramas used his time in the Abyssal Library to get a Monster Hunters Guide to Monsters. During the climax of the Siege of Sharkweir, Daramas found a dying wizard's familiar called Dune, who took a liking to him, and followed him around.

### Arc 2: Lichendeep and Return to Sharkweir

Having decided to stick with the group, they followed the south-east road out of Sharkweir and spent a week travelling to the city of Lichendeep. Upon the group discovering Spellbreakers at the gates of the city, Daramas was reminded of the troubles of Galdrin and discovered that their new lanterns would prevent his legs from functioning. Upon entering the city, and being informed by a Halfling bard named Elrich Thornbottle that their latest companion, Dheagar Maraz, had been escorted into the city by a "handsome man who looked like he could have been an actor", Daramas was reluctant in investigating the disappearance, having not been close with Dheagar Maraz.

Daramas managed to use his Blood Hunter knowledge to narrow down the potential creature that kidnapped Dheagar as a fey creature. After finding out that the The Limelight Assembly Theatre in Lichendeep was made up of Fey creatures, Daramas stood guard whilst Conroy and Maz investigated further. Whilst searching to inform guards of what they had found, Daramas was englufed by white flames and taken to the Tower of Reprieve by a Devil going by the name of Maayana. Maayana explained that Hawthorne's mother had made a pact on the Night of Fire and Fang, which ensured their survival. Hawthorne learnt that his part of this pact, was to serve Maayana and her interests to better his soul's position in The Nine Hells, as that was owned by this Devil under the signed pact. Maayana also revealed that Dune, the cat familiar, was infact an Imp called Szem that had placed in Sharkweir to watch over Hawthorne. Szem was granted as a gift to Hawthorne, who was also magically branded by with a Mark of Levistus; granting him some basic infernal powers. After The Limelight Assembly Theatre bribed and prevented the Four Swords from investigating further, Hawthorne aided in the confrontation and battle against several members of The Limelight Assembly Theatre cast.

After solving their initial problems within Lichendeep, Daramas helped the group recover a rare metal found within the nearby Noxian Woods, so Rosette Emberstrike could make Duke Karl Harrington some ceremonial daggers for his upcoming birthday celebration. As a reward for gathering so much metal, Daramas was made a new sickle by Rosette. Daramas accompanied the group to the nearby village of Morrowvale, where they defeated a cursed entity that was possessing the village's Scarecrows and Harvest Golem. Upon being introduced to Madam Ziener and being told that once again their fate lay in Sharkweir, Daramas was disheartened to return due to the horrors they faced previously, but the notion of fate rang true with him.

With a handful of days to spare before the party, the group set out on one last job to go to the Temple of Talos of Lichendeep to investigate strange sounds from their catacombs. Daramas helped defeat a Spectator found in the catacombs, in an additionally carved out room that no one was aware of, and got the curse of Karth's longsword removed.

Daramas attended the Duke's birthday party at the Crescent Castle. Keeping to himself, due to feeling uncomfortable at the event. The following day, returning to the Crescent Castle, Daramas and the group came to the decision to accept Duke Karl Harrington's offer to return to Sharkweir in search of the Royal Guard. Daramas took the Wolf Armour from the Royal Guard's armoury.