The Grisp (045)

"I won't make any effort to hide that which I am. I feed off the misfortunes of others. One day, your desires will be devoured, and your lives taken away. Sacrifice your heart, your ideals, your everything, all that makes up your being, to grant me life. For I am a reaper of sorrows, and sorrow truly is one of the sweetest of nectars."

## Description

This is Grisp's 45th Reborn loop. Grisp's current appearance takes on that of a thin woman around 30 years old, however, her body does not age with time, meaning it's significantly more difficult to gauge just how old she truly is. As a Reborn, her skin is deathly pale, the flow of blood having halted in her veins. Her hair is a ghostly white, seemingly bleached of colour. Her eyes are an unnatural pink, holding the light of what fleeting life she clings to. An intricate mask, carved of bone is always kept in her possession and worn. Grisp wears hooded vestments of pure white, with a simple pink trim encompassing certain parts of it. Due to her strange looking appearance, she tends to keep her face hidden under her mask and the hood of her vestments up. Generally, Grisp wears a pleasant smile on her face, and an air of positivity about herself, however a highly insightful person may take note that this is mostly a façade, and Grisp's true feelings lean significantly more towards a withering, but undying disposition. When things go her way, a more perceptive person may catch a glimpse of a significantly more crooked smile flash across her masked face.

They say the best way to survive is to avoid conflict altogether, and with this in mind, Grisp has taken the route of a side character. She pushes into situations if she must, but prefers to spectate from the sidelines, gathering information that allows her to make informed decisions on problems at hand. She makes herself seem very reliable and forthcoming, if there's a problem the other guildmembers need assistance with, Grisp will happily provide assistance. She is mostly good at information gathering and has a multitude of methods at her disposal to assist her in doing so.

## Combat Style

Though initially a very frail and delicate individual, Grisp has managed to counteract a few downsides to her formerly weak body. Using an Amulet of Health, Grisp's physical constitution has improved significantly, enabling her to survive several more lethal scenarios. Ultimately however, Grisp prefers to remain outside of the spotlight, instead pulling strings from the shadows, and controlling the battlefield from behind her undead thralls. Grisp relies heavily on her Necromantic capabilities when assaulting opponents, her powers have evolved to the point where she's able to imbue a small amount of magical energy into the weapons of her raised dead, enabling them to physically harm creatures that are normally resistant or immune to mundane attacks. Grisp has shown that she does prefer to take the diplomatic route more often than not, generally leaving fighting as a final resort. This does not mean that she's averse to fighting however, quite the contrary, but she's intelligent enough to know that you're more likely to survive if you avoid confrontation altogether. She's a very tactical individual, able to quickly adapt to situations and maintain a high fidelity of control as to what her skeletons do, quickly adjusting their movements across the battlefield as the situation unfolds.

## Background

Grisp is a Reborn, apparently caught in an eternal death-loop, constantly being reborn without memories of who she once was, seeking out her past. She's haunted by fleeting glimpses of past memories from countless lives suffered beforehand. Not much is known about them, but Grisp has constantly referenced multiple focal points from within them. She has stated that she only remembers small fragments of them however, unable to recall all her memories in full.

A intricate, withered, mask carved of bone is always present with her on every cycle of rebirth. This mask is incredibly important to her, being separated from it for too long leaves her with nightmarish visions of the past. Wearing it helps her suppress the horrors she witnessed before. According to her word, her soul is unable to sustain itself without her mask, and should it be broken, her being will wither away within 13 days. Grisp carries an old black book around with her, she says reading it sometimes calls to her destiny, pushing her to search for answers towards her existence, her purpose. Every page within it is blank however.

Most predominantly, nested within her fleeting glimpses of the past are those of playing the role of a servant to a lady. Mentally, Grisp is drawn back towards this individual as she feels an attachment towards her, despite not knowing a name, appearance, location, or if she's even still on this plane of existence. Grisp will do anything within her power to rediscover her past and recover her long lost mistress.

As time has gone on, Grisp has slowly uncovered more of her past. Nearly everyone she once knew is now very much dead. She is likely the only survivor of the city she once served in.

## Pets and more

Krøw: Grisp's raven familiar. They hold a rather competitive relationship with one another, always trying to one-up each other. Of course, this is mainly for comedic relief and the bird merely cares about getting another meal, whereas Grisp actually holds a much firmer grasp on the situation. Krøw has been a very useful asset for Grisp as he has been quite useful in both information gathering, and information sending.

Brawn Strongman: One of Grisp's most prized skeletons. Brawn Strongman is a Chuck Norris equivalent for Guildtown now. Once a revered adventurer from Loupe, he stumbled in battle against a werewolf due to impossible to foresee circumstances. Acknowledging his determination, Grisp has returned his corpse to the realm of the living by converting him into a skeleton. Brawn is now a staple figure within Guildtown and is taken into every one of Grisp's battles.

Skeleton Maids: Grisp has a large array of skeletal maids that she has maintain her residence. They are given breaks and off time for their service, and Grisp ensures that they are treated properly. They can also be suitable for combat, able to make use of both shortswords and shortbows in combat.

## Trivia

* This is apparently Grisp's 45th life cycle.
* Grisp does not need to eat, drink, breath, or sleep. Instead she needs only sit motionless for a few hours.
* Grisp has no sense of taste or smell. Instead she merely pretends to enjoy food or drink in order to fit in.
* Grisp commonly spends her downtime enjoying (unpoisoned) lead infused tea. According to her, she enjoys the texture and heat of it.
* Grisp once held a Skeleton Olympics. Of the 12 undead contestants, a skeleton she referred to as "Meido" won it by catching the final ball out of mid-air while performing a backflip. Brawn Strongman was the final standing competitor in that competition and accidentally eliminated two of his own teammates immediately before losing due to an incredibly unlucky throw.
* Grisp is unable to enter into a place of worship without first being granted entrance by someone within verbally.
* Grisp was almost killed by a fellow adventurer of Guildtown named Tadao. After the attack, Tadao denounced his God and lost his faith temporarily.
* Grisp participated in an event known as Guild-Day. She won a draw for a magical golden glock known only as *The Throngler*.
* During Guild-Day, it was shown that Grisp knows how to perform the kazachok dance.
* According to Grisp, this is the first life in which she's ever successfully piloted an airship and landed it again in a salvageable state. The last time she recalls using one, she went down with the ship.
* Grisp dislikes sailing, this seems to stem from a past memory in which a ship she was on was attacked and destroyed by some form of sea monster.
* Grisp carries a phobia towards most things Religious. This includes Paladins and Clerics. She also sustains a natural hate towards both Celestials and Fey.
* Grisp uses a scythe as her weapon of choice in close quarters combat. She has never managed to kill a single enemy with it however. This has lead to her officially referring to it as "The Unkillable Scythe" on account of it being unable to kill any living creature.
* Grisp enjoys collecting corpses or bones of the deceased. This hobby of hers extends past her need for them to create skeletal thralls. She appears to just enjoy doing it for the sake of doing it, almost like someone would collect trading cards or anime figurines. If she goes too long without obtaining a new body, then her mental state tends to deteriorate a small amount.
* Grisp supposedly performs a ritual of passing on every corpse she obtains. She says it apparently allows the soul of the deceased to pass onto the afterlife peacefully.
* Grisp enjoys buying cute little outfits for her skeletons to wear when they aren't working. Her thought process is that it helps make them seem just a little bit more unique and humane.
* Grisp runs a side-business in Guildtown in which she purchases the bodies of the deceased off of adventurers for 5gp. This allows her to naturally source her supply of undead without drawing ire from townsfolk or getting in trouble with the law.
* The first two skeletons Grisp ever created in this reborn-loop were Brawn Strongman, and Meido.
* During off-time, Grisp is able to reanimate and control up to 36 skeletons at once to perform menial tasks such as maid work. However, due to the significantly more complex and unpredictable states of the battlefield, Grisp is only able to control 6 skeletons at a time in combat.
* Grisp is susceptible to sunlight a small amount. While direct contact with it isn't enough to directly harm her physically, it visually causes discrepancies. Direct sunlight causes her flesh to appear mostly transparent, which reveals a blackened skeletal form beneath her flesh.
* Grisp tends to treat the night-time as her day-time and commonly flips the two. Instead of resting during the night, she mainly does so for 4 hours during the day. This allows her to avoid the sun a lot more often.
* Grisp holds an innate hatred towards the sun.
* Grisp's bone mask always finds its way back to her somehow. It mentally and physically can harm her to stray too far away from it.
* Grisp occasionally roams the streets of town at night to frighten naughty children that sneak out past midnight. She states that it's for a wholesome reason of teaching children a lesson, but it's more likely that she does it because it's fun and she wants to become some scary local folktale that parents tell their children at night.
* Grisp owns a Mirror of the Past that she often uses to learn of lore surrounding important figures involved in quests, or simply other Guildmembers within town. She has occasionally looked at some of her own past lives by using it.
* As a self-titled Nec*Romancer*, Grisp enjoys hearing about the love-stories of other Guildmembers.
* Grisp managed to work for the guild for a total of 2 months without ever meeting the Guild-Master, Mithemia, in person.
* The reason Grisp wears all white is because she's "undyed".

## Images

Grisp wielding the weapon known as The Throngler.Grisp's full appearance.Grisp facing off against her raven familiar, Krøw.Grisp as she appeared in her old artwork.